Search engines may not be the main channel for getting podcast subscribers, with pretty much everybody relying on iTunes for distribution. However, the traffic that search engines bring cannot be brushed off, because the fact is that millions of people still use search engines everyday to look for information – including podcasts.
If you produce video podcasts, you have to make sure that your video content is will come out in search results. This is important because you increase the chances of someone stumbling on your video podcast and ending up liking it enough to come back for seconds by simply being searchable. After all, whether they really meant to find your video podcast, or was just looking for similarly themed videos, the point is that once they see your podcast in the search results you already get the benefit of increased awareness for your podcast and a chance at getting viewed.
To make sure you search engines find your video content, you should create a video sitemap and submit it to Google and other search engines. Video sitemaps work just like your ordinary XML sitemap, except that it points out all your URLs or pages that contain video content. Note that the video sitemap can contain content other than video podcasts.
When creating video sitemaps, note that Google requires you to include the following information for each URL in the sitemap:
- Title
- Description
- Play page URL
- Thumbnail URL
- Raw video file location and/or the player URL (SWF)
Videos found for each URL should also be tagged accordingly (see Google Video Sitemap Guidelines for details) putting in information such as duration, category, whether it requires a subscription or not, etc. These information will encourage search users to click on your video podcast when they appear in search engine results because they will see at a glance the information they need.
Image via ReelSEO
Originally posted on January 30, 2012 @ 11:52 pm