Why Video SEO Isn’t Just About Video

Posted on August 2, 2010 in Video Optimization, Video SEO, VSEO

Liz Pratt is the Marketing Communications Manager at SearchPro Systems.

We all know that video SEO is key to your whole SEO strategy. But will any old video posted online with a link to your website cut it?

Put simply, no. Google and YouTube are the largest search engines in the world, and they won’t be fooled that easily. The job of a search engine is to provide the user with the most timely, relevant results possible. In order to do that, Google and YouTube use speech recognition and closed captions to more effectively categorize and rank your VSEO content. This doesn’t just mean you should optimize your scripts with keywords you use on your website, but also that any sounds will be catalogued in the index. That means music, footsteps, explosions, and laughter will all be understood and used to determine your Universal Search ranking.

A strong VSEO strategy will use closed captions and subtitles in order to make their VSEO content provide the best results. Both Google and YouTube index text that is enclosed in closed captions and subtitles, so without taking advantage of these, a VSEO plan will not have the strength it could. Make sure that your scripts include the VSEO key words that you want to focus on, and optimize your script just like you would a blog post. And of course, don’t neglect your title, description, links, or tags. In addition, make sure you upload captions files to YouTube, because although YouTube will understand words that are said and titled, closed captions will add another layer of information to your content. Adding closed captions to YouTube videos may help with indexing and ranking for more long-tail keyword phrases.

Using closed captions and text for your VSEO content is also a great idea because it makes it much more accessible. It can easily be translated for those who don’t speak your language, or you can make your own translated subtitles. Using text will also make your content accessible to people who are deaf or people who don’t have sound on their PC, like many office workers.

An easy way to upload some of this information is to leverage YouTube’s automated machine transcription feature.  You can upload a plain-text transcript of the video, like the script you used to create it.  Google will match the words in the text file with the audio to create closed captions that are time-based. You can also download YouTube’s machine transcription file, double check it, and then re-upload that file to YouTube. Taking advantage of all the informational layers available to you is key to climbing up the Universal Search rankings.

SearchPro Systems is a leading New England based national digital marketing firm offering complete end to end Universal Search Marketing solutions, specializing in Video SEO.