Most companies, agencies and associations know that visual storytelling needs to be part of the online communications mix. Technology and audience reach are no longer an issue and the simple act of placing video on a page boosts overall search results. This creates divine opportunity for Marketing, PR, IR and Corporate Communications professionals, but a wing, a prayer and repurposed b-roll is not enough to shine a light on your message. Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) can be a messenger’s best tool and this tip sheet will teach you how to use it.

1. Type to enter text
By Larry Thomas
President
Latergy, LLC
www.latergy.com PRESS

2. Most companies, agencies and associations know that visual storytelling needs
to be part of the online communications mix. Technology and audience reach
are no longer an issue and the simple act of placing video on a page boosts
overall search results. This creates divine opportunity for Marketing, PR, IR and
Corporate Communications professionals, but a wing, a prayer and repurposed
b-roll is not enough to shine a light on your message. Video Search Engine
Optimization (VSEO) can be a messenger’s best tool and this tip sheet will teach
you how to use it.
The people have gathered. According to comScore Video Metrix, 178 million U.S.
Internet users enjoyed 6.2 Billion viewing sessions in June, 2011 for an average
of 16.8 hours per viewer. Globally, more than 3 billion videos are viewed a day
on YouTube alone. Demand for online video is strong and it is expected to grow
by 81 percent by 2015. That’s the good news.
The bad news? Finding a specific video can be akin to wandering through the
desert in search of a particular grain of sand. More than 13 million hours of
video were uploaded to YouTube during 2010 and 48 hours of video are
uploaded every minute, resulting in nearly 50,000 hours of content uploaded
every day.
Have faith, Marketers, because you’ll need it to succeed IF your video is NOT
search engine optimized. For inspiration, look to Zappos, king of online retail
and VSEO. According to “The State Of Video In E-Commerce – Q1 2011″ by
Sunday Sky, a study of keywords related to shoes resulted in 8.1% returning a
Zappos video. Monthly, 77,316 website visits and more than $500,000 in
revenue are specifically attributed to their video listings in search results.
Amen!
Whether your message is about stocks and bonds or heels and souls, VSEO is
essential. To save your message from drowning in a sea of content, thou shalt
follow these “10 Commandments of Video Search Engine Optimization”.

3. I. Create video site maps
Use video prominently on your home page and throughout the entire website
and make it search engine friendly with a video site map, which is an XML file
that tells search engines where videos can be found on a website. It helps
search engines identify the file as video and understand the nature of the
content and the technical specifications of the file. Video site maps help you
explicitly tell Google which content you wish to be indexed, giving you more
control than with an organic search algorithm. Additionally, video site maps
allow you to choose how your videos are listed and define what metadata is
most relevant to your video, optimizing search results. Comply with Google’s
recommended format by working with your webmaster to ensure each video
listing includes these five items: “Title”, “Brief description”, “URL of video
player”, “URL of thumbnail image” and “URL of raw files”.
Sample Video Site Map
Site maps are prepared by
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9" input from PR
webmasters with
xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1">
and Marketing to help engines
<url> identify & understand video.
<loc>http://www.example.com/videos/some_video_landing_page.html</loc>
<video:video>
<video:thumbnail_loc>http://www.example.com/thumbs/123.jpg</
video:thumbnail_loc>
<video:title>Grilling steaks for summer</video:title>
<video:description>Alkis shows you how to get perfectly done
steaks every
time</video:description>
<video:content_loc>http://www.example.com/video123.flv</
video:content_loc>
<video:player_loc allow_embed="yes" autoplay="ap=1">
http://www.example.com/videoplayer.swf?video=123</video:player_loc>
A video site map is XML code that makes your video more discoverable
and indexable.

4. II. Use keywords to drive video results
Video search is still driven by text. Really! Fingerprinting, watermarking and
graphic scans may soon be coming en masse to a screen near you but, for now,
it's mainly about the keyword. Keep that in mind and be verbose. Fill out every
field. Always include the transcript whether it's requested or not and add key
industry terms, product names, competitors and relevant phrases your audience
is likely to search for. Include common variations on spelling and related topics.
When it comes to keywords … more is more.
YouTube Dashboard
Always post
transcript as base for
keyword selection.
Most video platforms, YouTube included, support transcript uploads,
one of many keyword fields that should be filled out completely.

