Search Engine optimization for Online Videos

When uploading a video on YouTube, here are steps to take to optimize these sites for the search engine.

1. Keyword Research
   Keyword research is very important; to know what users are searching for and how to take advantage of that. Even when you have a particular niche, you should still take the time to search for the keywords that are used in connection to that niche and ensure that your sites use those keywords.

2. Keyword in Title and Video File Name
   The use of the keyword in the title of the video that would appear on YouTube and even in the file name is one of the most effective ways of optimizing a video.

3. Keyword in Description
   The video description should have at least one occurrence of the keyword for which the video is to rank for. Avoid stuffing the description with keywords as that can lead to penalties. One or two occurrences of the keyword would do just fine for the video.

4. Video Length
   The length of the video can also help in its optimization and its click-through rate. The longer the video, the lower the probability of it being clicked and even If it is clicked, it might also affect its bounce rate which in turn would help its optimization

5. Thumbnail
   The use of a captivating and attractive thumbnail (but not deceptive) would help the video get more clicks, this might not be a something that can be detected by search engine algorithms but if it’s click-through rate is high upon uploading and it’s bounce rate is low, then the search engine algorithms automatically think, the video is liked by a lot of people and would include it in keywords related suggestions and recommendation.

6. Quality.
   The quality of a video is also important in its ranking and search engine optimization. It is, therefore, necessary to have a 720 HD video quality for your YouTube video uploads.

7. The use of the appropriate tags and Categories.
   The use of tags and categories help the video get suggested to visitors when any related video gets watched.

8. The use of Social Media
   Promoting YouTube videos on social media is one of the most effective ways of driving traffic to a video and also optimizing it for search engines. Social Media can be used to promote the videos and make it go viral.

9. Link Building
   The linking building also works for video optimization. Having the URL in blog comments, web posts and directories would drive traffic to the video and also help with the search engine optimization.

10. Pinging
    The use of the pinging technique helps to optimize YouTube videos for search engine

11. Initial Views
    This is a grey hat practice that involves buying initial views, with so many view buying programs going on, on the internet. This involves having people view the video to the end from different locations to help boost its initial click-through rate which would help its reputation for Search Engine Optimization. The trick here is however to have a video worth watching as even after the initial views if other visitors don’t click it after it’s being suggested to them, the whole exercise would have gone to waste.