I’d be foolish to claim that I’m any kind [...]]]> The real video SEO school is the one where you’re engaged in SEO for video and finding out first hand by experience, research and good old fashioned trial and error, what works, what sometimes works and what doesn’t work at all.

I’d be foolish to claim that I’m any kind of expert in SEO for video but I can say that I’m enjoying the experience and have reached a few basic assumptions about Video.

1. Video sites, especially YouTube and Vimeo outrank a lot of competition- not all, but more than you would think. This denotes a class system with video as a separate class from organic search. This is especially true for YouTube. Besides, Vimeo officially doesn’t allow commercial content, especially for the likes of real estate, etc.
2. Video has far less competition in most markets. First, people are skittish about appearing on video or appearing amateurish. The entire idea is dismissed outright, much to the benefit of those willing to go the next step. Even when people in business post video, they do it in ways that add little value to their marketability. Embedding video in your blog may make it a little more entertaining but it doesn’t always leverage it in terms of inherent SEO value to search engines. Think about it, it’s just an embedded object so search engines already are aware that the content comes from elsewhere.
3. Video requires far less offsite SEO than traditional web pages. The blend of a little offsite search optimization and the intrinsic value of video gets you up to warp speed right away. You’re competing on a whole different level with video.
4. Carefully planned video and onsite optimization can yield spectacular results. Paying attention to the thumbnail image (think “call to action”) and the text you’re allowed to place in the description and tag fields make all the difference. I even pay attention to the name of the video file and, of course, Title, keywords and tags. All these work the same as any other web content. Make it count when you write up the text content for your video. That’s all the search engines have to go on- they can’t watch your video. That’s its own advantage and disadvantage so you want to leverage that element as well.
5. Your video content should be valuable enough to attract viewers, Even if it’s short. Cheating with a static image is going to turn off viewers and maybe even get you a few 1-star ratings. (I think that would be bad)

My latest experience in SEO for video revealed another factor that requires a little patience. YouTube, the second most searched website on the Internet, gets millions of uploads a day. It really should be no surprise that indexing isn’t perfect. I posted some videos on Sunday and they didn’t index until Tuesday. I learned quickly that Google thought more of a video it found later than the one I’d optimized offsite for earlier. I’d recommend holding off on offsite SEO until everything you post is either indexed or deleted.

The result for video SEO is spectacular when it works. Your target is often the only link on a search page with its own thumbnail image and the promise of something to look at- not just read.

For real estate, don’t just do a virtual tour and expect it to rank high for your business. There are millions of virtual tours on YouTube, some several years old (why don’t the authors delete them? Are they still on the market?) Make a video that has a message that’s relevant to your business and your audience like “I’m the right agent to choose for your search for PGA National homes for sale.”

SEO For Real Estate in Orange County and anywhere by Dave Keys

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