Video Content For SEO: Why It’s Important, How To Create It, And More
You may have heard that video content on your webpage can help with search engine optimization (SEO).
But is it really worth the effort?
Video content for SEO is more important than you may realize. A simple video along with your written content can give your webpage the SEO boost it needs..
Read on to learn more about how video content improves your site’s SEO and how to add quality videos of your own.
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Contents
Why Is Video Content For SEO Important?
So, you’ve written a long piece of content that has a lot of valuable information for your readers.
But, you might be thinking, why do I need to add a video?
The most obvious answer—people like videos more than they like reading articles.
Many viewers would prefer to simply click “play” and listen, instead of scanning the text. Visitors are likely to stay on your page longer if they find an interesting video to watch.
But there’s more to it than that.
Benefits Of Video Content For SEO
Adding a video to your content can help your site rank higher on Google searches.
Because Google owns YouTube, they use YouTube data in their algorithms to rank websites.
Search engines look at video titles and descriptions to improve web searches and get people to the websites they are looking for.
This all gets very complicated but what you need to know is:
Adding YouTube Videos = Higher Ranking For Your Website.
Now, that’s not EXACTLY how it works. Ridge Krauss, the owner of a Boise video production company called Ridgeline Media Marketing says:
The algorithms are complicated. You can’t just post a bunch of garbage video content on YouTube and hope to do well. But, if you consistently produce 1) video content targeting questions that your target audience is asking, 2) make sure the video content is engaging, 3) properly write a solid SEO-friendly title and description on your YouTube videos and then finally 4) embed those YouTube videos on your website… then it’s nearly a fool-proof way to make sure your video strategy is supporting SEO performance.
How To Optimize Your Video Content For SEO: 5 Simple Steps
Creating video content for SEO without a clear strategy is a waste of time and energy. You don’t want to just make a fun video without giving some thought to how it’s going to help your page rank on Google.
In these next sections, we’ll go over exactly how to create video content with your SEO in mind.
However, if you’re short on time and don’t want to become an SEO expert, consider calling us at Portland SEO Growth instead.
We already know which keywords you should use for your video content, and we have all the tools necessary to improve your site’s SEO in record time.
With decades of experience in content creation, our team will make sure that your content is laser-focused on increasing valuable traffic to your website.
#1: Keyword Research
Creating great content starts with finding the right keywords.
Your content won’t do anything to help your website rank higher in the search engines if you don’t do some research to find the best keywords.
You could spend hours of your time writing content, but without keyword research, it would be a big waste of time.
Keyword research answers the question, what are my potential customers typing into google?
Let’s use one of Portland SEO Growth’s clients for example.
Bridgetown Aesthetics is a medical spa that specializes in botox.
You may think the obvious answer for them would be to try and rank for the keyword “botox” so that people who type this into Google will see their page first.
However, “botox” is a very popular keyword, so their website is unlikely to ever rank on the first page of results for this keyword. Google will show many information pages, local pages, and news articles related to botox before they will show a specific medical spa.
But, the keyword “botox” is not very specific. So even if you did rank for this keyword, the traffic to the website won’t have a high conversion to sales.
The goal is to work smarter, not harder.
Instead of trying to rank for the keyword “botox” (which would be nearly impossible), our team researched to find an equally valuable long-tail keyword that is less competitive: “does botox help migraines.”
This is important because it targets the exact customers that Bridgetown Aesthetics is looking for. Because the keyword is less competitive, Bridgetown will be able to rank higher when we focus their written content around this keyword.
The customer has a problem, and Bridegetown has the solution.
Doing keyword research ensures that your customer can find your business when they are searching for a solution to their problem.
#2: Create Content Around A Keyword From Your Research
After you find a great keyword to focus on, write a piece of content around it.
You should use the keyword in creative ways throughout your content.
Title
The main title of your piece of content should include the keyword.
For example, if your targeted keyword is, “USA Made Clothing,” the title of your article could be “Why It’s Important To Buy USA Made Clothing.”
The main title is a very important part of written content for the intention of helping your website rank higher on search engines.
Headers
Throughout your content, you should have headers for different sections.
Google’s algorithm recognizes these headers and will take them into account when ranking your content.
Be sure to add related keywords to your headers.
For example, if your main keyword is “USA Made Clothing,” One of your headers might be “Where To Buy USA Made Clothing.”
You can label your Headers with H Tags to keep them organized.
