In the ongoing battle for search engine visibility, there is a lot of debate over what exactly is the secret sauce. We all know that the search engines use social signals as a factor in their overall ranking algorithm, and as video remains such an important mix in social sharing, it follows that video content is a powerful way to improve search rankings.
The latest figures from ComScore show that during March 2013, some 182.5 million Americans watched 39.3 billion online content videos during that month alone, surpassing the 13 billion ad views threshold for the first time. That’s a lot of eyeballs hungry for video, and a tremendous opportunity for businesses to create quality content for their target audiences.
How to use video to boost SEO:
When it comes down to it, people are busy. In the age of the lunch hour meaning a quick sandwich taken at the desk, people need their content similarly snackable and easily digestible. The fact is, most people would rather spend two minutes watching an information-rich video than ten minutes reading an article.
As such, video is the perfect medium for your company to quickly and clearly communicate its message and explain why your target audience should do business with you. What’s more, video is an ideal way to build links back to your own site.
The video search opportunity
Video search results are favoured by web surfers – a study by aimClear stated that videos in universal search results have a 41% higher click-through rate than plain text results.
Maximise the exposure of your video content by taking advantage of the less competitive ‘video’ search on Google. To illustrate, you may have noticed that when you search for your corporate video content on Google using the ‘Everything’ search option, your company doesn’t even make it onto the first page of results. However, when you perform the same search using the ‘Videos’ option, your company may soar into a top ten position.
While video search remains a less cluttered space, take advantage by creating the best videos on your niche. Remember though, that Google prioritises content-led video over video ads, so keep quality and information front of mind when developing videos.
Where to place online video
Your own corporate website is the obvious starting place for any video content, but to truly maximise its SEO benefits, you’ll want to place video content extensively across the appropriate social channels.
YouTube is still considered the cornerstone of video SEO strategies. As well as being among the top three social media channels, YouTube is regularly ranked among the top three most visited websites overall in the US. As such, 42% of companies name YouTube within their top three priorities for social media activity.
But while YouTube is the reigning king of mass online video consumption, there are still plenty more outlets where you should consider distributing your video content, including: Facebook, Vimeo, LinkedIn, DailyMotion, Metacafe and Google+. Of course, the channels chosen will always depend on the type of video in question and the target audience.
How to post video content
When posting to any web property, be sure to correctly title and tag videos. It sounds like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many video titles are stuffed with typos or completely untagged. These options exist to make video easier to discover, so enable any search and sharing features available.
As a guide, always think customers first, search engines second. Only when you offer true value to your customers will you be rewarded with good search engine rankings and the ensuing link-sharing and revenue-boosting opportunities.
In summary
Essentially, search engines exist to bring searchers the data most relevant to their query. Inbound links help the search engines to determine the relevancy of data. When people find your video to be valuable – whether that be in the form of information, entertainment, humour, controversy, instruction or inspiration – they are more likely to share it, fuelling linking activity.
The better your video content, the more viewers will feel compelled to share it, the better your overall online presence.
