Video in linkbuilding strategy

Incorporating video intoyour link building strategy PHIL NOTTINGHAM

PHIL NOTTINGHAMPhil NottinghamSEO Analyst– Distilledphil.nottingham@distilled.net@philnottinghamCentral School of Speech and DramaFreelance Film & Theatre PractitionerNDSDistilled

PHIL NOTTINGHAM We’d love to do video. The problem is budget. We don’t have the time, money or skills to do it properly. It’s just not something we’re able to do at the moment. A Number of Clients.

PHIL NOTTINGHAM Bullshit. Phil Nottingham, 2012

PHIL NOTTINGHAMSo.. Maybe you can’t be Evian It doesn’t need to be technologically revolutionary to get links

PHIL NOTTINGHAM57 Unique videos in a day Camera £600 Tripod £30 Software £300 All In £930 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDCBEEAFF5571810B

PHIL NOTTINGHAMSourcing freelancers with limitedbudget http://www.castingcallpro.com/uk/ http://www.fivesquids.co.uk/ http://www.lfs.org.uk/ http://www.cssd.ac.uk/ http://www.mandy.com/ http://www.spotlight.com/

PHIL NOTTINGHAM So…how can you build links with Video?

PHIL NOTTINGHAMHow and when do people link tovideo?• Embed Content • Rarely • Only when it’s directly relevant and valuable• Link to video files • Specific and targeted content • Creatively interesting• General site links • When there is a wealth of good content Make no mistake, getting links to videos is tough. In and of itself – not a tactic.

PHIL NOTTINGHAMPeople link to content with videos http://www.seomoz.org/blog/what-makes-a-link-worthy-post-part-1

PHIL NOTTINGHAM Having a video compared to just text will almost triple the average number of linking domains Casey Henry, SEOmoz

PHIL NOTTINGHAMZappos – Product videos done right

PHIL NOTTINGHAM50000 Product Videos Pages with high quality videos get natural links

7830 Links from 1497 Domains

PHIL NOTTINGHAMDistilled Linkbait guide 3rd most linked to page on Distilled.net (after the homepage and blog ) 826 linking root domains http://www.distilled.net/linkbait-guide/

PHIL NOTTINGHAMDentsu London – Making FutureMagic 892 Links from 253 Root domains Wired Huffington post Gizmodo File on Vimeo.com 2108 from 704 domains http://www.dentsulondon.com/blog/2010/09/14/light-painting/

PHIL NOTTINGHAMThe same is true across the boardhttp://www.homestarrunner.com/ 87,531 from 4275http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/ 77,060 from 2445http://www.collegehumor.com/ 758,000 from 9728http://www.starwarsuncut.com/ 3,323 from 789http://jibjab.com/ 53,732 from 2961 Video aggregation sites do particularly well

PHIL NOTTINGHAMIntegration within wider content strategy

PHIL NOTTINGHAM We should be doing video. Our competitors are doing really well with video and it’s something that we need in order to compete. Lets create some viral videos. CEO of client X

PHIL NOTTINGHAM Video = Content Video = Form

PHIL NOTTINGHAMCommon Practice (this sucks) Form Gap Analysis – “we need to do video” Form Idea Development – “what can we do a video about?” Content Creation – “make video”

PHIL NOTTINGHAMGood Practice Content Gap Analysis – “we need more tutorial content” Form Idea Development – “what’s the best format for that?” Content Creation – “make tutorial video”

PHIL NOTTINGHAM The content should define the form

PHIL NOTTINGHAMWhen is Video the Appropriate form? Would this content lose something if it were just text and image? Use video, but know what to use it for.

PHIL NOTTINGHAMGood – Will it Blend? 8364 Links 2230 Domains £1000 Filming & Studio costs Production £300 iPad £400 Blender £100 All In £1800 Can you imagine this content working as just text and images?

PHIL NOTTINGHAMShit – GAIQ videos (Sorry Google) This content feels cumbersome and difficult to digest as a video

PHIL NOTTINGHAM How do people experience video?

Text Video1 second Perception Perception5 seconds Appraisal of Meaning Emotional ResponseBuy in Point Evaluation of10 seconds Appraisal of Meaning Meaning15 seconds Evaluation of Emotional Response Meaning

PHIL NOTTINGHAMWhy do I need to know this? Good Content Shit Content Integration of form elements Form elements are towards specific goal mismatched or disintegrated Audience Become Active Audience Remain Passive You must actively engage an audience on both a perceptual and a conceptual level

PHIL NOTTINGHAM What can video do for you?

PHIL NOTTINGHAMThree Distinct Focusses1. Notoriety2. Traffic and Conversions3. Links

PHIL NOTTINGHAMProvide Value –Aesthetic, Creative, Educational

PHIL NOTTINGHAMContent that won’t get links.• Promotional Trailers• Company Testimonials• Salesy Content Don’t try to sell your product and get links with the same content.

