Optimising for YouTube

We recently found a fantastic resource on YouTube to help people and brands ensure that their videos reach the widest possible audience.  And we just had to share it with you.

The useful content provides a comprehensive overview on YouTube video optimisation and discusses the importance of meta data and thumbnail optimisation.  The resource also provides additional advice on adding annotations, channel optimisation, how to maintain the channel feed and using YouTube analytics.

We are really impressed with the content. Hope you are too.  Please visit the YouTube optimisation guide here.

If you don't have time to digest the content straight away, but wish to launch/host videos onto a channel such as YouTube, then we have shared our "must do lists" for video optimisation below:

Video SEO Optimisation

• Add meta data information while uploading - title and description for your videos.
• Add links to your website
• Create a video sitemap and upload the video sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools

Video Sitemap Requirements (Google)

• Title: This should be the same as the title of the page your video appears
• Description: Make this exactly match the meta description of your page
• Play Page URL:  The canonical URL of the page your video appears
• Thumbnail URL: By thumbnail they mean a high resolution image up to 1920x 1080
• Raw video location/URL: This URL is found in the embed src link you find when you go to share a video and click embed.

If you require further assistance with optimising one of your video channels to increase traffic and customer engagement, then please do get in touch.

Author: Aysegul Yigitbasi and Sarah Griffiths