Video SEO: so that your videos appear in the SERPs

The aim of this article: Your guide to better video SEO

Our aim is to provide you with a detailed and comprehensive guide that will take you through all aspects of video SEO. From optimising your videos for search engines, to embedding videos on your website, to optimising YouTube videos and the technical requirements for video SEO.

In addition, we'll also look at how you can use video SEO to improve your overall SEO strategy and we'll provide you with some practical examples and a step-by-step guide to help you with your video SEO strategy.

So, our goal is clear: we want to give you a comprehensive guide to video SEO. But you might be asking yourself: "What exactly is video SEO?"

Here's the answer.

What is video SEO?

Video SEO is a sub-area of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and deals specifically with the optimisation of videos for search engines.

It is about designing videos and presenting them on the website in such a way that they are clearly visible in the search results of search engines such as Google. This can also significantly increase your website rankings, as videos are often prioritised in search results.

What is YouTube SEO?

In addition to optimisation for classic search engines, YouTube SEO also plays an important role. As the name suggests, this is specifically about optimising videos for YouTube searches. As YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world after Google, it is particularly important to be found well here with your videos.

In other words, YouTube SEO is all about increasing the visibility of your videos on YouTube itself.

Everything clear? Good.

Now let's find out why it's so important.

Why is video SEO important?

In this day and age, video content has become an indispensable part of any effective online marketing strategy. With the increasing popularity of platforms such as YouTube and the inclusion of videos in Google and other search engine results, it has become crucial that your videos are not only engaging and informative, but also optimised for search engines. This is where video SEO comes into play.

Video SEO, or video search engine optimisation, helps to bring your video to the top of the rankings so that more users can find and view it. It plays a crucial role in driving traffic to your website, expanding the reach of your content and ultimately increasing conversions and sales.

In addition, they can help increase dwell time on your website, as videos tend to be more engaging and hold users' attention longer than text-only content. This in turn can have a positive effect on your ranking.

Now we've clarified why video SEO is so crucial.

But wait a minute!

Is there a difference between YouTube SEO and video SEO?

Let's take a closer look.

The differences between YouTube SEO & video SEO

Although video SEO and YouTube SEO are closely related, there are some important differences. While video SEO generally encompasses the optimisation of videos for all search engines, YouTube SEO focuses specifically on optimisation for the YouTube platform.

For video SEO, it matters:

• how you embed your videos on your website
• which metadata and text elements you use
• how you embed the video in the context of your website
• whether and how you create a video sitemap
• how to ensure the technical requirements for good visibility in the video search results

YouTube SEO, on the other hand, is primarily about aspects that are specifically relevant to the YouTube platform. These include, for example

• the title and description of your video
• the use of keywords and tags
• interaction with users in the form of likes, comments and shares

That was the difference between video SEO and YouTube SEO.

Now let's move on to the benefits of video SEO.

Benefits of video SEO for SEO in general

Video SEO is a valuable tool that goes far beyond simply optimising your video content. It has the potential to significantly improve your overall SEO strategy and take your online presence to the next level.

How video SEO can improve your overall SEO strategy

When we talk about search engine optimisation or SEO, we primarily think of text content, but video SEO is just as important. Videos are an increasingly popular medium - they are engaging, informative and can present complex concepts in easily digestible formats. Search engines like Google recognise this trend and therefore favour websites that provide high quality video content.

Here are the 2 main benefits:

• Increased Dwell Time: Videos are a great way to increase dwell time on your website. Users tend to stay on a page longer to watch a video, which causes search engines to judge your website as useful and relevant. This can lead to your page being ranked higher in search results, resulting in more traffic and ultimately improved SEO performance.
• More visibility, reach and traffic: Embedding videos on your website can also help to increase the visibility and reach of your content. Videos are displayed by search engines in organic search results, and when these videos are embedded on your website, this leads to additional traffic.

What types of videos can improve the web experience for the user?

There are many different types of videos you can create to improve the web experience for your users. The format you choose will depend on your topic, your target audience and the specific goals of your website.

