May 2, 2025 • 22 mins
Today’s episode covers how to use SEO strategies to get your social media videos discovered. Make sure you use this powerful tool for increasing visibility on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
💡 Key Takeaways:
1. SEO Works on Social Media
• Helen shares a real-life story: a baton tutorial she posted a year ago was discovered by someone searching for baton lessons on TikTok — proving videos can be surfaced by search if optimized properly.
2. How to Find the Right Keywords
• Ask: “What is this video about, and what would someone type in to find it?”
• Use search bar auto-suggestions (on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Google) to see common related queries.
• On TikTok, scroll past the first few videos in a search to find related keywords under “other topics searched.”
3. How to Use Keywords Effectively
• Say them aloud in your video — algorithms do pick up on spoken words.
• Include them in on-screen text (don’t hide them offscreen).
• Use them in your caption — avoid clever wording that misleads the algorithm.
o Example: Saying “Watch this magic trick” for an outfit change video may categorize it as “magic” content.
• Put keywords in your profile display name and bio.
o Ex: Instead of “@latchkeylife,” say “Finance Tips for Gen X.”
4. Profile Optimization = SEO
• Your display name and username are searchable.
• Incorporate what you teach or share into your name (e.g., “Helen | TikTok Tips”).
• Think of your pinned videos as your homepage — pin the content you want to be known for.
5. Other SEO Boosters
• Geotags: Help surface your video in local searches (great for local businesses).
• Engagement: Comments, likes, and shares tell the platform your content is active and valuable.
• Hashtags:
o TikTok: Use a few relevant ones as a safety net.
o Instagram: Not necessary anymore. Meta says they no longer impact reach significantly.
6. The Wild Part: AI Recognizes Your Footage
• Platforms like TikTok and Instagram can visually interpret your video content.
• Helen saw a video categorized as “board games” — despite no mention in audio, text, or captions — because of what was in the footage.
• Bonus tip: TikTok auto-selects music based on the video’s vibe — proof that it understands what’s happening visually.
7. Pro Tip for Desktop Posting
• Rename your video files before uploading.
o Instead of IMG_024.mov, rename to green_screen_editing_tutorial.mov
o Helps with SEO on YouTube and even TikTok desktop uploads.
🧠 Final Thoughts:
• SEO is everywhere now — even in how platforms auto-tag and categorize content.
• Do all the little things: say your keywords, show them, write them, name your files.
• Treat your content like searchable assets, not just scrollable posts.
📢 Resources Mentioned:
• YouTube 101 Lesson in the Socialize Studio!
• 7-day free trial available and our Muther’s Day promo!
LINK TO TRY IT FREE: https://socialize-studio.mn.co
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Helen (00:00):
Welcome to The Socialized Strategy. It's Friday, and I'm
(00:03):
in Jamaica. I'm at the Women'sEntrepreneur Retreat, and I had
a very long day. And I literallywas settling down from the day,
And I thought, oh, no. I forgotto record the podcast.
So I set up my portable setup,which I've posted on my
Instagram story, and I'm gonnado it. And here we are. And the
topic today is really important.So I'm glad that I'm here, and
(00:25):
I'm I didn't forget. It's aboutSEO and how do you make your
social media videos more searchfriendly, more get that search
optimization going so thatpotentially your videos show up
when someone's searching for atopic.
And I know for a fact it works.And I'm gonna tell you why I
know that for a fact. Because Iposted a video a year ago where
(00:48):
I talked about how to do twirl abaton. It was more than a year,
I think. How to twirl a baton.
And I put the keywords, and Iput the hashtags, and I did all
the things. And some young ladyfound my video when she was
searching for baton lessons onTikTok. If that isn't proof
enough, I don't know what elseto tell you. But she wrote me a
(01:10):
message and said, was searchingfor baton videos, and I found
yours. And I just wanted to knowif you could make me another
baton tutorial.
So it works. SEO works, and I'mgonna give you all the tips on
how to maximize and get the mostout of it for yourself. So here
we go. Hopefully, my audio isgood. Alright.
All of these points that I'mgonna talk about will are are
(01:32):
across the board, meaning theywill work for you on Instagram,
TikTok, YouTube, probablyFacebook too. I I think across
the board. If you use thesethings, they are not one
platform specific. Alright? ButI am after I go through the main
points, I'm gonna talk about afew things that are platform
specific.
(01:53):
Okay? So number one, how to findyour keywords. That is important
because how are you gonna knowwhat keywords to use if you
don't think about how what onesyou should be using if you don't
search for it? And here's whatyou wanna do. In order to
identify it, you have to think,what is my video about?
And then you're gonna say, okay.If someone was looking for my
(02:14):
content, what what might they besearching for? If you are a
fitness expert, if you are,talking about aging or skin
care, whatever it is, thinkabout what you want to show up
for when people are searchingfor it. You wanna start there.
And then there's little tricksto do it where if you type that
actual thing into the searchbar, whether it's on TikTok or
(02:37):
on Instagram or on YouTube or onGoogle, whatever.
Other it'll start to fill in.You know how you start start to
search for something and thingsother things fill in? And you
can see what other phrasespeople are searching for. And so
then you can know what phrasesto use in your captions, in your
videos to get that going. Sofirst, identifying what those
(02:58):
keywords are.
