Viral Video and SEO Value

By now most people in the web design industry are familiar with the subject of SEO, or search engine optimization. Everybody knows the basic concept: get links to your site and you will do better in the search engines. There is of course more to it than that, but at the end of the day that is the goal of any successful SEO campaign.

What could viral video possibly have to do with SEO? If optimization is all that’s on your mind, it can become tempting to ignore what is trending on the web. Can’t you accomplish what you want by doing article marketing and guest posts? Do you really need more info to get the job done?

No, but if you want to make your life easier and stay in touch with where things are headed, you can’t afford to ignore the world of viral video. Today, videos are shared on social networks and can quickly place your brand in front of a large audience. If you’re resistant to the idea of social networks, and you’re only concerned about links, you’re making a mistake by thinking that the two aren’t intimately connected.

The more people who know about your site, the more people will link to it. The more impact a video makes on somebody, the more likely somebody will link to it. Keep these basic principles in mind, and there is a good chance that you will draw a lot of traffic to your site. The most important aspect of the video is that it should be something people want to share. The most shared videos are cute, funny, sexy, or shocking. Keep in mind who your audience is, and create videos that will interest them. Keep an eye on your competition. Pay attention to what makes them successful, and take away a general sense of what worked. Don’t produce immitations. Videos only go viral if they catch people by surprise. If something seems at all rehashed, it doesn’t have the edge and people won’t want to share it.

Be sure to put your videos out there. Share them yourself using several different social bookmarking and networking sites. Most of these sites will share your material with more people if you are regularly sharing things that people find interesting, so be sure to share more than just videos.