• Explainer videos are a great way to present complex topics or products in a simple and easy-to-understand way. They can help to emphasise the benefits of your product or service while providing valuable information.
• Testimonial videos or customer experience reports are another good option. They provide social proof and can build trust in your brand.
• Instructional and how-to videos are also very useful. They can show users how to use a product or complete a specific task. Such videos can not only increase customer satisfaction, but also reduce the number of support requests.
• Product demonstrations can help potential customers make an informed purchasing decision. They can also help answer frequently asked questions and emphasise the uniqueness of your product.
• Finally, corporate videos that offer a behind-the-scenes look can help build a connection with your audience and showcase your brand's personality.

In the next section, we'll go into more detail about the benefits of video SEO.

Benefits of video SEO

In this section, we want to focus on the benefits of video SEO. If you've ever created videos for your website or YouTube channel, you'll know that it can take a lot of time and resources. But the effort is definitely worth it, especially when you consider the positive effects of video SEO.

The positive effects of video SEO

It's important that you understand that optimising your videos for search engines (i.e. what we call "video SEO") isn't just about making your videos more visible in search results. It's about

• increase traffic to your website,
• improve user engagement and ultimately
• increase your conversion rates.

Essentially, video SEO can help improve your overall SEO performance and the reach of your content.

Why are videos easier to consume and more memorable?

It's no secret that our brains process visual content faster and more easily. According to a study, we process visual information - i.e. images and videos - 60,000 times faster than text. It is also estimated that 90% of the information the brain takes in is visual. This makes video content a powerful tool in your marketing strategy.

What's more, videos are not only easier to consume, but also easier to remember. People are more likely to remember what they've seen than what they've read or heard. This means that if you get your message across through a video, it's likely to stay in your audience's mind for longer.

So, to summarise, video SEO is a powerful tool to help you reach and engage your audience, deliver your message effectively and ultimately improve your SEO performance.

It's not just important for YouTube channels, but for any website that aims to reach a larger audience and build a stronger bond with its users.

In the following sections, we'll talk more about the techniques and tips for optimising your videos for search engines. So stay tuned!

Optimising videos for search engines

If you want to optimise your content for search engines, you don't just need to focus on the text elements of your website. It's just as important to take care of optimising your videos to get the most out of your SEO strategy.

How to optimise your videos for search engines

The first step is to clearly define the content of your videos and make sure they are relevant and engaging for your audience.

The content of the video should add value to your audience while also addressing a topic that is closely related to your website's keywords. Remember that the content of the video always comes first.

The role of metadata and text elements in video optimisation

Another important aspect of video SEO is the correct use of metadata and text elements. This includes the title, description and tags of your video.

The video title should be precise and memorable and contain your main keyword. The video description is the place where you can explain the content of your video in more detail and include other relevant keywords.

Tags help YouTube understand what your video is about and are another place to include your keywords. Use both general and specific tags to increase the chances of your video being displayed for relevant search queries.

Why a search engine friendly website environment is important for video content

Finally, the environment in which your video is presented also plays a role in video SEO. Your website should be search engine friendly and allow search engine bots to easily crawl and index your content.

Make sure you embed your video content in a context that is readable for search engines and relevant to the topic of the video, for example by embedding your videos in high-quality, informative text content.

By following these tips, you can improve the optimisation of your videos for search engines and increase the visibility of your content on both Google and YouTube.

Now let's take a quick look at how to optimise your videos for YouTube search.

Ranking factors for YouTube SEO

When you talk about video SEO, you can't get past YouTube. YouTube SEO is a crucial part of video SEO and includes several specific ranking factors that you need to be aware of.

Firstly, YouTube places great importance on viewer engagement. This includes factors such as the number of comments, likes and dislikes, sharing activity and watch time. The more engagement your video receives, the higher it is likely to appear in YouTube search results.

5 YouTube SEO tips

1. Use relevant keywords in your title and description: Your video title should contain the main keyword you're targeting and the description should contain a mix of related and semantic keywords. This will help YouTube understand what your video is about and show it to the right viewers.
2. Optimise your video tags: Tags help YouTube understand what your video is about. Use your main keyword and related keywords as tags. But don't overdo it - a handful of relevant tags is better than a flood of loosely related ones.
3. Add subtitles and transcripts: Subtitles and transcripts improve the accessibility of your video and provide YouTube with additional text that it can search. This can be particularly helpful if your main keyword is spoken in your video.
4. Encourage viewers to interact: Comments, likes, shares and subscriptions are strong signals to YouTube that your video is popular. Encourage your viewers to interact at the end of the video to increase these signals.
5. Use end screens and cards: End screens and cards can help increase viewer engagement by encouraging viewers to watch more of your videos. This can help increase the overall watch time of your channel, which is an important ranking factor for YouTube.

