CrazyLeaf Editorial The importance of videos to content creators is obvious since it’s their product. But what about other industries?
From the food industry to the manufacturing industry, videos are a great tool for marketing. Did you know that 79% of consumers prefer watching a video to learn about a product than reading?
That’s not all – it doesn’t only apply to advertising but to other areas of marketing, too. Digital marketers are using videos to boost their SEO strategies.
Those top-ranking websites using videos know why creating it is a smart SEO play, and you should, too. Make sure you’re not behind on the trends and learn why you should start making videos.
1. Humans Prefer Watching Videos
We do know from above that people like moving images better. Here’s the simple scientific explanation for that. Our brain processes videos faster than text by a whopping 60,000 times.
A human’s brain puts out more effort to read; it works out its attention span and its cognitive side. It requires the brain to be active while watching videos is passive. Videos instead feed the information to us, demanding less effort from the brain.
Thanks to this, videos focus on evoking feelings better than text, which focuses on getting the readers to think.
2. People Form Emotional Connection with Videos
Viewers can empathize with actions they see on the screen better than the actions they think of. Now, let’s look again at the scientific explanation by the source above.
In the process called the mirror-neuron mechanism, a mirror neuron fires when we perform an action. It also fires in another instance: when we see another person perform the action.
When people watch a video, their brains think as if they are a part of the scene because of this mechanism.
This is good for SEO since the people will be more engaged with the video. What this entails is that they will stay on the page for longer. Google recognizes a long dwelling time as a positive flag, increasing your ranking.
3. It Conveys Information Better Than Other Media
When people are more engaged, they are more open to the information that the content is trying to convey to them. With this knowledge and the logic above, whatever it is you want people to know is best conveyed through a video.
Watching how other people do stuff also makes it easier to understand how to do said stuff yourself. With a video format, you’ll be able to accompany some concepts and ideas with visuals.
Showing how a product works can also interest the consumers enough to make them buy the product. Unboxing, reviews, and comparison videos are helpful tools for an undecided buyer.
4. Google Has Video-Related Search Features
You don’t need to be searching for videos for this type of media to show up in the search results. This is how you can rank in the SERP, especially when you upload those videos to YouTube.
How-to queries, for example, will come back with relevant videos. In many cases, videos show up first before articles because Google knows it’s better to watch a video regarding tutorials, reviews, and other educational queries.
Google has a deeper understanding of why video content is much more appealing. This explains why it also has advanced video search features you can take advantage of.
5. Videos Have a Wide Reach
There are over 1.8 billion users on YouTube alone. Over at Facebook, videos are also one of the most shared posts on the platform.
This shows that videos have a huge potential to reach thousands or millions of people. Consuming videos is also easier today with the wide usage of mobile phones and the internet.
As video search and consumption grows, search engines also get more inclined to show video content, as we’ve explained above with Google as an example. This gives content marketers more opportunities to reach more people.
6. Videos Have Massive Growth Potential
On top of that, videos are growing even more. A forecast suggests that internet video traffic is growing with a CAGR of 33% from 2017 to 2022.
Live videos are getting even bigger. It will account for 17% of the internet traffic in 2022, representing a growth of 15-fold.
In summary, all signs point to the extreme growth potential of videos. If you think they are a big thing in marketing and advertising now, they will be even bigger in the following years.
Today makes a good day as any to start creating videos and mastering the process. Not only will they be a good investment, but they will also start producing results right away.
7. It’s an Effective Link Generator
Now that you’ve learned of the wide reach of videos, what about it? Well, you can use that to your advantage by inserting your website URL.
Make sure the link is in a noticeable place, like in the video description. A quick mention of the link within the video is also a great way to let them know of your website.
If you create original video content, it will be natural for other websites to link back to you, as well. Websites can share the link to your informative or entertaining video.
8. Your Brand Gets a Boost in Social Presence
Social points are also important in SEO, although it plays more of an indirect role. The more people share your content, the more Google thinks that it’s relevant and liked by the audience.
Think of it like this: Google might see that every share is a vote of confidence from the audience. With enough votes, the search engine will be more inclined to display your website on the first page of the SERP.
This explains why brands prioritize getting out a viral video on social media. This is also why you should be active on social media, too.
How to Use Videos to Improve Your Website’s SEO Play
Top-notch experts will be able to explain these better, but here are the basics of using videos to improve your SEO play.
1. Use as Content
When creating videos, think in the perspective of a content creator. It may not be your main product, but it should have the characteristics of a video by a top YouTuber, for example.
It should be engaging, at the least. It should provide value to the viewers, and it should exude quality workmanship.
A shoddy work might get you some views. Still, YouTubers can only get to the top with HD cameras, top-notch editing, engaging content, and so on.
2. Host It on YouTube
Why would you want to host it on YouTube?
First, YouTube is the largest video platform on the internet and second, Google owns it. These are two reasons why the search engine often shows you YouTube clips when videos appear on the SERP.
Hosting it on YouTube will allow you to have the potential to reach the billions of users the platform has. When people search by video on Google, you also have a higher chance of appearing on the front page.
3. Backlink From the Video
Take note that links to your YouTube video don’t count as a backlink to your website. You have to make sure you include a link to your website somewhere so people will know where to go.
To make the video generate links for you, you can place your website URL into two places in YouTube: in the video description itself and in your channel page.
Videos on YouTube can also have clickable elements. You can use these to direct the audience to your website.
4. Optimize the Video
Videos on YouTube use SEO, too. Like an article, it needs to have the right amount of optimization for YouTube to have the confidence to show it as a top result.
Make it easier for both YouTube and Google to find the video by including keywords. Put it in the title, in the description, tags, and even file names.
If you embed a video on your website, make sure it has a fast loading time. Otherwise, people will leave the site, affecting your bounce rates. An even worse scenario is that Google penalizes your site for poor performance.
5. Include a Transcription
Combine video and text into one by including a transcription into a video. This is one reason why you should also insert keywords in the script. This helps with the SEO of your website as long as you also treat the transcript as an article.
While we’re in this subject, why not add captions to your videos, too? It’s the standard nowadays, and it makes your videos accessible to people with hearing impairment and other disabilities.
Learn How to Create Effective Videos
With all these reasons, wouldn’t you agree that making videos is an SEO play that you should include in your strategy? Videos aren’t a luxury anymore — they’re powerful tools you shouldn’t overlook.
The next step is to learn how to create videos that will bring you results. Let us help you move forward. Feel free to explore our other guides to learn more.
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