How To Optimize Video SEO to Rank Higher

Search engine optimization (SEO) for video content is the process of enhancing video quality and technical aspects to rank higher in search engine results. Consumers prefer video content to images or text because of their quick delivery and engaging content.

Gaining a top search position in Google or YouTube is the difference between receiving a handful of views each month and getting thousands of people tuning into your content every day.

With better video SEO, your videos will receive higher engagement and click-through rates from viewers, ensuring they stay at the top of the results. To make your videos stand out, dive in to learn more about how to set them up for SEO success.

Research and Preparation

Before pressing the record button and jumping straight into making your videos, you want to give them the best chance to rank by completing research and preparation. The steps below will help you make the videos more relevant to your audience and search engines so they perform well.

Keyword Research

Your first step to optimizing your videos for SEO is keyword research. The process involves identifying terms your audience is searching for that are relevant to your business. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMRush, and AHREFS are the most commonly used keyword research tools out there.

• Google Keyword Planner: This is used to discover keyword ideas and provide search volume and competition-level data. This is one of the only tools developed by Google and has accurate data.
• SEMRush and AHREFS: With these tools, you’ll have a deeper level of analytics to help you complete your keyword research. Take advantage of metrics like keyword difficulty, competitive density, and search volume.

SEO these days is all about long-tail keywords and user intent. Long-tail keywords often have lower competition, making them easier to rank on YouTube and search engines. This is how you get more return for your investment compared to marketing options like pay-per-click ads. For example, instead of targeting a broad term like “fitness tips,” you can search for “10-minute home workouts for beginners” that speaks directly to your searcher’s intent.

Understand Your Audience

To get your videos ranking in the top positions, you need to fully understand what your audience wants when they watch your video, especially for terms that involve local SEO. 

Start by using tools like Google Analytics (GA) or surveys. GA is a free tool built by Google that gives you insights into your website’s visitors, like their age, gender, location, and interests. Surveys will also help you gather more information about your audience since you can ask them about their preferences, challenges, and what type of content they want to see.

Another helpful method for understanding an audience is researching your competitors and trending topics in your niche. Look up some keywords you researched on Google and watch your competitor’s videos. 

Content Planning

To stay consistent with your video SEO efforts, you need a content plan that keeps your process organized. Creating a content calendar is a great way to plan your production ahead of time so you have accountability and goals to work toward.

You can schedule topics, formats, and publishing dates in advance using a calendar. Here are a few steps to creating your own:

1. Choose a platform: You need your calendar to live somewhere, so choose a platform that is easy to access and that you’re familiar with. You can create a Google Calendar with a specific color for a free version.
2. Fill out big due dates first: Instead of going through and listing every single date, start with your bigger due dates, like product launches, holidays, and events.
3. Fill out secondary tasks: Once you have big due dates filled in, start filling out your smaller tasks that will lead up to completing your big due dates.
4. Create a system of accountability: You’ll need to come up with ideas about what happens when a due date isn’t completed on time and what actions you will take to reorganize.

Deciding on a video format will also help in your content planning phase. Picking between tutorials, explainer videos, or testimonials will give you a clear framework to work with. Instead of having to rethink your video structure each time, you minimize the decision fatigue and can concentrate on delivering pure value.

Video Production Best Practices

Once you start recording your videos, there are best practices to entice viewers to watch your content longer and consume more of it. Fine-tuning your videos will give you better metrics on the platforms and help algorithms rank your videos higher in the search results.

Technical Quality

With so much video content being published around the world, audiences are more likely to engage with a visually stunning video that looks professional.

To get crystal clear quality, start by investing in basic HD video equipment or professional editing tools. Beginners can use a recent smartphone with a good camera, like the latest iPhone or Android models. A tripod can make the process easier and make your videos more stable so viewers get a consistent experience.

Even editing tools, like Adobe Premiere Rush or CapCut, have user-friendly features for beginners that let you edit an entire video in a few clicks. These tools also allow you to upload everything to your social media platforms for easy posting.

Engaging Storytelling

The backbone of a high-ranking video for SEO is engaging storytelling. Immediately engaging your audience with a compelling introduction is a sure way to hook readers from the start, which platforms like YouTube love.

Effective hooks address a problem or promise a solution. A good way to start is with a question like, “Struggling to rank your videos on Google?” or a bold statement like, “This strategy will double your video views!”

Once you’ve got them hooked, keep them watching with engaging visuals and strategic calls-to-action (CTAs). Dynamic visuals, like overlays, animations, or quick cuts, keep viewers interested and help with your watch time. A strategic CTA is also important to achieve your overall goals, like asking the audience to click a link in the description or follow the channel for more content.

Video Length Recommendations

The length of your videos will be important because they determine whether viewers will stick around to increase your retention or scroll to one of your competitors. The trick is that video length depends on the platform you’re using, so tailoring the content accordingly is crucial to them performing well.

Instagram likes shorter videos that are one to two minutes in length. The audience on Instagram wants fast, digestible videos that are concise and get straight to the point.

Platforms like YouTube support videos ranging anywhere from seven minutes to 15 minutes. Here, you can provide more in-depth storytelling or tutorials that appeal to YouTube’s audience, which wants more detailed information.

Accessibility Features

Accessibility has become increasingly important for video SEO since not everyone can watch the videos the same way. Adding subtitles or closed captions are great tools to make your videos more inclusive. Captions support viewers who are deaf, but they also cater to individuals who don’t watch videos with sound, like in public places or at work.

You can also adjust your video’s audio and visual elements to be more accessible.

