In this guide, we will explain video SEO for your real estate business. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) dictates everything you see online and the order they are stacked when you execute a search query. Basically, better SEO leads to better online visibility of your real estate business
Thankfully, with video emerging as the go-to digital content format for the foreseeable future, SEO-weary media consumers are in for a break as video SEO works completely differently from SEO for text-based content.
First, and most importantly, is the reminder that video SEO is a completely different beast from traditional SEO. The main distinction being that – unlike traditional SEO – your content will only be moderately impacted by special configurations/keyword densities, which will make your content feel a lot less awkward than some SEO writing can feel. The majority of the tips and tricks in video SEO will affect the way you post your content, but some will impact the content itself.
If you want your video content to perform well, you’ll want to settle in for a longer read – it’ll be worth it.
1. Start Doing Keywords Research For Your Local Real Estate Business
Unlike text-based content SEO, you can’t really use SEMRush or other keyword research tools to determine effective keywords using the traditional route. That means you have to get resourceful when brainstorming ideas for video content, but start simple: type the keyword you want to use into YouTube Search to see what other suggestions pop up. This can show you what has and has not been covered. This is one of the most basic foundational elements of video SEO.
Pro Tip: To see ALL configurations of your keyword in the YouTube suggested search results, type an underscore before your target keyword.
Remember: Once you decide on a keyword, GOOGLE IT. This is important to video SEO because if you choose a keyword for which there are no video results, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle getting your video to rank. Conversely, if a video shows up in the top 3 results, you’ll have a difficult time ranking in spots 4-10.
2. Shoot Your Real Estate Videos Keeping Client Engagement In Mind
But keep these simple video SEO tips in mind when scripting and storyboarding.
The longer the better! The longer a video is, the longer the viewer watches, and the better your retention metrics remain. You’ll see that many of the most viewed videos in YouTube search results clock in at over 8-9 minutes; don’t think that brief is the only way to go!
Include at least TWO “Subscribe” calls to action. One in the middle, and one near the end
Say the target keyword AT LEAST TWICE in your video
The first 15 seconds of your video is CRUCIAL to your retention rate. START BIG.
ASK FOR COMMENTS! But be clear as to what kind of comments you’re soliciting (“Comment with your favorite SEO tips!” Or “Comment and let us know what you think!”)
3. YouTube Video SEO Best Practices
Now it’s time for posting your video, and these tips will help you get the most mileage out of your video SEO content!
Video Title: Your title MUST include your target keyword, and – if you want views – add a little flair to it.
Thumbnail: Create an eye-catching and unique thumbnail image to attach to the video.
Description: This is another instance where brief isn’t the best way to get noticed. It’s recommended your description be at least 200 words so that YouTube has more words it can analyze when deciding whether it will suggest your video.
Video Tags: Add lots of relevant video tags so that your video can be discovered or displayed in front of the right group of audience.
Pro Tip: Remember that only the first 125 characters show up without the need to be expanded. Your target keyword MUST be in these 125 characters if you want any hope of ranking.
Facebook Video SEO Best Practices
Facebook has made a big push to get users to post video content natively over the last year and a bit. This isn’t to say that they’ve made it easy, but the benefit is that your video content could conceivably be seen immediately following a video by a larger poster like CNN or the New York Times. There’s not much you can due to guarantee you’ll get that prime spot, but you can do a few things to help make sure your content is seen!
First, you need to understand how Facebook’s news feed algorithm works for video.
Your Facebook Visibility Depends On:
- User Interest in Page (frequency user interacts with your page)
Performance (better performing posts appear in more newsfeeds)
REMEMBER: Only between 2-11% of your content will actually be seen in your followers’ news feeds! Brands are getting less organic reach YOY and the reason being, Facebook wants brands to boost their content. Take a look at the graph below.
Pro Tip: When mixing your video, USE CLOSED CAPTIONING! This is smart as it allows the dialogue to be visible even if the user hasn’t clicked on your video but has autoplay turned on. Remember the 15-second rule? If you demonstrate value in that first 15 seconds of dialogue, you significantly increase your chances of the viewer engaging with your video. The SRT files that you upload to generate closed captions for your video are often used by YouTube and Facebook to track keywords.
4. Promoting Your Video To Generate More Link Juice
YouTube videos that are shared and watched more often rank better than competing keywords. Getting your video posted is only half the battle! Now you have to get people to engage with it and watch it! The following is a checklist of ways you can let people know when you’ve got new video content!
- Embed the video on your website as a blog post
- Share the video on medium, scoop.it and other content syndication websites
- Share the video natively on the Facebook and YouTube
