I came across a video blog post by Hubspot this week and it reminded me of  how increasingly important online video is becoming to “getting found online”.

The post was a YouTube Video from 12 months ago by Hubspot that had been recorded during an internal ofline  ”Twitter Training”  class for staff  and it was quite funny but very natural. I asked myself the question why is this video up on their blog. The short answer, because it helps them “get found online”… they are using every digital asset they have offline and then re-purposing it for online so that they can constantly fine tune and improve their SEO. So I have listed below some tips for optimizing Video for SEO and then we will take a look at using your other digital assets for SEO in a “Holistic Strategy” for “Getting Found Online”  

I also wanted to look at this topic more closely because of the following observations and facts that I stumbled across in my cyberspace travels.

1. Google owns YouTube… this has to have some implication in Google’s use, ranking and priority of online video in its search logorithms

2. The younger generation watches videos almost before anything else

3. When you do Google searches you will find YouTube Videos high up in the search results

So how can you use online video to help your SEO and what are some of the best practices for doing this?

 1. Optimizing Video for “Getting Found Online”

Video SEO is the practice of optimizing video content via Video Search Engines like YouTube and  Blinkx. Video optimization as part of search engine optimization efforts is a great way to increase the search engine rankings and thereby increase the traffic to one’s website. It acquaints otherwise ignorant users to your brand, products and services.

There are 4 core  methods for video optimization.

• The video can be hosted on your own site. ( not recommended as it will cost you more with hosting costs due to you having to pay fordownload traffic from your site and it doesn’t assist your SEO as much as having it your own account on YouTube.
• Video search engines like Truveo will crawl your site to find videos.
• Another way is submitting an RSS or MRSS feed to a third party site like Yahoo Video or Blinkx.
• Social Media sharing sites like YouTube, AOL Video, and Yahoo Video that allow users to upload videos directly. They can also be used to optimize listings.

8 Tips for Effective Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO)

1. Content Should be Compelling and Meaningful: The quintessence of an effective video is the content. It should be compelling as well as meaningful. If the content isn’t catchy or interesting, viewers won’t be attracted to it. But at the same time, if it doesn’t reinforce the brand, it is not serving its purpose.
2. Headline for the Video Should Drive Viewing like a Good Headline: The title of the video is a big factor in bringing viewers. It should be catchy and also contain keywords. In fact, using keywords in the filename and URL is very advantageous. Another trick is to use the word ‘video’ in any metadata. This is because many users tend to use that word in their searches and having it in the title increases the chances of making it in the search engine results. Stop words like “the”, “and”, etc. should be avoided in the filename.
3. Users Prefer Viewing a Quick Snapshot Before Watching the Full Video. Making good use of thumbnails helps users decide which video to watch. The way you generate thumbnails differs from site to site but the results they yield are worth the effort.
4. The Length of the Video Should not exceed 5 Minutes. It shouldn’t be too long as that may bore the viewer. Ideally, it shouldn’t exceed 5 minutes.
5. Allow viewers to rate your video: Search engines pay attention to this when ranking these videos. Moreover, potential viewers also tend to take into account the ratings of previous viewers. It thus helps ‘go viral’ if the video is positively ranked.
6. Use Keywords in the Link Text. Ths enables search engines to find the video as they can’t read images or video
7. Promote The Video. This can be done through appropriate RSS or MRSS feeds, social bookmarking, and permitting embedding of the video to other sites.
8. Enable the Viewer an Option to Share or Send the Video. This will leverage your marketing .

Note: Video Search Engine Optimization is in its infancy, but it’s progressing by leaps and bounds. It is thus a wise step to invest in VSEO.

2. “Holistic Strategy” for SEO and Getting Found Online.

Another acronym floating around Cyberspace  that also encompasses Video Search Engine Optimisation is  “Digital Asset Optimisation“. I first came across this term when reading a blog post by Lee Odden from Top Rank Blog  and it is starting to gain some traction on the web but  he takes it a step further. 

So  “ What Is Digital Asset Optimisation ? It refers to the practice of taking inventory of a company’s marketable, digital assets and implementing a process for keyword optimization and promotion to relevant channels. Below is a summary of what he means by this. 

“Many companies that have applied basic SEO principles to standard web site content see substantial benefits. Adding new content and attracting links help maintain search marketing performance but is that all you can do to be competitive with SEO? No. A natural progression of SEO is a “Holistic” approach that considers all of a company’s searchable assets that can be keyword optimized and promoted online.

What are Searchable Assets? Some of these are

• Documents: (Word and PDF)
• Images: (Photos, Presentations in Powerpoint, E-Books )
• Video in all its formats
• Podcasts (Audio and Video)
• RSS Feeds

Standard optimization of content in the form of web page SEO is a starting point that can be extended to various media types that are increasingly prominent in both standard search as well as media specific search such as images, video and audio.

In the screenshot above from Google on the search query, “Social Media” are.

• Images,
• Video 
• News results

and are increasingly being incorporated into standard search results. All are opportunities for optimization.

Search Engine Optimization is challenging enough for organizations rich with digital assets. An effort to optimize and promote those assets to bots can be even more challenging – and rewarding.  Since 2007 we’ve been using Digital Asset Optimization at TopRank as a way to describe for clients what new opportunities there are to enable their customers to pull themselves via search to client content.

