As a video production agency, the (spark) team often strategizes with clients to improve their website SEO. Search engine optimization serves many functions: it foundationally informs entire online marketing strategies, drastically increases consumer engagement, and directly impacts ROI by increasing engagement, conversions, and revenue. One key, yet often overlooked, driver of SEO is video content. Many brands realize video can make a powerful impact on target audiences and search engine results pages, all without draining budgets. Video can also greatly influence conversion rates, with consumers reporting they are almost two times as likely to make a purchase after viewing product videos.
Google and other search engines are constantly crawling digital space to find the most relevant and click-worthy content to serve consumers. Rumor has it that video content is often prioritized on SERPs (Search Engine Results Page), and we can understand why: just this year, 92.6% of global internet users are watching online videos every week, with most viewers consuming upwards of 100 minutes of video content every day. Video content enables brands to offer flexible, consumer-focused content in a way that is both accessible and attention-grabbing…and if these videos are optimized to help search engines quickly crawl and index their metadata, they can do wonders to boost brand visibility and organic SEO.
How Video Content Improves Website SEO
Regardless of whether your business is working with a video production agency to create videos or generating video content in-house, the first step is understanding how Google crawls and ranks websites. When determining website SERP rankings, Google considers a slew of metrics, one of which is quality video content. To help your business in its SEO journey, (spark) put together a quick look at how adding video content to your brand’s website can improve your SEO.
- Videos boost your website’s quality of information.
Search engines constantly scan websites for text, video and other forms of media that provide high-quality information. Offering search engines and consumers a mixture of quality videos and text on your website means your web pages are more informative, more relevant, and more clickable to consumers—all of which lead to improved SEO. Another way videos boost your website’s informational quality is through metadata. Because web crawlers can’t view videos, they rely on metadata to understand your video content, so the more data you provide about your videos, the better!
- Videos generate traffic.
Consumers are more likely to visit your website because of first watching a branded video on YouTube or other social media channels. This is one of the main reasons why so many B2B and B2C businesses have launched their own video websites and are investing heavily in video content! Creating and optimizing videos for social channels like YouTube is a fantastic way to draw more quality traffic to your website, garner a higher volume of social shares and consumer engagement, and ultimately boost your overall SEO.
- Videos keep consumers on your site longer.
In our current TL;DR culture, people are much more likely to watch a video than they are to read blog posts or blocks of text on a webpage. Adding high-quality video content to your website encourages consumers to spend up to twice as long on your site and therefore improve your bounce rate. Bounce rates refer to how much time consumers are spending on your web pages before clicking away. By utilizing video to increase the amount of time someone spends on your website, you significantly improve your bounce rate and in turn help search engines like Google and Bing boost your article to the top of their rankings.
- Videos promote quality backlinks.
Adding unique, sharable videos to your website increases the likelihood that other domains will backlink to your site. Backlinks are links on other reputable websites that refer back to your domain. When other high-domain authority websites link to your content, your domain is seen as trustworthy and therefore gains domain authority. Higher authority equals higher SERP rankings. You might also choose to publish your video content on YouTube, social media or an OTT service or VOD platform, all of which can give your brand the perfect opportunity to earn backlinks and generate quality traffic.
Video Content Tips to Boost Your Website SEO
Any successful video production agency knows that the foundation of website SEO is aligning website content with search engine algorithms and priorities. As today’s consumers continue to gravitate toward video content, (spark) recommends that businesses of every size begin building marketing strategies that harness the power of videos through optimization. Optimized videos provide audiences with the best possible viewing experience, and a great viewing experience equals more time spent on your website.
Video optimization must-haves include quick loading times, reduced bandwidth consumption, and content that is aimed at a particular goal. After all, video alone isn’t necessarily your website’s saving grace; it’s important to make sure your video content enhances your consumers’ experience on your site rather than frustrates or slows their exploration of your products. If your brand is curious about how a professional video production agency like (spark) helps clients optimize videos to boost website SEO, keep reading for five important video content tips!
- Embed videos in a natural way.
Sprinkling videos throughout your web pages may slightly improve your bounce rates and backlinks, but the best way to optimize your video content is to embed your videos where they make the most sense. View your website through the eyes of your target audience and decide where your videos fit best. Then surround them with additional, relevant written and visual content. You could even include transcripts of your videos to target more keywords, or turn any visual graphics into downloadable JPEGs. The overarching goal is to help consumers and search engines alike to easily understand how your videos fit into your overall website content.
- Use keyword research to your advantage.
An effective way to reach your target audience and improve your SERP ranking is to research and use keywords that reflect your consumers’ most-asked questions and online searches. Search engines prioritize websites that incorporate natural language and contain direct answers to consumer questions. Keyword research tools like SEMrush, Moz or Uber Suggest can help you find top keywords used by your target audience when searching for products within your industry and niche.
- Use videos to answer consumer questions.
Potential customers may be more comfortable learning about your brand, services, products, or industry by watching a short video rather than reading a blog or article, so addressing their concerns in video form will help educate and empower them to make purchasing decisions. Focusing your video content on providing quality answers to frequently asked questions to build your brand authority will show search engines that large groups of consumers rely on your website for information, which will boost your pages even more.
- Create high-quality video content.
(spark) recommends creating videos with quality audio recorded in 1080p or 4K resolution and formatted to a widescreen 16:9 ratio. If you choose to upload your videos directly to your website, keep files under 1 GB and use formats including MP4, MOV and FLV. Another option is to upload your videos to hosting sites like YouTube, Vimeo or Vidyard to keep your website loading faster, pull in organic traffic and boost SEO!
- Utilize a variety of video types.
To connect with your audience and promote your products, create videos of different types. Content, product, training, customer testimonial, and demonstration videos are all great ways to show your audience you understand their pain points and care about their concerns. Use content and product videos to explain product features and educate your audience, training and demonstration videos to build confidence and trust in your brand, and testimonials to help move consumers toward conversions.
As a professional video production agency, (spark) relies on metrics to guide our clients’ video marketing strategies. We build consumer journeys that break down complex information into entertaining, bitesize videos. Through custom-made, animated videos tailored specifically to your brand, we highlight your products and services to give audiences an enjoyable, simple route toward an informed decision. Whether you’re looking to add educational videos to your website, create product demonstrations to answer FAQs or even create emotional connection with your consumers by expanding your brand story, (spark) offers multiple subscription-model packages with a range of capabilities to fit your video production needs!
