Video SEO optimizes your video to rank higher on search engines for relevant keyword searches. For eCommerce businesses, video SEO helps to improve brand visibility and allows you to reach potential buyers at different stages of the buyer journey.
Research suggests that video search results have a 41% higher CTR and are 50% more likely to be ranked in the organic search results. Video SEO strategy is not the same as regular SEO, which has changed significantly over the last couple of years.
You can gain high rankings on competitive keywords using interactive videos on universal search. Here are some of the best eCommerce video SEO strategies.
1. Optimize your video thumbnail
Video thumbnails in search results help increase your search traffic by 50%. Thumbnail is the first thing the searcher sees in the search results. Here are some examples of excellent eye-catching thumbnails that persuade viewers to click on the video:
Source: All About Cats
A video thumbnail must be compelling, high-quality, engaging, and relevant.
You can also easily track all your video performance with Google Analytics or migrate from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4.
2. Write user-intent-focused titles
Your title should grab attention and reflect the value that your video provides. The title should be relevant and should explain the video.
Optimize the title for the keywords that you are trying to rank. Search bots look for your video titles to help you rank for the correct search queries and reach a more relevant audience.
Here is an example of a great video headline:
Source: YouTube Creator Academy
According to a study by Briggsby for reverse engineering, YouTube ranking factors found that 90% of high-ranking videos included a target keyword in their title. Therefore, always use your primary keyword in your video title and focus the rest of your title on attracting more clicks using SEO-friendly content. Also, do not use clickbait titles.
For instance, “video745_version 5.4” is a poor video title because it does not inform the user about the contents of the video. On the contrary, a title like “5 Ways to Rank Videos in Google” instantly captures the users’ attention and uses the primary keyword “rank videos.”
3. Optimize your video descriptions
Using the right keywords in video descriptions can impact your search rankings. It would help if you used secondary keywords in your descriptions, apart from your primary keyword. 75% of the Top 20 YouTube results use broad match variants in their video description text. To get started, create 200-word descriptions for each video but don’t crossover the 350-word mark.
YouTube videos with longer descriptions help Google better understand your video content. Moreover, using long-tail keywords in your description can help your videos rank for more relevant search queries.
Use video descriptions to direct your audience to other related content. You can also add time-stamps in your video description for longer videos. Here is an example of an adequate video description:
Source: Wave Video
4. Embed your videos in blog posts
72% of readers would rather watch a video than reading text. Hence, you should embed your best-performing videos in your blog content as embeds are a YouTube ranking signal, and it’s like creating a backlink to your video.
Remember to include a single video on every page and ensure it is relevant to its content. Embed only one video in each blog post. Avoid embedding the same video for multiple pages, as that might confuse the search engines. You can find the embed code by clicking on the embed link in your YouTube videos, as shown below:
Source: Educators Technology
5. Don’t forget mobile optimization
98% of all views on videos come from mobile devices. Therefore, if your videos are not optimized for mobile viewing, then you might end up losing a large number of relevant prospects.
If you upload videos on YouTube, use interactive cards instead of annotations. YouTube annotations are essential tools to boost engagement with viewers and grow your audience. But, annotations do not work on mobile videos.
YouTube has released interactive cards to cater to the growing mobile audience. These cards are similar to annotations and can be optimized for mobile and desktop interfaces.
6. Use YouTube shorts and leverage advertising
YouTube shorts are 60-second-long videos that you can quickly record and upload. You can edit videos with several creative tools, stitch shorter clips with a multi-segment camera or add music from YouTube’s library.
It also allows you to speed up or slow down videos. It is a new feature that is similar to TikTok. With Shorts, there is a chance for smaller accounts to build a following quickly as Google pushes Shorts to compete with rivals TikTok and Instagram.
You can use YouTube advertising to boost your video views, and this initial boost can work wonders for your video SEO campaign and help you gain more visibility.
Make sure to improve your ROAS to gain more than what you invest. Here is an example of a YouTube ad in action:
Source: Digital Marketer
7. Promote your videos extensively
Your video SEO strategy is incomplete without an active promotional strategy. Do not expect people to find your videos on their own. You must distribute your content and promote it on other platforms to get more views.
93% of marketers say they have landed a new customer by promoting their videos on social media platforms. It is an excellent practice to cross-promote your videos on other platforms, regardless of your choice.
Invest in promotion strategies that encourage embedding on sites with substantial traffic. Post your video on your other social media handles, create teasers of the video, send a newsletter to your subscriber, or email them informing them of your latest video. Consider creating a team or hiring a link building service to build links to your video, or connect and hire influencers to promote your videos to reach a much larger audience.
With Facebook rebranding itself as a video-first platform, Instagram influencer marketing seeing a significant boost in 2020, and TikTok building its user base exponentially despite security concerns, video search engine optimization in marketing is here to stay.