The repurposing of offline content and digital media for for online marketing purposes should be made a priority such as, Tradeshow or training videos used offline (such as the Hubspot YouTube Twitter training video) can be remixed & edited to provide online content in the form of video, images, text. Each media type can be optimized for standard search like Google, as well as promoted on distinct media sites such as YouTube and Flickr.

The fundamental premise for good SEO or DAO or whatever you want to call optimizing content is that “If it can be searched on, it can be optimized”.

The benefits of a more “Holistic” optimization and marketing approach can be extended beyond content used to attract leads and sales. There other types of search that can drive or benefit business including customer service related content such as

• Job listings 
• News content

Each has it’s own audience to consider and therefore, a different context for optimization.

Developing an interdepartmental process for matching up the various digital assets with corresponding channels of promotion gives companies with minimal content resources additional online marketing opportunities. It also gives companies that produce substantial content an overwhelming competitive advantage. They key to any successful SEO or DAO effort is developing the proper strategy, implementation and management to reaching business goals.

So In Summary

• Consumer search and information consumption is trending towards video, interactive and content sharing.
• Content creators and marketers are challenged to meet those demands through more robust asset optimization efforts.
• Demand for a variety of content types is on the rise
• A digital asset optimization strategy identifies content in all its forms, formats and intentions and applies filters to qualify what is most promotable. Keyword mapping to each promotable asset (both on and offsite) along with a content promotion plan helps organize and keep accountable the digital asset optimization effort.
• There’s no doubt that SEO is constantly changing. Paying attention to new search channels, consumer demand for rich media and the need for content types against which to advertise, is a real opportunity for those marketers ready to take fundamental SEO to the next level

Is your company’s SEO effort focused on web pages or do you optimize and track search performance for other digital assets as well?

Online video is becoming a very important part of online search, and needs to be  included in your companies planning for being found online and to optimise your web site for Organic SEO. So the questions you need to be asking are.    

• What are the latest developments for  “Online Search”  where your business or organisation is trying to be found online?
• Should you be considering using videos posted on YouTube to help you get found online?
• How important to search engines such as Google, is online video? 

Well, I don’t know if you have noticed but when you perform a Google search that, video is increasingly part of the search results, in fact if you do a search on Google for, “Social Media” three of the first four results are online videos (such as YouTube). See the screen shot below that I took at 9:09 pm Thursday, July 30. Google is obviously including online video as part of its developing search alogorithms for serving up the most relevant search results for its audience.

So if that doesn’t convince you how important Google is taking Online video in its search and that you should be including it in your Organic SEO Planning, just take into consideration the following facts and figures regarding Online video usage and growth provided  by “Media Post” and realize why “Google” is making it an integral part of online search.

17 Facts and Figures 

1. 35% of Web users now say they have viewed video content online
2. 16% of Web users said they had watched or downloaded TV shows or movies in 2007, according to new data from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. “Efforts to lure viewers to these portals appear to be paying off,” according to the report. The use of video-sharing sites currently outranks many other headline-snatching Internet pastimes among American adults, according to an April survey of some 2,253 adults by Princeton Survey Research International. Watching online videos on sites like YouTube is more prevalent than the use of social networking sites
3. 46% of adult Internet users are active on YouTube;
4. 19% of Internet users use podcast downloading whereas only 11% of Internet users use microblogging sites like Twitter.
5. 90% of Internet users ages 18-29 use video-sharing sites, up from 72% one year ago.
6. 36% of young adult Internet users watched video on these sites, in 2009, compared with just 30% in 2008.
7. Online adults ages 30-49 also showed big gains over the past year; 67% now use video-sharing sites, up from 57% in 2008.
8. Online video viewing is still far from being the norm among Internet users ages 50 and older; however, this segment of the Internet audience continues to grow each year. Among Internet users ages 50-64, 41% now say they watch video on sites like YouTube — up from 34% in 2008.
9. Likewise, 27% of wired seniors ages 65 and older now access video on these sites, compared with just 19% who were doing so at this time last year.
10. Over the past year, the share of online women who visit video-sharing sites has grown substantially–from 46% in 2008 to 59% in the latest survey. That compares with 57% of male Internet users who reported online video viewing in 2008 and 65% in 2009.
11. On a typical day, online men are still more likely to have watched a video on sites like YouTube; 23% now report doing so compared with just 15% of online women. The latest survey found that there are now no significant differences across income or education groups when looking at the use of video-sharing sites.
12. Among those who have watched television shows and movies online, 23% have taken the next step to connect their computer to their TV screen to watch online video from the comfort of their couch.
13. Online men are almost twice as likely to rearrange the living room in this regard; 29% of male viewers who watch TV and movies online have connected their computer to the television screen, compared with just 16% of online women.
14. As stated in the Pew Internet Project’s “Home Broadband Adoption 2009″ report, overall, 22% of American adults say they have cut back on their cable or television services over the course of the past 12 months.
15. That compares to just 9% who have cut back on their Internet service. Those who have canceled or cut back on cable and TV services are more likely to have “rerouted” their online video viewing to their television screen.
16. Among this economizing group of online video viewers, 32% have connected their computer to their TV screen to watch Internet video.
17. As Internet users become accustomed to regular on-demand video viewing online, many are choosing to watch from the comfort of their couch. Among those who watch TV shows or movies online, 23% say they have connected their computer to a television screen so they could view video from the Internet on their TV. That amounts to roughly 8% of all internet users.

So how are you using Online video in optimizing your site for Google search? Is it working for you. Would like to hear your stories, the good, bad and the ugly!