Search engine optimisation (SEO) has several techniques to boost your ranking or outperform competitors. But what about a video marketing strategy? Does video help SEO, too?
You’ll be surprised to know that 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, according to a recent statistical study. In that same research, 78% even say that videos help boost their sales.
Given these findings and the fierce digital competition, it is then crucial for businesses to learn this tool and use it to their advantage.
And so, for this article, we’ll highlight the benefits of video SEO content and how to optimise it for better exposure and conversion.
What is Video SEO?
Video SEO is formatting your visual content to get it indexed. In turn, optimised videos help you gain high search rankings in the SERPs.
But unlike textual content, search engine crawlers cannot read your embedded video. You need to do some steps to make your video easier for bots to understand.
These include adding a video title, tags, metadata or keyword-rich description. But remember, you are doing video content not for search engines alone but for viewers, too.
And so, optimisation should also involve making your video more appealing to your intended audience. Examples are using an eye-catching video thumbnail, adding relevant links, or editing the content to an optimal length.
How Does Video Help SEO?
We know that traffic, rankings, engagement and high conversion rates are indicators of SEO success. And experts agree that videos can significantly contribute to these factors. But why?
The rise of social media is one reason. It has reduced people’s attention span to mere seconds that most no longer have time to read a 1000-word article.
Marketers even said that businesses have 7 seconds to impress customers or investors. Video content is one effective tool to do just that.
And with so many affordable video editing platforms, marketers can cost-efficiently promote their products or services.
The unprecedented pandemic in 2020 is also why video content today is popular. When people had to spend more time at home, the number of videos they watch online also considerably increased.
This trend probably explains why a whopping 91% of marketers feel video is vital for their brands during the global health crisis.
6 Benefits of Using Videos to Improve SEO
How does video help SEO exactly? Here’s a list of benefits you can get from incorporating it into your marketing efforts.
1. Increased organic traffic
According to Cisco, by 2021, internet video traffic from consumers would be 81%. Business Internet video traffic would be at 70%, too.
That means increasing the videos you create in the coming years can likely attract more site visitors and boost your SEO performance. Adding more videos can also help you perform better than your strictest competitors.
Pairing your videos with social media platforms makes it quicker to gain more traffic and a larger audience, too.
As these channels allow users to share content effortlessly, your videos have better chances of going viral and ranking well.
2. Longer dwell time
Dwell time or “stickiness factor” pertains to how long your visitors stay on your website. Search engines can interpret your site as uninteresting or irrelevant if people do not spend time on your page.
Publishing unique videos is one way to solve that. Because of shortened attention span, visitors will likely be on your site for 15 to 45 seconds.
It is then harder to make them stay with a 2-minute read article. However, you can convert a textual post into a video to deliver the same message within a shorter time.
With more concise video content, there is a higher chance that they will watch it till the call-to-action (CTA) or conversion time.
Videos have fewer dull moments, too, enhancing the overall user experience. With an animated storyteller or influencer, viewers will absorb your message with interest.
Also, boosting dwell time through short videos is an effective way to target mobile device users, which represent the market majority.
3. Improved ranking through keywords
Like text-only content, keywords are vital to video creation. After all, users will still look for your videos by typing in terms and phrases on search engines.
And if your video is easy to locate through strategic keyword use, then your position in the SERPs will likely improve. But how can you do this?
There are two ways. One is to incorporate high-volume keywords into your video title. Terms like “how to”, “best practices”, or “top ten of something” are some examples.
Your keyword choice should depend on what your video is about or which terms people use to find such content.
Another way to incorporate keywords into videos is by adding transcripts through metadata. Putting supporting text or subtitles to your video can help Google understand it.
It also boosts keyword diversity and density, making your video easier to find.
Transcripts also make your video content more accessible, especially to viewers who do not speak or are not fluent in your spoken language.
4. Better user engagement
Photos or textual content can pique the interest of the audience. But videos are a better tool for establishing an emotional connection.
It’s because online video content can explain things better and faster, making it quicker to generate reactions from viewers. The numbers of views, shares and comments are some indicators of engagement.
Moreover, engaging an audience makes it easier to ask them to take action. Examples are subscribing to your page, buying your product or service, or sharing your video.
Search engines also grant higher rankings to any content users find engaging or entertaining.
5. Greater link-building potential
Search engines favour websites with lots of quality backlinks. These high-quality links signal authority and credibility, making them a crucial ranking factor.
More importantly, users trust sites and pages with reliable links.
Outbound links are not easy to get, though. And it will take a lot of effort and time on your end to earn them.
But did you know that SEO experts find video content efficient in link building? One reason is that videos are good top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) content.
It can build awareness, establish trust or compel the audience to act. These comprise the stages of a potential customer’s sales journey.
And so, if people find your videos worth watching, high-ranking websites will more likely source them for information, too.
6. Higher conversion rate
Perhaps, the top SEO benefit you can get from video marketing is to gain leads and increase sales.