5. III. Incorporate real time, universally popular
terms
Strengthen your video’s visibility by adding keywords and phrases based
on current data about popular searches. To learn what people are
searching for simply go to YouTube or Google and slowly enter the likely
search term … then make note of the ‘auto-type suggestions’ and use the
exact same phrases in your metadata (a.k.a. keywords). Likewise,
strengthen news hooks by incorporating trending topics on Twitter, Yahoo!
and other sites that offer 'most popular' listings. Only do this if the hot
topics and terms have a reasonable connection to your brand and
message.
How To Identify Popular Terms
Incorporate keywords
and phrases based on
popular topics.
Incorporate keywords
and phrases based on
suggestions.
Tap into public demand by paying attention to the suggested search
terms and trending topics.

6. IV. Name your video carefully
Use keywords in the title of your video and the title in the URL of the page
and player where it resides. Search engines will assign a higher priority
based on the placement, relevance and density of those words. Choose
each word carefully and name your videos accordingly, placing the most
likely words at the beginning of the title. Hypothetically, if Ford wanted to
post the Edge commercials with Derek Jeter, they could choose one of
these titles (with comment about effectiveness in parentheses):
• TV Commercial: Ford Edge with Derek Jeter (Really Bad)
• Ford Edge TV Commercial with Derek Jeter (Pretty Bad)
• Derek Jeter, NY Yankees, Stars in Ford Edge TV Commercial (OK)
• Derek Jeter, NY Yankees, Has an Edge: Video from Ford (Good)
Sample of Keywords in Video Title and Player
Incorporate keywords into the title of the video and the player URL.

7. V. Post your video to YouTube and
other user generated content
For the highest visibility, your video should be on YouTube, Metacafe,
Vimeo, DailyMotion and other general sites that support user generated
content. Most provide audience reach and social media features at no
charge and YouTube can be used as the primary home for your video in
certain situations. YouTube dominates from a consumer view standpoint,
but there are other sites you should use to cover as many bases as
possible. Post video and/or links on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and
targeted topical or industry specific networks and blogs. There are UGC
sites focused on healthcare, philanthropy, sports and most every other
topic. Placing video on these niche sites may not generate as many views
as the broad consumer platforms, but the context and quality of the
audience may be better for your brand.
Sample Niche Targeted UGC Sites
GodTube reaches SchoolTube
conservative reaches educators
Christians. and parents.
ICYOU reaches ExpoTV reaches
consumers focused consumers interested
on healthcare. in product reviews.
While YouTube is the best way to reach a large online audience, there are
hundreds of UGC sites that provide targeted reach based on topics, demographics
and geography.

8. VI. Add interactivity with YouTube annotations
Take advantage of annotations to drive interactivity and lead your viewer
to the desired outcome. Annotations appear in the form of bubbles, notes
or spotlights that encourage the viewer to interact with the content and
click the video or something else on the page. Use this feature to bring
attention to specific points in your video, drive “likes” or comments and
insert hyperlinks to informational and transactional pages on your site.
You can even use them to deliver a “Call this number NOW” message and
embed a web to phone link.
Sample Annotations on YouTube
Sample
“Bubble”
annotation.
Sample
“Spotlight”
annotation.
Hyperlink embedded in
“Bubble” annotation.
Annotations bring attention and add interactivity to certain items
in the video.

9. VII. Aggregate video in a microsite,
multimedia player or an online newsroom
Concentrations of video will make those content-rich pages more attractive
to the engines and to your audience. In addition to the positive impact from
keyword density, this will enhance the likelihood of your audience watching
more than one video. Display video in an interactive player that enables
sharing via e-mail, embed code, grab html, post to social networks and
links to key pages or sites. The main advantage of an online newsroom or a
social video player over an embedded YouTube player is control. You control
the branding, interactivity, environment, access and content.
Sample Online Newsroom and Branded Online
Click to learn about
Brightcove players.
Click to learn about
iPressroom.
Online newsrooms with multimedia libraries and branded video players help
engines and people find video.

