The Power of SEO Keywords in Film Production and Distribution

In the digital age, where algorithms and online marketing reign supreme, independent filmmakers face the daunting task of making their films visible in a sea of content. This article delves into the intersection of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and cinema, starting the conversation about how filmmakers can leverage SEO keywords to enhance their films’ online presence and reach their target audiences.

In the digital context, film is video. Video content dominates online consumption and online marketing strategies. At the same time, search traffic studies show that out of the billions of web pages, an overwhelming majority (over 90%) never rank on Google and never receive any search traffic at all. Practically, they are never found, a harsh reality generated by 3 main causes: the topic has no search demand, the pages do not contain backlinks (authoritative sites that link to them) and the content of the pages does not match the search intent of users.

As filmmakers and content creators, we need to adapt to a reality where over 50% of all traffic to a website comes from organic search engines compared to traffic from paid search (advertising) and social media. But how can we ensure our films reach their intended audience in the vast sea of online content? One answer lies in keywords, a fundamental block of content optimization process for the search engines SEO) that basically translates into connecting intentions.

SEO for Film: A New Frontier for Independent Filmmakers

My research explores how to create “SEO-friendly cinema.” This isn’t about sacrificing artistic vision, but rather equipping films with the tools they need to be discovered organically online. It’s about empowering independent filmmakers to navigate the digital landscape and connect with their audiences.

SEO is the practice that convinces algorithms to prioritize the content we publish and to take it organically to its human public. The art of cinema needs no explanations for filmmakers. However, film industry employs SEO and other marketing strategies after a film in made, in the distribution phase. While it has its merits, this marketing strategy is applied in distribution phase, and that means that it leaves production out of the game, missing the SEO opportunities offered by the birth and the making of a film.

The strategies employed in the product creation and storytelling formulas are the same since the beginnings of the film industry. Top universities such us Columbia, University of Southern California or American Film Institute Conservatory place a high emphasis on researching the art of digital storytelling to deliver new formulas in the market. However, at the level of grassroots reality there is not much applicable knowledge for independent filmmakers whose main concern is to develop a sustainable career in an industry where the odds were always against.

As any research journey, I live mostly in the woods and I have more questions than answers. I can only hope that some of them will be interesting enough to give us something worth thinking about and to unlock new collaborations and opportunities.

How to think in SEO keywords to make visible films and videos by design?

To understand what are the right questions I should ask myself as a filmmaker, I had to dive into the guts of the online marketing octopus to get a map of this algorithmic world that makes sense for me as a non-specialist. A material resulted from my 2022 Film Production Master’s Program graduation thesis “Films for Algorithms”. At first, I reviewed how specialists apply the idea of thinking in keywords in SEO practices, in general and in film industry, in particular. Here are the main ideas:

1. Keyword Research:

• Use SEO tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to identify popular and relevant keywords related to your video genre, cast, directors, or themes.
• Look for long-tail keywords that have less competition but are more targeted towards the audience interested in your video’s niche.

2. Understand the Audience:

• Analyze search trends and behaviors of the target audience.
• Identify the terminology and phrases the film’s audience uses when searching for similar videos and films.

3. Optimize Meta Tags:

• Include primary keywords in the title tags and meta descriptions of the film’s web pages.
• Craft compelling meta descriptions that include the video’s title, cast, or unique selling points to encourage click-throughs.

4. Content Creation:

• Create engaging and keyword-rich content such as articles, blog posts, or video descriptions related to your film and its promoting videos.
• Highlight key elements like behind-the-scenes, interviews with guests, cast and crew, or video analysis using SEO-friendly keywords.

5. Video SEO:

• For video content, especially on platforms like YouTube, optimize video titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords.
• Include transcripts and captions for your videos to make them more accessible and indexable by search engines.

6. On-Site Optimization:

• Ensure that your website or landing page is optimized for search engines with relevant keywords in headings, subheadings, and body text.
• Use schema markup (the algorithms vocabulary) to provide structured data to search engines, helping them understand your video content better (e.g., Movie schema for films).