And another hot tip on TikTok,actually, if you search in the
top and then you type in, let'ssay, let's say for my video
editing tips. And then I, whenit comes up, I tap it, and I see
other videos that will sharevideo editing tips. But if you
scroll down a little bit, itsays other topics searched for,
(03:19):
and it will show you other typesof keywords that were searched
for in that same realm. You knowwhat I mean? So you're going a
little deeper, not just seeingwhat pops up when you first type
it in, but pick it and then seewhat videos scroll under the
videos that show up and see whatother searches were for the same
topic for a similar topic.
(03:41):
So that's like an extra step. Imight make a tutorial on that
soon. But it's really aboutidentifying those keywords. And
then once you've have themidentified, how to use them.
Okay?
So now we're going to go all theways through how to use them and
and make the most out of it. Sofirst one is saying the
keywords. So if you have aspeaking video, make sure you
(04:02):
take note of those keywords andyou use them when you're
talking. Don't skip it. Like, ifyou wanna start with a different
hook in the beginning, make surethat somewhere in your video,
you're still talking about thetopic.
So if you wanna be clever aboutyour opening, sure shortly after
your opening, you're sayingthose keywords so that you're
not losing that opportunity tohave your video noted. So for
(04:23):
example, for me, if I was makinga video about how to do a green
screen video, I'm if I wanna Imay not wanna start. Here's how
to do a green screen video.Obviously, that would be a great
way to start because right away,it tells people what this video
is about, and it tells thesearch what this video is about.
But let's say I wanted to beclever, and I wanted to show
something doing green screen andthen say it after.
(04:46):
So, for example, I could say,you see the background behind
me? And then I change it, andthen it's something else. I did
this with green screen, and I'mgonna show you how to do the
green screen. Do you understand?So I didn't say right away,
here's how to do a green screen.
I said, do you see thebackground behind me? Do you see
how I made that change? Like,maybe I wanna say something
different to get people'sattention. So your keyword
(05:06):
doesn't have to be spoken rightin the beginning, but it should
be spoken pretty early on inyour content so that the
platform recognizes it. And thealgorithms do pick up on your
voice because, in fact, TikTokdoes generate auto captions
automatically.
On Instagram, I think you haveto tell it to generate the auto
captions, but I'm gonna talkabout Instagram at the end
because it's important. I have alot of things I've noted on
(05:27):
Instagram recently, especially.Alright. The other thing is to
use keywords in your on screentext. So you wanna make sure
that you're putting something upon the screen.
And a lot of people like toslide it off and hide it, which
often will reformat yourcontent, so I don't recommend
necessarily doing that. Itdoesn't matter. Just make it a
little bit small. Just put itthere on the main page.
(05:48):
Sometimes when people arescrolling and their sound is
off, they'll see what you'rewhat you've got written out on
there, and they might stop andwatch your video if they
wouldn't have maybe done thatbefore.
So making sure that yourkeywords are in your on screen
text and make sure that yourlower caption also contains
them. And I will tell you from afrom personal experience, the
(06:10):
things that have happened to mewhere I'm trying to be clever
and I type watch this magictrick when I make, like, an
outfit transition. And guesswhat? It categorizes my video as
a magic trick, which is not whatI want. I want it to categorize
as an outfit transitiontutorial.
So clever captions can sometimeswork against you. You wanna make
(06:32):
sure that the first part of yourcaption really hits on what the
video is about so that yourcleverness doesn't end up
putting you into the wrongsearch, the wrong bucket of
content. Okay? That's like fromexperience. I know that that
happened.
It really just messes with yourhead because you're trying to be
clever, and you're trying to bea good copywriter to get
(06:52):
people's attention, and thenyou're really sandbagging your
video. So okay. So be carefulabout that. The other way is to
use keywords in your profile.And this is important, and I
learned this early, early on inTikTok that the platform
recognizes your name at the topand your username.
So as soon as I found that outor I don't know how I discovered
that early on. But when Irealized that it was important,
(07:16):
I started I changed my my usermy name immediately. And I
wrote, I think I wrote HelenHelen Pelosi TikTok teacher at
one point. Like, had it upthere. And then I realized, oh,
the mothership was a goodsearchable word because people
were remembering my username.
So then I changed it and tookoff my name and put mothership
the mothership TikTok teacherbecause I wanted to make sure I
(07:37):
was coming up. I think themothership is a searchable. A
lot of people looking for mewith mothership. Unfortunately,
they're spelling it with an o,and I'm not showing up. But
listen.
That's my branding problem, notyours. But it is it is
definitely important to havesomething about what your
content is in your name somehow.And it's helpful because I even
(07:59):
spoke with a woman who it was aprivate one on one session, and
she had something in there likelatchkey something, and her her
content is about finance. Andshe and I saw her when I saw
latchkey, I'm oh, she's probablya Gen Xer because that's what
latchkey means that you were oneof those kids that came home and
you were by yourself till yourmom came home from work, for
(08:19):
example. So I would immediatelythink, oh, she's Gen X content.
I didn't think she was infinance because there was
nothing to tell me that in herusername. And I suggested to her
to to add something aboutfinance in there, and she did.
So I think, hopefully, she'sgetting more success on her
content from that. Okay. Thatwas a little sidebar, but gives
gives you a good example.
And then in the newsletter, wegave you some examples. Midlife
(08:40):
mentor with your name, videotips by is a good thing.
Anything that has something todo with what your content is
about in your use in yourusername and your display name
is helpful. And using keywordsin your bio. So there's that bio
section where you can typeabout, and a lot of people like
to be clever there, and that'sgood to be clever.
