If you’re trying to get more traffic to your hotel website, posting videos on YouTube is a great way to do it and with over 30 million visitors per day, YouTube is a huge audience source that hoteliers shouldn’t miss out on.

There are many types of videos hotels can post to generate attention to their sites. Once you’ve figured out what kind of video you want to shoot and you have it filmed, the next step is to upload it to YouTube.

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet behind Google, and both sites are actually integrated. But simply uploading a video to YouTube doesn’t mean that your video will appear in the search results.

There are some SEO tactics hoteliers can use to ensure that their video ranks highly in the YouTube AND Google search engines. Once you utilize these methods, your video is more likely to get more views on YouTube.

One of the first things you should do is create an optimized video title. Usually in marketing, we’re taught that a compelling title is enough to grab a reader’s attention. But when it comes to search rankings, you need more than a great title: that title, including the name of the uploaded video file, has to have SEO keywords.

Titles with strong video keywords will not only rank highly in a YouTube search; they will also appear on the front page of the Google search. Conduct reserach to determine the best keywords to use for your video. You can also consult with your SEO specialist, who will be able to give you a more targeted list.

The next key to video SEO is the description. This is where you place content describing your hotel video. Because Google and YouTube don’t actually “watch” your videos, they get all of their information from the description. Descriptions should be around 250 and contain as much detail as possible. To make the description as effective as possible, place your keywords within the first 25 words. Remember, this is the only information that Google has on your video, so every word counts. It is also suggested that you place a link to your hotel’s website at the top of your description. This allows for direct access to your site. 

Another place where SEO comes into play on YouTube is in the transcription. Few people know that YouTube actually transcribes the words in your video. The only issue is that their transcription algorithm isn’t always accurate and may get some of your words wrong. Fortunately, you can edit the transcription and ensure that everything is correct, especially if you used any keywords in your video.

Video tags also play a role in SEO on YouTube. Many people have the misconception that tags can act as keywords, but that isn’t completely true. Yes, a keyword can be tag, but a tag doesn’t act as a keyword. Tags are more so used as a way to categorize and group your videos. They come in handy the most for relevant videos. If someone is watching a video and it has the same tags as your video, then your video has an opportunity to appear in the relevant video sidebar.

The final frontier to SEO on YouTube is your channel tag and description. If you will be regularly posting videos for your hotel (which you should) then your channel is also a useful SEO target. The approach you take to create strong video descriptions is the same approach you should take when entering a description for your channel. Channel tags also work the same way as video tags.

Once you’ve uploaded your video and optimized it for SEO, Google and YouTube will begin to analyze the information. There are many factors that come into play when Youtube and Google rank your videos including how well you employed your SEO tactics, engagement like comments, shares, and subscribtions, and video retention. The more interaction your video receives, the more likely it is to rank higher in the search results on both Google and YouTube.

So go ahead and upload that virtual tour, input some strong keywords and descriptions, and watch your views, and ultimately the traffic to your hotel website, rise.

E-Marketing Associates helps independent hotels increase direct bookings and reduce reliance on OTAs. We build innovative online marketing products that deliver the best ROI for independent hotels. Our products aim to ultimately drive top-line revenue.

www.e-marketingassociates.com