84% of people say that they’ve been persuaded to buy goods or services after watching a brand’s video. This stat alone should show you the power of video marketing, but do videos help SEO on your website? Today we explore whether videos contribute to SEO, (SPOILER: they do). Plus, what to include to make the most of them in your SEO strategy.

Does Video Help SEO?

This content creation technique has been on the rise over the last decade. Most marketers would agree it’s one of the best ways to engage your audience and boost your traffic. In fact, 93% of marketers who use video say that it’s an important part of their marketing strategy and 78% say video has directly supported increased sales for the businesses they work with. Here’s the nitty-gritty of how videos help with SEO.

Improves Traffic

One of the key driving forces behind video marketing growth is its ability to drive traffic to a website. And as we all know, more traffic reflects well on a site’s standing with Google and other search engines (SEs).

Access to websites through Videos

Videos can create traffic from whichever source the viewer sees them. Most social platforms and search engines are keen to push videos in the algorithm. Therefore, if you utilise videos when your competitors don’t, you’ll be more likely to appeal to your audience. Thus, the chances of them visiting your website increases.

On a social media post, a video can quickly engage an audience but hopefully lead them to click through to a website. This can be linked in a brand’s social profile, in captions or directly in the video itself.
On video platforms, especially Youtube, links to a brand’s site can be found in captions, directly in the video or on the profile. Plus, for longer-form content, the website can be advertised or endorsed.
Videos are now frequently presented on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), which drives traffic directly through SEs.

Increased engagement

Not only does the visibility of videos in the current online world improve chances of traffic, but the content of videos does. Videos are much more engaging mediums than text or images. In one survey, 83% of people said they preferred watching video, over text or audio, to access information or instructional content. The visuals and sound are more likely to catch the attention of a social media scroller, sleeping your brand in their mind for longer.

Creates Backlinks

If you’re creating brand videos, quality should be the key consideration when producing them. With quality comes engagement but it also means people are more likely to share your video on their own platform. Embedding your video or sharing a link to it on a different domain to your own, works the same way as regular backlinks. If the website it is shared to has a good domain authority, your website will benefit from this backlink. These links are an important part of an off-page SEO strategy, improving your own domain authority and trust in the eyes of SEs.

Enhances User Experience

Videos can enhance the UX of your website. A better UX leads to better site engagement and longer duration times. Both of which are indicators to SEs that your site is a quality set-up. But how do videos improve UX?

They can make your offering clear. Videos can be used to explain goods and services. While text is still essential for on-page SEO, video allows you to reach users who prefer a visual medium.
Videos can build better brand connections. Seeing a face behind a name is a surefire way to make a connection with your audience. People still buy from people, not brands and I hope that will never change. Video can make your brand appear more human, especially in traditionally ‘boring’ industries.
They can delight and add interest. One of the key SEO wants is to keep your audience on your site for longer. Videos, as we’ve said above, are more engaging than text, audio or images, so it makes sense that adding them will pique your users’ interest for longer.

Increases Conversions

Increasing leads, sales and conversions are the fundamental aims of SEO. Video can be a great contributor to this. 79% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy or download a piece of software or app by watching a video. Of course, the more conversions you have, the stronger your position looks to SEs. Conversions are usually coupled with longer dwell time, more click-throughs and generally more interactions with your site. All of which can be measured by search engines. Video works just like quality text and image content. It can educate, entertain and inspire emotions and actions that all lead to conversions.

Video SEO

Video sounds like a good idea, right? So how do you utilise video and optimise it specifically for SEO? Read on.

Must be relevant to the audience

First things first, a video must be relevant to the audience. If you’re showing a video on a particular page of your website, its contextual placement must make sense. You should include explainer videos on the service or product pages they relate to. Corporate showreels should appear on an About Us page, not the privacy policy. Just like text-based content, your video should answer the questions your audience is looking for. After all, 96% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service. This holds true for videos on social media, as well as your own site.

Optimised for SEO

Optimising a video for SEO is very much like optimising a page for your on-page strategy. The title, description and metadata included in both the video code as well as accompanying captions are vital elements to optimise. A video’s supporting text should provide the viewer with all the information they need to, a) click on the video in the first place, and b) be able to perform the desired call to action once they’ve viewed the video.

A further thing to consider when utilising video for your SEO strategy is where to host it. Vimeo and Youtube are great for building a following but they won’t necessarily bolster your site’s own ranking. Hosting your video on your own site is better to drive traffic from SE’s and produce quality backlinks. But a video-heavy site can easily affect site speed, so consider the content carefully before including videos. There is a balancing act to be had, as with all elements in SEO.

Make it accessible

Something marketers often forget about is making content accessible. It seems a silly thing to not consider though, as accessible content is better for users and search engines reward sites highly for optimising in this way. Think of making videos accessible in the same way images can be optimised for SEO and accessibility. It’s all about providing additional information in the front and back end for users. Creating informative captions is one thing, but adding in closed caption subtitles and transcribing the full video are the ultimate accessible optimisations.

Creating Videos for Websites

If you’d like advice on creating videos for your website and SEO strategy, get in touch. I provide friendly, ethical and well-researched marketing consultancy with sustainable growth in mind. I work with a number of corporate video production companies that produce stunning broadcast-quality videos. The time is now to invest in your SEO and video marketing strategy.