- H1: Main title
- H2: Subheading under the title
- H3: Subheadings that relate to the H2 above
Here’s an example:
H1: Why It’s Important To Buy USA Made Clothing
H2: Where To Buy USA Made Clothing
H3: Where To Buy USA Made Clothing Online
Each of your H tags should include content that relates to the title of the header. This helps Google’s algorithm to understand what your webpage is about and whether it will add value to the person making the query.
Quality Content
Google’s algorithm knows when a piece of content is valuable to readers.
If you just write the keyword over and over without any real information, your page won’t rank highly.
When you are writing, try to think of the information that your reader needs.
Bring value to your reader, while also showing them how your product can help with their problem.
When you’re thinking of ways to incorporate keywords into your written content, make sure you do so in a natural way. Sentences that don’t make sense won’t contribute to your SEO.
Poorly written content will also reflect badly on your brand.
Using photos is another way to add quality to your content. Feel-good images keep readers engaged so they’re more likely to stay on your page.
Studies have shown that images of people smiling give readers a good feeling when they are thinking of purchasing something. Choose photos that send a happy message to add to your content.
While it’s important for your writing, photos and videos to be carefully thought-out, staying laser-focused on keywords is critical for the success of your page.
The goal is to have quality content, but using keywords properly will make sure it gets noticed by the right people.
Writing quality content without focusing on keywords would be like Leo Tolstoy writing his magnum opus, and never getting it published.
#3: Film Video Content Around The Same Keyword
After you write a piece of content around your keyword, think of an engaging video to create around the same keyword.
For example, let’s say we are writing a piece of content for our client, Bridgetown Aesthetics, around the keyword, “does botox help migraines.”
An example of a video content for SEOwould be a doctor, or medical expert, talking briefly about how botox helps treat migraine headaches.
The video doesn’t have to be long. You could just have a short snippet between 60 seconds and 2 minutes.
If you don’t have resources to have an expert appear in your video, you could even film yourself, or show a display board with the information.
#4: Upload Video To Youtube And Optimize
The next step is to upload your video to YouTube and optimize it for the keyword.
Focus on the title and the description as these are the components of the video that will help your SEO.
Video Title Optimization
Make sure your video’s title has the exact same keyword in it.
In our example, the keyword was “does botox help migraines.” So, our video’s title might be, “Does botox Help Migraines? Here’s What The Experts Say.”
The title of the video needs to be intriguing enough for viewers to want to click “play.” However, since people generally click on the first few results of a search page, you want the title to contribute to your ranking as well.
You could come up with an awesome title that is very interesting, but if it doesn’t show up on the first page of results it will never make it in front of your potential viewers.
Here’s an example to illustrate.
Let’s say you made a breakthrough in technology, and you created the most comfortable mattress in the world.
To get the word out, you create a video to show people why it’s the most comfortable mattress in the world.
You give the video a very catchy title— “Amazing Breakthrough In Technology!”
Unfortunately, your potential buyers are searching Google for, “most comfortable mattress.” So, they will never find your video titled “Amazing Breakthrough in Technology” because that keyword isn’t going to rank for anything having to do with mattresses.
Video Description
The keyword should be used in your video’s description as well.
The description is like a condensed version of the piece of content you wrote.
Write 400-500 words for the description of the video. This will serve as a mini blog post that gives your reader the information they are looking for.
The video description is used by Google’s algorithm to determine how the video and related content will rank in searches, so make sure you use the keywords as often as possible in a natural way.
#5: Embed Video Onto Your Content Page
Once your video is complete, don’t forget to add it to your content page.
Embed it into the content in a place that seems natural, to help the flow of the piece.
If there’s a section in your article that is specifically about the content of the video, it should follow that section.
How To Get Started With SEO For Written And Video Content
To get started with SEO for written and video content, you should ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I have the time to research keywords and learn about SEO for my website?
- Do I have the time to write content each week for my website?
- How much extra revenue will I see from my SEO efforts?
SEO can be complicated and time-consuming.
If you want to keep your focus on your business, and not worry about learning a whole new skill, Portland SEO Growth has 25+ SEO experts on-hand to optimize your website for SEO.
Our talented team of experts will get to know your business personally, and we can project how much extra traffic and conversions you will see from using our service.
We know when you should include video content for SEO and can help you create killer web pages that are guaranteed to drive more viewers to your website.
You can use your valuable time to manage your business, and put your SEO on auto-pilot with Portland SEO Growth.
