YouTube & Video Sharing Websites SEO Best Practices

YouTube is now considered to be the second largest used search engine besides Google and is growing rapidly. The DailyMail stated “YouTube is successfully transforming into a full-blown web TV service - site users are staying 60 per cent longer than they did a year ago.” With one of Googles updates YouTube Videos now rank in search results and offers an impactful way yet again to be ranked for keywords your targeting. Not only are videos indexed and searched but so are the growing amount of responses and comments to videos, which should also be considered from a brand reputation perspective. Today I, Daniel Kamen Daniel Kamen am going to make mention of YouTube best practices and what you need to know.rnAs with all SEO, keyword research is critical and should be the first step. Once you have the targeted keywords make sure they are targeted in the title, tags and description. rnPerformance is also a factor. Just like Google use links and now likes pluses, they measure the performance of videos as well. Some of the items considered are likes and dislikes, playlist additions, flagging, shares, comments and age of the video.rnAdd video annotations, citations and transcript whenever possible to ensure your message is impactful and your brand awareness is maximized.rnCommunity – The hard work is being involved in the community. Just like you might have to rub peoples ego’s to get links, this is no different so make sure to connect, like and respond to influencers in your vertical if you expect the same in return.rnOther Platforms – Though YouTube is the largest of the search engines to target there are plenty others that should definitely be taken advantage. I have created a list of some of the top sites with some additional information to know if this site will be a good fit for you. rnVideo Sharing Website Home Page PR Free Option (Y/N) Objectionable Content Presentrn(Y/N) Educational Videos Presentrn(Y/N) Formats Accepted Other Specifications ORrnStandards Features/Limitations rnhttp://www.vimeo.com/ 9 Y N Y 3g2, 3gp, 3gp2, 3gpp, asf, asx, avi, divx, mts, m2t, m2ts, m2v, m4v, mkv, mov, mp4, mpe, mpeg, mpg, ogg, wmv 640x480 (SD) / 1280x720 (HD) 500MB/Week Upload Spacernhttp://www.flickr.com/ 9 Y N Did not come across any AVI (Proprietary codecs may not work), WMV, MOV (AVID or other proprietary codecs may not work), MPEG (1, 2, and 4), 3gp, M2TS, OGG, OGV 2 Video Uploads/Month 150 MB OR 90 secsrnhttp://www.viddler.com/ 6 Y Y YES, career related videos. .mov .mpg .wmv .avi .m4v - Size limited to 500 MB. No restriction on number of Videos.rnhttp://www.dailymotion.com/ 7 Y Yes (Has Family Filter) Y MP4 (H264), MOV, WMV, AVI formats (many are supported) 320x240, 640x480 or 1280x720 resolution Duration of video 20 minutes and maximum file size of video is 2GB rnhttp://www.revver.com/ 6 Y Y Y AVI, ASF, MOV, WMV, MPG Max File Size of Video is 100MBrnhttp://www.metacafe.com/ 7 Y Yes (Has Family Filter) Y - - - rnAbout Daniel KamenrnDaniel Kamen Daniel Kamen is an SEO Manager at ConvergeDirect, a direct marketing service agency. He is a focused and driven SEO leader possessing a combination of search engine optimization and analytics expertise in B2B and B2C. Working with fortune 500 clients with multiple years of practical experience has quantifiably proven his skill set leading to continuous growth in leads, sales and revenue growth for his clients at ConvergeDirect.