It was not too many years ago that people browsing the internet were much more interested in regular webpages than videos for most of their queries. However, now that 56k modems are becoming a thing of the past and broadband is exploding , users are able to view video just as quickly as they can read text.

Popular sites like YouTube realized the direction things were going and capitalized on it. Now, videos are becoming one of the primary ways sites convey information from news to how-to pieces. In fact, videos will often lead the search engine results page.

With this in mind, a video could be a huge magnet for potential site traffic. For instance, Google has a search specifically for videos. If you know how to properly optimize your video for search engines, you’ll be able to pull in traffic like no amount of text could ever get you. There are three main areas you have to get right in order to get the best ranking for your video.

The Title

It should be fairly obvious that a good title is key to getting traffic. The first goal of a title should be search engine optimization. Some people insist that it should be something grabbing and eye catching, but unless you have people browsing your site locally they may never even come across the video if it doesn’t rank highly in search engine returns.

It should be loaded with your intended keywords. This is also a great opportunity to include your local business name. Most local browsers will be searching for very specific keywords and you want to make sure you utilize that. Since they likely occur less frequently in searches, you have a better chance of showing up on the top if you use them.

The Description

Since search engines are multi-faceted, they do not just pull videos based on the title. An accurate and appropriate description is important as well. Much in the same way you wrote the title, with impetus on the keywords, the description should be brief and to the point. It should not be a transcript of what happens in the video.

Again, your primary concern is relevant keywords in high density so that the search engine ranks you near the top. If you are trying to attract local customers, it would be wise to include a short description of the business if the video does not require its own description.

The Tags

Tags are one of the most important and yet neglected aspects of SEO. They are single keywords, sometimes in a limited number, that search engines use to pull your video during a search. There is no secret to writing good tags, they simply have to be the absolute most popular search terms for the subject your video addresses.

If your business is specific to one area, including that area in the tags means browsers will get returns on your video if they are searching that specific area. For example “house painter in raleigh” or “raleigh collision repair shop”

There are more ways to increase video ranking in search engines, but these top three strategies are the ones you should focus you efforts on. You want to have solid keywords and high keyword density as well as keeping things brief. Most users will only spend a few seconds reading title and description, so don’t pour your efforts into making them. For a local business fighting for visibility, an optimized video can bring plenty of viewers and new traffic to your site.

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