Are Videos Good For SEO?

Many clients or people we meet with websites ask us, ‘do videos help with our Google rankings?’.The short answer is yes, and below we’ll explain why.

Benefits of Video on a Website

One of the most beneficial reasons to add video content to your website is that  a well-made video can deliver a lot more information, than a paragraph of text or an image. A video can also convey personality, emotion and authority far clearer than text can, even if you use bold or exclamation points when you write.

Statistics show that visitors to a website are far more likely to watch the entirety of a video, when compared to reading a whole block of similar sized text.

Now when it comes to website content and search engine rankings, content  is still king. Generally speaking, you need written content to support any video uploads. A mix of content, including headings, text, images and video provide  the best results.

At an internal meeting recently, video was mentioned as a way to bring your logo to life. Website videos give you the chance to be fun, factual, approachable, educational or any other personality you want your brand to be recognised for.

Where you position video content also has a large bearing on how often it is watched, your pages’ bounce rate, and therefore, your rankings.

So is Text Becoming Irrelevant to SEO then?

While peoples’ preferences are more and more likely to watch a video than read, especially on mobile devices; text remains critical to get found on search engines. It is still the main way to show Google, Yahoo and Bing what your website is about. Without text, they won’t know your purpose.

Closed captions are a way to boost your video performance. It is reported that 85% of videos played on Facebook without sound, so you’ll need closed captions. Think of all those people at work, on the tram, or sneaking a look at a video at the dinner table who are reading the closed captions / subtitles. On websites, these captions can also be read by search engine robots.

Video Indexing

As you are probably well aware, not only do Google show videos for certain search terms on their general search results page, but they also have a ‘Video’ tab. ‘How to’ videos are a good example of videos that appear on general search results. This is because they are much more engaging and receive more traffic than text-based websites. Well presented videos offer you the chance to be seen by a wider audience because of this fact alone.

Why Video is Great for Search Engine Optimisation

There are a few reasons why video content helps with search engine rankings.

1. Uploading a video via your YouTube Channel shows you are alive and active. YouTube is also owned by Google, so it is a highly trusted backlink.

2. Videos rank on Google and on YouTube. So, a video uploaded with a clever title, description and captioned text can be found by a wide audience.

3. As discussed, video content can add a lot of trust, engagement and can convey your branding effectively to visitors.

4. The main reason we love video content on our client’s websites is that it encourages visitors to scroll further on pages and also stay longer on the site.

Why does the last point mean so much?

Google can basically track everything a visitor does on your website and where they go after. If they stay on your site longer, this is an indicator that they are engaging with the site or finding what they were looking for.
Why do they like this so much? Well that is what their business is all about. People use Google because they find what they are looking for. The more useful your website appears in Google’s eyes, the more confident they are to show it to their users.

In Conclusion

There are many things that add up to not only a successful SEO campaign, but also a successful website. Video content is another tool that can help you rank well and encourage visitors to complete your goals. Whether that is learn something, make contact, share your site or buy something.
Better rankings and stronger connections with visitors are what makes good video content useful for SEO.