But it's also again, be carefulthat you're not having things
(09:02):
work against you. Alright? Putsomething in there that really
talks about what you do. Okay.This one's this next thing is a
little bit, off the beaten path,but I don't know if that's the
right phrase, but to pin yourhigh performing videos to your
profile.
Because if you treat that likean SEO optimized homepage, so
(09:22):
that if someone discovers youand gets to your page, they can
actually see more about yourcontent by your most logically
pinned videos that are mostlyabout the thing that you wanna
be searched for. So if you're aan appliance expert, you don't
wanna have pin even though youhad might have had viral video
(09:44):
where you were, like, dancingwith somebody, let's say, for
example, that probably isn't theideal video to pin at the top
because it's not gonna tell thealgorithm that that it's it's
not it's telling the algorithmthat that something else is more
important to you on your pageversus what you are hoping to be
searched for. Whoo. That was along way of getting to that one,
but hopefully I got there. Okay.
(10:05):
Now let's talk about, other kindof a little bit further out
things like geotag. Geotag meansyou're putting the location on
your video, you know, where youcan pick at the bottom location.
That's helpful because a lot oftimes people might be searching
for something in New York Cityor in California or in Chicago
or in Iowa, wherever. And if youhave the geotag on there, you're
(10:30):
more likely to show up in thesearch. So that makes sense.
Right? If that's what you'retrying to do. A lot of people
are trying to find people in alocal area because maybe they
have a local business. And so itdoesn't help them to have people
in The UK, for example, that iftheir business is in the middle
of Ohio. So that that's thegeotag is helpful.
It'll bring you up in a searchwhere you where your people are.
(10:52):
Now engagement is a form of SEO.Was I saying CEO the whole time?
Whatever. I think I was sayingSEO.
I don't even know. My brain isso fried right now. I don't even
wanna listen back because Idon't wanna find out that I did
that wrong the whole time. I'lljust it'll just wreck me.
Anyway, engagement is SEO.
(11:14):
And so that means when you'recommenting, when you're sharing,
and when you're watching othervideos, and you're engaging, and
you're encouraging responses,it's helping the algorithm to
tell it's telling the algorithmthat you are involved, that you
are not just, a poster, you'realso a participant. And so it
rewards you for those things.And once you're rewarded for
(11:34):
those things, you'll your videosmight be more likely to be seen.
So it's a more distant relativeof getting SEO. I'm just
laughing.
I hope I was saying SEO.Alright. Now let's talk about
hashtags. Do you need them?Well, it depends.
If you're on Instagram, youreally don't need them anymore.
(11:55):
And I have stopped usinghashtags 100%. One hundred %. I
stopped doing it. And I alsonoticed, I used to still see it
when I searched.
So if you type something intothe search and it says accounts,
posts, music, it used to sayhashtags. And now it just says
tags. Or maybe it always didthat, but I I think it always I
(12:16):
think it now just says, insteadof hashtag, it says tags. And
that to me is not necessarily aquote hashtag with the with the
sorry, not a quote, but thenumber sign. I'm doing the
number sign if you're notwatching.
That's not necessarily ahashtag. If it's tagged, it just
means it's keywords again. Soyou don't have to kill yourself
(12:38):
about the hashtags anymore onInstagram. And I pretty much
think it's the same on TikTok.However, because I wanna make
sure I'm showing up on TikTok,I've noticed and I look at other
videos and I when I see themcategorized at the top, I always
look down at the caption to seewhat's in the caption.
Do this per does this personhave those hashtags in there?
(12:58):
And a lot of times, they do havethe hashtag for exactly what's
in the little search bar at thetop. So I that tells me it's
like a safety net. I don't knowthat it's absolutely needed
because I do think TikTok ispicking up a lot already. It's
picking up from your voice, yourtext, your on screen.
(13:20):
It's picking up all the things.So I think hashtags are maybe
less important. But in reality,I wanna guarantee it. So I'm
using the hashtags in TikTok.But I know that Adam Mosseri,
who is the CEO there's CEO, notSEO.
He's the CEO of Instagram. Heblatantly said hashtags are are
(13:41):
dead, so you don't need them. SoI'm like, well, if he said it, I
I will leave it. So that's theend of that. But here's the
thing that I wanna say that ismost incredible to me.
Oh my god. I'm let me see. Ineed a nice dramatic pause. The
platforms are not onlyrecognizing what you say and the
things you type. It is alsorecognizing what has been filmed
(14:07):
without even saying anything.
And I have proof of this. Likehard receipts. Because how many
times have you I mean, I knowthis this is most people don't
probably put two and twotogether. But how many times
have you put up posted a videoyou're preparing a video and you
go over to TikTok and you put itin. I'm gonna use TikTok as an
(14:29):
example.
You put it into TikTok and itautomatically adds music. And it
adds music that is perfect forthe video. And it's not an
accident. It knows, oh, this wasdramatic landscaping things. Or
it knows this is a sports event.
It you get me? If it knowsenough about your video to pick
(14:54):
the music correctly, I literallytake my videos to TikTok and let
it add the music just to seewhat it picks. And that's
sometimes when I'm posting onsomething on Instagram, I go to
TikTok first because I wannamake sure that that it'll it'll
suggest good music. It's so muchbetter than at doing that than
Instagram as Instagram doesn'treally do that. But TikTok does
(15:15):
it.
Let me tell you. And let me takeit one step further because not
only does it pick the rightmusic. This is sweet. I posted a
video to TikTok, and it was avideo of a family weekend where
I was in the Catskills and, youknow, it's like family events.
