How Video Content (and Video SEO!) Can Increase Your Organic Reach
Video content has significantly increased in popularity over the last few years. Nearly 90% of Australian internet users aged between 16 and 64 watch online videos each month. 82% of consumer internet traffic is currently driven by video content. And industry giants – like Google themselves – describe video marketing in today’s world as ‘indispensable’.
Video content, supported by a good SEO strategy, should be a key part of your marketing budget. But how do you get your content to stand out from the rest, and ensure your effort and budget are put to their most effective use? Let’s walk through how you can best use video content and video SEO to increase your audience traffic, engagement, and conversion.
What is the best form of video content?
According to research reported in the New York Times, the best form of video content is anything that makes people more likely to share and link to your videos. In some ways that’s not that useful (we like answers after all!) So what do we know?
Your videos should tell a story and aim to form an emotional connection with your audience. Always be mindful of your audience and points of connection that will resonate with them. What do they want to know? What will add ‘value’ or interest in their viewing experience? Whatever will do this is the form of video content you should use.
If you don’t know how to get started, do some test videos. Popular types of video content include:
Explainer videos for products or services.
Blogs and interviews.
Tutorials and how-tos.
Unboxings, product demonstrations and reviews.
Testimonials.
Live streams, which immediately engage your audience and are a valuable opportunity for feedback.
Try these and see which format works best for your audience. Then do more of that!
Why video content works
Video is the only form of content that can connect with and engage your audience within seconds. This is essential when some studies show that the human attention spans now battles that of a goldfish (eight seconds!) and even other, more generous estimates, say it’s only about 20 seconds or so.
Though the exact time is up for debate, there’s no doubt that it’s short. And video is the most engaging method of grabbing the very short window of attention of your passing traffic. And, if done well, the content is easier to remember. Why is this good?
Stickiness factor
Video content can improve your website’s ‘stickiness factor’ – which is the time your audience spends on your page viewing video. And this is a vital factor use by Google to determine how to rank your page.
A short, concise video will make your audience engage and watch to the end. This means they stay on your page for longer, especially if they are watching on a smart phone.
Emotional connection
A video is a powerful way to drive engagement and conversion, particularly if woven through with a story. A narrative invites your audience to enter a scene, which will stir emotions and build empathy, while articulating your company’s values and convey action.
Videos that garner an emotional connection will be retained for longer in your audience’s memory. This is crucial for anyone deciding between products and services.
Improves user experience
With video content, your audience is in control of when they watch and how, and for how long. Videos enable users to have a personal experience with your content. You can showcase the personality of your company, its cultures, values, and purpose in a video as short as 60 seconds.
Google likes videos
Google prioritises content marketing strategies that improve engagement. Websites with video content have better engagement, higher traffic and increased conversion. And if you upload your video transcript as metadata, you’ll also be using keywords which helps Google understand its theme and relevancy.
The importance of a video SEO strategy
Video SEO is the foundation of digital marketing. Remember: Google can’t ‘read’ your video. So unless you tell it what it’s about with written words, it won’t know, and this could impact your ability to rank. So, your video SEO strategy ensures that Google understands what your video is about. It involves making technical and creative adjustments to your video content to increase traffic to your website, your YouTube channel, Vimeo or wherever your video is hosted.
Video content with a solid SEO strategy is essential for your company to get onto page one of Google and increase conversions to your website, or wherever you host your video content. So, where should that be?
Where should you host your video content
Should you host all your video content on YouTube, your own website or elsewhere, like social media? Typically with SEO we’d say to host your video where your services or products are offered – and generally that’s your own website. But in this case, videos will simply put too much pressure on your site’s ability to load quickly and give your user a good experience. So instead, you should host your video on a third party site – such as YouTube or Vimeo – and then embed it into your own site. This enables you to utilise your videos to push traffic towards your revenue-generating business while still keeping your website running well.
Of course, if you earn your income from your YouTube channel, certainly focus your efforts there (and YouTube SEO can be very helpful in this case!). Be mindful of your strategic aims for video content, your website’s authority and reach, as well as your YouTube subscribers.
Don’t forget your CTAs
Including video content on your own website gives you the flexibility and opportunity to meaningfully connect with and convert customers. You choose where videos are placed on your site, their surrounding keywords and your calls to action. Make sure you use these well – to show the viewer what you can offer them next, and you’ll be off to an excellent start increasing your organic reach and conversions with video content.