Why video is a win-win for brand and SEO

Date

21/11/19

Category

  • Industry |
  • News

We’ve talked about the importance of video before in our ‘how can video help my business?’ blog. Today we’re talking specifically about why video is THE great multi-tasker.

Not only will it help you hit multiple marketing objectives to increase your brand favourability, but will also simultaneously improve your SEO performance too.

If it’s done right of course.

Google’s algorithms are increasingly prioritising websites with video content as demand for video content continues to skyrocket. According to Cisco, 80% of all internet traffic by the end of this year, will be video.

Now keep in mind that Google values two things when it comes to calculating your website ranking:

  1. The quality of your content
  2. How accurately you provide content of relevance, to match a user’s exact search terms.

So conversely, if the quality of your content is poor or the relevance of your content is low, said user will leave your website almost immediately. High bounce rates do not achieve high rankings.

Here’s our simple guide on how to use video effectively and improve your SEO.

1. Video lowers bounce rates

Users spend twice as long on a web page with video than without.

For this reason, video content should always sit above the fold so it’s easy to locate. You also don’t want to pepper the page or all pages with a video for the sake of it: remember, quality and relevance are key, not volume.

Contrast Tip: We recommend no more than one video per page and to place on key pages only. A product page or two and a landing page perhaps?

2. Create video that gives you authority

If the quality of your video is high, the more likely you are to get backlinks and traffic from other websites, as they share your video content. Ideally websites ranked of high authority themselves, will share your video. The holy grail of backlink success.

We love the dollarshaveclub.com example. They pulled off the perfect balance between a clear and compelling sales proposition and being entertaining, hence the video went viral. Going viral took the company from start-up to a multi-million dollar business.

Contrast Tip: Include a live link back to your website in the final still as well as on the page and in your tagging & meta descriptions to make the most of the traffic watching the video.

 

3. Perfect for mobile therefore satisfying demand

Video content offers tremendous advantages for mobile browsing. Video is easier to view than text on mobile devices and thus has always been popular. In the third quarter of 2018, video consumption via mobile devices equated to 50% of all internet traffic globally.

As coverage of 3 & 4G continues to rise throughout the UK and the world, mobile domination beckons. By the end of this year, it’s expected that mobile will account for 76% of all internet traffic and 56% of daily internet consumption in the UK.

Contrast Tip: Ensure any video you have created can fit all screen sizes and will resize accordingly when played. Talk to us about what devices you want your video on.

4. Focus on your thumbnail and rich video snippets

Having a strong video thumbnail within Google search results can generate more traffic and therefore secure you a larger audience. A correctly implemented rich video snippet gives you a greater chance of appearing in the search engine results alongside the standard listings. If you increase your visibility, the higher your Click Thru Rates should be.

The video image should give a clear indication of what the video will be about and an artistic CTA to prompt the user. Say what it does on the tin.

Contrast Tip: If you have a video SEO strategy in place, let us know when you book in for a video shoot. We’ll create some strong thumbnail or snippets to accompany your search activity.

 

5. Embed on YouTube and your own website

Did you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world? Understanding the Google-owned site’s gigantic position in search terms demonstrates why it’s an SEO ‘no-brainer’. Ensure you embed your quality content on their website, as well as your own.

Beyond our 5 simple tips, we’re told there’s a lot of SEO tagging magic to be applied behind the scenes but we’ll leave that to the SEO specialists! However, if you want to talk quality video creation with a truly creative agency, get in touch.