PHIL NOTTINGHAMTypes of Video Content• Promotional Trailer• Screencast tutorial• Product Demonstration• Informational Tip• Aesthetic Imagery• Interviews• Creative viral focussed content• Live event Recording• Infographic• Advert

PHIL NOTTINGHAMTypes of Video Form• Animated Content• Performed Content• Recorded events

PHIL NOTTINGHAM Production

PHIL NOTTINGHAMFilming • Always film in 1080p25 or 1080p30 PAL • Film in a well lit environment • High quality audio is more important than high quality video

PHIL NOTTINGHAMEditingDoesn’t actually need to be flashy – keep it simple, but high qualityBest Editing Apps:• Final Cut Pro – with Motion and Compressor (Mac only)• Avid Media Studio (PC and Mac)• Adobe Premier (PC and Mac)• Adobe Aftereffects (PC and Mac)

PHIL NOTTINGHAMExport settings for YouTube Setting Value Codec h.264 Frame Size 1920x1080 Key Frames Automatic Pixel Aspect Square Bit Rate Unrestricted Audio ACC/MP3 at 256kbps You can lower the bitrate if you want for YouTube, but it’s normally not necessary

PHIL NOTTINGHAMExport Settings for Vimeo Setting Value Codec h.264 Frame Size 1280x 720 Key Frames Automatic Pixel Aspect Square Bit Rate 5000kbps Audio ACC/MP3 at 320kbps Always upload in HD for Vimeo, even if you have a free account

PHIL NOTTINGHAMExport settings for self hosted Setting Value Codec h.264 Frame Size 1280x 720 Key Frames Automatic Pixel Aspect Square Bit Rate 2014kbps Audio ACC/MP3 at 320kbps If you’re self hosting, be wary of file size!

PHIL NOTTINGHAM Technical Implementation

PHIL NOTTINGHAMHosting – For Blended Results &Links Third Party Self Hosted To build links effectively, the content needs to be exclusive to your site.

PHIL NOTTINGHAMHosting – For Social Shares Never seed promotional or non-creative content on these sites

PHIL NOTTINGHAMHosting – For Links & Social SharesMonth 1:Month 2: (Enable Community Pass) Once the links dry up, put the content everywhere. Keep the version on your site secure and you should still rank 1st for your own video.

PHIL NOTTINGHAMEmbedding on Your Domain• HTML5 video player with flash fallback• Don’t use iFrames – Google probably wont crawl them• Include social buttons• Set playback to auto HD• Don’t set to Autoplay – It annoys everybody• YouTube embed parameters• Indexable transcripts! – *cough*keyword stuffed*cough* http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/player_parameters.html

PHIL NOTTINGHAMEmbed codes for link building• Don’t use standard embed codes within third party players – no links• Place custom codes underneath video embed codes• Use iFrames• Partial Anchor Text<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/VIDEOID?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0"frameborder="0" width="640" height="360"></iframe><br><span style="font-size:12px;">Linkbuilding protips from <a href="http://www.yourdomain.net/">Brand andpartial anchor text</a> Ensure your embed code will build links back to your site, not the video hosting company

PHIL NOTTINGHAMWistia Superembeds – completelycustomisable display options http://wistia.com/product/superembeds

PHIL NOTTINGHAMVimeo Pro Settings for Link Building Privacy Embedding

PHIL NOTTINGHAMVideo Schema Markup – get ahead of thegame• Help get the stuff indexed• provide rich metadata to the engines• Rel=“Actor”? – Who knows.• Appropriate attribution http://schema.org/Movie

PHIL NOTTINGHAM Many high authority news sites are creating video only sections, and are crying out for content. Lexi Mills, PR Consultant, Distilled

PHIL NOTTINGHAMVideo News Releases• Big media sites love accompanying video content• It’s easier for an editor to watch a short video than read through a load of text• There is less direct competition• Doesn’t need to be “BBC quality”• Ensure you send an MP4 – Not WMV or Quicktime.• Don’t put any branding, effects or lower thirds on the file ”Communicate your key messages in such a way that its newsworthy, the points are made quickly, and there is a slight punch to it” http://www.media-attention.co.uk/VNR.htm

PHIL NOTTINGHAMVideo as Infographic 9494 links From 248 Domains Content on Vimeo.com 4,879 links from 515 domains http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/stories/stuxnet-anatomy-computer-virus

PHIL NOTTINGHAM “Phil...I think I’ve also made that mistake. Ive done loads of videos on YouTube & people have embedded them, but I have no links as they all link back to YouTube….”