And then at one of the shots,one maybe two of the shots
(15:37):
towards the end of the videowere us playing a board game.
So it was a whole montage. I hadmusic picked, it was like me and
Jenna and family and da da da daand we're, you know, smiles and
laughing and all of that. Andthen there was, like, two board
game shots. Okay? That video iscategorized on, I think, on
(15:58):
Instagram too, actually, bothInstagram and TikTok.
It says board games. Boardgames. I didn't talk about a
board game. There's no speakingon the video. There's nothing in
the caption about us playing aboard game.
There's nothing on screen abouta board game. As a matter of
fact, it's not even sosignificant in the scene. It's
(16:19):
like one of the guys was doingsomething, everybody was
laughing, and you could theboard game was on the table. Oh
my god. I I literally was likestopped in my tracks when I saw
that that's how it wascategorized.
And it was on Instagram. I'mpositive now because I
screenshot it. I'll probably putit up here if I can find it. So
I could not believe my eyes. AndI thought, wow.
(16:40):
Holy cannoli. These platformsare so smart. They're seeing
they're seeing the content.They're picking things. I don't
even know how that works.
It's AI, I guess. But really,don't you think it's amazing?
I'm amazed by it still to thisminute. That's why I'm talking
about it like I'm incredulous.But it's crazy.
(17:00):
So I do think that it's like SEOis so far more advanced than we
even think. And I'm so I'm like,I'll do all the things. But
ultimately, I think even thesearch is seeing what's in the
video. You don't even have tosay anything. Oh my god.
Okay. Two more things that areimportant that are not in the
newsletter. When you post yourvideo on YouTube and if you post
(17:27):
your video from on TikTok fromyour desktop. So this is desktop
posting. So YouTube, I post frommy desktop oftentimes.
A lot I do my phone when I'mdoing YouTube shorts. But when
I'm posting a proper horizontalvideo, I use my laptop. And I
because I put the thumbnail andI put a description and I pick
(17:48):
all the tags, I type all thetags, and you do all the work on
YouTube. And I have a YouTubeone zero one course, by the way.
I have a it's not a course.
It's like a YouTube one zero onelesson in the, socialized
studio. So if you have interestin YouTube and a YouTube lesson,
you can, jump into the studio.We have a seven day free trial.
Right now, we have a really hotpromotion going on, so I'll talk
about that. But I'm telling you,you post from your desktop for
(18:12):
these things.
When you name the file name withwhat it's about, it helps your
SEO. So for example, you airdropyour video to your computer, and
it shows up img.m0v orsomething. It names puts a
number on it. You taint you youhighlight over that, and you
rename the file. You call itvideo edit videos underscore
(18:35):
editing underscore tutorialunderscore green screen,
whatever the heck it is about.
Use a lot of words. Put all thedamn keywords right in it, in
the video name. And then whenyou post it, that helps your
SEO. And I know for a fact itworks on YouTube. And now, I'm
understanding that when you poston TikTok desktop, when you do
the same thing, it helps youthere.
(18:56):
Okay? So if you're using yourdesktop to post, that's what you
wanna do. Okay. Now the lastpart is something I've noticed.
The last thing that I wannashare is something I've noticed,
and it's important, and that iswhen you have videos with higher
views, they are more likely toshow up in the search bar.
(19:17):
So somebody might sit here andgo, I do all these things, and
my videos don't show up in thesearch bar. Yes. Of course.
There's thousands and thousandsand thousands of videos about
video editing tips. When whensomebody types that in, very
likely, very unlikely thatthey're gonna get my video as
the first one.
Unless I have a madly crazyviral video that has 5,000,000
(19:38):
views that is video editing, itthat will help raise it to the
top of the food chain. So mypoint is you could do all these
things, and you could think, dideverything right. I don't
understand why isn't it working.And I'm here to tell you that
just like YouTube, just like anyother platform, the most viewed
and viral ish videos do show upat the top. But it's doesn't
(20:03):
mean that yours don't show up atall.
It just means that a personwould scroll and they'd just
like when you pick decide whichYouTube thing you're gonna
watch. When you're on YouTubeand you're scrolling for, like,
how to change the filter in mydryer or something like that.
And you're you pick the firstone just because, like, oh, let
me just pick the first one thatshows up. But if you scrolled a
little more, let's say youdidn't like the voice of that
person when you picked that one,or the next one was like, oh,
(20:25):
that wasn't, wasn't even inEnglish or something, and you're
trying to you know, it was in adifferent language. Whatever it
is.
So if you scroll a bit, you'regonna get to the videos that are
less viewed, but they could beequally as as helpful. So it's
the same thing on any of theplatforms. Your the the top most
top performing videos are gonnashow up first in the search, but
(20:46):
that doesn't mean you're notgonna get found. It doesn't mean
no one's gonna search a littlefurther and go down and and
watch your video. Okay?
So don't be discouraged aboutit. Just know that you've you're
helping yourself by givingyourself the optimum SEO. And
now for my final thought fortoday is well, it's not even a
thought, and it's not about SEO,but it's a reminder that we are
(21:08):
we are running a Mother's Dayspecial up until May 11 in the
studio if you wanna try it forfirst of all, it's free trial
for seven days. But if you trydo join the studio for a month,
you get a free audit included.And if you join the studio for
an an annual membership, youhave a one on one session with
(21:28):
me for thirty minutes, and thatis free included.
So we're just doing a Mother'sDay promo, and that is a
Mother's Day with a with a u.It's a Mothership's Day promo.
