Video Marketing SEO: 8 Optimization Tips + Benefits

Video marketing SEO is the practice of optimizing video content to improve visibility and ranking on search engines. Read on to learn the benefits of video SEO, why it matters, and 8 expert tips.

Video reigns supreme when it comes to bringing in ROI.

A recent survey shows more than 4 out of 5 consumers have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video.

Video’s popularity and effectiveness make it an integral tool for search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns.

It may seem harder to apply standard SEO tactics to video content. In reality, the approach is simply different.

We chatted with HawkSEM co-founder and CEO Sam Yadegar about actionable ways to leverage SEO in your video marketing strategy. Let’s dive in.

YouTube has an advantage for video SEO since videos uploaded to YouTube are automatically, and almost instantly, indexed in Google search. (Image: Unsplash)

8 ways to optimize SEO for video marketing

1. Choose the right hosting platform

Choosing the right video hosting platform is critical for SEO success, and each option comes with its advantages and disadvantages. Popular choices include:

• YouTube
• Vimeo
• Self-hosting

Let’s take a closer look at each.

YouTube

As a platform, YouTube has an advantage since videos uploaded to YouTube are automatically, and almost instantly, indexed in Google search.

YouTube offers advanced discovery features through suggested videos, playlists, and sophisticated video search. Plus, their tagging, closed captioning, and advanced analytics make it easy to optimize content.

However, it’s worth noting that YouTube videos often rank for their instance on YouTube.com instead of the location on your website.

Vimeo

Vimeo is a popular choice for brands looking for high-quality videos with a professional look and feel.

As far as SEO benefits, Vimeo’s user base trends toward “niche and engaged”, making it a great option for industries focused on high-quality visuals (i.e. film and design).

The platform also offers more control over video player customization, which can enhance user experience and branding on your website.

Plus, the ad-free environment keeps searchers focused on your video, leading to better engagement.

Self-hosting

Self-hosting videos, typically through platforms like Wistia or by embedding videos directly onto your site, gain you the following benefits:

• Drive traffic: Direct organic traffic can boost metrics like session duration (and reduce bounce rates), helping with on-site SEO.
• Customizable SEO tags: Self-hosting allows you to add metadata that search engines can crawl.
• Better branding: Since self-hosted videos have no platform branding, you get a more cohesive look and feel that aligns with your brand identity.

Generally, YouTube is the most popular hosting option for SEO efforts. However, if the budget allows, it could also be worth it to at least explore other platforms with potentially higher video quality and more customization options.

Pro tip: If you decide to use multiple hosting platforms, don’t copy-paste all the metadata. Rather, take this opportunity to diversify the text to improve your chances of ranking for different keywords.

2. Add captions and transcriptions

A video transcript is the text version of the words spoken in your video. Adding a transcript to your video allows you to implement standard SEO tactics like leveraging keyword research.

Since search engines can’t crawl videos, captions and transcripts allow them to index and rank your video content. Additionally, a transcript improves user experience (UX), thus keeping visitors on your website longer.

While creating transcripts,  Yadegar recommends breaking them up to add captions to your video. “This way you create extra text for the search engines to crawl.”

He adds, “Even though Google says that accessibility isn’t a ranking factor yet, it may become one in the future (and it’s just good to keep accessibility in mind in the name of equality).”

Pro tip: Don’t have time to type up transcripts yourself? There are softwares and services that can do it for you. Just make sure to double-check the results to make sure everything was transcribed properly.

3. Optimize titles and descriptions

If you want your video to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs), you’ll need to pay attention to the video title and video description optimization.

Like all good SEO content, your metadata should include relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for.

However, as with any content you publish, avoid the black-hat tactic of keyword stuffing.

Yadegar posits, “While you should aim to put keywords as close to the beginning as possible, focus on how engaging and clickable the text is — that’s going to be what gets you the results you want.”

4. Create a video sitemap

A video sitemap includes information about the video hosted on your webpage. Creating such a sitemap helps Google find, understand, and index video content on your website.

It’s especially useful for new video content Google hasn’t had the chance to crawl yet (especially if it’s not hosted on YouTube).

