Hey there! Have you created a great video but wanted to know how to get more people to view it? You post it, send it to friends, then… there is nothing. It’s like yelling into a dark room. But there is an intelligent way to have more people watch your videos and enhance the ranking of your website on Google.
This guide will teach you about video submission sites. Think of this guide as a friendly cup of coffee. We’ll go through everything, step by step, without any confusing jargon. By the end, you’ll understand what these sites are, why they are great for SEO in 2025, and how to use them. We will also name the best free platforms for you to get started.
Ready? Let’s dive in.
What Are Video Submission Sites?
Okay, let’s begin with the basics. Video Submission Sites are websites to which you can upload and share your videos with a large audience.
You’re likely already aware of the largest one: YouTube. There are other platforms like Vimeo, Dailymotion and even social media apps like TikTok and Instagram. These platforms are immense treasure troves of videos where people from all corners of the globe come to watch, learn, and enjoy.
You may ask, “Isn’t it just about uploading a video?” That’s true, but there’s a little more to it when you consider the impact of search engines (SEO).
Submission vs. Embedding: What's the Difference?
This is a good question that tends to confuse people. Let’s explain it by a clear example.
- Writing a book (or Uploading): Consider this as an upload. Uploading a video is like putting that book on a big popular library shelf, like youTube. When people visit the library, they can find the book, read it and learn about you as the author. Your book has a new home in a popular location.
- Embedding: Embedding a video is like taking a photocopy of your book’s cover and placing it in your own diary. You can also display this diary to friends coming to your house (your website) and they can see the cover. If they want to read the book, they are still going to the big library. The video isn’t hosted on your website; you simply create a link to view the video from another location.
So, uploading puts your video in a home on a powerful platform, while embedding puts it on your own site. In SEO, we’re all about the power of uploading.
The Role of Video Submission Sites in Online Visibility
Why should you place your video into these “digital libraries”? Because Google and other search engines like these sites. They trust them. These sites are considered high authority, so Google believes they’re trustworthy sources. When you upload your video to a site like YouTube or Vimeo, you are doing two things:
- Reaching a New Audience: You tap into the platform’s vast user base. People who have never heard of your website could discover your video when they search on a related topic.
- Building SEO Juice (Backlinks): This is the big deal. Most of these sites offer the opportunity to include a link back to your own site in the video description or your profile page. This link is also known as a “backlink.”
Consider a backlink as a vote of confidence. When you’re linked to by a big, trusted site, it’s telling Google, “This site is useful and relevant.” Check it out!” The more of these good votes you can get, the higher your site will be in search results.
Why You, Your Business, or Your Blog Should Care for Videos in 2025
“Okay,” you might say, “I can see where you’re going with this.” But is it really worth trying?”
Yes. And here’s why 2025 is the right year to put video into focus.
Video is no longer a trend; it’s the primary mode of consumption on the web. From short videos on Tiktok to long lessons on YouTube, video is everywhere. If you don’t use it, you miss a huge opportunity to connect with your audience.
Here’s how different people can benefit:
- For Small Business Owners: Let’s say you’re a local bakery owner. You could write a short video about “How to Decorate the Perfect Birthday Cake.” By uploading it to YouTube, you showcase your skills and can include a link to your bakery’s website in the video description. Someone in your town looking for cake ideas might find your video, love what you’re doing and become a new customer. It’s effective local marketing that creates trust.
- For Bloggers and Content Creators: Let’s say you have a gardening blog. You can easily convert your popular article 10 Easiest Vegetables to Grow for Beginners into a fast, entertaining video. Uploading this video gives new life to your content and a new platform to be discovered. The video description is linked back to your blog which in turn drives traffic to your site where you may have affiliate links or products to sell.
- For SEO Professionals: For you, it’s all about the data. Video submission is a great scalable way to create a diverse backlink portfolio. You acquire links from high-authority domains, which enhances your website’s overall authority. It generates referral traffic, which is a good sign to Google. And, your videos can even appear in Google’s video search results, providing you with another placement on the search results page. It’s a win‑win‑win.
A well-rounded SEO strategy goes beyond text. It’s about rich media experience, and video is the king of rich media experience.
Key Features to Look for in a Video Submission Site
All video platforms are not created equal. So as to use your time wisely, you should check a few things before you go uploading everywhere:
- High Domain Authority (DA): DA is a figure from 1 to 100 that indicates the ability of a site to rank in search engines. A higher DA indicates that Google trusts the site. A link from a site with a DA of 90+ (like YouTube) is far superior to a link from a site with a DA of 20. You can view a site’s DA free with tools such as MozBar.
- Large and Active User Base: You want to be seen. Choose platforms where people are searching and watching videos. A website with millions of visits a day increases your chances of being discovered.
