Video SEO: How video can improve your travel local business visibility?
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As online platforms and social media continue to soar in popularity, businesses, especially those in the travel, turn to video marketing to grab customers’ attention and set themselves apart from the competition.
By integrating video SEO tactics, businesses can boost their visibility on search engine result pages and make locating them easier for potential customers.
That’s right – implementing the right video SEO strategies can help put your business on the map! In this blog post, we’ll delve into the world of Video SEO and show how it can improve your local business visibility. From practical tips to step-by-step guides, we’re here to help elevate your brand’s online presence.
So, if you want to learn how to boost your local marketing and rankings on Google local search result pages, keep reading.
What is Video SEO?
Why is Video can improve your travel local business?
Video has become a significant form of online media, and its consumption is only growing. It’s an essential tool for marketing that businesses must pay attention to. For instance, on YouTube alone, users watch 1 billion hours of video daily, and the platform has over 2.6 billion active users worldwide.
Social media platforms are no exception either. Facebook generates over 8 billion video views daily, and Twitter gets 2 billion. This proves that people love video, and it’s one of the main reasons why video marketing is crucial for improving your local SEO.
However, it’s not just about video consumption. Google also recognizes the value of video as a source of information for its users. Presently, videos appear on over 20% of all search engine result pages, which is a massive opportunity for your brand. By optimizing your videos, you can claim one of these high-value spots and drive more traffic to your brand and videos. And when you implement good video SEO techniques, you can:
- Get more links to your website
- Improve your social media visibility
- Reach a larger audience
- Rank higher on search engines
- Drive traffic to your website from your video channel
And regarding video SEO, there are a few key elements you don’t want to overlook (we will discuss them later in this blog):
- Title
- Description
- Tags
- Transcription
- Thumbnail
Creating Videos
How to create compelling videos for local businesses?
Are you ready to create fantastic content for your YouTube channel? It’s easier than you think! With a focus on producing helpful and unique content, you can make your brand stand out from the rest, just like Ryan Shirley.
His videos are a prime example of what works on YouTube – they’re expertly edited and jam-packed with valuable information. It’s no wonder they get hundreds of thousands of view
But how can you create engaging content that viewers will want to watch again and again? Here are a few tips to keep in mind:
- Firstly, make sure you’re talking to your audience in a way that resonates with them. By understanding your viewers, you can communicate with them effectively in their language and communication style.
- Next, try telling a story in your videos. People love hearing authentic stories, so be honest and genuine in your content.
- Finally, make sure you’re creating content with intent. Ask yourself why you’re creating the video – are you answering questions, showcasing a place, or educating your viewers? Once you have a clear intention, you’ll find it much easier to structure your videos and keep your audience engaged.
Overview of the key elements of a thriving local business video
1. Location
Including location-based keywords in your titles tells Google that your content is particularly relevant to those seeking information about a specific place. It also stands out in search results for people wanting to see content about a location.
In addition to titles, descriptions are also crucial as YouTube pays attention to the metadata, including keywords in descriptions, to rank content. Take a cue from The Tour Guy, who used “Rome in a day tour” and “Rome top tour guide” in their video title and description to make it relevant for related searches. Doing so can boost your local marketing efforts and increase your video’s visibility.
Location tags are another powerful tool that can tell YouTube and Google which location your content is related to. For instance, The Tour Guy’s video on experiencing Rome in a day includes a location tag for Rome, indicating to YouTube and Google that this video is particularly relevant to searches for Rome-related content.
Lastly, remember to include location keyword terms in your videos. YouTube automatically creates transcripts, which can then be used as metadata for search queries and to rank videos on Google. This strategy boosts your video’s visibility and makes it more discoverable for potential customers.
2. Storytelling
Did you know that every 4.4 minutes, a staggering 271,330 hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube alone? With such an overwhelming amount of videos, making your content stand out from the crowd can be challenging.
But fear not because some video marketing strategies have achieved great success. And the secret to their success is simple – they focus on engaging their audience rather than just selling to them.
It’s important to remember that your audience is looking for something other than a sales pitch when they watch videos. Instead, they’re seeking entertainment and value. If you make a video about selling, it’s likely to get lost in the noise.