And we're only gonna do that upuntil May 11 because I only have
so many hours in a day, and Iwanna make sure I'm able to
serve everybody who would liketo meet with me. So if you have
any desire to do that,obviously, you can always book a
(21:50):
one on one. But this is kind ofa bonus thing because not only
will you get my one on one time,but you'll get a whole year in
the studio, and the studio isepic.
So if you don't know about it,just click and read about it.
One we have Zoom meetings everyweek. I have content suggestions
that I do for small businesses.I give you a blueprint every
week. We have a challenge.
We have a lesson, a dedicatedlesson every week. It's so much
(22:12):
fun. I don't wanna, like, go onand on about it because it's
just like it's exciting for meto talk about because I just
enjoy it. But I just wanna makesure that I am making the red
alert that right now this promois only gonna go to May 11. So
if you're interested, grab it.
And that is it. I am chillingout now. I'm gonna decompress.
I'm gonna post this, upload it,and get it ready to launch
(22:33):
tomorrow, and then I'm going torest. And I have an a big
weekend ahead because I'mspeaking at this conference
where I'm gonna do a socialmedia, not just a speaking.
I'm actually gonna do aworkshop, and I'm gonna teach
these people hands on how tomake videos. And it's gonna be
great. I'm really, reallyexcited about it. And that is it
for today. Have a wonderfulweekend, and I will see you next
(22:55):
week.
Welcome to The Socialized Strategy. It's Friday, and I'm
(00:03):
in Jamaica. I'm at the Women'sEntrepreneur Retreat, and I had
a very long day. And I literallywas settling down from the day,
And I thought, oh, no. I forgotto record the podcast.
So I set up my portable setup,which I've posted on my
Instagram story, and I'm gonnado it. And here we are. And the
topic today is really important.So I'm glad that I'm here, and
(00:25):
I'm I didn't forget. It's aboutSEO and how do you make your
social media videos more searchfriendly, more get that search
optimization going so thatpotentially your videos show up
when someone's searching for atopic.
And I know for a fact it works.And I'm gonna tell you why I
know that for a fact. Because Iposted a video a year ago where
(00:48):
I talked about how to do twirl abaton. It was more than a year,
I think. How to twirl a baton.
And I put the keywords, and Iput the hashtags, and I did all
the things. And some young ladyfound my video when she was
searching for baton lessons onTikTok. If that isn't proof
enough, I don't know what elseto tell you. But she wrote me a
(01:10):
message and said, was searchingfor baton videos, and I found
yours. And I just wanted to knowif you could make me another
baton tutorial.
So it works. SEO works, and I'mgonna give you all the tips on
how to maximize and get the mostout of it for yourself. So here
we go. Hopefully, my audio isgood. Alright.
All of these points that I'mgonna talk about will are are
(01:32):
across the board, meaning theywill work for you on Instagram,
TikTok, YouTube, probablyFacebook too. I I think across
the board. If you use thesethings, they are not one
platform specific. Alright? ButI am after I go through the main
points, I'm gonna talk about afew things that are platform
specific.
(01:53):
Okay? So number one, how to findyour keywords. That is important
because how are you gonna knowwhat keywords to use if you
don't think about how what onesyou should be using if you don't
search for it? And here's whatyou wanna do. In order to
identify it, you have to think,what is my video about?
And then you're gonna say, okay.If someone was looking for my
(02:14):
content, what what might they besearching for? If you are a
fitness expert, if you are,talking about aging or skin
care, whatever it is, thinkabout what you want to show up
for when people are searchingfor it. You wanna start there.
And then there's little tricksto do it where if you type that
actual thing into the searchbar, whether it's on TikTok or
(02:37):
on Instagram or on YouTube or onGoogle, whatever.
Other it'll start to fill in.You know how you start start to
search for something and thingsother things fill in? And you
can see what other phrasespeople are searching for. And so
then you can know what phrasesto use in your captions, in your
videos to get that going. Sofirst, identifying what those
(02:58):
keywords are.
And another hot tip on TikTok,actually, if you search in the
top and then you type in, let'ssay, let's say for my video
editing tips. And then I, whenit comes up, I tap it, and I see
other videos that will sharevideo editing tips. But if you
scroll down a little bit, itsays other topics searched for,
(03:19):
and it will show you other typesof keywords that were searched
for in that same realm. You knowwhat I mean? So you're going a
little deeper, not just seeingwhat pops up when you first type
it in, but pick it and then seewhat videos scroll under the
videos that show up and see whatother searches were for the same
topic for a similar topic.
(03:41):
So that's like an extra step. Imight make a tutorial on that
soon. But it's really aboutidentifying those keywords. And
then once you've have themidentified, how to use them.
Okay?
So now we're going to go all theways through how to use them and
and make the most out of it. Sofirst one is saying the
keywords. So if you have aspeaking video, make sure you
(04:02):
take note of those keywords andyou use them when you're
talking. Don't skip it. Like, ifyou wanna start with a different
hook in the beginning, make surethat somewhere in your video,
you're still talking about thetopic.
So if you wanna be clever aboutyour opening, sure shortly after
your opening, you're sayingthose keywords so that you're
not losing that opportunity tohave your video noted. So for
(04:23):
example, for me, if I was makinga video about how to do a green
screen video, I'm if I wanna Imay not wanna start. Here's how
to do a green screen video.Obviously, that would be a great
way to start because right away,it tells people what this video
is about, and it tells thesearch what this video is about.
But let's say I wanted to beclever, and I wanted to show
something doing green screen andthen say it after.
