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http://www.reelseo.com/ This is my presentation from the LiveClicker Video Commerce Summit. I was asked to present my view of video search engine optimization (video SEO), as well as to help educate the audience on some best practices for publishing online video in a search-friendly manner. More - http://www.reelseo.com/seo-e-commerceseo-e-commerce/10165/
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VIDEO + SEO
Not Smoke and Mirrors, Just Best Practices for E-Commerce Video
Publishing
Mark Robertson - ME• ReelSEO.com Founder, Webmaster, Customer Service
Author, etc…
• Expertise– Search engine optimization
– Online video publishing
– Search, search, & more search
– SMBs & media companies
– Musician/drummer
• Not so much– Video production - dabbling
– Ecommerce
– Conference speaking ;-)
Who is this Guy and Why is he Here?
Internet Retailer Survey – January 2009
Focused on Video VisibilityNews, tips, reviews, and observations about online video
• Video marketing
• Video advertising
• Video search & sharing
• Video optimization (Video SEO)
• Online video technology
• Online video publishing
• Online video market research
• Video industry news
What is ReelSEO.com?
How do Consumers Discover Video Content?
Where do viewers discover video online?
44% - discover randomly
43% - via sharing
43% - via video websites
39% - via search engines
27% - via marketing email
4% - via RSS & MRSS feeds
Video Search Traffic Trends
Video discovery via search is on the rise
• 29% of video discovered on social video sharing sites in 2008
– vs. 36% in 2007
• 29% of videos discovered via search engines in 2008
– vs. 22% in 2007
1. People are used to using search engines to locate online content
2. Consumers append the word “video” to their search queries.
3. Universal/Blended/Federated Search proliferation
Why the Shift to Search?
Google Universal Search
May 2007 – Google Launches Universal Search initiative to integrate listings from its news, video, images, local and book search engines into Google SERPS
Videos Dominate Universal Search
Videos Dominate Universal Search
38% of users who searched Google were served video in Universal search engine results pages
Source – “Google Universal Search Results Searcher Penetration by Result Type” – ComScore – Jan 2008
Regular SERPS Universal SERPS
Why is this important – Thumbnail Power!
YouTube is more than just a place to upload & share videos
Did you know?• December 2008 - YouTube became the 2nd largest search engine & 4th
largest web property overall
• How much video is uploaded to YouTube every minute?
• 15 hours worth of video - equivalent to 86,000 new full length movies/week
• More content is uploaded to YouTube in 60 days than all 3 major U.S. networks generated in the last 60 years
YOUTUBE – Video Sharing + Video Search
Simply put, video SEO is the application of SEO best practices to ensure that your video content achieves maximum visibility
among your target audience
Video SEO IS•About best practices for online video publishing•To be used in conjunction with overall best practices for general SEO •Something that plays an important role in an overall video strategy
Video SEO IS NOT•Only about syndicating your videos to multiple sites•Smoke and mirrors•An end in-and-of itself
What is Video SEO?
Types of Video SEO
2 Main Strategies for Video Search Optimization
1) Hosted - Website video + SEO– Optimization of video content that is on your website
2) Posted - Video syndication + SEO– Optimization of video content uploaded or syndicated to video sharing
sites, social media websites, etc…
My Recommendation– Take advantage of both
Benefits of Website Video SEO (hosted)
Benefits:• Control:
– on-page text
– user-experience, etc...
– action/conversions
– brand experience
• Better measurement capabilities
• Generate traffic directly
• Exposure to related content
• Can strengthen overall website SEO
When your goal is to generate traffic to your website & your video content
Benefits of Posted Video SEO
Benefits:• Take advantage of a large audience
and viral social nature
• Take advantage of pre-established authority and rankings
• Easy way to get into organic & universal search - thumbnails
• Show up multiple times in SERPS
• Works with or w/o a strong website presence
When your goal is to generate video views, brand recognition, and social interaction/buzz
+ On the positive side…• Videos generate interest, buzz, inbound links, and website traffic
• Videos can help a site achieve better rankings overall
• Universal search – extra opportunity to drive traffic
- On the negative side…• Search engines are not YET able to “read” actual video content
• Search engines need to be told what a video is about
• Optimization is crucial to discovery = extra work for videophiles
How Does Video Affect Overall Site SEO?
Benchmarking - Measure Current State
Check Video Referrals - Analytics• Where do visitors to your video pages arrive from?
• What % of video traffic comes from search engines?
