Video marketing remains a technique that is often overlooked by businesses when creating a search engine optimization strategy. Most companies focus on text when it comes to content. By doing so, these companies overlook an important tool in the form of videos. YouTube SEO doesn’t factor into the overall equation which is distressing as this website is very popular. Even companies marketing to other businesses need to take advantage of this search engine optimization technique. How do you ensure your video is optimized for YouTube and social media sites? Here are some tips to help you navigate your way through using this technique.

1. Major search engines index the speech in the video. They take this a step further though and also index the description of the video. Make sure you include the text of the video in the description. You already have the speech written out and it increases your search engine rankings with very little effort on your part.
2. Did you know that YouTube acknowledges those videos which are watched longer with relevancy credits? Videos which are more engaging tend to be watched longer so more relevancy credits are given. YouTube considers them to be of higher quality and it shows in the search engine rankings. Make sure your video is engaging for this reason. With approximately 60 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, yours must stand out.
3. Pay attention to the channel you are posting your video to. It is best to put your video on a channel which features many videos on the same topic. Rankings will be better and the video will be seen by more people as viewers comment on it, like it and share it.
4. Make use of anywhere from five to seven tags for each video you place on the site. This is of great importance for YouTube SEO. When you do so, your video will show up anytime videos with similar tags are played. The video receives additional views when this is the case.
5. Create a title using your keyword and keep it under 66 characters long. Anything long than this and the search engines crop it. The description should be a minimum of two sentences and contain the keyword and it variations. Insert a link at the beginning of the description as the entire description won’t show unless the viewer hits the ‘show more’ button.
6. Locate websites willing to embed your video into their site. One way to do this is to click on videos that are similar to yours. Click on them and choose the ‘show video statistics’ option. Here you will see ‘significant discovery events’. This shows which sites have embedded the videos similar to yours. Contact them as they may be willing to place yours on their site also.
7. HD videos rank higher than their standard definition counterparts each and every time. Never overlook the importance of HD when creating a video. Your site won’t rank as well if you do.
8. When you name the video file, include your keywords. Although the viewer won’t see the video file name, YouTube gives relevancy credits based on it. Remember this and change your video name before you upload it for better results.

Making use of these tips will help to improve your search engine rankings. If you are uncomfortable doing all at once, start with one tip and incorporate a new one each week. As you do so, you will see your popularity increase significantly.