Optimize for Google Universal – Video Results

Welcome to the third installment of our 4-part series on optimizing for Google Universal Search. What’s this week’s focus? Video.

According to Google:

If you have video content, you can host it on Google Video, YouTube, or a number of other video hosting providers. If the video is a relevant result for the query, searchers can play the video directly from the search results page (for Google Video and YouTube) or can view a thumbnail of the video then click over to the player for other hosting providers. You can easily upload videos to Google Video or to YouTube.

If you haven’t seen a video result appearing in a web search, here is an example:

If you have video content that you’d like to see appear in Google’s web results, you may be wondering where to start.

Submit to a Video Hosting Provider

The first step towards getting your video out there for the masses to see when they search on Google, is to submit your video content to a hosting provider. There are several video hosting providers that are drawn from when Google provides video results in the results pages. Of course, these providers include YouTube and Google Video.

Although Google says that there are other video hosting providers you can submit your videos to, I could not find information from Google on exactly who those providers are.

The upside to using Google Video or YouTube for hosting your video content is that when your video is returned in the results, users can watch the video from right within the search results page.

Optimize Video Information

When you upload your video content at YouTube or Google, you are presented with several opportunities to infuse your video with relevancy:

• • Filename – When uploading your video, make sure that you give your content a relevant filename. If you have a video that is about a skateboarding cat, a relevant filename would include the words skateboarding and cat in it.
  • Title – The title field is another opportunity for you to exhibit relevancy. For your video about a skateboarding cat, rather than having your title be ‘Mittens’, you’d probably want something along the lines of “Mittens – The Skateboarding Cat”.
  • Description – The description field is the perfect place for you to include a keyword-rich description about your content. If your video shows Mittens the Skateboarding Cat showing off his tricks at the Skate Park, you’ll want to include that factoid here.
  • Permissions – Both YouTube and Google have the option to make the video private or accessible by the public. If you’re looking to have your video appear in Google’s search results, public is the way to go.
  • One option that is available on YouTube is tagging. With tagging, you can assign keyword-rich tags (think of tags like labels) to your video.

So, now that you have an idea of how to optimize your video content for Google’s Universal Search, what are you waiting for? Whether your video highlights Mittens the Skateboarding Cat showing off his mastery of a varial flip, or a new product that will help businesses maximize their efficiency, Google Universal Search can give you an edge over the competition.