Journalism 2.0

The people running news web sites have been working on enhanced strategies for video and SEO for a few years now. 

But what about “video SEO”?

That is the focus of a new white paper published by ReelSEO, a consulting company operating in this space. New Business Models for New Realities: The Newspaper Industry’s Video SEO Opportunity is a 46-page primer on a concept that every news web site producing video should digest. 

Here are the primary challenges for newspapers attempting to monetize their video, according to the report:

• Poor performance in search engines: newspapers’ effectiveness at making their video content available in the search engines is “nowhere near their potential.” 
• Poor performance in social media sites: Social media web sites offer good viral “word-of-mouth” marketing, which also can have a strong effect on search engine results. 
• Poor performance with on-site search: The lack of an on-site search engine with capabilities to distinguish, filter, and display video content leads to a “video ghetto.”

Most videographers and multimedia producers and editors are generally disappointed with the amount of traffic their content generates. A video SEO strategy can change that, the report suggests, by improving video search optimization strategy in four areas: regular search, social sites, on-site search and syndication. 

Not surprisingly, the report advises newspapers hire a video SEO consultant to help (it was published by a consultant, after all). While that is probably the best course of action, many companies are going to have to figure some of this out on their own and this report is a great place to start.