10. VIII. Leverage all relevant social media
platforms and tools to drive interactivity
Video is inherently a social medium and search engines reward
activity. Max out on engagement by encouraging – even ensuring it
via media buys and earned media, coupons and contests – high
volumes of linking, liking, commenting and sharing. View the social
media sites – including, but not limited to YouTube, Twitter,
Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Digg, Yelp – as content and
conversation “spokes” that lead back to the business “hub” – your
website. Display a link to your website (or other “owned” media) at
the beginning of the “description” field to generate traffic to your
site. Do not use URL shorteners (ie: bit.ly, tinyurl.com) because
people are less likely to click on an unknown link.
US Video Consumption by Unique Users
Top U.S. Online Video Properties Ranked by
Unique Video Viewers, June 2011
Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations
Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property Total Viewing Minutes
Unique Sessions* per
Viewers (000) Viewer
(000)
Total Internet : Total 178,447 6,255,493 1,008.3
Audience
Google Sites 149,281 2,311,116 324.1
VEVO 63,003 399,503 112.0
Yahoo! Sites 52,665 247,834 34.8
Microsoft Sites 50,663 286,892 32.8
Viacom Digital 49,493 274,933 76.8
Facebook.com 47,687 167,137 20.7
AOL, Inc. 43,915 251,987 49.3
Turner Digital 30,063 121,301 46.2
Hulu 26,701 156,939 184.8
Amazon Sites 21,247 43,193 8.3
Social media is not the only online video driver.

11. Social Media & Video
Facebook is the primary
driver but a blend of
blogs, bookmarks, and
social networks should all
be used.
Social networks, blogs and bookmarks drive video
views through recommendations from trusted sources.
IX. Initiate engagement with a carefully
selected hi-res image for the video thumbnail.
Make it easy to spot and make sure your image is appealing. Use
people shots over product shots. A picture is worth a thousand words
and a video is made up of thousands of pictures. I’ll say no more.
Thumbnail Images & Video Which Image Are You
Most Likely to Click?
Once people find your video, the thumbnail is a factor in whether
they click to watch.

12. X. Place calls to action and key messages
at the beginning and end of your video
Now that we've used text and images to help your audience find
your video and choose to watch it, one way to engage your
audience is to end the video with a call to action inviting
comments, clicks, likes, etc. in support of your business and
communications goals. Even better is to feature the call to action
at the beginning of your video, as well, because most people will
not watch your entire video unless your name is Hulu or Netflix.
This can sometimes be accomplished with “Annotations” (tip 6,
above) but you should also have messages embedded in the actual
video – delivered by the on-screen talent and via graphical and
text overlays.
Video Completion Rates by Source
While online media
sites have the
highest completion
rates, brand videos
are not far behind.
Per the “Tube Mogul–Brightcove Online Video and the Media
Industry Q4 2010” report, less than 50% of viewers watch entire

13. Follow these ten guidelines and your video will be much closer to
commanding the audience it deserves and needs to generate target
ROIs. If you simply post it they will not necessarily come. VSEO is a
must, but you also need a steady stream of well told stories. After all,
getting your audience to notice a video is only step one. Step two is to
engage them with a good story and step three is to evoke a response or
action. You need all three to be successful, and I will cover more topics
in the next Views You Can Use.
Meanwhile, Latergy is here to help you position, create, distribute,
optimize and measure video in a way that drives views and, more
importantly, solid business results.
The path to success may test your faith but online video will lead you to
the Promised Land.
Please contact Larry Thomas (646.290.0453,
lthomas@latergy.com)with questions, requests
or to tell him your story.
Published by CommPRO.biz Press, the destination for
integrated marketing communications knowledge. PRESS