7. Link Building:

• Obtain high-quality backlinks from reputable sites related to your industry.
• Engage with video blogs, review sites, and forums to create buzz and drive traffic back to your site.

8. Social Media Integration:

• Use social media platforms to promote your video and weave keywords naturally into your posts.
• Encourage sharing and engagement to amplify your reach and create potential signals that search engines might consider.

9. Monitor and Adapt:

• Use analytics to track the performance of your keywords and content.
• Adapt your strategy based on what works, targeting new keywords or trends as they emerge.

10. Localization:

• If your video targets an audience in a specific region, use local keywords and optimize for local search queries.
• Submit your video or business listing to local directories and engage with local communities online.

Takeaways:

• We need a small army to do this work, plenty of time or a generous budget, if we want to remain filmmakers;
• As we can observe, most points address online marketing strategies in general more than SEO keywords strategies;
• Most points apply also to film.

SEO and Storytelling: Finding the Balance.

In the film industry, certain keywords or phrases can indeed be used in crafting movie scripts to appeal to specific target markets, but this is a somewhat simplistic view of a complex process, thing that makes my research a hard to hack challenge, if I don’t depart fast from the general idea of keywords.

Integrating SEO into filmmaking is a nuanced process. It’s not about shoehorning keywords into dialogue, but rather finding organic ways to align your storytelling with the language your audience uses. This can involve:

1. Genre Identification: Keywords related to genres like “thriller,” “romance,” “comedy,” or “action” help to align scripts with the expectations of audiences who are fans of those genres. This helps to attract a market that is already inclined to enjoy such content.
2. Trending Themes: Writers may include topics or themes that are currently popular or trending within the cultural zeitgeist. This can include social issues, technology trends, or any subject that is gaining attention. Incorporating these themes can draw audiences interested in those conversations.
3. Demographic Appeal: Certain keywords can signal a script’s appeal to specific demographic groups. For example, a coming-of-age story might appeal to teenagers, while a script that revolves around parenthood could attract older audiences.
4. Niche Targeting: Some scripts may use specific keywords and concepts to target niche audiences with particular interests or hobbies. For instance, a movie about chess might include related jargon to attract chess enthusiasts.
5. Marketing and SEO: When a film is released, keywords related to its content are used in marketing materials and online search optimizations. These keywords help potential viewers find the movie through search engines and understand quickly what kind of film it is.
6. Cultural Sensitivity: Keywords can also reflect cultural sensitivity or awareness. A script that respects and accurately represents specific groups or communities can attract those communities as well as audiences who value diversity and representation.
7. Symbolism and Subtext: Writers often use keywords in a script’s dialogue and descriptions that hint at deeper meanings or central themes. These are not always direct links to target markets but can add layers of interpretation and depth that may appeal to more discerning audiences.

By targeting specific keywords related to a movie, such as the movie title, theme, or actors and actresses, the filmmaker aims for its films to appear on the first page of search engine results when the audience searches similar content. This helps generate interest and directs users to the film’s website and articles.

Takeaways:

• Most points address film marketing more than film development and production, therefore SEO as distribution strategy rather than SEO as production strategy (an expensive approach, otherwise);
• As we can see, many bridges are missing, thing that gives my research hope.

The point of SEO integration in the film development and production phases.

There is no point to invest in content creation around keywords people do not search. This is the core logic of SEO. While this makes sense in general for other types of multimedia content, in the case of cinema we must think deeper, as we are challenged to better understand how we can apply the keywords principle in ways that do not alter a film’s artistic qualities.

By the nature of the cinema art, it is rare for independent filmmakers, and for artists in general, to think at the public when they make a movie or create something.

The market of creativity is the market of originals. Here, each original creates its own audiece and market. We never know what is going to happen next. It is also the only market where consumption does not fulfil the need. Let’s not forget also the role of cinema during marginal moments in societies, like pandemics and wars, for example, when its influence and consumption gets new meanings and magnitudes.

