Creating great visual content is, without an iota of doubt, one of the most important ingredients in the recipe to success. However, even having the most reader friendly, dynamic and interactive material on the site will not ensure online visibility, if you have not optimized it properly for search results. Which are the basic things that you keep in mind when you decide to upload your video to a popular networking site like YouTube?
Pay attention to YouTube Metadata
One of the first basic things you need to do while uploading a video to the popular networking site is to key in all your metadata details, including title, tags, description etc. YouTube is among the world’s largest search engines for video content, and the way you denote your title, tags and video description matter a great deal when it comes to deciding your search results position.
Make your video title compelling
Make your title interesting and catchy. Is it so written that users will feel curious and keen to watch the video? If not, keep thinking until you can come up with an attention-grabbing title! When creating a title, make it a point to use keywords discreetly.
Don’t push your little-known brand
Many site owners opt to go with branding, things like adding the name of a product, brand, show or person into the title. Is this a wise thing to do? A lot of users will avoid your video if they have not heard of the person, brand or product. Emphasis should always be on including relevant keywords and not just branding or advertising to push sales.
Include common and specific keywords in tags
It is important to mix both common and specific keywords while framing tags. Let me give an example, Say you have a cooking show to publicize. You will obviously wish to add common keywords like recipe, ingredients, nutrition and healthy cooking,. Then carefully narrow the focus to key terms and phrases more specific to your activity. If your video shows you making Pad Thai, for example, add specific keywords such as Thai food, Pad Thai and noodles.
Add tags relevant to your video
If you use a term, which is completely out of context like the name of a celebrity or a popular site in your domain as a tag simply because they are popular search terms, the YouTube algorithm will be able to point out if the video has got absolutely nothing to do with the person or the site. This will adversely hurt your site ranking. It might even get penalized, harming its prospects in the long run. So, last but not the least, make sure that you’re adding tags relevant to your video.
In the next post, we shall check out other important aspects of making your content ‘YouTube’ friendly so that it shows up prominently and easily during the search results.