Embedding videos on the website

Why SEO-compliant embedding of videos on your website is important

Properly embedding videos on your website can make a big difference when it comes to how well your content ranks in search engines like Google. This is because video content is not only a visual medium, but also a powerful ally for your SEO strategy.

When embedding videos, you need to pay attention to SEO-compliant methods to get the most out of your video content. This means you need to make sure that both the video itself and the surrounding content on your website are search engine friendly. For example, you should make sure that the video title, video description and metadata of your video are filled with relevant keywords.

Why you should avoid uploading videos to your own server

Although it may be tempting to host your videos directly on your own server, there are some valid reasons to avoid doing so.

• Firstly, hosting videos on your own server can consume a lot of bandwidth. This can increase the load times of your website, which can lead to a poorer user experience and potentially lower search engine rankings.
• Secondly, videos hosted on your own server are often harder for search engines to find and index. This means they are less likely to appear in search results and therefore drive less traffic to your website.

The benefits of using video hosting platforms like YouTube

YouTube is not only the second largest search engine in the world (after Google), but also a platform that is favoured by Google. This means that videos hosted on YouTube that are properly optimised have a higher chance of appearing in Google search results.

YouTube also offers a range of video optimisation tools, including the ability to include keywords in titles and descriptions, add subtitles and even embed links to your website in the video. All of this can help improve your video SEO and drive more traffic to your website.

Technical requirements for video SEO

In this section, we'll look at the technical requirements for successful video SEO. Many aspects play a role here, but two of them are particularly important:

1. mobile optimisation
2. the support of different video formats.

The importance of mobile optimisation

First of all, you need to know that more and more people are accessing their mobile devices to watch videos. Google has already confirmed that mobile searches are now surpassing desktop searches. Therefore, it is essential for video optimisation that your video content works just as well on mobile devices as it does on a desktop.

Mobile optimisation includes many aspects, such as responsive design, fast loading times and easy navigation. In particular, make sure that your videos are clearly visible and easy to play on mobile devices. They should also work perfectly with a low bandwidth.

The importance of supported video formats

Supporting different video formats is another critical aspect of video SEO. There are a variety of video formats, including MP4, WebM and Ogg. Each has its pros and cons in terms of quality, compatibility and file size.

You should choose a format that offers the widest compatibility across different platforms and devices. Nowadays, the MP4 format is often recommended as it is supported by most browsers and devices.

Video size and video sitemap

Another important aspect for effective video SEO is the size of your video. Large video files can increase the loading time of your website, which is detrimental to both users and search engines. You should therefore always endeavour to keep video files as small as possible without compromising quality. Modern video compression tools can be very helpful here.

Finally, don't forget to create a video sitemap for your website if you are hosting it on your own server. A video sitemap is essentially a list of all the videos on your website that you make available to search engines. It contains important information about each video, such as the title, description, length and thumbnail. A well-crafted video sitemap helps search engines better understand and index your videos, which ultimately improves your video SEO performance.

Step-by-step guide to video SEO

Below you will find detailed instructions on how to optimise videos for search engines. This will increase the chances of your videos being found and displayed better on search engines such as Google or on platforms such as YouTube.

Your detailed guide to optimising videos for search engines

1. Choose the right video format: Before you start optimising your videos, make sure they are in the right format. The most commonly supported and recommended format is MP4.
2. Optimise the video title: The title of your video is one of the first things that both users and search engines see. It should contain the main keywords and give a clear indication of the content of the video.
3. Optimise the video description: The description allows you to provide more details about your video. Here you should include relevant keywords, a link to your website and, if applicable, a call to action (e.g. "Subscribe to our channel").
4. Use tags: Tags help search engines to better understand the content of your video and show it to the right users. Use both general (e.g. "travelling") and specific (e.g. "travelling to Barcelona") tags.
5. Add subtitles and transcripts: Subtitles and transcripts not only improve the user experience, but also help search engines understand the content of your video.
6. Create a video sitemap: A video sitemap is an XML file that provides search engines with additional information about the videos on your website.
7. Promote your videos: Share your videos on social media, in blog posts and in your newsletter to increase their reach and visibility.

