SEO tips For Video:How to make SEO Friendly Videos

Posted By: Dhaval Shah

Some People frequently ask me: “How should I host my videos for SEO purposes? Is it better to use YouTube, Vimeo or third party hosting?”

My Answer to this question is invariably terse, along the lines of "it depends on the style of your content and what you want to achieve with it".Each situation calls for a nuanced approach, defined by the marketing aims of the company and the audience base the content will appeal to.

All hosting solutions have their own set of advantages and disadvantages - 
making each suitable for different aspects of SEO and Inbound marketing:

Third party and self hosted:

• Easier to get video rich snippets for your own domain

• Can customized video player

• Can build links back to your domain through embeds

YouTube & Vimeo:

• Gets the content in front of more eyes

• Content will invariably rank well (albeit often not for your domain)

This post will give information about core of four different approaches I normally recommend to clients, defining the basics of the appropriate technical implementation and the types of content required for each approach. At the end of this post, i have also included a brief summary of some of the most popular paid hosting solutions (Vimeo Pro, Wistia, Vzaar and Brightcove)– explaining the pros and cons of each.  

Approaches to Video SEO

In my view, there are 3 major functions for video from an SEO perspective:

1. Ranking, traffic and conversions

1. Brand impressions and notoriety

1. Links 

In my view, there are 3 major functions for video from an SEO perspective:

 These purposes do sometimes overlap, so i think it’s better viewed as a classic venn: 

Approach 1: Video for Ranking, Rich Snippets and Conversions

Approach 2: Video for Links

Approach 3: Video for Brand Impressions & Notoriety

Approach 4: Video for All of the Above

 

I will describe all approaches in detail in next posts. Thanks...