Putting videos online is all the rage but is it really just as simple as uploading a video to YouTube or your website for people to find it? The simple answer is No. You need to do some work to make it search engine friendly just like all content needs to be on the Internet. So here are some quick tips on how to do just that.

Get People Pointing - One of the most important factors in ranking high in Google search results are backlinks. Those are links that are coming into your site and pointing at your videos. You need these or Google won’t see how valuable your information is and will slide you near the bottom of the pile. Here are three things to do in order to keep that from happening. One, when you have that video uploaded and ready to be seen why not tell people about it? Put out a press release, a newsletter or a news blast to let your current subscribers and the media know it’s there. Who knows, it might get picked up by a major site and you’ll get more traffic. Two, do it yourself by dropping links in social networks like Twitter and Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit, and Delicious. Those are all high value sites and will also generate some traffic. Three, tell your friends. Keep a list of people who maintain sites that pertain to your particular topics. When you put out a new video, drop them all an email to let them know. Or if they have forums and blogs leave comments and write posts that will also tie into what your video talks about because then it’s easy to slide a link in.

Subtitles and Captions - Not everyone can hear or speaks English so you need to make the information in your video as accessible as you can. That means subtitles and captions for your video. There are numerous services that can help with this and since many are saved as text files they are extra information that Google can use to determine how valid and important your video is when people are searching for that specific information. The other bonus is that even people who are at work and might not be able to listen to the sound of the video will get the message. It ensures the widest possible spread of the content of the video since you’re giving it to people in as many forms of media as possible. Be sure to include a URL or contact information so people know where to go to get more info.

Multi-faceted Distribution - Get that video out to as many places as you can because that will get it seen. If you don’t want to pose the whole video to other video sharing sites but want people to see a teaser that leads them back to you then do that but be certain to include enough information so that they are compelled to find out more. You can even get a piece of software that will do all the submissions for you quickly and easily in a sort of fire-and-forget fashion where you don’t even need to be there.

Yes this all sounds so simple right? Well it is, but if you don’t do it you’re sure to hardly ever generate traffic on your videos. So what are you waiting for? Even if you’ve got older videos on your site that are under-performing you can do all of this to get them revitalized and bringing you more traffic.

These are some tips to get started, but most businesses would prefer to work with a trusted video seo agency. Successful video search engine optimization requires professional keyword research, optimization and distribution. Consider the internet’s highest ranked company for professsional video search optimization services, ReelSEO.com.

Stumble it!