Everyone knows that the number one search engine is Google. There really is no competition; Google pretty much has a monopoly in the search market. The second largest may surprise you – because it isn’t Yahoo, or Bing – it’s Youtube. YouTube processes more than 3 billion searches a month!
Keep this in mind as you develop an SEO strategy for your video content. You should be thinking about how to reach an audience on Google, and on Youtube. [Editor’s note: Google’s world domination is largely attributed to ownership over many digital properties, including, Youtube.]
Here are a few tips to consider as you build and roll out a holistic video SEO strategy that reaches your target audiences on the number one and number two search engines in the world.
Google and Youtube users search differently:
Studies of search trends vary between the two sites. This means that people traditionally search differently between the two. Add to that the fact that the search engines also use very different algorithms to find and rank “top” content. Youtube places value on 4 factors: number of views, the video title (keyword opportunity!), video description (another keyword opportunity!) and user rating/engagement.
Do keyword research twice:
We’ve established that people search differently on both engines, so it would make sense that your keyword research should also be different. The proper research and utilization of keywords is critical to the success of any SEO strategy. Perhaps a little known and underused tool is the Youtube keyword tool. Similar to Google’s keyword tool, you can use it to get ideas for relevant keywords and get insight into the trend of performance on Youtube.
Pay to promote:
Google Adwords (PPC) has become an integral part of many SEO strategies – Google is one part Organic search, and one part paid search (and this piece of page real estate is growing!) Youtube also has PPC and advertising options that will help you promote your video, and increase the potential for impressions and views. Remember, the more views you have, the better your content score will be on Youtube’s search algorithm. It might be a good one-two punch to launch PPC campaigns or video ads on Google, and on Youtube to increase your ranking, and reach more searchers.
Billions of people watch billions of hours of video. How will your video stand out among the crowd? Develop a smart strategy that uses the #1 and #2 search engines in the world to find your audience.