- Relevance to Your Niche: Niche sites can’t be dismissed, but big platforms are good for many people. If you’re producing videos about video games, a platform like Twitch might be the way to go. If you’re in business, a B2B site might be more useful than a general entertainment site.
- Link Opportunities: Are you able to include a clickable link to your website in the video description or in your profile bio? This is essential. The purpose of this SEO is to get that precious backlink.
- Analytics and Insights: Good platforms provide you with analytics. They include how many people watched your video, how long they watched and where they came from. This information will help you advance your future video strategy.
Build More Backlinks Via:
Dofollow vs. Nofollow Video Submission Sites
We’re about to get into a bit of technical information, but I’ll keep it brief. A backlink can be a dofollow or nofollow.
- DoFollow Link: This is the most popular and helpful link. It’s like a good recommendation. It sends a message to Google, “I endorse this site.” Give it my authority and trust, It passes the SEO value that we have talked about.
- Nofollow Link: This link contains a small piece of code (rel=”nofollow”) that tells search engines “The link can be seen and clicked but please do not give me any authority or SEO value through this link.”
In the past, SEOs only targeted dofollow links. Now we know that nofollow links are still very valuable. Here’s why you should continue to keep them.
- They bring real traffic: A viewer of your video doesn’t know or care whether a link is dofollow or nofollow. If they find what they are looking for they will click on the link. The more people who click from it, the better Google can see that your site is important.
- They build brand awareness: Having your brand name and video be displayed on a large platform will help people identify and trust you.
- They generate a natural link profile: If all links to your site were dofollow links, Google may be suspicious. A healthy backlink portfolio is a blend of dofollow and nofollow links. YouTube is the main reason why nofollow links are included in the description and they are still the most important link for video SEO.
Bottom line: Don’t sweat dofollow vs nofollow. A backlink from a high-authority site is a good link, plain and simple.
Top High DA Free Video Submission Sites List
Complete List of Video Submission Sites for 2025
How to Acquire Links via Video Submission Sites (Tactical Steps)
So, how do you actually do this? Let’s go through the process from beginning to end.
Step 1: Create a Valuable Video: This is the most critical step. Your video should be instructive, fun, or informative. You can’t create something and hope people like it. The point is to create a video that people want to watch and share. Good ideas are how to’s, product demos, lists or answers to common questions in your industry.
Step 2: Optimize Your Video file: Before you upload, name your video file with key words. Instead of something generic like video_001.mp4, call it something like how-to-bake-chocolate-chip-cookies.mp4. This helps the platform and search engines determine the topic of your video.
Step 3: Build and Optimize Your Profile: Register an account on the video site you selected. Complete your profile to ensure your information is complete. Use a clear avatar or your company logo. Most importantly, include a short bio or “about me” section and a link to your site’s homepage. This is typically the first and most stable connection from the platform.
Step 4: Upload Your Video and Write Your Metadata: Click the “Upload” button! While your video uploads, you’ll see a form to add details. This is where you can make it better.
- Title: Create a good title using keywords. Instead of “Cookie Video” try “Easy 10-Minute Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (Perfect for Beginners)
- Description: Use the most important link at the top. Create a clear description of the video’s content. In the first one or two sentences, include a full link (such as https://www.yourbakery.com/cookie-recipe) that directs viewers to a page on your site. Tell viewers what they’ll see there.
- Tags: Include tags that are identical to what people would type in a search. Use words such as: cookies, baking, easy recipe, chocolate chip cookies, etc.
Step 5: Choose a Custom Thumb: The thumbnail is the small preview image that is visible first. Don’t let the platform select a random, blurry frame. Create a clear, bright and attention-grabbing custom thumbnail with eye-catching text. A good thumbnail can increase your click-through a lot.
Best Practices for Video Submission SEO
It’s not enough to send a video. For optimum results, follow these easy steps:
- Do keyword research: Before you film, use tools such as Google Keyword Planner or free extensions like TubeBuddy to find the words people actually type into search. Create videos that respond to those questions.
- Add a transcript: Have closed captions or a full text transcript of your video. Search engines can’t read videos but can read text, so a transcript gives them an idea of what your content is about and helps them to rank your content for more keywords.
- Respond to comments: When viewers comment, respond. This will demonstrate the platform that your video is valuable and will help it to reach more people.
- Share your video: Once you publish, put it on your website, post it to social media, and send it to your email list. A good start can provide it with additional momentum.
- Be patient and keep posting: You won’t get thousands of views immediately. The trick is to keep creating and posting valuable videos. Your channel will grow over time and the SEO benefits will accumulate.
