A successful YouTube video can do wonders for your ability to find new customers online. Those thousands of new visitors to your website that visit from watching one of you videos are great. Have you ever wondered what else your successful YouTube video can do for you?
Finding customers in your city through local SEO efforts is an important aspect of modern online marketing. This is especially true for a small business with one location, but applies just as well to franchises looking to add their voice to the local culture. Since YouTube is worldwide, how can it help you find customers who are in your city or across street the street from you?
This article is going to look at how you can help people understand that you’re from Paris, Canada, instead of Paris, France, through YouTube local SEO efforts.
Give your YouTube video a location with Geo Tagging
Geo tagging is a tool which helps you give Google, and YouTube, the exact location of your business. Find this feature in your Advanced Settings tab after going to the Video Manager Dashboard for your account. Enter the address of your business, click “Search,” and make sure they got it right.
YouTube may also try to enter your location based on your IP address, make sure that they’re tagging the right place. If you’re working from home you may have a knocks on your door from customers wanting your products!
Add a link to your business in your YouTube video description
A direct link to your business website near the beginning of your YouTube video description, the first paragraph amongst the text which describes your video, is useful for customers. It can also have a small cumulative effect on your local SEO rankings.
A note to make here is that YouTube does put a “no-follow” designation on this link. I believe that there is still value when used in conjunction with the other local SEO strategies outlined.
Use the second paragraph of your YouTube description for your location
Once you have linked to your website and described your video in the first paragraph, the second paragraph is more open to input. I’d write out your address, just like you would on a letter (you know, those things you put in a mailbox), along with your phone number.
If someone were to search for “basketball shoes,” this tactic will have little impact on their results. If someone were to search for “basketball shoes Toronto,” and you have your basketball shoe video listed with your address in it as in Toronto, this can have a HUGE impact on your local SEO.
The name, address, and phone number of your business added as text
I know that Google’s optical character recognition sounds scary (ok, it is sorta scary), but it allows Google the ability to “read” text in images and video. You can add this this in easily using the YouTube Annotations feature if you want to go a digital route, or simply have a backdrop with your business address in it if you prefer a different sort of visual cue.
The name, address, and phone number of your business as audio
Having the person hosting your YouTube video say the name, address, and phone number of your business can score you some quick local SEO help. YouTube have a tool that auto-generates a text transcript. Your business address can be in that script, which is quite searchable by YouTube’s algorithm.
This can also be an auditory cue for your viewers which help them learn your address. A big part of good SEO efforts are all about user experience.
Use a video tag with your business location
This is once again one of those things that definitely helps you out on YouTube when people add city names to their search. Tags are great at connecting videos, and can be used just as effectively when trying to connect local SEO efforts.
Embed your YouTube video in a blog post or on your website
This is when your local SEO efforts start to really come together. All of the steps above are helping your local SEO on YouTube, but this is the step which brings your local YouTube SEO to your website, and connects it to your business.
Best of all, the web LOVES video. Having it on your website keeps people around for longer, and blogs that regularly features video can draw people in again and again – all while helping your local SEO!
Promote your local SEO optimized YouTube video like crazy
This will likely not have a direct impact on your local SEO rankings, but it will certainly help raise your overall PageRank. A video which is popular always ranks better; this will also transfer over to a better ranking in local SEO searches – a rising tide bringing up all ships, to use an analogy.
If you’ve learned anything here, I’m hoping that it is that there are many ways for you to optimize your local SEO on YouTube. While some of them may not directly impact search algorithms, all of them will impact your viewers and potential customers. Isn’t that the goal in the end?
Matthew is the social media writer over on the Devumi.com Social Selling Blog. You can find him there every Friday as he comments on the latest developments in the social media world. The Devum Twitter account is also a great place to stay up to date withe all things social!
