3 Important Starting Points for Video SEO

In previous blog posts, we’ve explained what video SEO is and how to properly implement it. However, there are many more specific steps you can take to improve your video’s chances of being found than simply uploading and adding the title and description.

For starters, adding a title isn’t easy as typing in the keywords you’ve chosen. If you’re trying to attract real human viewers instead of robots scanning for those keywords, you need to make the title interesting enough that a random internet user would want to click it. Here are a few tips to help you achieve a good balance between SEO-optimized and human interest-optimized:

– Put your keyword(s) at the beginning. This will probably be a very general topic.

– Add a short and compelling “summary” title after that to clarify your keyword(s).

– Example: “Video SEO 101: How to Write for Humans”

Additionally, make sure that the first two lines of your description not only include your keyword(s) at the beginning (like in the title) but also add more information to help explain your video. When users search for it on YouTube or when search engines look for your video’s meta information, the first two lines of your description will always be the most important.

Include any other keywords you think people will be searching for, and make the two lines as compelling as possible. A word of warning, though: don’t try to lie about your video or trick people into clicking the link. You’ll only turn them away from the video and the rest of what you may have to offer them.

Finally, pay attention to the thumbnail. This has little to do with video SEO, like your keywords, but has a huge impact on whether or not people will click your video link. Since people looking for videos are so interested in the visual, make sure your thumbnail clearly relates to your video title, helps support its message, and has a clear, in-focus image.

Keep in mind that these changes won’t necessarily make your video get millions, or even thousands, of views. They will, however, ensure that you’re keeping video SEO best practices in mind as well as creating content that users won’t want to miss.