How does video content improve SEO?
It's no secret that creating video content can be a serious investment, whether you're taking the time to film your own stuff (which can be massively time-intensive) or hiring a professional shop to shoot and edit content for you.
Either way, the number one question for many marketers and executives who are considering video is, "what ROI is this going to get me?". A valid question! One that is not always easy to answer, as the fact is that there are a plethora of different ways to measure the ROI of video content.
One of the most powerful examples of the value of video content is the boost it can provide to a websites SEO ranking. This too, can be difficult to track, as SEO is affected by by a host of different factors. One thing that can generally be agreed upon though, is that video content has the power to drastically increase the SEO ranking of the page on which it is featured. But why, exactly? We'll break it down for you. Here are four ways that video content can help boost your site’s SEO ranking:
Enhanced User Engagement
Video content possesses a unique ability to captivate audiences and hold their attention in ways that traditional text-based content simply cannot match. Whether it's a product demonstration showcasing the features and benefits of your latest offering, a relatable customer testimonial, or an entertaining clip that resonates with your target audience, videos have an inherent allure that draws viewers in and keeps them engaged from start to finish.
Dwell time, a crucial metric in SEO, measures the duration visitors spend on your site after navigating from a search engine results page. It's not just about attracting clicks; it's about keeping users engaged and immersed in your content. Video content plays a pivotal role in extending dwell time by captivating audiences and encouraging prolonged interaction. As users spend more time watching videos on your website, it sends positive signals to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant, leading to improved SEO rankings. By providing engaging video content that keeps users on your site longer and encourages them to explore further, you can improve key metrics such as dwell time and bounce rate, signaling to search engines that your site deserves to rank higher in search results.
2. Reduced Bounce Rates
Speaking of bounce rate, this is another essential metric that video content can help to improve. Essentially, bounce rate reflects the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. High bounce rates can indicate to search engines that your content may not be resonating with visitors or failing to meet their expectations. This can negatively impact your site's SEO performance, as search engines prioritize sites that offer engaging and relevant content. By incorporating video content that resonates with visitors and encourages them to further explore your site, you have the opportunity to mitigate high bounce rates.
As users spend more time interacting with your video content and exploring additional pages on your site, it once again will alert search engines that your website offers information that is relevant to searchers.
3. Building Backlink Opportunities
Another massively important factor in your sites SEO ranking is its authority. This is essentially a measurement of how legitimate your site is in the eyes of other sites across the web. The best way to build up your site’s authority, is by having other high-quality sites link back to your site (hence the name, backlink. Creating high-quality video content is a fantastic way to increase your chances of building high-quality backlinks, as third-party sites and other content creators are far more likely to share video eye-catching video content as opposed to written text. These backlinks not only drive direct traffic to your site but also signal to search engines that your content is authoritative and trustworthy, leading to improved SEO performance.
4. Featured Snippets and Rich Results
Have you ever searched something on Google, and noticed that the first few results contained a video thumbnail? Search engines often prioritize video content in featured snippets and rich results, especially for informational queries. This is because searchers most often prefer to watch a quick video about something, rather than having to read through it. By creating informative and optimized video content, you can increase your chances of being featured prominently in search results, driving more traffic to your site and boosting your SEO performance.
How to optimize your videos for SEO
One thing to be aware of when you are adding video to your site, is that it actually matters how you do it. When optimizing your video for SEO, there are a few things to take into account.
Let’s start with the one obvious downside of adding video to your site: speed. When you add video content (or any content for that matter) to a page, it will slow dow that page’s load speed. Now, obviously your pages need content in order to be relevant, and the benefits of that content usually far outweigh any potential load speed issues, but it is always best practice to optimize your video content with site speed in mind.
One tactic that we employ to optimize for speed is to use a custom thumbnail display image (with a “play” button) in place of displaying the entire video. Once the image is clicked, the full video will load and play. This means that when the page first loads, it just has to load an image instead of a full video. This will drastically increase loading speeds and improve your SEO score.
Another critical way to optimize your videos for SEO is to make sure that you are paying close attention to the meta data of your videos. Your video’s title, description, and tags should include keywords that will be relevant to someone who may be searching for a related topic.
Last but not least, let’s talk mobile. Considering the fact that it’s likely that 60% or more of your traffic is coming from a mobile device, it’s critical to ensure that your video content (and the rest of your site, for that matter) are displaying correctly on mobile. Your website builder likely has an option to edit the mobile version of your site, but many people who maintain their own sites miss this entirely. It is absolutely crucial that you open up that mobile builder and make sure that everything is sized and formatted correctly. If your mobile site is not laid you correctly, your SEO score could be taking a huge ding.
Long story short, video content can have a major impact on your website’s SEO ranking, and it should absolutely be part of your digital marketing strategy. If you need help creating show-stopping video content for your brand, or to help you utilize it properly on your site, please reach out! We’d love to help.
