One of the hardest obstacles websites go through, is competing to get on the first page of search engines like Google. There are several strategies you can adopt to help do so, from keyword searches to strategically structuring blog posts. Simple factors, like having a great title tag and an enticing meta description can go a long way.
However, there is one strategy that’s equally as fruitful but never mentioned, creating social media videos. Cisco predicts that by 2021, 80% of all consumer traffic will be videos. Meaning that video content will not be losing power anytime soon. So, why not implement them in your SEO strategies for your overall business growth?
This article will further discuss the main reasons why any business should adopt videos into its content marketing strategy. Which will also have a strong influence on how your website is ranked by the top search engines like Google and YouTube.
Google Prioritises Video content over written content
By now, you might have already noticed that Google loves videos. It even has its own featured snippet for suggested clips. There is an easy explanation for why google prioritises video content more than other types, consumers enjoy it a lot more. We prefer viewing a 10-minute video to find the answers to our questions rather than reading an article that’s over 1k words. There is no doubt, that you can put the same amount of content in a video and make it less time-consuming.
Many business owners choose to embed a YouTube video widget on their websites for improved product and service understanding. This has proven to boost engagement and provide social proof for their businesses.
We have to understand that every decision Google has, is with the end consumers in mind. Its main goal is to be able to optimise its SERPs as much as possible for the queries asked. For this reason, instead of going against Google, it would be smarter to take advantage of this and start implementing video content on your website.
Google’s suggested clips often show up for queries that benefit from a visual explanation, like for example, tutorials. These clips are taken from longer videos that directly answer a user’s query, which normally starts with “How to”. Of course, like any type of online content, you have to make sure that you optimise your videos in relation to the keywords you wish to rank for.
Videos provide a better user experience
Another aspect of Google that is said to be an influencer on how you rank, is the amount of time people spend on your page once they arrive from a SERP. If you have a large amount of traffic but the majority of them leave just a few seconds after, it could signal that your content is not very valuable. So, you might run the risk of Google lowering your web page in its rankings of that keyword.
Videos, however, will help improve how long visitors spend on your web page. As mentioned before, visitors enjoy far more watching a video that provides insightful information more than reading a long blog post about it. You can even have both, providing a video which explains in a visual context what the text is about can go hand in hand. As visitors do this, it will in turn lower your bounce rate and help rank your website on search engines like Google.
The fact that videos are highly engaging means that people will spend more time observing them which will increase the chances of them remembering the content and your company. It is reported that users spend more than twice as much time on pages with videos than those without. Which, when looking from an SEO perspective, is a great advantage to consider.
Brings in a wave of traffic to your website
One of the best benefits of using videos on your web pages is the vast amount of potential traffic you can get. The videos you create don’t only need to be placed on your website, you can promote them on other channels. If you are using social media, then why not share small snippets of your videos? This will spark curiosity in your followers who will then venture to your website to watch the full video. Viewers can link them to their social media profiles not only increasing traffic to your website but also brand awareness.
The more you promote your video content on other channels the more likely your website traffic will increase. Even if you just have a few followers on your social media channels, they can still become potential visitors every time you publish a post related to your video content. As your traffic to your website increases, Google and other search engines will notice your popularity and rank your pages higher.
Also, as Google just loves videos, even if your website is not ranked on the first page of its search results, you still get the chance to be featured in its suggested clips. This will then, greatly increase your traffic and help raise your domain authority.
Increases backlinking opportunities
As much as people love looking at amazing content they also love sharing it. If your video content is striking to your viewers, then they are more likely to link to it. The hardest part of ranking and SEO strategies is getting other content providers to link to your pages. Receiving quality backlinks can be considered the most critical factor to get your website on the top search results and videos can help do this.
Like viewers, other content creators search for credible sources on which they can base their information on. By creating high-quality video content, you increase the chances that they can link to it or even choose to embed it on their own blog posts. This could more likely happen to blogs and websites that still don’t have the means of producing their own video content.
Also, when sending out backlinking requests to higher ranking websites, videos can make their decision a lot easier. If they don’t have a video themselves on the topic, it will further convince them to accept your request. While, when asking for a backlink to a piece of written content, they can choose to add their own updated section.
Of course, it’s more beneficial to host the videos on your own website, but if you use another channel like YouTube, you can still increase your backlinking. You can earn backlinks and qualified referral traffic by adding your website or blog post link into the video description. A YouTube channel is a powerful and cost-efficient way of growing your business, you can optimize your channel to grow your audience, create attractive thumbnails for your videos using thumbnail maker, set proper intros, use catchy description & optimize it with proper keywords, and make attractive channel art among others.
It helps improve essential metrics
Even though metrics like conversion rates are not an influencer on your SEO performance, it is worthwhile mentioning how great videos are for it. As videos help people to memorise information both auditorily and visually, it grabs people’s attention better than any other type of content.
It allows you to explain in detail who you are and what your business is about, providing the necessary proof for online shoppers to finalise purchases. Studies have shown that inserting a video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%. How?
It gives the chance for viewers to imagine themselves using the product, making them feel an emotional connection to both the product and your brand. If you make this a continuous marketing strategy, over time, you’ll build credibility and trust.
Video content can be used in every step of the marketing funnel. Depending on what stage people are at, videos can provide the extra push to move forward. From product demos to tutorials, videos can guide and improve the customer experience from start to finish. Online shoppers who have viewed a product demo video are almost two times more likely to purchase than non-viewers.
Also, videos are a great tool to help convert younger generations. Millennials have become a dominant part of the market in almost all industries. Being a significant target market, videos have shown to be the best way to resonate with them. Regardless if it’s shared on social media or on your website, you’ll surely increase awareness among them and in turn conversions.
Here are Some tips that you can implement in order to Increase Video Views
- Make thumbnail with high quality images
- Make Playlists
- Create intro /outro
- Use Cards or GIFs
- Provide Content that Educates or Entertains Both
Wrapping up:
Hopefully, this article was enough to convince you of the importance of adopting videos into your content marketing strategy. We have summarised the most influential ways it can help increase your website’s ranking on search engines like Google.
However, even if you don’t achieve being positioned on the first 10 results, implementing videos to your website and other channels still brings advantages you can’t ignore. They help increase reach, traffic, engagement and most importantly conversions. They are cost and time-effective ways to show off your business and create loyal and frequent customers.
Investing just a small amount of your marketing budget can bring strong results to both your marketing team and overall business. As people and businesses rely more on online content, and the internet becomes ever more competitive, video content will help your brand stand bright.
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