Having your site return first in the list for search results is a very beneficial part of discovery and customer acquisition. Improving those search results and helping your site to rank higher in search results is known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
While there are several tactics that you can embrace to help improve your search rankings, your Vimeo OTT site takes care of many of the most technical and basic needs.
Below are methods that help to improve search rankings and how OTT helps to aid in improving those rankings.
Use clear titles
Make sure to give specific and relevant names to your videos, collections, categories, and products. A title like “Untitled 1” or “Category” is not a clear name.
When you add a video to your OTT Site, the default title will be based on the filename. Be sure to rename your video title to something clear.
Additionally, the filename helps to form the URL where the video lives. Be sure that when you rename a video or collection that you also check the “Distribution” options of the content and name the URL something relevant as well. Be careful not to do this to already published videos but make it a part of your routine when adding new content.
Use the description field
Along with having a title, providing a description will be helpful for search engines and customers. This text may appear in search results, so be sure to be clear on what the content is about.
⚠️Note: Be sure not to spam your own content with irrelevant keywords and text that does not apply to your content. There is a common misconception that search engines can be tricked by simply adding in a slew of keywords or phrases that may not be relevant. This is a bad practice and will likely result in hurting your rankings.
Link to your site
Search engines have their own internal algorithms for what they decide is the best result to return for a specific search. While no one knows everything involved with that algorithm, we do know that search engines don’t just use the content of your site to determine its relevance; they use context.
This means that you can help your search rankings by making sure links exist elsewhere on the web that point to your site. If you have social media accounts such as Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, make sure they include links back to your site. Leverage posts on each of those sites to link to their own content. If there are influencers for your type of content, consider giving them a free account with the Add Customer tool and asking them to link back to your site.
The more links that exist out on the web pointing to your site, the more help you are providing for improving your search results.
Index Your Site
Search engines are constantly monitoring the web looking for new pages to index and add to their search results. One way to help these “search crawlers” find your site is to supply a “sitemap.xml” file that provides a distinct list of every page on your site. This allows the search engines to know where to look for your content.
Vimeo OTT automatically supplies a Sitemap file for all search engine crawlers to discover. This file adheres to their specifications and requires no work from you to keep it updated. Once you publish some content, the map will be updated. The next time crawlers look for new content, it will be there for them to discover.