PHIL NOTTINGHAMIf you have done this… Find people who linked to you on Vimeo/YouTube and get them to add a link to the relevant page on your site Same works for anyone who has embedded the video

PHIL NOTTINGHAMMozilla Popcorn = EPIC http://mozillapopcorn.org/

PHIL NOTTINGHAM Video XML sitemaps• Allow Google to read your video metadata http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=80472

PHIL NOTTINGHAMVideo Sitemap Template - Vimeo<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9” xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1"> <url> <loc>http://www.yourdomain.com/page-containing-video</loc> <video:video> <video:thumbnail_loc>http://www.yourdomain.com/thumbnail-image</video:thumbnail_loc> <video:title>Video Title</video:title> <video:description>Video Meta Description</video:description> <video:player_loc allow_embed="yes"autoplay="ap=1">http://player.vimeo.com/video/videoidnumber</video:player_loc> <video:duration>Length of video in seconds</video:duration> <video:publication_date>2012-02-29T18:30:15+00:00</video:publication_date> <video:family_friendly>yes</video:family_friendly> <video:tag>Target Keyword 1</video:tag> <video:uploader info="https://plus.google.com/userid">Name</video:uploader> <video:live>no</video:live> </video:video> </url></urlset>

PHIL NOTTINGHAMVideo Sitemap Template - YouTube<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9” xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1"> <url> <loc>http://www.yourdomain.com/page-containing-video</loc> <video:video> <video:thumbnail_loc>http://www.yourdomain.com/thumbnail-image</video:thumbnail_loc> <video:title>Video Title</video:title> <video:description>Video Meta Description</video:description> <video:content_loc>http://www.youtube.com/v/VIDEOID</video:content_loc> <video:duration>Length of video in seconds</video:duration> <video:publication_date>2012-02-29T18:30:15+00:00</video:publication_date> <video:family_friendly>yes</video:family_friendly> <video:tag>Target Keyword 1</video:tag> <video:uploader info="https://plus.google.com/userid">Name</video:uploader> <video:live>no</video:live> </video:video> </url></urlset>

PHIL NOTTINGHAMVideo Sitemap Template – SelfHosted<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9” xmlns:video="http://www.google.com/schemas/sitemap-video/1.1"> <url> <loc>http://www.yourdomain.com/page-containing-video</loc> <video:video> <video:thumbnail_loc>http://www.yourdomain.com/thumbnail-image</video:thumbnail_loc> <video:title>Video Title</video:title> <video:description>Video Meta Description</video:description> <video:content_loc>http://yourdomainc.com/videofile.mp4</video:content_loc> <video:duration>Length of video in seconds</video:duration> <video:publication_date>2012-02-29T18:30:15+00:00</video:publication_date> <video:family_friendly>yes</video:family_friendly> <video:tag>Target Keyword 1</video:tag> <video:uploader info="https://plus.google.com/userid">Name</video:uploader> <video:live>no</video:live> </video:video> </url></urlset>

PHIL NOTTINGHAM Outreach

PHIL NOTTINGHAMVideo directories & Resource Sites• They are out there.• followed links, but you need good, creative contenthttp://blip.tv/http://www.videojug.com/http://www.wonderhowto.com/http://www.imbroadcast.com/http://bizuns.com/videoshttp://www.dailymotion.com/en Simple screencast tutorials can get tons of links if solving a problem

PHIL NOTTINGHAMViral Videos – influence theinfluencers Videos go viral when key influencers provide a context for engagement Friday, Friday…A AARRRR GGHHHH H http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_allocca_why_videos_go_viral.html http://www.slideshare.net/katemorris/brainstorming-and-designing-viral-content

PHIL NOTTINGHAM Using YouTube to build links

PHIL NOTTINGHAM WARNING – A LITTLE BIT GREY HAT

PHIL NOTTINGHAMHijack videos without “as seen on”attribution• Find highly viewed videos without “as seen on”• Embed on your HQ Blog – with surrounding text content• Get tons of referring links through a 303 redirect http://www.youtube.com/social/blog/distilled

PHIL NOTTINGHAMEmbedding custom YouTubePlaylists• Curate the playlist on your site, rather than on YouTube• Have accompanying text and resource content<iframe width="560" height="315"src=http://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO1ID?playlist=VIDEO2ID,VIDEO3ID, VIDEO4ID, VIDEO5ID" frameborder="0"allowfullscreen></iframe> http://code.google.com/apis/youtube/player_parameters.html

PHIL NOTTINGHAMYouTube 3d The content isn’t even that good. Over a million views http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=157640

PHIL NOTTINGHAMChecklist – Content Creation1. Content should define form2. Integration of Audio, Visual and Concept – do they all complement each other?3. Unique Ideas – scale the production elements4. Do the videos grab attention in the first few seconds?5. Correct export settings (see appendices)6. Submit Video XML sitemap7. Use Schema.org movie mark-up Questions? Send them to @philnottingham

PHIL NOTTINGHAMChecklist – Getting Links1. Choose third party hosting solution2. Ensure it’s embedded in HTML5 player with flash fallback3. Add social buttons to your player4. Custom Embed Code for link building with partial anchor text5. Ensure the content has supporting text and images6. Video Press release7. Outreach to key influencers8. Seed on YouTube and Vimeo after the links dry up9. Resource Directories10. YouTube “as seen on” attribution Questions? Send them to @philnottingham

Thank You!Questions? PHIL NOTTINGHAM

Video in linkbuilding strategy

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