Your Guide to Mastering Video Optimisation in the AI Era

Picture a prospective business owner asking their AI assistant, “Show me the best way to onboard remote employees.” The assistant, instead of returning a list of articles, presents a crisp 45-second clip from your brand’s tutorial — complete with a question-style title, keyword-rich tags, clear captions, and on-screen chapter markers. What do you think will happen next?

They will watch. They will trust. And They will subscribe to your brand's message.

Welcome to video SEO for large-language models (LLMs), the core technology powering those AI search Assistants. These include the AI overview in Google SGE, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc. As these LLMs are evolving, they’re treating videos like first-class answers; provided those videos are optimized the right way. In this narrative, we’ll walk you through how to structure, tag, publish, and track your videos so that generative engines surface your brand every time.

Read about the new shift in Marketing: its all about the VIBE!

1. Craft Conversational, Query-Driven Titles

LLMs match natural-language questions to content that mirrors user intent. Frame your title as a direct query or clear “how-to”:

• “How to Onboard Remote Employees in 5 Minutes”

• “Why Employee Engagement Matters for Distributed Teams”

  
  These titles signal AI they’re answering a specific question—and help your clip get pulled into zero-click overviews.

2. Leverage Rich Tags & Descriptive Metadata

Behind every great YouTube video are strategic tags and metadata that guide AI systems:

• Primary Tags: Match your main topic (“remote onboarding,” “team engagement”)

• Secondary Tags: Cover related questions (“virtual training tips,” “Zoom best practices”)

• Custom Thumbnails & Alt-Text: Use keyword phrases in image file names and alt descriptions to boost crawl context.

3. Burned-In and Uploaded Captions

LLMs parse transcripts and on-screen text for precise quotes. Always:

1. Burn-in Key Phrases: Flash the question or data point on-screen.

2. Upload an SRT: Ensure accurate, timestamped captions so AI can chunk and cite.

SBN Media provides Youtube Marketing and Content Optimisation.

4. Front-Load Your Answer

Generative engines often sample only the opening 10–15 seconds. State your core takeaway immediately, then expand. A front-loaded structure looks like:

1. “Today I’ll show you how to onboard remote hires in under five minutes.”

2. Quick bullet of steps

3. Deeper exploration of each step

5. Define Chapters & Time-Stamped Highlights

YouTube’s chapter markup isn’t just user-friendly — it’s AI-friendly. Label segments with natural-language headings:

• 0:00 Introduction: Why Remote Onboarding Matters

• 0:45 Step 1: Pre-Start Documentation

• 1:30 Step 2: Virtual Welcome Kit

Generative engines pluck chapter headings to construct richer, multi-part answers.

6. Cite Sources On-Screen and in Descriptions

LLMs reward verifiable content. Whenever you quote statistics or reference studies:

• Overlay source names or URLs in the video frame

• Include a “Sources” section in the description with full links and timestamps

Creating Explainer Videos for your Brand.

7. Optimize File & Hosting Parameters

• Filename: Rename uploads to include your primary keyword (e.g., naming the file as onboarding-remote-employees.mp4 will signal that the video is about onboarding remote employees).

• Format & Performance: Use MP4/H.264 at 1080p, compress to maintain a sub-2 MB/s bitrate.

• Hybrid Hosting: Publish on YouTube for AI crawl priority, then embed on your site with a canonical link back to the original.

8. Track AI Referrers & Engagement Signals

Segment AI traffic in Google Analytics by tagging referrers that contain ai.google or chat-based UIs. In YouTube Analytics, watch for:

• Early-view spikes in Suggested Videos

• Watch-time retention in the first 15 seconds

• Chapter skip patterns to refine your hooks

Ready to Speak AI’s Language?

At SBN Media, we don’t just produce videos—we engineer them for the generative era. From query-driven scripting and metadata strategy to caption workflows and analytics-driven iteration, we’ll ensure your next video answers the AI’s call—and secures your brand’s spot in every generative overview.

Let’s optimize your video strategy for LLMs today!