Algorithm changes that have been occurring in the Internet landscape recently are of no surprise to the countless number of SEO practitioners. For the newbie marketer who is in the process of starting their career in marketing online, these changes can be quite confusing.
Content
Those, however, who have been in the SEO business since its earlier days, when content was vital and search engines did not have to battle a lot of spam, acquiring a good rank essentially meant putting out good content on the web. The concept was simple, but required some work and creative techniques, since quality content that benefited the users was needed in order for a blog to reach the target audiences.
Backlinks
When the backlinks came about, they became a superior ranking factor, and though the intent was good, it managed to create a wave of Grey hat automated utilities to send out spammy backlinks in the thousands, with the hopes of exploiting a loophole in the search engine algorithms.
For individuals who view SEO from this point, the good old days are long gone. With Google’s Penguin and Panda now standing guard on the web against spam and poorly done content, backlinks in their essence can be harmful to a blog or website. It may then be a cause of wonder how SEO these days can be achieved even with Panda and Penguin keeping watch? The answer is simple – return to the basics.
The Basics
When crafting a marketing piece of content, think of it on a personal level; as an user, what would make the content worth reading? What would be the attraction? Does it contain information and details that are valuable, or is it simply an entertaining yet pointless piece? Obviously, one should also consider the SEO components that factor into the whole search engine ranking equation.
Automation
This piece is to help readers and SEO practitioners to understand that the modifications that are occurring at the moment in SEO are mainly geared to bring us in a time when content is truly king. The days when poor quality blog content and spammy automated backlinks ruled are gone. The use of automated tools for building links is expected to die soon enough.
Promoting videos
The same values now apply in SEO videos. Regardless if one choose to host the video on a professional hosting platform or via YouTube, the basic SEO components mentioned previously still play a vital part for viewers to be able to find a video. After the keywords are properly researched, they must be included in the video title and its description. Find the time to correctly transcribe the video or acquire the services of someone to complete this task. Uploading the text version is a must since it will offer a significant chance for the video to appear in the SERPs.
Tips for YouTube SEO
- Content of the video
- User interest and engagement
- Video content components
- Keywords
- Video title
- Video description
- Video tags
- Transcription of the video
- Authority of the channel
- Delivery of content
Note that the tips are listed down based on order of importance for a successful video SEO on YouTube.
Clearly, optimizing videos for the search engines – particularly in YouTube – is basically similar to any website SEO. However, take notice that the top of the list prioritizes the Content of the Video, as well as the User Interest and Engagement. A video that has zero content value and is unable to engage its viewers will lead to it being ignored. Google is able to detect the lack of shares or interest and will therefore conclude that the video is useless.
