11. Video Sitemaps What to include in the video sitemap A Video Sitemap should contain only URLs that refer to video content. Video content includes web pages which embed video, URLs to players for video, or the URLs of raw video content hosted on your site. Each video is uniquely identified by its content URL
13. On-page Optimization Use a unique URL for each video Use target keyword(s) in the Page title and meta tags of the page where the video is embedded Don’t forget to include the words “video” and “videos” in meta description and meta keyword Use relevant keywords in Page Header and text surrounding the video Create navigation links to your video content, use target keywords in anchor text to the video Create a video sitemap and submit via webmaster tools Consider a text transcript or closed captions for video. Transcripts in a separate file are more effective for SEO than closed captioning embedded in the file. Ensure full video link or embed code is available to users and provide video sharing buttons or scripts to make it easy for users to share your video. Allow users to subscribe to your videos via RSS. Submit RSS video feed (List)
14. Off-site Optimization/Syndication Tip: Consider a video submission tool such as TubeMogul (free) to streamline syndication. If you want to do it yourself, start with a list of popular video engines. Title Use keywords here. YouTube character limit including spaces is 30. Optimized Description Prepare an optimized description for the video. Put URL near front of description field in order to drive traffic back to site. Optimized Tags Use only relevant tags and place strategic keywords first. Check the YouTube Keyword Suggest Tool to find popular keywords. Avoid stop words. Use category terms. Avoid keyword stuffing here. Select the Correct Category There are many categories listed on the video sharing websites such as fun, sports, movies, travel, pets, children and travel. Choose an available category which best represents the video content and the purpose of its creation. Again consider the YouTube Keyword Suggest Tool when seeking the most popular relevant category. Consider Closed Captions or Subtitles to Your Video Captioning allows you to provide a text transcript of the video with timecode and caption text. Must be in .SUB or .SRT format. Also see, Third-party captioning services and software.
