Creating online videos is a great way for agencies to market to consumers on the Internet. We know this first-hand, as we have our own YouTube channel where we publish informative videos about different types of coverage.
Creating videos is a fast, efficient way to communicate if you have a video camera or mobile device, a well-lit space, and a computer, but it takes more than that to help get your videos found by consumers searching online. That’s why I’m going to share a few tips for optimizing your videos for the search engines:
1.) Share your video on your onsite blog. Though it’s great to publish your blogs on YouTube, since millions of people visit and search on YouTube every day, there are benefits to publishing the video on your website as well. One is that YouTube channel visits don’t always translate into website visits. Embedding the video on your website can lead to more visits. If you want to take it one step further, consider hosting the video on your site instead of YouTube. There are a number of programs that allow you to do this. Brightcove and Wistia are just a few. This takes search engine optimization to a whole new level because it increases the likelihood of a video to make it on page one of search engine results pages for a highly competitive term.
2.) Put a transcription of the video below the video. Since search engines aren’t sophisticated enough to analyze video content in order to determine what the video is about, it’s a good idea to transcribe the video script and include it where ever you post the video. That way, the search engines can grab it to rank more easily.
3.) Use keywords in key places. If you’re creating a video to rank for a specific search term, make sure the video content is highly relevant to the term. After you do that, make sure the search term is in a few key places such as the video’s title and description. You may want to include it in the video’s file name as well and in the comments section. Now you’re on the road to making sure your videos are found by the search engines. This can help drive more traffic to your agency’s site.
About the Author: Bob Mucci is the VP of Massachusetts-based Wolpert Insurance. As a leading local insurance agency, Wolpert Insurance specializes in providing Massachusetts insurance consumers with reliable commercial trucking insurance, moving, and storage coverage, livery insurance, garage insurance, Massachusetts workers compensation insurance and effective risk management solutions.