Since Google updated its search algorithm in 2012 (Panda) and 2013 (Penguin), many of us in the web marketing world have seen major changes to Google referrals and page ranks. In general, Google is sending less traffic to individual sites than it did before, as it considers more factors in its search algorithm, including mobile responsiveness, blogs, social network integrations, and video.
Despite Google pushing the value of video, and touting its YouTube service as the de facto video serving & sharing network, video content is still underused as an Internet marketing medium. If used correctly, video can help not only drive traffic increases, but help build and maintain conversion rates (KISSmetrics, March 2014). The short story is, if you use video on your site chances are better that Google will send visitors to your site, and you’ll increase your chances of getting visitors to take action.
Certainly, using services like YouTube and Vimeo gives online marketers a great opportunity to “double optimize” content on their sites. Pages can contain video that’s hosted on YouTube and Vimeo, and the videos themselves can be highly optimized using the services’ native meta data. In other words, fill in all those fields, and be descriptive (Search Engine Watch, April 2014). The more optimized your videos are for search, the higher the chance that Google will show a link to it in search results.
Videos are fantastic ways to generate shares and build inbound links to your site. These are perhaps the two top criteria considers by Google in search. Plus, they’re proven to help in conversions – especially if they are well placed. Videos on landing pages and videos associated with individual products are especially helpful in converting users to customers.
Don’t miss out on the impact of video. While it can be more expensive and difficult than some other media (like infographics or crowd-sourced slideshows), the impact is proven. We at Eternity Web can help with planning your content strategy and by bringing in a videographer partner to make an affordable – and immediate – content impact.
