YouTube and SEO
Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month and view over 4 billion hours of video. Since YouTube is owned by Google, and Google likes showing a variety of websites in its search engine results page, having optimized videos can help get your brand or company name noticed. While YouTube can create advantage for SEO, use it carefully due to potential impact on image and reputation.

How To

• Create an account using your preferred contact information – make it consistent with your Google+ name, website domain name, or company name. Use an e-mail address on the same domain as your primary website.
• Shoot videos 1-2 minutes in length with a steady camera, plain background, good lighting, and minimal background noise and practice your script first
• Upload only videos that reflect well on yourself, your company and serve a business purpose

Do’s
Use the following methods to increase the likelihood of your video being found on the web and viewed on YouTube:

Titles

• Shorter is better – YouTube shows 69 Characters (including spaces) for the title.
• Use Company Name, Topic, Agent Name, and Location
• Example: Company Name Review – Firstname Lastname Location – Topic

Description

• Use website address and company name within the first 72 characters, and limit description to 156 characters including spaces

Tags

• Repeat important keywords from title and description separated by commas
• Since tags aren’t seen by viewers, this is a good place to bury keywords – perhaps negative keywords – for a leg up on SEO

Settings

• Always click the “Advanced Settings” tab when uploading videos, and select “Approved” to prevent unwanted comments and responses to your video
• See screen shot of the Advance Settings options

Tips

• Solicit client testimonials at the time of sale, record a short video, and always ask permission before posting
• Cross-post the video on your company website and other social media sites for better exposure
• On websites, create a separate page for each video and use the video’s title, description and keyword tags when creating the page for better SEO
• Monitor your posts and search on your company name and location to protect your internet reputation
• If responding to a negative post or comment on YouTube, do so via a message or e-mail rather than commenting or posting a rebuttal

YouTube Viewership

• More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
• Over 4 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube
• 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute
• 70% of YouTube traffic comes from outside the US
• YouTube is localized in 53 countries and across 61 languages
• In 2011, YouTube had more than 1 trillion views or around 140 views for every person on Earth
• Millions of subscriptions happen each day. Subscriptions allow you to connect with someone you’re interested in – whether it’s a friend, or the NBA – and keep up with their activity on the site youtube buy likes