So, what should you do instead? Take an audience-centric approach and captivate them with engaging storytelling. By telling a compelling story, you can show your audience how your product or service can solve their problems and make their lives easier.
Make your stories about the specific issues and questions your potential customers face at different stages of their buyer’s journey. Put yourself in their shoes, be relatable, and help them see that you’re the solution they’ve been looking for.
3. Branding
It’s time to include strong branding elements in your video that are consistent with your business’s identity. You can achieve this by incorporating your brand’s logo, color scheme, and other visual elements. By doing so, you can help strengthen the association between your brand and the content of the video.
Take a look at the example below and see how Expedia create their brand identity in the video SEO:
How to optimizing videos
Conduct keyword research
If you create a travel video about a topic no one is interested in, it’s unlikely to get much traffic from search engines like Google. Unfortunately, this is a common mistake that many website owners make. In fact, according to our study, 90.63% of web pages receive no traffic from Google.
To avoid this, you need to do keyword research to determine if there’s a demand for the topic you want to cover.
So, how to find the keywords for your video SEO?
It starts with understanding how your customers might search for solutions to their problems. This is a simple process, but to do it well, you’ll need two things:
- A good understanding of your travel industry
- Knowledge of how keyword research tools work
In this part, we’ll cover the basics:
- Brainstorm “seed” keywords: These are the starting point for your research. They define your niche and help you identify competitors. Every keyword tool needs a seed keyword to generate a list of keyword ideas.
Some seed keywords for travel-related keywords might be a beach vacation, family-friendly destinations, budget travel, luxury travel, food tourism, etc. - Check your competitors: Looking at which keywords your competitors already rank for is usually the best way to accelerate your research. Start with your seed keywords and see who ranks on the front page of Google.
- Use keyword research tools: While competitors are a great source of ideas, they probably still need to cover many keywords. This is where keyword research tools come in.
These tools work the same way: enter a seed keyword, and they’ll pull ideas from their databases. One of the most well-known is Google Keyword Planner (GKP), which is free to use. While it’s primarily designed for paid ads, it’s also helpful in finding SEO keywords.
Optimize title, description, and tags
Title
A great title can be the difference between getting views or being ignored. It should be eye-catching, clear, and brief. While your target keyword is important, it’s also helpful if your title closely matches what viewers are searching for.
According to Backlinko’s research, having an exact keyword match in the title doesn’t always result in a significant advantage over videos that don’t. However, optimizing your title with the keyword is still essential to help with ranking as long as it sounds natural and accurately describes the video.
Also, remember that your title should be short, with a recommended character limit of 60. This helps to avoid it being cut off on result pages. Besides, adding numbers is a nifty trick that can give you a boost! Not only can it help search engines find your work, but studies show that people are more likely to click on titles that feature numbers. It’s fascinating, isn’t it? People just seem to be drawn to digits!
Description
This is where you can provide extra information about your video, including relevant keywords and a brief summary of its content.
Let’s start with the basics: YouTube video descriptions have a character limit of 1,000, but remember that your viewers are here to watch a video, not read a novel.
If you choose to write a longer description, remember that only the first two or three lines, around 100 characters, are immediately visible. That’s why it’s best to include important information, like CTAs or links, at the beginning of the description. Besides, consider adding a transcript to make your video even more user-friendly, especially for viewers who can’t turn up the volume.
However, not all social media platforms are created equal. For example, the content description on Facebook is essential to inform users about what’s in the video.
Tags
Don’t forget about tags! Tags help search engines understand what your video is about and increase its relevance for specific search queries. When choosing tags, use relevant keywords and variations of your main keyword to boost your chances of appearing in relevant search results such as #travel, #(travel location), and #traveltips, …
Add transcription
Providing a transcription of your video’s audio content is also key to keep your eyes on. This makes it more accessible to viewers with hearing difficulties or who prefers to read instead of watch. Plus, transcriptions help search engines understand the content of your travel video and improve its relevance for specific search queries.
Create a custom thumbnail
Did you know that the main image viewers see when scrolling through a list of video results is called the video thumbnail? It’s super important because it sends a signal to the viewer about the video’s content and can impact the number of clicks and views your video receives.