(04:46):
So, for example, I could say,you see the background behind
me? And then I change it, andthen it's something else. I did
this with green screen, and I'mgonna show you how to do the
green screen. Do you understand?So I didn't say right away,
here's how to do a green screen.
I said, do you see thebackground behind me? Do you see
how I made that change? Like,maybe I wanna say something
different to get people'sattention. So your keyword
(05:06):
doesn't have to be spoken rightin the beginning, but it should
be spoken pretty early on inyour content so that the
platform recognizes it. And thealgorithms do pick up on your
voice because, in fact, TikTokdoes generate auto captions
automatically.
On Instagram, I think you haveto tell it to generate the auto
captions, but I'm gonna talkabout Instagram at the end
because it's important. I have alot of things I've noted on
(05:27):
Instagram recently, especially.Alright. The other thing is to
use keywords in your on screentext. So you wanna make sure
that you're putting something upon the screen.
And a lot of people like toslide it off and hide it, which
often will reformat yourcontent, so I don't recommend
necessarily doing that. Itdoesn't matter. Just make it a
little bit small. Just put itthere on the main page.
(05:48):
Sometimes when people arescrolling and their sound is
off, they'll see what you'rewhat you've got written out on
there, and they might stop andwatch your video if they
wouldn't have maybe done thatbefore.
So making sure that yourkeywords are in your on screen
text and make sure that yourlower caption also contains
them. And I will tell you from afrom personal experience, the
(06:10):
things that have happened to mewhere I'm trying to be clever
and I type watch this magictrick when I make, like, an
outfit transition. And guesswhat? It categorizes my video as
a magic trick, which is not whatI want. I want it to categorize
as an outfit transitiontutorial.
So clever captions can sometimeswork against you. You wanna make
(06:32):
sure that the first part of yourcaption really hits on what the
video is about so that yourcleverness doesn't end up
putting you into the wrongsearch, the wrong bucket of
content. Okay? That's like fromexperience. I know that that
happened.
It really just messes with yourhead because you're trying to be
clever, and you're trying to bea good copywriter to get
(06:52):
people's attention, and thenyou're really sandbagging your
video. So okay. So be carefulabout that. The other way is to
use keywords in your profile.And this is important, and I
learned this early, early on inTikTok that the platform
recognizes your name at the topand your username.
So as soon as I found that outor I don't know how I discovered
that early on. But when Irealized that it was important,
(07:16):
I started I changed my my usermy name immediately. And I
wrote, I think I wrote HelenHelen Pelosi TikTok teacher at
one point. Like, had it upthere. And then I realized, oh,
the mothership was a goodsearchable word because people
were remembering my username.
So then I changed it and tookoff my name and put mothership
the mothership TikTok teacherbecause I wanted to make sure I
(07:37):
was coming up. I think themothership is a searchable. A
lot of people looking for mewith mothership. Unfortunately,
they're spelling it with an o,and I'm not showing up. But
listen.
That's my branding problem, notyours. But it is it is
definitely important to havesomething about what your
content is in your name somehow.And it's helpful because I even
(07:59):
spoke with a woman who it was aprivate one on one session, and
she had something in there likelatchkey something, and her her
content is about finance. Andshe and I saw her when I saw
latchkey, I'm oh, she's probablya Gen Xer because that's what
latchkey means that you were oneof those kids that came home and
you were by yourself till yourmom came home from work, for
(08:19):
example. So I would immediatelythink, oh, she's Gen X content.
I didn't think she was infinance because there was
nothing to tell me that in herusername. And I suggested to her
to to add something aboutfinance in there, and she did.
So I think, hopefully, she'sgetting more success on her
content from that. Okay. Thatwas a little sidebar, but gives
gives you a good example.
And then in the newsletter, wegave you some examples. Midlife
(08:40):
mentor with your name, videotips by is a good thing.
Anything that has something todo with what your content is
about in your use in yourusername and your display name
is helpful. And using keywordsin your bio. So there's that bio
section where you can typeabout, and a lot of people like
to be clever there, and that'sgood to be clever.
But it's also again, be carefulthat you're not having things
(09:02):
work against you. Alright? Putsomething in there that really
talks about what you do. Okay.This one's this next thing is a
little bit, off the beaten path,but I don't know if that's the
right phrase, but to pin yourhigh performing videos to your
profile.
Because if you treat that likean SEO optimized homepage, so
(09:22):
that if someone discovers youand gets to your page, they can
actually see more about yourcontent by your most logically
pinned videos that are mostlyabout the thing that you wanna
be searched for. So if you're aan appliance expert, you don't
wanna have pin even though youhad might have had viral video
(09:44):
where you were, like, dancingwith somebody, let's say, for
example, that probably isn't theideal video to pin at the top
because it's not gonna tell thealgorithm that that it's it's
not it's telling the algorithmthat that something else is more
important to you on your pageversus what you are hoping to be
searched for. Whoo. That was along way of getting to that one,
but hopefully I got there. Okay.
(10:05):
Now let's talk about, other kindof a little bit further out
things like geotag. Geotag meansyou're putting the location on
your video, you know, where youcan pick at the bottom location.
That's helpful because a lot oftimes people might be searching
for something in New York Cityor in California or in Chicago
or in Iowa, wherever. And if youhave the geotag on there, you're
(10:30):
more likely to show up in thesearch. So that makes sense.
Right? If that's what you'retrying to do. A lot of people
are trying to find people in alocal area because maybe they
have a local business. And so itdoesn't help them to have people
in The UK, for example, that iftheir business is in the middle
of Ohio. So that that's thegeotag is helpful.