1. Use clear, high-contrast visuals: Make your text and graphics easy to read against any background so they pop out for viewers with low vision.
2. Provide descriptive audio: Narrate key visual elements for visually impaired viewers so they can follow along, especially if the information is essential.

Accessibility is becoming a larger ranking factor for SEO as companies want to be more inclusive for all viewers. Implementing these elements puts your videos ahead of competitors too lazy to complete the extra effort.

Optimizing Video Content for SEO

Simply uploading your videos right after they are done won’t give you a chance to rank high for SEO. You’ll need to optimize the content, like your metadata, thumbnails, and other elements, to make a significant impact.

Metadata Optimization

Your metadata tells platforms what your video is about and helps them show it to relevant audiences. Descriptive titles need to include your primary keywords to help search engines rank them properly, and these titles will entice viewers to click on your videos.

Keyword-rich video descriptions also help your chances of ranking videos higher for SEO. It’s another opportunity to provide more context for your video to help search engines understand what the video is about and who would want to watch it. Descriptions with links to related resources and CTAs also help to improve audience engagement.

The last step is to include tags relevant to your video topic. Think of a tag as a category label for your video that will expand your audience reach. If your video is tagged with “sneaker tips,” then platforms might show your video to everyone searching for this phrase.

Thumbnails

The first thing someone will see when searching YouTube or a similar platform is your thumbnails. They are critical for attracting clicks that ultimately signal to platforms that people want to watch your video, helping it to rank higher.

Design eye-catching and informative thumbnails and immediately convey what your video is about. This is a great opportunity to check what competitors are doing to see what works.

Schema Markup

The schema is a markup code that gives search engines detailed information about your video to display in search results, like the title, description, upload date, and thumbnail. Tools like VideoObject let you improve your video’s discoverability to access exclusive areas in a search engine.

Using VideoObject, your videos are more likely to appear in rich results, like video carousels or featured snippets, to increase your visibility and click-through rates. These areas are reserved for videos with schema markup, which gives your videos a better chance of being seen.

Transcriptions

Transcriptions are another opportunity for you to optimize for keyword density and accessibility. Within the transcript, you can include relevant keywords to help platforms recognize your content and improve their ranking potential. Platforms like Google and YouTube improve your ranking if they understand the content.

A transcript also makes your content more accessible to a larger audience, including those with hearing impairments or those who prefer to read content. Including transcriptions will help boost your overall engagement and ensure your content reaches the right people.

Use Chapters and Time Stamps

Longer videos on YouTube can unintentionally alienate viewers because they might have trouble accessing the information within. Chapters and time stamps provide a solution by dividing long videos into sections for easier viewing and navigation.

Viewers can jump directly to the parts they’re most interested in, making it a more enjoyable experience that will keep them coming back for more. Using descriptive labels for each chapter will help viewers to understand what each section covers, so they can skip to the information they need.

Hosting and Distribution

Where and how you show people your videos can significantly affect their ranking. Ideally, you want your videos to show up in as many popular places as possible to show search engines your content matters.

Choosing the Right Platform

Where you choose to host your videos and distribute them can have an effect on your SEO. Self-hosting gives you full control over your content and branding, but you need to build your own audience, which can take a significant amount of time.

Platforms like YouTube and Vimeo have built-in audiences and search visibility, but the competition is much higher in standing out.

If you have high-performing website pages that already rank, you can embed your videos on these pages for immediate ranking authority.

Social Media Promotion

An excellent way to promote your longer videos to get more views and attention is to share snippets on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Short videos are easier to grab attention and drive engagement to your longer videos.

Newer platforms, like YouTube Shorts and TikTok, are great for micro-content, anywhere from 15 seconds to 60 seconds long. They are highlights and teasers from your main video that help draw attention and make viewers want to see the entire video.

Link Building and Embedding

Authority is a huge ranking factor for platforms like Google, as it helps them to know which videos rank higher. By partnering with other websites to embed your videos, you show Google and other search engines that your content is an authority and that other sites want to include the content.

Outreach is another tactic for gaining these types of backlinks. In this method, you’ll reach out to relevant industry websites and blogs and share your video, mentioning the value it would bring to other audiences. Gain enough backlinks, and search engines will want to rank your videos higher in result pages.

Measuring Success

When your videos start hitting the number one spot in search results, you’ll want to ensure they stay that way by measuring your success to keep them sustainable.

Key Metrics to Monitor

To properly track your video progress and ranking factors, you’ll need to hone in on key metrics that change your ranking potential.

Here are a few you should be monitoring:

• View counts: Overall video reach
• Watch time: Measures how long viewers watched your video
• Engagement rate: Tracks likes, comments, and shares on a video
• Click-through rate: Shows how often viewers click on your video after seeing it in search results

Remember that tools like Google Search Console and SEMRush will help you track these data points to make the process easier.

Iterative Improvement

To be truly successful in SEO, you need constant refinement of your strategies and methods. Analytics can be used to gather data about what works and what doesn’t by looking at metrics like watch time, click-through rate, and engagement.

You should also consistently use A/B test thumbnails, titles, and video structure to see which variations perform best. For example, design two different thumbnails for your videos to see which one attracts more clicks. The faster you iterate, the better results you’ll get.

Succeeding With Video SEO

Getting your videos to the top of search results is about striking a balance between creating high-quality, audience-focused content and using strategic video SEO techniques to boost visibility and engagement. Put your audience first and optimize every aspect of your videos to create content that ranks and resonates.

Don’t be afraid to experiment to stay ahead of the competition by exploring trends like AR/VR, live streaming, and interactive videos. The world of SEO is constantly evolving, and you need to adapt to keep up with the changes.