Referencing videos on Youtube is an absolutely necessary step if you want to stand out in a gigantic stream and be visible. It is today a channel of diffusion essential for an artist, which requires a certain work to be implemented to ensure the best its presence on the platform. This article is the result of long experimentation on Youtube.
- Youtube is the first streaming platform in the world. Here are some figures (December 2013) from Tubular Labs , the Digital Music Industry Report and Youtube statistics: 19.1% of uploads are music-related videos, 38.4% of all views are in the "music" category.
- This is the 3rd most visited website in the world with a billion users per month. This means that almost one in two users visits Youtube.
- A video on Youtube is viral. Video is content that shares better than audio on social media. Many Youtube videos are integrated on the various web supports.
- In terms of quality, Youtube offers HD videos equivalent to those of Vimeo (exclusively HD platform), even if the concepts are different .
Thus comes into play the SEO concept (Search Engine Optimization), ie the set of techniques to get your web page back to the top of the search engines . Today is a full-fledged profession, but there are some basic ones that are very useful.Why optimize SEO for a video? Search engine robots scan only the text of web pages. You have to "get their attention" with words, supported by specific methods. The idea is to reference each video page, with the objective of being well ranked on Youtube and then on the search engines.
First of all, have content. You can be the best of bands, if you have nothing to offer besides excellent music and fire shows, it's a shame because you have the most important . On Youtube, content is not just video. If you only have studio pieces available, put them online. After opening an account, you must create a channel dedicated to your music to post videos. It's a real interactive platform to make your world live, simple and intuitive.
Optimize SEO of a music video on Youtube
1 - The title : the first thing taken into account by the Youtube search algorithm. It needs a short, precise and catchy title . You should write the name of the group at the beginning and use separators. Google likes that. The norm in SEO is not to exceed 70 characters, because Google truncates the page titles in the results. For its branding, Youtube will include its signature at the end of the search engine results. At most, optimize your title to 60 characters.
Title above (box in red): Name of the group - Title of the song - Name of the concert - Branding Youtube
Use, as the case may be, words like "video", "clip", "interview", "official" because internet users tend to type them into search engines. I advocate anglicisms, ie "live" instead of "concert", "official" instead of "official", "video" without accent. Anglophones and Francophones can understand these words, and you considerably broaden your target in terms of coverage. For artists singing in French for the French market, you can think twice.
Keyword Research Tool for Youtube and other platforms |
2 - Tags or keywords : The more you use it, the more likely it is that the algorithm Youtube retains your content. You have the right to 120 characters (spaces included) to optimize in a maximum of keywords. They associate your video with other videos on the same topic .
When a user watches a video, your content will be presented as a related video. The viral potential is increased if the keywords are worked . Define them in connection with your video AND your universe. Propose a mix of common and specific tags. They must be ranked in order of importance. The ideal is to put in first keywords the same as in the title, and in the same order. Insert quotation marks for expressions or compound words.
Let's take the example of Led Zeppelin :
"Led zeppelin" / "black dog" (name of the song) / "celebration day" / "live video" / "hard rock" / band / "music video" / "jimmy page" (name of the song) famous guitarist of the group) / gibson (guitar related to the sound of the band) / music / rock / 2007 (year of the concert) / london (city where the concert took place)
Use a tag generator that suggests new keywords and tracks the trend. Which also means that you can edit your old videos to be in the "era of time". Use with moderation. It is you who know your artistic project better than anyone else.
TIP: On your computer, optimize the video file name BEFORE uploading . Rename it with important keywords (no more than 5): zeppelin-black-dog-celebration day-hard rock video-led. Always add the word "video" at the beginning, compared to the many searches that contain it.
3 - Description : Up to 5000 characters. Use 2-3 keywords in the beginning of your description, mixed with relevant information. Assume that this is the beginning of the description (framed in red) that is scanned by search engine robots (180 characters). Have a good opening phrase, identifiable and accurate. Apart from the beginning to optimize, this step is less important than titles and tags for SEO. But it is very important in terms of communication. Work on it and bring out the group's universe, its message and so on. Avoid the impersonal description very complete, but boring. Attract the user, make him want to interact with you and find out more. Finally, insert "call-to-action": links to your site, your social networks, your Youtube channel.
REMEMBER: there are 3 ways to insert the keywords: in the title, description and tags . And avoid the repetition of the keywords included in the title of the video and the description in 180 characters. Use a maximum of 2 similar keywords in bold in the example above. Search engines will tend to penalize the proliferation of the same words when scanning a web page.
4 - Duration and format : the shortest videos are the best referenced. The maximum allowed is 15 minutes. It is also possible to circumvent this duration . But do not upload a live improvisation of 25 minutes. Start with videos of 4-5 minutes and make yourself famous . This is the standard. See the thing as a pyramid with steps to climb, and this is the whole concept of a musical career. Will come later the uploading of concerts of 1h30min. In any case, the HD format is strongly recommended. And only put videos of good audio quality. So these are things to be planned beforehand so as not to end up in this kind of situation: big young scene with super visual, but its horrible!
5 - Choose an original tab : it deserves a nice work in Photoshop, because of its small size and the little option that offers Youtube (a small "Stairway to heaven" Ukulele?).
6 - Fill in the correct category : "music" obviously. If you think your video is similar to another category, you can try. It really depends on the content. It is then possible to reach a different audience than the initial target. History has proven that it can work and bring this "other" audience to appreciate your music.
7 - Do not close your videos to share : IMPORTANT and NECESSARY, given the number of Youtube videos shared on the web. And allow embed players (embedded players from source code) so that users (and you) can insert them on sites / blogs.
Additional options for optimum SEO
- The Youtube algorithm very well considers subtitled videos. Original lyrics or in another language, translation of interviews, you have a number of possibilities. Insert the subtitles according to the objective: make take off your "hit", put forward a less popular piece (or both), make accessible your message. It all depends on the amount of content, your universe, the importance of the lyrics in the project ... Only subtitle a small number of videos, you are not a dictionary, and above all you will leave some mystery around the group. If you are targeting foreign countries, this is a great alternative. Subtitling is a great way to enhance the group and its image, and also to get contacts that can make you run away from home. Subtitles are created in a Windows notepad with extension.srt. Also with Amara , fast and powerful tool.
- Use annotations that appear in bubbles , at defined times, as titles and labels. An effective way is to insert a link to another video, a subscription to your site etc. You give users the ability to browse your channel and other web media. Show these annotations in the last 15 seconds of the video, otherwise it is unpleasant for the user.
- Share your videos on social networks, regularly, by changing the catch phrases . This is traffic generator. Use the "Analytics" option for accurate statistics, stand back and optimize.
Search Popular Keywords in Your Industry
These are the most popular suggestions for Music Keywords generated by WordStream's Free Keyword Tool. To get have all of these keywords sent to you, simply enter your Email address and click "Email Keywords" below.
Music Marketing Tips and Tricks
According to Statista, the annual revenue generated in the music industry will approach $23 billion by 2021. There are a lot of players, too: artists, producers, engineers, distributors, labels, concert venues, ticket vendors, and the like. The daily interactions between these actors are necessary to mass produce the music – recorded and live – so many of us cannot imagine life without.
As streaming platforms – Spotify (wannabe hipsters), Apple Music (Drake fans), SoundCloud (your rapper friends) – have continued to grow more dominant, vinyl record sales (actual hipsters) have made a surprise comeback and CD sales (your dad) have completely plummeted. Compared to 2016, streaming-generated revenue will have doubled by 2021. Live music alone is a nearly $10 billion sub-industry.
There is more to Know about music marketing that this articles can not contain but you can get more insight from the best.
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