It'll bring you up in a searchwhere you where your people are.
(10:52):
Now engagement is a form of SEO.Was I saying CEO the whole time?
Whatever. I think I was sayingSEO.
I don't even know. My brain isso fried right now. I don't even
wanna listen back because Idon't wanna find out that I did
that wrong the whole time. I'lljust it'll just wreck me.
Anyway, engagement is SEO.
(11:14):
And so that means when you'recommenting, when you're sharing,
and when you're watching othervideos, and you're engaging, and
you're encouraging responses,it's helping the algorithm to
tell it's telling the algorithmthat you are involved, that you
are not just, a poster, you'realso a participant. And so it
rewards you for those things.And once you're rewarded for
(11:34):
those things, you'll your videosmight be more likely to be seen.
So it's a more distant relativeof getting SEO. I'm just
laughing.
I hope I was saying SEO.Alright. Now let's talk about
hashtags. Do you need them?Well, it depends.
If you're on Instagram, youreally don't need them anymore.
(11:55):
And I have stopped usinghashtags 100%. One hundred %. I
stopped doing it. And I alsonoticed, I used to still see it
when I searched.
So if you type something intothe search and it says accounts,
posts, music, it used to sayhashtags. And now it just says
tags. Or maybe it always didthat, but I I think it always I
(12:16):
think it now just says, insteadof hashtag, it says tags. And
that to me is not necessarily aquote hashtag with the with the
sorry, not a quote, but thenumber sign. I'm doing the
number sign if you're notwatching.
That's not necessarily ahashtag. If it's tagged, it just
means it's keywords again. Soyou don't have to kill yourself
(12:38):
about the hashtags anymore onInstagram. And I pretty much
think it's the same on TikTok.However, because I wanna make
sure I'm showing up on TikTok,I've noticed and I look at other
videos and I when I see themcategorized at the top, I always
look down at the caption to seewhat's in the caption.
Do this per does this personhave those hashtags in there?
(12:58):
And a lot of times, they do havethe hashtag for exactly what's
in the little search bar at thetop. So I that tells me it's
like a safety net. I don't knowthat it's absolutely needed
because I do think TikTok ispicking up a lot already. It's
picking up from your voice, yourtext, your on screen.
(13:20):
It's picking up all the things.So I think hashtags are maybe
less important. But in reality,I wanna guarantee it. So I'm
using the hashtags in TikTok.But I know that Adam Mosseri,
who is the CEO there's CEO, notSEO.
He's the CEO of Instagram. Heblatantly said hashtags are are
(13:41):
dead, so you don't need them. SoI'm like, well, if he said it, I
I will leave it. So that's theend of that. But here's the
thing that I wanna say that ismost incredible to me.
Oh my god. I'm let me see. Ineed a nice dramatic pause. The
platforms are not onlyrecognizing what you say and the
things you type. It is alsorecognizing what has been filmed
(14:07):
without even saying anything.
And I have proof of this. Likehard receipts. Because how many
times have you I mean, I knowthis this is most people don't
probably put two and twotogether. But how many times
have you put up posted a videoyou're preparing a video and you
go over to TikTok and you put itin. I'm gonna use TikTok as an
(14:29):
example.
You put it into TikTok and itautomatically adds music. And it
adds music that is perfect forthe video. And it's not an
accident. It knows, oh, this wasdramatic landscaping things. Or
it knows this is a sports event.
It you get me? If it knowsenough about your video to pick
(14:54):
the music correctly, I literallytake my videos to TikTok and let
it add the music just to seewhat it picks. And that's
sometimes when I'm posting onsomething on Instagram, I go to
TikTok first because I wannamake sure that that it'll it'll
suggest good music. It's so muchbetter than at doing that than
Instagram as Instagram doesn'treally do that. But TikTok does
(15:15):
it.
Let me tell you. And let me takeit one step further because not
only does it pick the rightmusic. This is sweet. I posted a
video to TikTok, and it was avideo of a family weekend where
I was in the Catskills and, youknow, it's like family events.
And then at one of the shots,one maybe two of the shots
(15:37):
towards the end of the videowere us playing a board game.
So it was a whole montage. I hadmusic picked, it was like me and
Jenna and family and da da da daand we're, you know, smiles and
laughing and all of that. Andthen there was, like, two board
game shots. Okay? That video iscategorized on, I think, on
(15:58):
Instagram too, actually, bothInstagram and TikTok.
It says board games. Boardgames. I didn't talk about a
board game. There's no speakingon the video. There's nothing in
the caption about us playing aboard game.
There's nothing on screen abouta board game. As a matter of
fact, it's not even sosignificant in the scene. It's
(16:19):
like one of the guys was doingsomething, everybody was
laughing, and you could theboard game was on the table. Oh
my god. I I literally was likestopped in my tracks when I saw
that that's how it wascategorized.
And it was on Instagram. I'mpositive now because I
screenshot it. I'll probably putit up here if I can find it. So
I could not believe my eyes. AndI thought, wow.
(16:40):
Holy cannoli. These platformsare so smart. They're seeing
they're seeing the content.They're picking things. I don't
even know how that works.
It's AI, I guess. But really,don't you think it's amazing?
I'm amazed by it still to thisminute. That's why I'm talking
about it like I'm incredulous.But it's crazy.