Video SEO checklist: How to optimise your videos

1. Is the video in the right format?
2. Is the video title optimised and does it contain the main keywords?
3. Is the video description meaningful and does it contain relevant keywords and links?
4. Have you used relevant tags?
5. Have you added subtitles and transcripts?
6. Have you created and submitted a video sitemap?
7. Have you shared your video on different platforms and channels?

With this checklist and detailed instructions, you have everything you need to successfully optimise videos for search engines.

The future of video SEO: What's next?

Video content is becoming more and more important. People consume vast amounts of video every day - be it on YouTube, on social media platforms or directly on company websites. And this trend is likely to continue, if not increase.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are driving the next wave of innovation in video SEO. Not only will these technologies help to search and categorise videos more effectively, but they will also be able to personalise the user experience and deliver more relevant content.

Voice search

Furthermore, we are already seeing a trend towards 'voice search' and this will fundamentally change the way we look at SEO, including video SEO. Optimising video titles and descriptions for voice search will play an important role in the future.

360-degree videos and virtual reality

We can also expect 360-degree videos and virtual reality (VR) to play a bigger role in video SEO. These formats offer an immersive experience and are another example of how technology is changing the way we create and consume video.

Why you should always stay up to date in the video SEO industry

Because the industry is so fast-paced and is constantly coming up with new technologies and practices, it's important that you stay up to date. But why exactly is this so important?

• First of all, because you can only effectively optimise your videos and YouTube SEO if you know the latest best practices and technologies. Everything changes so quickly - from search engine ranking factors to user preferences and behaviours - and you can't afford to be left behind.
• Another reason to stay up to date is that you can gain an advantage over your competitors. Knowing and implementing the latest trends and technologies in video SEO will give you a decisive edge.
• In addition, a sound understanding of the latest developments in video SEO will help you to improve the user experience. By better understanding your users' needs and meeting them in new and innovative ways, you can increase user satisfaction and retention.
• Ultimately, video SEO isn't just about optimising your videos for search engines. It's about reaching and engaging your audience by providing them with high-quality, relevant and engaging video content. And to achieve this, you need to constantly stay up to date and be willing to adapt and innovate.

Finally, here are some German-language studies and statistics that reinforce the importance of video marketing:

• According to a 2020 study, 89% of marketers say that video content gives them a good return on investment (ROI)
• 81% of companies use video as a marketing tool, an increase of 63% in the last year
• By 2023, videos are estimated to account for 82% of all internet traffic
• Visitors who engage with video are more likely to convert than those who don't
• Marketers who use video content experience 49% faster revenue growth than those who do not use video
• 66% of consumers find videos more appealing than static images when shopping online

These statistics show that video marketing is an effective tool for businesses to engage with their audience and drive sales growth. Companies that integrate video content into their marketing strategy are more likely to achieve a good ROI. As the use of video content continues to grow, it's important for businesses to integrate video into their marketing strategy to stay competitive.

So, stay tuned, be curious and use video SEO as a key tool in your marketing strategy!

Frequently asked questions

Is SEO relevant on YouTube?

Yes, absolutely. SEO on YouTube is extremely relevant to increase the visibility of your YouTube videos in video searches and get more views. As YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world after Google, optimised YouTube SEO can help your videos to be found by the right target audience.

How can I optimise my videos for search engines?

There are various strategies you can use to optimise your videos for search engines. These include selecting relevant keywords, creating meaningful titles and descriptions (video description), including relevant tags and using video transcripts. In addition, user engagement such as views, comments and likes is also an important factor for video optimisation.

What role does metadata play in video SEO?

Metadata plays a crucial role in video SEO. This includes the title, description and tags that you use for your video. This metadata helps search engines understand the content of your video and index it correctly. A well-crafted metadata strategy can help ensure that your video is found by the right users.

How important is keyword research for video SEO?

Keyword research is a central aspect of video SEO. By identifying keywords and key phrases that your target audience uses, you can ensure that your video content shows up in relevant searches. In addition, effective keyword research can help you tailor your video to fulfil your audience's questions and needs.

What are the benefits of using video hosting platforms like YouTube?

There are many benefits to using video hosting platforms like YouTube. Firstly, it allows you to capitalise on the platform's existing user base. Secondly, it ensures better video optimisation and visibility in search engines. Thirdly, it saves server resources on your own website, as videos can require a lot of storage space and bandwidth.