How does Video help SEO? And what role does video play in helping content rank in search engines? We look at the importance of videos in SEO and why pages with a video are 53% more likely to rank on page one of Google.
Videos provide businesses and brands with the opportunity to communicate with their target audience in a way that is easily consumable, engaging, and relevant. However, not only will video content help businesses to engage with their audience, but videos also play an imperative role in SEO and online organic search engine rankings.
Despite video continuously being named as an “up and coming” SEO trend, video content has always been intrinsically intertwined with organic search. In fact, rich snippets with videos were one of the first things to be listed in Google search result pages.
Video thumbnails have been an indispensable element of Google’s search results for some years now. Users will always be attracted to the visual aspect of videos, and having your video thumbnail present in search results has always translated to higher brand visibility and click-through rates.
We can all agree that it is a long established fact that video content is a great way to drive conversions with visitors coming to your site. But is video good for SEO today? How does video help SEO?
This article will break down the role of video in SEO today, how video helps SEO, and how businesses may approach implementing videos into their online marketing strategies.
Is Video Good for SEO Today?
With more emphasis on organic visibility rather than focusing on rankings, video is only becoming more important for SEO. With Google continuing to move towards the best possible user experience, video content is becoming an increasingly valuable asset to any brand or website.
Video content is five times more likely to drive a conversion than regular content. If that alone doesn’t make you want to incorporate video into your marketing strategy, then I don’t know what will. Users find video content more enticing, and as a result, Google will only continue to reward websites that integrate video.
Google continues to value and prioritise video content, with interactive video-rich elements flooding most search engine result pages. The most recent search research reveals that pages with videos are 53% more likely to be displayed on page 1 of Google. By adding high-quality video content to your online marketing strategy, you open your website up to a wealth of organic visibility opportunities. It’s for this very reason that the answer to the question “Is video good for SEO?” is an absolute yes.
Video in Search
Over the years, Google’s algorithm and search results have adapted to provide more engaging and informative experiences online. Videos are all over the search result pages. Google has long-been adding interactive video-rich elements to organic search results, with video thumbnails and carousels contributing to every other search today.
For many Google searches (depending on the context of the search), the results will also provide a video carousel. Video carousels are bundles of relevant videos that allow searchers to click and view more than one video from the search engine result page. Recent search data reveals that carousels now display for around half of all Google searches.
The carousel format generally consists of ten related videos that are horizontally scrollable, per search. Three of these videos are the most visible, and the rest come into view upon scrolling.
As well as carousels, videos will often present alongside an organic listing where relevant, as a thumbnail. Snippets with video thumbnails were the original opportunity for videos to display in organic search results. Since introducing the carousels feature in 2018, Google has slowly started to move away from individual video thumbnails in organic search results and is generally beginning to prioritise the use of carousels.
YouTube’s Role in SERPs
As the second-largest website and visited platform in the world, Google’s YouTube has become the most significant video contributor to search engine results. It should come as no surprise to learn that videos hosted on YouTube are more likely to present in search engine results than competitive video platforms. Back in 2006, Google bought YouTube, making it their second-largest acquisition ever.
When Google wants to display video in search results, the algorithm invariably selects content from YouTube over alternative video platforms. When a video carousel or snippet features in the search results pages, YouTube has 99% and 97% market share. Video platform competitors can only contribute a maximum of 2 to 3%.
It’s definitely worth emphasising that videos hosted on YouTube will inevitably perform better in search results. Furthermore, with YouTube being the second most popular online platform, users are invariably drawn to and more trusting of YouTube videos in search results.
So, How Does Video Help SEO?
So, how does video help SEO? Well, let’s start with Google.
Google loves video content. Users are typically attracted to video content over written content, and Google will do anything to provide users with the best possible experience online. As such, websites and businesses that incorporate video into their online strategy will often experience higher rates of visibility. Finally, the websites that provide high-quality content in combination with optimised content will not only be ranked higher in SERPs but will also benefit from increased click-through, traffic and conversion rates
Notice the emphasis on high-quality video content?
While videos have proven to be a valuable asset to any brand or website, not all video content will help with your SEO efforts. Merely adding a random video to your webpage will not boost your rankings. Videos need to be relevant, educational, entertaining and purposeful – high-quality video content is what will benefit your website.
When wondering “how does video help SEO?”, consider the intertwining of video and SEO as a cycle.
Video content will provide your website with improved rankings, which means more people will come across your pages. The site’s click-through rate will increase; however, users will quickly bounce away from the page if the quality of the video content is poor (irrelevant, not engaging, unhelpful). Increased bounce rate will signal to Google that the video does not provide positive user experience, and Google will inevitably reassess the site’s visibility and de-rank the content.
In essence, video content can improve your SEO and rankings – but if the video does not satisfy the searcher’s intent, it will quickly diminish SEO efforts.
Wrapping Up
Video content has always been an essential element of an organic search. As we continue to look at SEO holistically and move towards organic visibility over “increased rankings”, video and video SEO is only becoming more valuable for websites.
The trick to implementing and approaching video for SEO is to ensure that the content is relevant, engaging, and in line with overall branding. Video can only help and support SEO if it is high quality and genuinely either educates or entertains users. If your website creates well-branded and consistently high-quality video content, you will undoubtedly boost brand familiarity, click-through rates, on-page engagements and ultimately, conversions.
If you’d like to learn more about video content and SEO, get in touch with the SEO specialists at Safari Digital today. A passionate, forward-thinking team of SEO experts, we’ll help to uncover and identify your most valuable opportunities online. Call us on (02) 8006 9002.
