June 8th, 2010
Improving SEO Through Video Syndication
I had lunch with a popular Peachtree City Web Developer today. We spent a little time talking about the power of syndicated videos to boost SEO rankings.
I was rattling off some war stories of how short 1 minute videos properly syndicated could generate 100′s if not 1000′s of links, at the same time boosting traffic to the primary website.
I thought it would be helpful to write up a few key points on “best practices” when uploading videos to YouTube. As YouTube was purchased by Google, and has surpassed Yahoo as the #2 search engine, people need to understand how to incorporate videos into their online marketing.
YouTube is powered by a proprietary algorithm that factors in the optimization of title, description, tags, views, and ratings. These items are manipulated by the video creator (owner), which power placement both YouTube search listings as well as Google’s organic search listings.
Make sure you use a keyword dense title, and incorporate a clickable URL at the start of the description field. While this may seem obvious - be sure to include a clear call to action that lists your website and of course, a phone number.
Tips:
- To increase popularity, add comments on popular videos to encourage viewers to check out your video.
- If possible, embed YouTube videos on your website. This will save you the bandwidth of streaming media, while providing you access to the popularity of YouTube on your website.
- Video file name should contain keywords
- Include rich keywords in video titles & description
- Build your own online channel – or library. Ideally keep adding videos until you pass 20 or more relevant titles.
- Be as active as you can inside of your new YouTube channel. Commenting, favorites, add friends all help to increase your visibility on YouTube.
May 28th, 2010
Why a #1 ranking is so important
I was preparing tonight for a meeting with a prospect when I saw a great article on the value of #1 rankings on SEO Book.
The premise is that #1 position on Google commands roughly 35-40% of the clicks for a term, and the top 10 on page 1 control the top 90% of clicks! . So…if you are not #1, the rest of the page 1 results are a dramatic drop-off. And…if you are not on Page 1, you may as well be on Page 20. You don’t exist.
This provides some mathematical backing to what most of us have long known. Check out the article, and specifically the graph showing the AOL data that was leaked out a few years ago.
When you consider the above data, with this next piece of data, you will see the sheer power of being #1. The following is research by Chitika research director Daniel Ruby done in May, 2010.
Ruby states, “It’s just kind of shocking to look at the numbers and see just how important it is, and how much of a jump there is from 2 to 1. The biggest jump, percentage-wise, is from the top of page 2 to the bottom of page 1. Going from the 11thspot to 10th sees a 143% jump in traffic. However, the base number is very low – that 143% jump is from 1.11% of all Google traffic to 2.71%. As you go up the top page, the raw jumps get bigger and bigger, culminating in that desired top position.
| Google Result | Impressions | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2,834,806 | 34.35% |
| 2 | 1,399,502 | 16.96% |
| 3 | 942,706 | 11.42% |
| 4 | 638,106 | 7.73% |
| 5 | 510,721 | 6.19% |
| 6 | 416,887 | 5.05% |
| 7 | 331,500 | 4.02% |
| 8 | 286,118 | 3.47% |
| 9 | 235,197 | 2.85% |
| 10 | 223,320 | 2.71% |
| 11 | 91,978 | 1.11% |
| 12 | 69,778 | 0.85% |
| 13 | 57,952 | 0.70% |
| 14 | 46,822 | 0.57% |
| 15 | 39,635 | 0.48% |
| 16 | 32,168 | 0.39% |
| 17 | 26,933 | 0.33% |
| 18 | 23,131 | 0.28% |
| 19 | 22,027 | 0.27% |
| 20 | 23,953 | 0.29% |
Numbers are based on a sample of 8,253,240 impressions across the Chitika advertising network in May, 2010.