Creating a sitemap allows you to provide a variety of details and create an additional presence on a video.google.com search.

You can submit a video sitemap through the Google Search Console the same way you would for any other XML sitemap.

Confused about sitemaps, videos, or digital marketing in general? Let us help.

When a thumbnail appears in search results, it’s your best chance to catch the attention of your target audience. (Image: Unsplash)

5. Explore rich snippet SEO for video

When your website is marked up in such a way that it lets Google know you want to promote a video, the search result appears with a video thumbnail. Thumbnails can increase your clickthrough rate (CTR).

To increase the chances of a rich snippet video appearing next to the search results, you need to add the schema markup to the HTML code of your video page.

This markup is an additional map that helps search engines crawl your page and display it in search results with a video-based rich snippet.

6. Be strategic about thumbnail quality

Think of the thumbnail image as an ad for your video.

When a thumbnail appears in search results, it’s your best chance to catch the attention of your target audience. The best ones are eye-catching, high-quality, and informative.

As a reminder, the thumbnail doesn’t need to be a frame from the video. It can be a separate image designed to attract the searcher.

7. Focus on video quality

While video quality isn’t necessarily a ranking factor, it does affect the way users interact with your website. If visitors leave after a few seconds of watching a low-quality video, your bounce rate goes up.

Creating high-quality content doesn’t mean you have to invest thousands into professional equipment and a production team. It’s more about creating an engaging video that’s easy to watch, carries value, and speaks to your audience.

Pro tip: If you want a search engine to see your video, keep it closer to the top of the page, or “above the fold.”

8. Keep it short

If you want videos to contribute to your SEO efforts, consider keeping them on the shorter side.

In fact, Wyzowl reports that most marketers deem 30 to 60-second videos to be the most effective. And with TikTok and Meta Reels filling out social media feeds, that’s no surprise.

Keep in mind that if your video is truly valuable, it’s likely to rank high anyway. “You may want to consider breaking it down into several short videos,” Yadegar recommends.

“This will also give you an opportunity to use more keywords in titles and descriptions.”

Why video marketing SEO matters: 6 top reasons

With video increasingly dominating online content, optimizing it for SEO can have a huge impact on your brand’s reach, visibility, and performance.

Here’s why it’s essential to your overall content marketing and SEO strategy.

1. Enhanced user engagement and retention

Video content tends to capture attention longer than text-based content. Longer time on page can lead to:

• Lower bounce rates
• Longer session duration
• More pages per visit

All of these can have a positive impact on SEO.

2. Better click-through rates (CTR)

Video thumbnails are way more eye-catching than standard text links, meaning users are more likely to click on a result that includes video.

Higher CTRs signal relevance to search engines, potentially leading to a higher search engine ranking over time.

3. Better shareability (and link-building potential)

Videos are highly shareable on social media platforms, blogs, and emails. This can help extend your reach across channels and generate backlinks organically.

4. Stronger brand authority and trust

When users engage with video content, it enhances your brand authority, meaning your video ranks higher and you build brand loyalty over time.

Videos also allow brands to share authentic stories, showcase expertise, and demonstrate products, all of which build trust and credibility with audiences.

5. A better mobile experience

Video is especially popular on mobile devices. Optimized content caters to mobile users which improves UX, increases engagement, and appeals to Google’s mobile-first indexing.

6. Supports optimization for voice search

Video titles, descriptions, and transcriptions that align with natural language can help videos rank for voice-activated searches.

Remember tip #2? Adding transcripts and captions makes it easier for search engines to understand and index video content, further enhancing voice search optimization.

The takeaway

Videos continue to rise in popularity for businesses trying to target their audience and grow their reach.

It’s easy to see why: A good video SEO strategy can help companies achieve all types of marketing goals from brand awareness to lead generation and conversion.

When you use video to boost existing marketing efforts,  just make sure to keep rankings in mind. Video views are important, but the video’s topic should still be relevant to your brand and overall business goals.

In short, search engine algorithms love a good video – and it’s time to jump in.

If you’re not sure where to start, the Hawks can help. Contact us today to take your digital marketing to the next level.

This post has been updated and was originally published in August 2021.