Video Sitemaps & Technical SEO (A Quick Pro Tip)
This is a little advanced, but helpful. A video sitemap is an XML file that you can place on your website that notifies Google of all of the videos on your site. It’s like a special map that spells out the location of your videos so Google can find them, read them, and list them in search results.
If you publish videos on your website (you should!), a video sitemap can help those pages rank higher in video searches. Many SEO plugins for sites like WordPress will do it automatically. You don’t need to be a tech savvy person to do it!
The Big List: Top Free & High-PR Video Submission Sites for 2025
Okay, here’s the part you’ve been waiting for! Here’s a list of some of the best free video submission websites to explore: They were selected because they are authoritative and have good SEO potential.
1. YouTube
- Domain Authority (DA): 100
- Why it’s great: It is the most powerful.
- Google owns the second-largest search engine in the world, so it is a place you need to be.
- YouTube videos frequently appear in the search results of Google.
- Link Type: No follow links in descriptions and the traffic and visibility are unparalleled.
2. Vimeo
- Domain Authority (DA): 98
- Why it’s great: It is considered more professional or artistic by many people. It possesses a good creative community and a quality video player. It is where businesses, artists and filmmakers can exhibit their work.
- Link Type: You can also have a dofollow link on your profile page provided you have a paid plan. The free accounts provide you with much power and traffic rewards.
3. Dailymotion
- Domain Authority (DA): 94
- Why it’s great: This platform reaches a huge audience across the globe particularly in Europe and Asia. It is an excellent substitute or complement to YouTube in order to get access to audiences all over the globe.
- Link Type: Nofollow, yet it is good traffic and brand exposure.
4. TikTok
- Domain Authority (DA): 94
- Why it’s great: Viral videos are potent in short forms. When your brand is fun, engaging and trend-oriented content, it can reach out to a large number of people. This would be best with B2C brands that would wish to target the youth.
- Link Type: There is a nofollow link that you can add in profile bio.
5. Instagram (Reels & Video)
- Domain Authority (DA): 100
- Why it’s great: Instagram Reels is a picture-first service that is popular among many people. It is a direct competitor of Tik Tok and is able to reach many viewers free of charge. It is effective with brands that advertise or display lifestyle, fashion, food or travel.
- Link Type: Add one nofollow link in your bio. You can further display “Link in Bio” prompts on your videos.
6. Facebook
- Domain Authority (DA): 100
- Why it’s great: It reaches many people as it has billions of users. Directly uploaded videos on Facebook, not on YouTube, perform very well and the algorithm favors them. They assist in the creation of communities and content sharing.
- Link type: NoFollow links in posts.
7. Twitch
- Domain Authority (DA): 95
- Why it’s great: This is the primary location of gamers, though it is expanding to music, informal discussions, and creative broadcasts. Should you have an audience here, it is a very powerful location to build a loyal community. You have the option of uploading previous streams in the form of videos.
- Link type: Use nofollow links in your profile panels.
8. DTube (Decentralized Tube)
- Domain Authority (DA): 65
- Why it’s great: A blockchain-based decentralized version of YouTube.
- It is dedicated to free speech and its user base continues to increase and is concerned with privacy. It is a good spot to distribute oneself.
- Link Type: Dofollow links can frequently be made, and it is therefore an interesting play under SEO.
Conclusion
We’ve covered a lot. Perhaps, now you understand that video postings are not a complex SEO trick. It is an easy, efficient and even entertaining method to expand your brand on the internet.
When you create helpful videos submission sites and place them on reputable websites, you are placing your message in a place where people already visit. This earns confidence, attracts visitors and demonstrates to search engines that you are in action.
Key points: Create videos that can be useful or entertaining. Enhance your title, description and tags. Always link back to your site. Stay consistent and patient.
Start with one platform, like YouTube. Get comfortable with it. Add other platforms that suit your brand then. You can do it!
FAQs
Are all video submission sites free?
The majority of the large platforms, such as YouTube, Dailymotion, and Tik Tok, are not paid. Others like Vimeo have a free version but this is limited. They also offer paid plans in the event that you need more features or storage.
How numerous websites are to be submitted with my video?
It is always preferable to have active and regular posts on 2-3 active platforms rather than post once on 20 sites and never go back. Begin with the largest ones, like YouTube, and include other websites which fit your niche.
Am I allowed to upload the same video in more than one location?
Yes, absolutely. In contrast to written material, the same video posted on YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook does not generate a duplicate-content penalty. The audience of each platform is different.
Will video submission assure the number one position on Google?
There is nothing in SEO that can assure a high ranking. Nevertheless, video submission is an effective and tested tool that can significantly increase your possibility of ranking higher, generating traffic, and establishing authority of your site.