Google made some big announcements at their IO conference last month around the launch of their new and improved search engine. The new search engine, dubbed "Caffeine," provides 50 percent fresher results, taking into account not only relevant content, but also the different types of content that exists online.

Google used to weigh types of content differently, but now it is all added into their index continually. What does this mean for any business that has a web presence? First, fresh, relevant content is key. Second, the variety of that content is also going to matter more. Lastly, you need to make sure you have a way to tell the search engines what type of content you have and how fresh it is. This is where Sitemaps come into play.

Good SEOs always include a Sitemap.xml file to tell the search engines about the types of pages on their site and how often they are updated. At IO, Google's Matt Cutts said webmasters will also want to start getting their video Sitemaps ready for future updates, indicating that more importance will be placed on different types of content.

There are two ways you can go about creating a video Sitemap. The first option is to create a separate document following the Sitemap Protocol. If you go this route, you will have to continually update your Sitemap every time you add video to your site. Or, you can integrate a Sitemap with your CMS system, so that the fields continuously populate and the Sitemap updates itself. This will require more development work (or partnering with an agency like us), but it can save you a lot of time as your develop your video library. Google announced yesterday that you can also integrate different types of content into one Sitemap, so you can have one document that covers all content.

Does it work? You bet. Within a week of submitting our video sitemap to Google, we started noticing that we were receiving search traffic directly to our video content. And after performing test searches, we noticed our videos in our video production gallery appearing in search results along side YouTube and other video shares.

Now is the time to get ahead of the game. These changes are either happening or about to happen, so if you aren't using video on your website, start creating video content to publish online. If you have some video, continue to build your library and use video Sitemaps to alert search engines about your content.

Thanks to everyone that came to our presentation at the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce yesterday. For those that missed it, you can watch the Ustream video or view the presentation below.

SlideShare does not allow for embedded videos; view those below.

Seattle Computer Whisperer from Martini Media on Vimeo.


Heavy lifting tool for do-it-yourself gardeners, landscapers from Martini Media on Vimeo.

Video is a great tool to teach your customers about your product or service's competitive advantage, but it can also be used as a tool to help your potential customers find you. Below are some tips to help improve your exposure in search results using video shares.

1. Use keywords in your video title: This is probably the most important factor influencing placement in search results. If you want more customers to find your video, use relevant keywords - such as your business type and location - in the title rather than just your business name.
2. Use keywords in your description text and tags: Like the video title, descriptions and tags also factor in search results. After the title, users will read the description in search results. Above all else, the description should make sense and accurately describe the video, so focus on readability over keyword stuffing. If needed, place your excess keywords in the tag field.
3. Caption your video: As discussed in a prior post, Google is rolling out a feature that will automatically caption YouTube videos, helping your SEO by making it easier for search engines to read your content. Until then, there are a few easy options to caption videos. Use CaptionTube to manually add text and easily time it to your video. Or you can use Google Voice's technology to automatically time your captions using an uploaded transcript.
4. Post to multiple shares: Although YouTube is by far the most popular, each video share has a different audience. Posting to multiple shares will help you capture the most audience. This could also be an opportunity to test different title, description, and tag text.
5. Share with your friends and encourage comments: As we move to real-time search, it is more important to make sure users are continuing to engage with your content. Share with your family and friends. Pass your videos along to potential customers. Use the comment section to engage with viewers and encourage conversation.

Before you try to reach new customers through video SEO, make sure that your content is professionally shot and edited. A poorly executed and produced video will not portray credibility to the viewer. As part of our baseline production package, Martini Media optimizes our client's video content by performing steps 1 through 4 above. We leave the fun part up to you - sharing with your friends and customers!

One reason we love video is that we hate reading. The other reason is that one piece of content can be used in so many ways - whether for broadcast, at trade shows, in sales meetings, or online. Knowing a few things about how to use video online can greatly increase your presence without the added cost of a media buy. Here are three simple tips to use video online:

1. Place the video on your homepage. Studies have shown that a well-named video has a 50 times better chance of appearing on the first page of search results than a text-alone page.
2. Upload your video to a video share. We use Tubemogul to push video content out to several shares with just one upload. These sites all have different markets, so it is important to try to upload to as many as you can.
3. Share your video with your network. Video's advantage is that it is compact and shareable, so having a well-crafted video can quickly tell your story and make it easier to spread your message. Post it to your social networking sites and share with your friends and customers.

Using video online has never been easier, allowing you to reach more people simply and more effectively.