It’s one thing to put all your effort into creating video content for your eCommerce site, however getting it distributed and viewed by as many people as possible who are actually looking for your products is a whole other ball game. In this presentation, world renowned eCommerce SEO magician Stephan Spencer discusses how to harness YouTube to get your videos pushed further up the pecking order in their search results.

1. Secrets to Video SEO for eCommerce
Stephan Spencer
Co-Author of The Art of SEO; Author of Google
Power Search; Founder of Netconcepts

2. First Off... Who Am I?
• Author of Google Power Search &
Co-author of The Art of SEO
• Founder of SEO agency Netconcepts
• Sold Netconcepts to Covario in 2010
• Lived in NZ for 8 yrs, returned to US in 2007
• Invented an SEO technology called GravityStream
• Launching an SEO training/coaching program at
ScienceofSEO.com

6. A Blog is an Asset
My daughter,
blogger & SEO.
$5 - $30 / day
passive income.
Started when she
was 14.
SEO: So simple even a
child can do it!

7. Want this PowerPoint…
in “Extended Edition”?
• With copious notes, already taken for you?
• Text your name and email to (773) 639-1331

8. What Are Searchers Looking For?
• Keyword Research
– “Target the wrong keywords & all your efforts will
be in vain.”
• The “right” keywords are …
– Relevant to your business
– Popular with searchers
– Attainable for you to rank for

9. Keyword Research for Videos
 Tools for brainstorming a seed list
– YouTube Suggest
– Google Suggest
– Soovle
 Tools to check popularity of keyword searches
– YouTube Keyword Tool
– Google Keyword Planner
– Google Trends

10. YouTube Suggest

11. Google Suggest

12. Soovle

13. Soovle.com

14. Soovle.com
Soovle.com

15. Soovle.com

16. YouTube Keyword Tool
www.youtube.com/keyword_tool

17. Google Keyword Planner
adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/Home

18. Google Keyword
Planner

19. Google Keyword
Planner

20. Google Trends
www.google.com/trends

21. Be Remarkable!
• Seth Godin’s definition of “remarkable”
• Publish unique video-based content
– Podcasts (e.g. Rooster Teeth)
– Screencasts (use Camtasia or Screenflow)
– Microsites (e.g. Mentosintern.com)
– Explainer videos (e.g. CrazyEgg, Dollar Shave Club)
– Whiteboard drawings (e.g. RSA Animate)
– Animation (e.g. Quantitative Easing Explained)

32. Leverage Power Users
• Seed linkworthy videos from power user
accounts
• Social media marketing most effective when
you have something viral to spread
– memes

33. Video Content Building
• Must be compelling
• Reinforce the message of your brand
around keywords to target
• Use keyword research for brainstorming
• Include a watermark to indicate its origin
• Include links and references to your site

34. The Title
• Huge factor in convincing a user to view the
video
– Second only to the thumbnail
• Keyword-rich
• Catchy
• YouTube title tag limit = 62 characters

35. The Title
• Append your brand name at the end
• Will help the videos in your channel to rank
when your brand is searched

36. The Description
• Keyword-rich
• Unique & differentiated from competitors
• Solid call-to-action
• Link to your site

37. Tags
• Separate each tag with a comma
• Use adjectives as well as category descriptors
• Don’t use throwaway words like “and” & “to”
• Do your keyword research
• Tag list is capped at 120 characters. Make full use of
this.

38. Tags
• Set Privacy to “Public”.
• If videos are set to “Unlisted”, only people
with the link can search for them
• Additionally, select a “Category” for each
video

39. Annotations
• Place near the end, inviting the
viewer to click to subscribe or
suggesting another video
• Link selection button gives you
option of making channel
subscription link
• Promote channel or video across
your library via “InVideo
Programming” annotation tool
• Channel watermark = unobtrusive
1-click subscribe button

40. Location
• Add Location to videos associated with a
location
• Allows the videos to show up in location-
filtered search results
• Videos have been displayed in Google Maps at
various times
– May be exposed in Google+ updates

41. Thumbnails
• Even more important
than the title for click-
through!
• Search for your
keywords to see
thumbnail competition
• Verified users can
upload a custom
thumbnail!
• Appears in Google too

42. Formats
• Preferred format
– e.g. .mov, .avi, or .wmv
• Offering multiple file formats? No SEO benefit
• Make only one version visible to search
engines, offer them all to the users.

43. Length
• 5 minutes or less
• “Write copy for your site. Then cut it in half.
Then cut it in half again” -Usability Expert
Steve Krug
• % of a your video that users watch is key

44. Transcripts
• Override YouTube’s
auto generated
transcript with your
own
• Foreign language
translations
• dotSub or Automatic
Synch
A transcript file must be saved as a plain text file without
any special characters before it is uploaded.

45. Likes/Dislikes
• Allow users to like/dislike. Never disable.
• Crucial part of getting user engagement
– Highly rated videos attract viewers

46. Video Link Building
• Get YouTube viewers
engaged
• YouTube offers many
social features such as
comments, video replies,
favorites, and likes
• Offer option to embed
your videos in other
people’s sites.
• End the videos with a
“send to friend” option.

47. Video Link Building
• Syndicate your video using DropLoad
• Reference in RSS or mRSS feeds.
• When you include a URL in the video’s
description, YouTube will make it clickable, but
NoFollowed.
• Consider a presence on hosted blogs
– e.g. Wordpress.com, Blogger, Tumblr
• numbers of embeds factor into video rank
• post on Twitter and Facebook

48. Anchor Text
• Use appropriate keywords in the name of the
file and the title.
• Keyword-rich anchor text carries a lot of
weight.
• Focus on keywords the videos are about.

49. Measuring Success in YouTube
• Measure and track
your videos’ YouTube
search and
engagement rankings
• Use tools like Voot
and YouTube Insights
YouTube
Analytics

50. Voot

51. • Surprisingly, you can glean some insight on your competitors’ videos simply by clicking
on the graph icon next to the number of views. Chances are your competitors weren’t
savvy enough to turn that off to keep their competition from viewing their stats.

52. Hide Your Stats
• Disable and hide your
videos’ stats
• Uncheck the box
“make statistics and
data for my videos
publicly visible by
default” under
“Privacy” settings.
• Or click the graph icon
below your video

53. Q&A
• What can you do tomorrow that will improve your
video SEO? Write down 3 things!
• To contact me: stephan@stephanspencer.com
• Follow me on Twitter: @sspencer
• To get the EXTENDED EDITION of this slide deck, a
beta invite to Voot, a whitepaper on SEO myths, a
how-to on getting higher rankings in YouTube’s
search engine, and the link building chapter of my
book The Art of SEO, e-mail
admin@stephanspencer.com or text your first name
and email to (773) 639-1331.