Video marketing is growing exponentially, with Cisco projecting 82% of online content will be video by 2022. As a WordPress site owner, you need an effective video SEO strategy to tap into this demand and drive more qualified traffic.
In this comprehensive guide, I will provide insider tips to properly optimize and configure your WordPress site for video search success.
Why Video SEO Matters
Let‘s first discuss why you should invest time in optimizing video SEO:
🚀 Higher Rankings – Properly optimized videos have 53 times more chances of ranking on Google‘s first page.
🚀 Increased Engagement – Viewers spend 100% more time on pages with videos. Videos in landing pages can increase conversions by 80% or more.
🚀 Better Branding – Videos help reinforce what a company does to drive more interest and trust.
🚀 Higher Social Sharing – Videos generate 1200% more shares than text and images combined.
As you can see, video SEO should be a top priority!
Choosing the Right Video Platform
The first step is leveraging the best platform for hosting your videos. Here is how the top options compare for SEO friendliness:
| Platform | SEO Strength | Monetization | Customization |
|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ | Excellent | Limited |
| Vimeo | ⭐⭐⭐ | Limited | Fully Customizable |
| Self-Hosted | ⭐⭐ | Full Control | Fully Customizable |
YouTube stands out as it accounts for over 50% of mobile internet traffic and offers unparalleled video SEO capabilities.
For the best chance of ranking and driving traffic back to your WordPress site, I recommend hosting videos on YouTube. You can upload additional versions to Vimeo or self-host as well.
Next, let‘s discuss how to optimize videos for maximum visibility…
Step 1: Optimize Your Video Files
To rank videos on the first page, you need to master on-page video optimization.
Follow this video SEO checklist when publishing content:
√ Descriptive File Names – Use target keyword(s) accurately describing the video‘s focus.
Good: "how-to-setup-wordpress-video-seo.mp4"
√ Compelling Titles – Include primary SEO keyword target naturally while hooking interest.
Good: "How to Setup WordPress Video SEO – Step by Step Tutorial"
√ Meta Descriptions – Summarize topics covered accurately. Include related secondary keyword targets.
√ Tags – Include all relevant keyword targets and related terms.
√ Transcripts – Enhance accessibility while giving textual content for search bots.
√ Thumbnail – Create custom thumbnails that intrigue viewers to click.
By spending time optimizing each video upfront, you can maximize its search visibility for the long-haul.
Step 2: Configure Video Sitemaps
Now that your videos are optimized, you need to make sure search engines can properly index and showcase them in results. This is where video sitemaps come in.
Video sitemaps essentially serve as an index of all the videos on your WordPress site.
Here are the benefits they provide:
✅ Help search bots discover new video content
✅ Provide additional metadata not available on page
✅ Drive more qualified traffic from search engines
✅ Increase click-through-rates and conversion rates
The best plugin for managing video sitemaps is AIOSEO.
Here is a quick step-by-step walkthrough to configure video sitemaps:
- Install and activate the AIOSEO plugin
- Go to AIOSEO » Sitemaps
- Toggle on the slider under Enable Sitemaps
- Select Video Sitemap tab
- Click Activate Video Sitemap button
- Click Open Video Sitemap link
Now Google can index all your optimized videos for better video SEO!
Step 3: Embed & Link to Videos
When embedding videos on pages across your WordPress site, follow these best practices:
» Use Keyword-Focused Anchor Text
The anchor text users click on to play the video should incorporate your target keyword(s).
» Embed Videos Responsively
Videos should resize and scale across all devices. Don‘t use fixed widths.
» Optimize Surrounding Content
Mention your target keyword(s) in the content around the embedded video as well.
» Link to Original Video Sources
Link back to original video page on YouTube/Vimeo both for attribution and added signals.
Step 4: Track Video Performance
The final crucial step is tracking video performance to identify optimization opportunities.
Focus on these key video SEO metrics:
- Impressions
- Click-through-rate
- Average percentage viewed
- Traffic sources
- Search ranking position
Based on this data, you can refine your video metadata, promotion strategy, call-to-actions, and more.
Tools like YouTube Analytics, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics will be invaluable for reporting. Third party solutions like TubeBuddy and VidIQ can provide additional competitive intelligence.
Review reports regularly and compile key findings into video optimization roadmaps.
Optimizing your WordPress site for video SEO success takes effort but delivers tremendous upside.
Now that you know how to properly configure platform setup, metadata, sitemaps, embedding, and analytics – it‘s time to start executing!
As you being uploading and embedding more videos on your site, be sure to track progress across all KPIs discussed above. Let me know if you have any other questions arise!