(17:00):
So I do think that it's like SEOis so far more advanced than we
even think. And I'm so I'm like,I'll do all the things. But
ultimately, I think even thesearch is seeing what's in the
video. You don't even have tosay anything. Oh my god.
Okay. Two more things that areimportant that are not in the
newsletter. When you post yourvideo on YouTube and if you post
(17:27):
your video from on TikTok fromyour desktop. So this is desktop
posting. So YouTube, I post frommy desktop oftentimes.
A lot I do my phone when I'mdoing YouTube shorts. But when
I'm posting a proper horizontalvideo, I use my laptop. And I
because I put the thumbnail andI put a description and I pick
(17:48):
all the tags, I type all thetags, and you do all the work on
YouTube. And I have a YouTubeone zero one course, by the way.
I have a it's not a course.
It's like a YouTube one zero onelesson in the, socialized
studio. So if you have interestin YouTube and a YouTube lesson,
you can, jump into the studio.We have a seven day free trial.
Right now, we have a really hotpromotion going on, so I'll talk
about that. But I'm telling you,you post from your desktop for
(18:12):
these things.
When you name the file name withwhat it's about, it helps your
SEO. So for example, you airdropyour video to your computer, and
it shows up img.m0v orsomething. It names puts a
number on it. You taint you youhighlight over that, and you
rename the file. You call itvideo edit videos underscore
(18:35):
editing underscore tutorialunderscore green screen,
whatever the heck it is about.
Use a lot of words. Put all thedamn keywords right in it, in
the video name. And then whenyou post it, that helps your
SEO. And I know for a fact itworks on YouTube. And now, I'm
understanding that when you poston TikTok desktop, when you do
the same thing, it helps youthere.
(18:56):
Okay? So if you're using yourdesktop to post, that's what you
wanna do. Okay. Now the lastpart is something I've noticed.
The last thing that I wannashare is something I've noticed,
and it's important, and that iswhen you have videos with higher
views, they are more likely toshow up in the search bar.
(19:17):
So somebody might sit here andgo, I do all these things, and
my videos don't show up in thesearch bar. Yes. Of course.
There's thousands and thousandsand thousands of videos about
video editing tips. When whensomebody types that in, very
likely, very unlikely thatthey're gonna get my video as
the first one.
Unless I have a madly crazyviral video that has 5,000,000
(19:38):
views that is video editing, itthat will help raise it to the
top of the food chain. So mypoint is you could do all these
things, and you could think, dideverything right. I don't
understand why isn't it working.And I'm here to tell you that
just like YouTube, just like anyother platform, the most viewed
and viral ish videos do show upat the top. But it's doesn't
(20:03):
mean that yours don't show up atall.
It just means that a personwould scroll and they'd just
like when you pick decide whichYouTube thing you're gonna
watch. When you're on YouTubeand you're scrolling for, like,
how to change the filter in mydryer or something like that.
And you're you pick the firstone just because, like, oh, let
me just pick the first one thatshows up. But if you scrolled a
little more, let's say youdidn't like the voice of that
person when you picked that one,or the next one was like, oh,
(20:25):
that wasn't, wasn't even inEnglish or something, and you're
trying to you know, it was in adifferent language. Whatever it
is.
So if you scroll a bit, you'regonna get to the videos that are
less viewed, but they could beequally as as helpful. So it's
the same thing on any of theplatforms. Your the the top most
top performing videos are gonnashow up first in the search, but
(20:46):
that doesn't mean you're notgonna get found. It doesn't mean
no one's gonna search a littlefurther and go down and and
watch your video. Okay?
So don't be discouraged aboutit. Just know that you've you're
helping yourself by givingyourself the optimum SEO. And
now for my final thought fortoday is well, it's not even a
thought, and it's not about SEO,but it's a reminder that we are
(21:08):
we are running a Mother's Dayspecial up until May 11 in the
studio if you wanna try it forfirst of all, it's free trial
for seven days. But if you trydo join the studio for a month,
you get a free audit included.And if you join the studio for
an an annual membership, youhave a one on one session with
(21:28):
me for thirty minutes, and thatis free included.
So we're just doing a Mother'sDay promo, and that is a
Mother's Day with a with a u.It's a Mothership's Day promo.
And we're only gonna do that upuntil May 11 because I only have
so many hours in a day, and Iwanna make sure I'm able to
serve everybody who would liketo meet with me. So if you have
any desire to do that,obviously, you can always book a
(21:50):
one on one. But this is kind ofa bonus thing because not only
will you get my one on one time,but you'll get a whole year in
the studio, and the studio isepic.
So if you don't know about it,just click and read about it.
One we have Zoom meetings everyweek. I have content suggestions
that I do for small businesses.I give you a blueprint every
week. We have a challenge.
We have a lesson, a dedicatedlesson every week. It's so much
(22:12):
fun. I don't wanna, like, go onand on about it because it's
just like it's exciting for meto talk about because I just
enjoy it. But I just wanna makesure that I am making the red
alert that right now this promois only gonna go to May 11. So
if you're interested, grab it.
And that is it. I am chillingout now. I'm gonna decompress.
I'm gonna post this, upload it,and get it ready to launch
(22:33):
tomorrow, and then I'm going torest. And I have an a big
weekend ahead because I'mspeaking at this conference
where I'm gonna do a socialmedia, not just a speaking.
I'm actually gonna do aworkshop, and I'm gonna teach
these people hands on how tomake videos. And it's gonna be
great. I'm really, reallyexcited about it. And that is it
for today. Have a wonderfulweekend, and I will see you next
(22:55):
week.
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