With all the Google updates and algorithm changes and Pandas and Hummingbirds, it’s hard to know what kind of optimization techniques you can use to make your video content show. Providing quality content is always the best way to rank your videos, but what other strategies can you use to make your video content relevant to search engines? If you’re an online media marketer using videos, try these 5 strategies to give your videos the juice they need to get the attention of viewers and search engines alike.
Set up your YouTube channel
If you can view and share your video, your content gets a higher relevancy authority in search engines. How do you get people to share your videos? Setting up a YouTube channel with a focus on your intended niche is the first step in getting your videos viewed and then shared. Having charts and filling in the ‘About’ section with keywords relevant to your niche will also help your channel. Targeting your channel will get your content seen by the people you want and generate subscribers. Targeting means naming your channel in relation to your niche; I wouldn’t post auto repair instructional videos on a channel called XboxOnefans.
Once you have subscribers, always make sure to go into advanced settings when uploading your videos and choose the option to notify your subscribers when videos are uploaded.
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Who is your audience? What are they looking for? If you can answer the first two questions, then the strategy for this is easy … Give them what they want! Sometimes that is not so easy, but the content is more engaging when it tells a story. It’s hard to know for sure what people are really looking for. For example, there are YouTube channels that have over 1 million subscribers and all the channel owner does is ask his viewers questions and then answer them in videos.
Practically if you have a passion, a stance, an agenda, or something that bothers you, you have an audience. For ideas, look at what other channels have posted that are generating views.
Participate, join the conversation
When you watch and comment on someone’s videos, they will reciprocate and respond to you. One strategy that can get views is to comment on other videos that are relevant to your niche. Don’t spam them with your video link in their comments. When someone spamms a video through the comment section, it is usually blocked or removed by the owner of the video.
Another strategy is to respond to a video with a video. Sometimes when you provoke a debate, other viewers jump into the conversation. An added benefit of getting comments on your videos is that the comment along with a link to your video is posted on the commenters’ Google+ profile page and everyone in their circles will see the post.
Use playlists to add relevant keywords
Did you do a YouTube search and found that the top 2 or 3 results weren’t videos, but playlists? Depending on your keywords, you can use playlists to give your videos a bit more oomph. To use this technique, set up your playlists like this:
- With your browser set to “incognito” or log out of all your Gmail accounts (if using Google), do a YouTube search for your keywords.
- Identify the top 5 videos for your keywords and save the URLs of those videos
- Now log into your channel and create a playlist named after your keywords.
- Add your video and top 5 videos using their URLs to your new playlist
Sharing socially
Social bookmarking can give any video a high degree of relevance. We can’t all make up that next viral video that will take Facebook by storm. But don’t discount the power of connecting your social media profiles to your YouTube channel for more pop. Make sure your Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ profiles are connected to your YouTube channel so that every time a new video is posted, your video is automatically shared. It is an automated process and too easy NOT to configure it.
To give your videos a little more social juice, be sure to embed your video in a blog post on your own site, too. If you don’t have a self-hosted blog or website, you can use sites like Tumblr, Blogger, and WordPress.org as alternatives.
Hopefully, you haven’t fallen into the trap of paying for YouTube views or likes on your videos. As more and more people use video as the medium for their content, search engines are paying attention to the activities of their viewers. If you want to increase your viewing chances and it seems like you’re not getting traction, modify the title or make another video that targets the same keywords. The number of videos and the regular posting of content along with the right title can also lead you in the right direction.