It is no secret that websites with videos perform better compared to those having text pages. Brands are incorporating video content into their online marketing strategies and video is fast becoming a valuable SEO tool. Search engines are now placing more importance on quality content rather than keyword optimization.

Video content is getting more priority in Google search results and has 50 times more chance of ranking higher than text pages. Today, we shall look at the importance of producing good video content for your website.

Why are online videos getting so popular?

1. Videos are interactive, informative and fun

People love watching online videos. Videos serve to grab visitors’ attention and interest. People prefer videos over text articles and photos, as watching moving images and listening to someone speak, are more appealing to them.

Online videos are becoming so popular that YouTube is now the second most popular search engine today after Google. Many brands are using videos to make their website attractive and interactive and to showcase their products and services. Videos bring a human touch to a brand and can evoke feelings of trust and confidence in your audience, which in turn will influence their purchase decisions.

2. Videos offer a more engaging content

Video content is incredibly engaging and can better influence your potential buyers in a way that static content cannot. People also find them easier to understand and relate to. This is the reason why people love watching videos rather than reading standard text articles.

The attention span of the online audience is decreasing and short interactive videos that provide them the information they want will sustain their interest. Having such videos on your site will make it more appealing and visitors will be curious to see what you have to offer. They will spend more time on your site and with your brand, and will also be tempted to share them with others. Sharing will help in building valuable backlinks to your website.

How to use good video content to boost your site’s SEO

SEO or search engine optimization serves to improve your websites rankings in Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines and increases your chances of being found by potential customers when they search for products and services they want to buy. SEO is the most cost-effective way to attract new customers.

Since the popularity of online videos has increased significantly over the past few years, a carefully designed online video strategy can improve your site’s SEO considerably. It is important that the videos you create and post on your website have rich high-quality content and are customer-focused, offering them useful information in an interesting way.

Here are a few tips to follow if you want to use videos to improve your site’s SEO rankings:

• Create short 1-2 minute videos, customer’s time is precious. Long videos can also be boring for your audience.
• Your video must have a keyword rich label.
• Use relevant keywords to name your video in the URL.
• Use relevant keywords to describe your videos so that your audience will know what it is about.
• If needed, transcribe what is being said in the video so that your audience understands it clearly, be watchful about keyword use. Video transcript and captions are important to drive video SEO.
• Create links to your video on your site’s other pages. Use creative phrases to capture a visitor’s interest instead of usual ones like “click here” or “click this link”.
• Submit your video on sitemap so that Google and other search engines can index it.
• Share your videos on social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to reach a wider audience.
• Make attractive video thumbnails which people will want to click and watch.

Videos increase your SEO rankings and online exposure. They give your visitors a clear visual picture of your products and/or services. Quality videos will entice visitors to watch them and even share them with others. Videos are now a must-have element in the digital marketing plan for any business. If used properly, videos can significantly boost your content marketing and SEO strategy.

Let this post encourage a dialogue down in the Comments section below. All thoughts are welcome.

Until next time, goodbye from the Mark & Ryse team.