Articles in The 'video optimization' Tag

How to Create & Edit YouTube Annotations

by Marissa Mele

YouTube annotations allow a video creator to layer text, links and hotspots over their video. These help to supplement information in the video by adding information, make the video interactive and enable engagement with the viewer.

Here’s how to create and edit annotations:

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Leverage Video for Conversion and SEO Benefits

by Tiffany Weimar

While recent hot topics have centered around mobile and social media in the interactive marketing industry recently, there are a few marketing tools that have received less attention that are worth mentioning.  One of these is the use of video.   Videos are unique as they can be used on your company site, on YouTube, and through email marketing.  All of these opportunities allow you to drive viewers to your website, ultimately improving your chance of converting a prospect into a client.  Video has proven helpful for boosting conversions and can be a relatively inexpensive marketing tool.  

According to a Nielson report released in August 2010, 70% of global online users watch video.  Knowing that statistic, why not try it out? If your company is using video, you may have noticed that your videos show up in Google search results.  This is because Google actually puts video production into its search placement algorithm.  Frequently adding new video content to the channel will strengthen your rankings in natural search results.

If you are considering video as a marketing tool, here are five useful tips for a successful campaign:

1. Keep your videos short.  According to Visible Measures, users tend to drop off after viewing 10-60 seconds of a video.  In fact, 20% of viewers drop-off after ten seconds of video and 44% drop-off after 60 seconds.
2. Optimize your video players.  Increasing the video player and adding action buttons (“Play” or “Click to View”) may increase view-through-rates.
3. Make sure people can find your video.  To increase the likelihood of your video being discovered, submit a video sitemap to the search engines and leverage other channels to feature it as well.  Using YouTube and Facebook can help drive viewers back to your website.
4. Don’t forget about mobile.  With the increase of mobile users, many viewers will try to view videos over a small screen.  Therefore, ensure your videos are accessible from mobile devices.
5. Video content can be educational.  Introducing new services or products through video is a great way to get the word out.  Demos and “How-To’s” can give your company credibility, as people will look to use as a resource.

Are Your Assets Optimized?

by April Nelson

When properly optimized, images, videos, and other digital assets can help enhance your organic search rankings.   Images and videos have earned their respective spaces in the organic search results, simply including an image or video on your page is not enough to rank well.  

When you upload an image or video to your server, are you adding titles, descriptions, and tags that are keyword-rich?   Could the average consumer look at your image (along with the title, description, and tags that you include) and determine what the image is all about or what its purpose is when taken out of context of your website?

If you answered no to these questions, chances are your digital assets are not fully optimized.   While it is important for website visitors to see descriptive text that correspond to your images and videos, it is equally if not more important that search engines can do the same.   A lot of image optimization involves basic search optimization factors.  

In addition to taking over more real estate on a search results page, listings with thumbnail images are more eye-catching and can help differentiate you from the sea of competing web pages.   The screen shot below displays search results for “surfing lessons”.   Note the separate space dedicated for image results and below for video results.  

Having your assets optimized is a prerequisite for strong rankings in these universal search results.   Here are a 3 key points to keep in mind:

1. Store your images in a separate file (directory) that is accessible to the search engines.
2. Optimizing your assets with keyword-rich text will help build / reinforce the keyword relevancy for the page(s) where they are incorporated.  
3. When you link to an image, use keyword-rich text instead of a generic phrase.