We know that the popularity of online video is skyrocketing – everyone is telling you to use video to promote your business, right? But aside from being more interesting than other types of content, what does video really do for you? What if you make a video and no one ever sees it? We’ve put together some tips on using video to actually boost your SEO (search engine optimization) and drive more traffic to your website.
Simply adding video to your website boosts your search visibility. Google gives preference to websites with video content. As demand for video grows, it is considered quality content by search engines and can result in higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).
An equally effective alternative to hosting a video on your own site is to host your video on YouTube. YouTube is owned by Google and is a search engine in itself. You can create your own YouTube channel with backlinks to your website, which will also help with SEO. Although views and shares on YouTube aren’t technically part of your site’s SEO analytics, they are forms of engagement that you can use to measure the effectiveness of your content. It’s important to brand your YouTube videos to gain awareness even if viewers aren’t clicking through to your site.
If you are hosting video on your own website, be sure to optimize your videos for faster page load times. Page performance affects your Google ranking, and viewers are turned off by slow sites. A fast-loading video has the potential to keep visitors on your site longer, reducing bounce rates. You may also experience higher click-through rates because viewers are more likely to stay engaged with video content.
Including the right keywords in your video file names, titles, descriptions and tags will help provide better information to search engines. Adding a video transcript that contains keywords can also help search engines recognize the relevance of your video.
Because video is much more likely to be shared and liked, promote your videos on social media. Shares across multiple platforms and other types of viewer engagement are all signs to search engines that your content is valuable. As your videos gain popularity, more viewers will discover your site.
If you’re interested in finding out more about how video can improve your SEO ranking, contact us today. We’re happy to answer any questions and get you started on creating powerful video to promote your business.
