Search engine ranking and SEO are key components of the planning process that goes into the creation of a new article or blog post. When you build new pages, search engine ranking is often critical for traffic and sales. The same level of planning should go into the creation of video content. Here are some important considerations when producing video content for YouTube:

The first 15 seconds are the most important of the video. The highest bounce rates for video are from content that does not hook the audience in that timeframe. A lot of YouTube channels lose viewers and have high bounce rates because of overly-long music and intro sequences.

Create longer videos that retain viewers for most of the video. The key to avoiding a bounce for longer videos is to craft the title of the video very carefully. Watch time is one of the main factors that affect how videos rank in YouTube.

Another positive engagement signal for YouTube is action taken at the end of a video. When a viewer subscribes to the channel towards the end of a video, it shows YouTube that the content was relevant and that the visitor wants to see more.

Also, use the video thumbnail to get viewers to start watching. You can’t use your first 15 seconds to hook the viewer without an audience. The title and thumbnail are the two elements that can drive higher click-through rates.

Finally, if there is a companion webpage for the video, then embed the video, and do so above the fold.

Often, most users upload images without any consideration of size or disk space. Uploading large images was not an issue until Google made page load speed a ranking factor. One of the best ways to improve both loading times and page speed is to optimize your images. Image optimization is also something that non-technical users can do with very minimal software. Here we look at several tools that you can use to optimize your post and site images.

Optimizilla

There are two advantages to using Optimizilla. The first advantage is a real-time preview that shows an approximation of how the image will look after optimization. You can use a slider to adjust the level of quality to a point you consider acceptable. Also, you can batch process up to 20 images at a time.

TinyPNG

The interface is a lot like Optimizilla and also processes 20 images in a single batch. The only difference is that you can export directly to a DropBox account.

Compressor.io

Not a great tool. It does the usual image compression but offers no batch conversion options. It is good enough if you want to convert a single image. However, when you plan to optimize an entire site, it will take too long.

Tests show that TinyPNG has the best compression ratio for roughly the same level of quality. The fact that it also processes images in batches of twenty makes it the best of the tools available for image compression.

In 2013 Google launched its Hummingbird update to the search engine’s algorithm. With the launch, Google began a transition to a focus on topics and entities from keywords. Moving towards topics and entities led to less emphasis on keyword research. However, there is still a lot of value that an organization can gain. Here are few:

Dominating a niche

Websites that serve a specific niche will find keyword research useful. There is no better way to cover every single angle of a topic than using keyword research to surface all possible permutations of each keyword phrase. There is no better tool to get topic ideas for writing exhaustive blog posts.

Answering questions

A lot of questions get ignored during keyword research due to the low search volume. However, there is still a large audience for answers to a lot of these questions, and Google does a good job of associating similar questions with an answer.

Content improvement

Use keyword research to expand the breadth and depth of your content. Do not rewrite your posts unless it requires some form of correction. Look at how people search for the same topics now and expand your posts to cover the new phrases.

Improve site navigation

The words people use to describe something can change over time. Look at how people search and change the anchor text links in your navigation to make them more relevant in this day and age. People look for words they use when describing something, if they don’t find it, they will go elsewhere.