How Effective Are Videos in Your SEO Strategy?

We all know that ‘content is king’ and that videos have become increasingly important in the latest years. We also know that content production in general, and videos in particular, are time-consuming. Even though producing them cannot hurt, how effective can videos actually be when it comes to your SEO strategy? In this article, we will analyze the impact of videos on your organic metrics, and how can you make the best out of them to make the SEO needle move in your favor.

The Place of Video in the SEO Strategy

Understanding How Google Interprets Video Content

Google’s internal algorithm is in continuous change and evolution at the moment of generating SERPs. And in the latest years, it has increasingly prioritized websites featuring videos. There’s a simple reason for this: Google observes content and relevance at the moment of crawling a website. It doesn’t count just text but also other types of media like photos, infographics, and of course, videos.

So if your website offers a balanced, relevant blend of written content, graphics, and audiovisuals, it’s giving Google the signal that it’s a varied, informative source. That by itself is a good kickstart to boosting your SEO. But video content has also a very particular traffic-generating quality.

According to 2020’s video marketing statistics by Wyzowl, 66% of people say they’d prefer to watch a short video when it comes to learning about a brand. This means users are more likely to visit a website they saw linked to a video on YouTube or social media rather than other types of content; which by the way are another important trait that moves the SEO needle for good: quality backlinks.

Aside from attracting people through genuine backlinks, videos are also very effective to make them stay longer on your website; which means that your bounce rates can decrease significantly. This is another positive signal for search engines and a way to improve your organic rankings. 

So in summary, your SEO strategy is directly benefited by video in:

• Content relevance
• New users
• Sessions
• Social media signals
• Backlinks
• Bounce rate

Best Practices for Higher-Ranking Video Content

As a business owner, you probably know better than anybody the pain points and the common questions your clients have. If you don’t, or if you need to put that knowledge together, a brand story workshop can be very helpful on that matter. This knowledge can bring you multiple benefits; including the topics for your video content.

Although it is important to display your expertise and personal insight, try not to make them too long. It’s recommendable to have videos 1 or 2 minutes long approximately in order not to risk losing viewership. However, it will all depend on the topic of choice: don’t hold back and keep it short if you are convinced that you’re providing something relevant and useful. In any case, a long piece of content can be seized into shorter ones. 

Another healthy practice is to have your video content uploaded to as many platforms as possible. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram; even your own website. Keep in mind that some of those platforms, like IG, have their own video formats. So make sure you create different video files in those formats for each platform. 

Alternatively, you can cross-share videos uploaded to one platform into multiple others. If you opt for this and decide to upload your video on YouTube, make sure it’s properly optimized. A relevant title, meta descriptions, subtexts, tags, hashtags, video playlists, and end screens are essential for search engine bots to crawl your video content.

Keep in mind that just like any other trait in SEO, the results of video applied to search engine optimization are visible in time. Understanding how Google works on this matter, planning your video content to answer the right questions, optimizing and sharing it will necessarily provide a better user experience and better rankings as well. If you want to invest in video content for your brand or need further information on planning it, book a consultation with us.