Sure, you can choose one of the thumbnail options auto-generated by YouTube, but we highly recommend uploading a custom thumbnail. YouTube suggests using images that are:
- 1280×720 pixels
- 16:9 ratio
- Saved as .jpg, .gif, .bmp, or .png files
- No larger than 2MB
That way, your thumbnail will appear with the same high quality across different viewing platforms.
Promoting Videos
Share on social media
Want to get your video in front of the right people? Sharing it on social media is a great way to do that! But first, you need to determine which platforms your target audience uses. Facebook and Youtube are good bets if you’re trying to reach an older demographic. For a younger crowd, try posting on Twitter and using relevant hashtags to boost your visibility.
Don’t forget about online communities, either! If you know of a forum or group that would appreciate your content, share it there too. The key is knowing where your audience is and ensuring your promotion efforts are focused on those platforms.
Embed on the website
We understand that sharing your video on social media channels is a great way to reach your audience, but don’t stop there. Embedding your travel video SEO directly on your website also has many benefits. It provides an opportunity for customers to learn more about your brand, and it can also boost your search engine rankings.
If you’ve already uploaded your video to YouTube, it’s easy to embed it on your website. Just click on the Share button below the video, select Embed, and then copy and paste the code into the HTML of your website.
Include in email marketing
Connecting with your audience through email is an excellent way to establish a personal connection. Did you know that you can increase the effectiveness of your email marketing by up to 300%? How?
By incorporating a travel video into your emails! This simple step can instantly make your emails more captivating and visually appealing, leading to increased engagement from your audience.
Not only can a video add value to your email content, but you can also use email to distribute your travel video content.
Measuring the Success of Video SEO
Your new travel video has been uploaded and promoted with SEO. But, to measure its overall success, there are some key performance indicators (KPIs) that you should monitor.
Let’s review the top 4 video SEO metrics together and break down what each means.
Views
Having a high view count is a great way to measure your video’s success. And it’s important to note that view count is measured differently across various platforms. Here’s a breakdown of how the powerful platforms measure views:
- YouTube: 30 seconds of intentional watching
- Facebook: 3 seconds of viewing (the same for Live videos)
- Instagram: Views count after 3 seconds for regular videos; Live video views count the second someone joins the broadcast
- Twitter: 2 seconds of watching with at least 50% of the video player on their screen
- LinkedIn: Same as Twitter – 2 seconds with at least half the video in view
- TikTok: A video view counts as soon as your video starts playing in someone’s feed
While view count may seem like a simple metric, it’s still crucial to make the first few seconds of your video captivating to engage your viewers. Therefore, remember, it’s not just about the views but also about encouraging your viewers to take further action.
Engagement
This includes looking at the number of comments and likes your video receives. Paying attention to the types of comments you get is just as important as their number . This feedback can help you improve your next campaign or at least give you a better idea of what your audience is looking for.
Click-through rate
If you’re running a travel video ad campaign and want to measure its success, one of the main things to track is the number of clicks and click-through rate. These are KPIs that help you understand how many people are clicking on your call-to-action (CTA) button.
Your goal with these Video SEO is to get as many people as possible to click from your video to your landing page, where they can learn more about your business, product, or service. To achieve this, you may want to try out different CTAs and see which one works best. And, of course, make sure your video content is engaging and interesting enough to get people clicking!
Measuring your click-through rate is simple: just divide the number of clicks your ad receives by the number of times your ad is seen.
Conversion rate
Conversions measure how effective your video ad is at turning viewers into leads or customers.
If you’re running actual video ad campaigns, it’s easy to measure conversions. But when it comes to measuring conversions from your educational videos or organic video content, things can get a bit trickier. This is where tracking and UTM tags come in handy. By using these tools, you can see where your clicks and conversions are coming from
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Conclusion
As we step into 2023, it’s evident that local businesses are striving to be more visible online, and video SEO is becoming a crucial tool to achieve that. By crafting top-notch videos that are optimized for search engines, businesses can not only boost their online presence but also connect with their customers in a more meaningful way.
It’s essential to focus on relevant keywords and provide valuable content that resonates with your target audience. Doing so can improve your Google rankings, attract more traffic to your website, and ultimately boost your sales.
So, if you’re a local business owner looking to increase your online visibility and drive more sales, don’t hesitate to embrace the power of video SEO. It’s an investment that can pay off big time in the long run!
