Here’s how to extract the most SEO value from your video.
Video Filename
When you’re done with the video make sure that you use the keyword in the video’s filename.
For example, if you wanted to rank for the keyword “weight loss tips”, you’d want to name your video weight_loss_tips_video.mp4.
Video Title
The title of your video should be at least 5-words long. That way, you can include your full keyword without keyword-stuffing.
Like with a blog post, I’ve found that you get a slight video SEO boost by putting your keyword at the beginning of the title.
So if you were trying to rank for “surfing tutorial” you’d want a title like:“Surfing Tutorial: Learn How to Ride a Wave Today”.
Video Description
Your videos description is VERY important.
Because Google and YouTube can’t “listen” to videos, they rely on your text description to determine your video’s content.
Here are the basic guidelines for the description:
- Put your link at the very top of the video (this maximizes CTR to your site)
- Include your keyword in the first 25 words
- Make the description at least 250-words
- Include your keyword 3-4 times
- This SEO-optimized description helps tell Google and YouTube what your video is about without being spammy.
Tags
Tags aren’t super-important…but they help.
Just include a few keywords to help YouTube and Google learn what your video is about.
Targeted tags not only help you rank for your target keyword…
…but get you to you show up more often as a related video in the sidebar area of YouTube
When the video someone’s watching has a similar tag as your video– boom!– you’re added to the sidebar.