Videos can immediately catch attention, answer their question and give them the confidence to make a purchase.
And as you attract more visitors to your site through video SEO, your chance of converting them to paying customers increases.
For e-commerce stores, product video tutorials are particularly useful in encouraging buyers to make informed decisions.
These tutorials create a hub of product information for customers, so they don’t have to go anywhere else to learn more.
If you are in the service business, videos can be effective in enticing clients, too. For instance, professionals in the health sector can do live streaming to answer patients’ FAQs.
Law firms, accountants or interior designers can publish case study-type blog posts with videos for the same goal. Adding videos on landing pages is also a good idea.
6 Ways to Optimise Your Videos
Does video help SEO? The answer is a resounding yes! However, you cannot just produce and post any video.
Similar to textual content, you need to apply optimisation techniques to make your video more effective, appealing and SEO-friendly. Doing so will prevent you from wasting valuable resources.
Here are some ways to do that.
1. Design a video outline
You need a video concept to align your content with your business objectives. It should also resonate well with your intended audience.
So, before you start shooting, list your goals for every video. Answering these questions might help give you direction, too:
- What are the things that your audience is looking for or asking?
- What are the emotions that you want to invoke?
- What are the actions you want your audience to make after watching?
Ideally, go for a storytelling video as viewers generally like being told stories. This type also helps establish an emotional connection for better content recall and impact.
More importantly, people are likely to purchase based on emotions. You can take advantage of that for increased conversion rates.
2. Use the right CTA
Calls to action or CTAs are the essence of creating videos or any form of content. It’s an instruction you give out to trigger a quick response.
Specifically, you want viewers to buy, engage or subscribe to your page after watching your video.
So, make sure to add this when shooting. Instructions with imperative verbs like “download now”, “leave a comment”, or “click the link on the description” are some examples.
Here are a few more:
- Offer viewers a free trial or consultation
- Lead them to a webinar or related content
- Conduct a survey or poll
- Ask them to sign up for a demo or contest
Remember that timing is crucial when adding CTAs to keep your viewer engaged.
3. Edit, edit, edit
After your video footage, edit it for success. Base your editing decisions on your outline – what you want your viewers to learn, feel and do.
Of course, your editing options rely on your operating system and budget. However, it’s essential to incorporate these basics:
- Create an eye-catching thumbnail. A video thumbnail is a still image that works as a snapshot of your video. You can choose an auto-generated one by the video platform or upload a custom thumbnail image. Whichever option you pick, the thumbnail should showcase what the video is about and grab viewers’ attention.
- Keep videos short and sweet. Remember that most people’s attention span can only last for a few seconds. So, start your video with an engaging intro to make viewers stay and keep watching. Then, limit video length between 30 and 90 seconds, depending on where you plan to post your content.
4. Add SEO-related details
You want your videos to rank and be searchable. So, aside from optimising your video for your audience, you need to do the same for the search engines.
And there are several ways how to do it:
- Conduct keyword research. Using SEO tools, look for high-volume keywords based on your niche. Then use these terms when creating your video title, description, etc.
- Add metadata. Create a suitable meta title, tag and video description. Search engines will use these for locating and ranking your content. Ideally, choose a hosting platform that allows video optimisation to make metadata easier to add.
- Use video transcripts. These will make it easier for Google, YouTube and other search bots to understand and find your video content. You can add transcripts by transcribing the video itself or adding it to a blog post. Adding transcripts should reach out to other internet users who prefer text over video content, too.
- Insert inbound links. Internal linking should help your viewers navigate your site. Also, creating connections between your pages should boost page authority and ranking.
5. Publish and promote your video
Getting a good number of views is an essential element of video optimisation. To do that, distribute your video on various channels.
Aside from posting it on your website, use Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Vimeo and other similar platforms. It will help you reach more people and allow followers to share your video content.
6. Measure your performance
You need to assess your video content after uploading it to identify room for improvement. And relevant metrics should let you know if your video SEO efforts are heading in the right direction or not.
Examples of indicators are the number of video views, comments, shares and new subscribers. Measuring the average viewing time, audience retention rate and conversions are also vital.
You can also evaluate results through A/B testing. With an A/B software tool, you can see which video content performed better by changing one of its variables.
For example, pick one video content, then change the wording of the CTA. If the original video used “learn more”, switch it to “click the link” for the other one. Which one led to more engagement, leads or conversions?
Other video variables you can test are your custom thumbnail image, colour scheme, title, length, introduction and music.
Conclusion
If boosting your SEO performance and rankings remains a struggle, producing high-quality videos might help you reel in better results.
It’s also a viable opportunity for start-ups looking for an accessible, easy-to-implement and budget-friendly SEO strategy. However, note that video content should be appealing to viewers and search engines.
And so, aside from making your videos informative and entertaining, don’t forget to optimise them. Help search bots understand your video content for better online visibility and a bigger audience.
Also, keep improving your videos. Remember, SEO is a continuous process.
Ultimately, meeting these standards of video content creation should give your business its much-needed edge.