Creatives want to tell a story, to send a message and to express themselves. Screenwriters care about storytelling. Film directors care about turning scripts into compelling movies. Producers care about finding the money to make a film they believe in, designing a film festival strategy, speaking about the film everywhere they can and finding a sales agent or a distributor. Distributors care about capitalizing the film (the equivalent of monetization when it comes to making money from a website or video channel).

But in the search economy, SEO plays an important role, regardless the industry, and it all starts with keywords. So, integrating content optimization in the film production and development phases seems to be a logical step to make.

Entry and Exit Points in the Traditional Film Industry.

Here, at the distribution entry point, is where most of the doors are closed for a majority of independent filmmakers.

Big distributors are very comfortable with using the traditional venues and operating with standard film formulas, because they are easy to package and sell. The system is old, addicted to big names and celebrities, ruled by major film studios and tech-entertainment players, and almost unchangeable. Few dare to risk with productions that are different or with new names no one heard of. They have plenty of films to distribute, so maximizing one film’s sale potential is not an urgent problem to solve as it is for the producer.

In the case of the niche and artsy distributors there is another issue: they are addicted to their own taste of cinema. So, they’ll promote only the films they resonate with.

In both cases, their approaches make sense for their bottom line and vision of life and world, but in the search ecosystem independents walk naked on off-road pathways.

At the end of this long chain, the producer is the last who sees profit, if his intuition is precise enough and the film is good enough and promoted enough by sales agents and distributors. So, more and more cinema creators take the pathway of self-promotion.

But self-promotion requires a different set of skills and roadmap. The keyword of this game is „sales”. No sales, no new movie, no name, no career, no future. At least not a satisfactory and fulfilling one.

This is one of the main reasons many talented filmmakers end up doing commercials, corporate video content, event video production or anything else but cinema. With all the love for the art of filmmaking, this is how things are for a very long time. And this is a loss from all points of view and a universe of untapped creative potential.

The New Dream Factory.

Filmmakers are the heart of this gigantic dream factory. They design and make the products, the movies. The product is where the filmmaker and producer have the most power and influence. As they have to walk alone across long deserts until they find some open gates, the problem is that in a parallel universe the audiences make their choices in the online machine.

This means that in the digital world, in their quest to create good cinema, filmmakers must have answers for more questions when creating a film.  Two of them stand out:

• How to make a good film? The old question.
• How to equip a film with the features it needs for the audience to find it? The new question.

Any film or video starts with its bible: the script.

In my experience, regardless of the phase a movie is (production, post-production or distribution) and of the film and online marketing apps and technologies available, the major problems, crisis and challenges that pop up on the way have their answers at the roots, in the script.

In the online world, a story needs two types of words to survive and stand out:

• the words we use to write the story (scriptwriting)
• the words that link the story with its target audience (SEO keywords)

Even though the world had never had so many opportunities for filmmakers and video creators, a vast majority of films and videos (including commercial videos made to promote a cinema sample like a trailer or film preview) are invisible on the web or far bayond their potential.

Transitory conclusions:

1. The first place where we have to look when we write and produce films, brand films or other video content for the web is the „bible”: the script. The brainstorming and development phases.

2. Before designing our promotional and marketing video content, we mut ask ourselves: what are the words we will find in captions and transcripts? How can we capitalize their potential as SEO keywords, as we’ll use them further in advertising, articles, social media, comments and so on. It is not about what we, actors, reviewers and public say about a film, but how we say it. Will we use our own words or can we influence these words with the SEO keywords we craft a film with?

3. This theoretical solution to create or amplify a film’s visibility by design comes with two new questions:

• How to apply SEO keywords in scriptwriting in ways that don’t alter the quality of cinema, but also uplifts it (ideally)? This adds up to the creative challenges. It translates into a humanizing algorithms, essentially.

• Who will teach scriptwriters, film directors and movie producers about integrating SEO into their practice and craft?

Join the Conversation!

Share your thoughts and experiences with SEO in filmmaking! Case studies, your own practice, and anything you find helpful.

BOOK recommendation

“Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society” by Raymond Williams.