International Video SEO Optimization ISS Berlin Massimo Burgio

massimo burgio

global search interactive www.globalsearchinteractive.net

SEMPO board of directors www.sempo.org

international

optimization video

berlin june 7, 2010

international search summit / localization world 2010

detox clinic SEO

+

from SEO to SMO in 12 steps

+ SEO DETOX clinic: a 12-step program

1 - forget your website

2 - forget PageRank

3 - tags are more important than metatags

4 - an image is worth more than 100 words

5 - a video is worth more than 100 images

6 - flash is good (if optimized)

10 - other people’s content is good too (embed)

11 - do not buy links, generate them

12 - ranking on Technorati is good as ranking on Google

8 - share what you know (social search)

9 - share what you like (social bookmarking)

7 - share what you own (RSS)

“Simply put, video SEO is the art and science of ensuring that your video content attracts as much traffic as possible.”

-- Blinkx

video SEO: definition

“As for regular website SEO, if your target audience is in multiple countries and you want to deploy a video strategy, you need to localize your SEO efforts, optimizing your videos for each country and language – with some exceptions.”

-- Massimo Burgio

international video SEO = localized video SEO

video optimization enablers

38% of users get videos in SERPS

38% of users get videos in SERPS

new google features: video search

eye-tracking on google serp BEFORE universal search

eye-tracking on google serp AFTER universal search

universal search: eye tracking

universal search study (germany)

universal search study (germany)

after all, video is better than porn

• videos create user interest and interaction, buzz, inbound links, traffic and SERP rankings

• great opportunity to show up for organic results in blended / universal search

• simplified search algorithms on video sharing sites and video search engines

• posting on video sharing sites leverages a larger audience and the viral potential of social sharing, besides of established authority of video sites

• when posted to multiple video sites, opportunity to appear multiple times in SERPs

video optimization: opportunity or strategy?

ON SITE VIDEO HOSTING

• control on video content and SEO strategy

• control meta tags and encoded video meta information

• search engine targeting through SEO techniques

• bandwidth + disk space costs

• time/material investment to encode videos, create web pages and optimize assets

• video encoding software cost + complexity

3RD PARTIES VIDEO HOSTING

• automatic encoding

• marketing to a larger “captive audience”

• simplified search algorithm

• drives traffic but creates competitor pages on SERPS

online videos: hosted or posted?

VIDEO HOSTED ON SITE

• Encode videos in several formats and for high-bandwidth, but always give a low bandwidth option

• Popular formats: MPEG, QuickTime, Real, Windows Media, Divx

• Use relevant keywords for both video files and directories

• Encode video with rich metadata. Use Keyword research tools

• Optimize the web page hosting the video (including text content and transcriptions, and anchor texts to video content)

• Simplify URLs and directory tree. Put the video directory off root if possible. Include a link to video page in footer/sitemap

• Create video RSS feeds (MRSS) and video sitemaps

• Submit as much videos as possible and relative sitemaps/rss


THIRD PARTIES VIDEO HOSTING - POSTING

• Encode videos with the best possible quality accepted by video sharing sites

• Use watermarks and opening/closing titles to protect assets and branding effect – Creative Commons maximize distribution

• Optimize video submission using good (keyword-rich) titles, descriptions, tags, geo-targeting, links and, if possible, a full text transcription of the video and closed captions / subtitles

• Develop a solid link building strategy. Anchor texts are (still) important to Google

• Allow download, share, embed, comments, replies… all social features maximize distribution


VIDEO SHARING SITES

• YouTube

• MySpace Videos

• Yahoo! Video

• AOL Video (SingingFish / Motionbox)

• DailyMotion

• Metacafe

• Veoh

• Blip.tv

• Imeen

• ...

VIDEO SEARCH ENGINES

• YouTube

• Google Video

• Google Universal Search

• Yahoo! Video Search

• Blinkx.com

• Daggle.com

• Searchforvideo.com

• Revver.com

• Metacafe.com

• Brightcove.com

• ...

2 generations of video sharing sites / engines

1 - Content is king, make it relevant and interesting

2 - Title: make it catchy and keyword-rich

3 - Video formats: different formats available (file type, size)

4 - Use optimized tags and thumbnails

5 - Video length: Internet-wise timing

6 - Keyword-rich localized descriptions / transcriptions

7 – Include URLs at the beginning of description

8 - Share it: allow rating, responses, embed, download, share/send to friends

9 - Distribute it: adopt RSS/ MRSS feeds, video sitemaps and social bookmarking

10 – Localize your video: replicate content in multiple languages or replicate video with subtitles + create local video site

online videos: 10 video SEO tips (nothing new)

1 - Make sure video tags are relevant to the video content

2 - Be generous with tags, and adopt keywords variations

3 - Match video title and description with top tags / keywords

4 - Have one common tag for all your videos (related videos)

5 - Don’t use natural language and conjunctions in video title

6 – Choose clear, appealing, creative and HD thumbnails

7 – Use one video channel per language, and optimize it

8 – Try to make it to the “Most view” or “Most discussed” tabs

9 – Generate more views by changing Title and Headline

10 - Try the new features: inclusions and annotations

online videos: 10 upload SEO tips

• Create buzz, this is what social media is about

• Be creative and sexy – like advertising is supposed to be

• Take advantage of multiple uploads tools like TubeMogul or TrafficGeyser

• Promote your videos in forums, blogs and social networks

• Take in consideration Social Bookmarking (del.ici.us, Digg, StumbleUpon)

• Include well defined calls to action, and a tracking analysis

• Spread it by “telling your friends” (a lot of them)

• Be interesting: social networking is about linking – and linking is about relevance!

social media power: let your videos go

e-shelf strategy tools: tubemogul

video analytics by tubemogul

leverage the long tail of video

leverage the insight of youtube analytics

tell search engines about your videos

VIDEO RSS / MRSS

• Most video search engines (and iTunes / podcasting) accept RSS / MRSS feeds

• http://www.blinkx.com/upload

• http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/submit

• http://www.reelseo.com/submit-videos-rss-mrss/

VIDEO XML SITEMAPS

• Google Video XML Sitemaps: Webmaster Tools / Sitemaps

• Include in video sitemaps only URLs to video content (web pages with embedded videos, URLs to video players and raw videos hosted on site)

• Use one unique URL per video and include thumbnails URLs

• Sitemaps max file size: <10Mb, video file + thumbnail: <30Mb

• Robots.txt: Allow UserAgent Googlebot

viral video redistribution: RSS at work

more video optimization tips from SEOmoz

thank you! danke!

massimo burgio global search interactive / sempo

www.globalsearchinteractive.net www.sempo.org [email protected]