Test Searches • Do your products appear in the search engines?
• How about your videos?
Monitor Behavior • What % of visitors are linking to your videos or sharing?
Benchmarking - Before you Begin
Site Structure• 1 video per URL & use unique URLS
• Place your videos in a central root folder/directory – www.site.com/videos/
• What about domains/micro-sites?
• Create navigation links to your video content
Page Structure• Use embedded players – not pop-ups
• Follow general SEO principles for titles, URLs, meta tags, H1, etc…
• Include contextually related links to product pages & videos
• Provide related on-page text (tags, captions, comments)
Tips for Hosted / Website Video SEO
Enable Interaction & Sharing1. Helps to generate inbound links & buzz
2. In turn - helps search engines more easily discover & rank your content
• Allow visitors to grab & share your videos
• Create easy links for users - Permalinks
• Enable commenting and rating– Creates relevant text & promotes buzz
• Allow users to subscribe to your videos via RSS/MRSS
• Include social bookmarking tools
Tips for Hosted / Website Video SEO
Search engines currently do their best to crawl the web and index video content. BUT, don’t wait for them to find you. Help them by telling them about your video content.
MRSS Feed SyndicationMRSS = RSS feed w/media enclosures
1.Submit RSS/MRSS feeds directly
2.Create active MRSS or link to MRSS
3.Submit MRSS or XML to Google Sitemaps
And/or – Leverage Posted Video SEO
How Do You Get Into Search Engines?
Consider submitting videos, especially those of a viral appeal to video sharing sites
Tips•Use services like Tubemogul to upload your videos to multiple sites.
•Titles are extremely important
•Try slight variations in titles across sites
•Descriptive text around video (e.g. more info section in YouTube)
•Leverage tags – use tags liberally – optimize & de-optimize
•Put your URL at the start of the description
Posted Video SEO - Syndication
Drive Interaction & Conversion
• Add URLs to your descriptions
• Create a branded channels
• Leverage annotations to drive viewers to your other videos
• Use watermarks, include website URL
• Include measurable calls to action (coupons, promo codes)
• Allow commenting & rating
• Find related videos & comment with your video, only if relevant & useful
Some YouTube Specific Tips
Measuring Success• Check Analytics Referrers
• Check SERP rankings
• Check YouTube Rankings
Remember• Be patient• Have reasonable expectations• SEO is a balance• SEO is a continuous effort
Measuring SEO – Is it Working?
Keep in Mind the Future of Video Search1. Speech recognition – Blinkx, Google Audio, Goog411
2. Image recognition – Google, DigitalSmiths
3. Facial recognition – VideoSurf, Google
Why is this important?• Video Production quality
• Audio quality
• Scripts – keywords
• Perhaps dup content is not an issue now, but…
• Etc…
Future of Video Search – Production Quality
Lean Back vs. Lean Forward• "It's got to be 30 sec"
• My answer is always, "Let's tell the story first.“
• You don’t have to shout at the audience, their already watching
Telling a story:• Engage customers
• Educate customers (sit & fit experience)
• Prominent branding
• Point of differentiation
• Entertain customers
Focus on Quality and Engagement
Sales increased 5X the company's old record
Think about the words users would type to find your pages, and make sure that your site actually includes those words within it."
(Google Guidelines)
Do your research•Not everyone searches the same way
•Tools– Google Search Insight
– SEOBook.com
– “Related Searches”
•Good keywords to append for products– Review
– Demonstration
– Test
– Buy
Keywords Research is Crucial to Success
Longer search queries are becoming more popular YOY
Facts:• The majority of searches are 1-3 keywords
• But, queries with 4-8 keywords grew YOY -3% to 20%.
• Long tail keywords are:
– Easier to rank for in organic search
– Cheaper to buy for PPC
– Typically result in higher conversion %
Long Tail Keyword Searches
Avoid Manufacturer Product Descriptions:• Resist the urge. Re-write descriptions - make unique.
Allow your customers to comment and tag products with their own keywords. • Start ranking for slang keywords that you would have never thought of..
Don’t Use “View” or “Watch”• On your product category pages, link to the individual product videos with
good anchor text – No - “View” or “watch video”– Yes – “Canon HF-10 Review Video”
Links in Product Descriptions:• Create keyword rich links in product descriptions of one product to another
Other – SEO tips for E-Commerce
Questions?Mark R. Robertson
mark@reelseo.com
www.reelseo.com
Twitter: reelseo
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