Skip to main content

How Does Video Help SEO?

Videos have always played an important role in organic visibility. Video rich snippets were one of the first rich elements in Google search results pages.

For years, Google would show video thumbnails inside organic search results. Having your video thumbnail in Google search always meant higher brand visibility and more clicks.

So does video help SEO these days?

How Videos Help Organic Visibility

Now that we talk more about organic visibility than rankings, building a consistent video strategy has become even more important.

With on-the-go and video search on the rise, video content has become even more important, as consumers are able to watch videos without interrupting their current activity.

Videos Are All Over the Search Result Pages

Google has been adding interactive rich video elements all over search engine result pages. As such, you can find video carousels for every other Google search these days.

Video Carousel Example

On a mobile device, video carousels look like this:

Video Carousel on Mobile Device

Apart from carousels, videos can enhance your organic snippet as Google would also grab a video thumbnail to place it right inside your organic listing:
Video in Organic SERPs Example

Brand Familiarity Builds Clicks & Conversions Over Time

Furthermore, you can brand your video thumbnails to build brand recognizability. This may help your click-through and conversions in the long run because brand familiarity causes web users feel more confident and trust the website:

Google Loves Long-Form Content, for Videos Too

Google is known to love long-form content. It looks like Google loves long-form video content too, especially for certain queries.

Here’s an example of search engine result page allowing you to navigate a video right from organic SERPs: Clicking any title will take you deep into the video:

These timestamps are added by the author in the video description but it is nice to see that it can also make it right into organic SERPs:

Video Timestamp Example

Here’s a detailed guide on time-stamping your YouTube videos.

How Videos Help On-Page SEO

Apart from providing enhanced organic visibility, videos have been found to boost on-page engagement which is a powerful rankings factor. Google wants its users to like each page they return in search results and continue interacting with the site instead of leaving right away.

On-page engagement definitely sends good signals to Google.

That’s exactly how a well-placed useful video on your page can indirectly help your rankings and get Google like and trust your site.

Over the years, videos have consistently be found to improve on-page engagement and conversions:

  • The majority of web users prefer watching a video to reading words (Source: Forbes Insights)
  • Using videos on a landing page can increase conversions by 86% (Source: Eye View Digital)
  • Finally, the average user spends 88% more time on a website with video (Source: Oberlo stats).

Video Engagement Statistics

With that in mind, do implement best SEO practices when it comes to embedding videos to your page:

  • Lazy-load videos to avoid any negative impact on your page load time. Page speed is a confirmed ranking factor, so make sure you are keeping an eye on that too. Here’s how to easily lazy-load videos in WordPress.
  • Use video schema to increase your chances to have a video thumbnail in organic search. Google offers a helpful tutorial here. There are even some enhancements available, including getting a LIVE badge added to your video and allowing users to navigate your video from SERPs.

Ideas for Video Content to Boost Your Organic SEO

Finally, to leave you with some truly actionable advice, here are a few ideas to create meaningful video content for your brand that would help with everything I mentioned above:

  • Organic visibility
  • Organic click-through
  • On-page engagement and conversions

1. Re-Use Your Demos and Webinars

Every SaaS business out there actively use demos and webinars to build and convert leads. Only few of them make the most of their efforts though.

Demos and webinars make great long-form video content that can boost your branded SERPs and engage your potential customers.

With tools like ClickMeeting re-using your past webinars and demos is also incredibly easy. The on-demand feature allows you to record, organize, monetize and publicize your webinars.

Clickmeeting Example

Additionally, using ClickMeeting’s WordPress plugin, you can embed the entire on-demand video experience on your website, even gating it and integrating it into your lead capture and nurture funnel.

Alternatively, if gating your video content doesn’t make sense in your situation, then you can simply upload your videos straight from your ClickMeeting dashboard to your YouTube account, and then embed them wherever you like.

2. Influencer-Driven Videos

These can be interviews, webinars, video q&a, and even testimonials. Any time you feature a niche influencer in your video, you tap into their existing community and trust.

The beauty of collaborating with influencers for creating video content is that you can use their authority and existing community to generate views and conversions.

Use Buzzsumo to find influencers to work with. You can limit Buzzsumo results to videos only to find those who don’t mind co-creating videos:

 Buzzsumo for Videos Example

3. Customer-Driven Videos

Your loyal exciting customers may be the best video creators. Set up an easy contest encouraging your customers to submit their own unboxing videos or screencasts and reward best efforts.

Give your customers lots of spotlight and generously recognize their efforts. Campaigns like this also build loyalty and bring in more buyers.

Plus it generates video content for your brand which you can use to build organic visibility. Over at Viral Content Bee, we invited our current users to submit video tutorials of how they use the platform to include in our official Udemy course:

User Walkthrough Video Example

This way our official course includes all kinds of perspectives different types of users can better relate to.

Takeaways

  • Videos enjoy a lot of visibility in Google’s organic search results
  • By creating well-branded and consistent video content, you can boost brand familiarity and click-through
  • Videos can also improve your on-page engagement (and hence indirectly help with organic rankings)
  • A few examples of video content to add to your marketing strategies are webinars, customer- and influencer-driven videos.

Good luck!

The post How Does Video Help SEO? appeared first on Convince and Convert: Social Media Consulting and Content Marketing Consulting.



from Blog – Convince and Convert: Social Media Consulting and Content Marketing Consulting https://ift.tt/2Mp5T8Z
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

10 Digital Marketing Tips and Tricks from Top Brands

There is no doubt that digital marketing or online marketing is crucial when it comes to the success of any business no matter what industry you are in. Unlike the past where businesses used traditional advertising, today, they are not as effective as online advertising and this has pushed many businesses to adopt online advertising to reach customers. Online marketing is the way to go if you want to reach and create a connection with customers. Gone are the days when it was difficult to understand what customers want . Today, with the increase in tools such as analytics and digital marketing software, it is far easier to guess — nay, estimate — customer behavior… and cater to it! Online marketing has enabled businesses to gain treasured insights to customers’ minds. When implemented in the right way, digital marketing will enable your business to target and reach its customers, classify new ones, increase sales, and experience lasting growth. These digital marketing approaches wi...

What is a Local Citation? Local SEO

In simple SEO terms, a local citation refers to any mention of your company online. This could be in a business directory, or on an industry-specific site, a blog or any other local website. Although local citations can help you rank in local search results, they are no longer a major ranking factor . However, they are still worth considering in order to promote your business. Common citations you are likely to already know of include listings on business directory websites such as Yell or Thomson Local . A complete citation should include the name, address and phone number of your business. Local citations do not always include a link to your site although they are more valuable if they do. What do they do? Citations help rank your Google Local Pack listing (this was formerly called Google+ Local map) by providing Google with credible sources of information about your business. Citations tell Google that your business exists, is legitimate and that what you say about it is accur...

The beginner’s guide to semantic search: Examples and tools

Ever since Google’s Hummingbird, the term “semantic search” has been thrown around a lot. Yet, the concept is often misunderstood. What is semantic search and how it helps SEO efforts? When people speak to each other, they understand more than just words. They understand the context, non-verbal cues  (facial expressions, nuances of the voice, etc.) and so much more. It comes naturally, so we don’t really appreciate how difficult it is to explain what is being communicated without the help of all “beyond-words” signals. Factors that make the lives of both Google and SEO so difficult Google is trying (and often struggling) to understand what it is that their users want (without actually seeing or hearing them) SEOs are trying to reverse-engineer what it is that Google managed to understand from their users’ queries and how to build pages that meet those mysterious criteria. As Google’s algorithm is getting more mature, it is becoming even more difficult to decode what...