How Can Videos Boost Your SEO Efforts

Intro

Organic search drives more than 50% of all website traffic. This best type of traffic gives you a competitive edge and creates a digital flywheel on Google– this can lead to better search visibility, more clicks, increase your site authority, and even boost sales.

That all said, earning a decent amount of organic traffic is so much more than creating content and crossing your fingers– hoping that the algorithm will find and choose it to sit on the top pages of the SERPs.

You need to invest in search engine optimization.

While the term itself sounds so intimidating for some of us, there’s a handy way to appeal to the search engine without having to rack your brand: incorporating video content.

Video Content and SEO: How Is It Linked?

Video content doesn’t actually affect your SEO performance directly. But, embedding your YouTube videos or videos from your TikTok marketing campaign to your website gives you more potential to increase your rank on SERPs.

A well-optimized embedded website video can make a website appear 53 more times compared to a plain website or page.

When you have a higher chance of appearing on the top pages of SERPs, it means you also have an opportunity to boost click-through rates (CTR). And a high CTR translates to more credibility. That’s what makes video content a great addition to your SEO practices.

Now, the burning question would be: “how can video make my SEO effort more effective?”

How Can Video Boost Your Website SEO?

No one really knows how the search engine's highly complex, ever-changing algorithm really works. But, one thing for sure is that we do have some clues. There are some ways to help signal the search engines by providing relevance and focusing on the usability of pages.

Video SEO can help with this. Here’s how:

#1. Google Loves Videos

Google loves videos because it has the potential to get you a lot of organic traffic. All videos on YouTube, for instance, are indexed by the search engine. This means that all your videos have the potential to show up as a snippet on the search engine results pages.

Even if these videos have no link to your site, they can still drive you a lot of organic traffic. And since most of the people who use Google to search for information are visual, they’re more likely to click on the video snippet than click on the text snippet. This means that you’re bound to get more clicks with a video snippet than with a plain text snippet.

#2. Video Content Is Rich In Keywords

A lot of marketers make the mistake of turning their visual elements like videos into a serious sales pitch. While this is great for sales, it won’t help you rank as high in the search engines as a video that’s full of relevant keywords.

By adding keywords to your video and captions, you can increase your site’s SEO. So when your video gets crawled by the search engine, it will notice the keywords on the video and rank you higher for these terms.

Your video can act as a great source of SEO content. When you add subtitles to your video, it becomes even more SEO-friendly. The search engine will crawl your subtitles and rank you for more keywords.

#3. Videos Increase Dwell Time

Dwell time is the amount of time each visitor spends on your website. The longer they stay, the more likely they are interested in your brand. When the dwell time increases, the bounce rate is reduced. This gives search engine signals that your website provides exactly what the visitor is looking for.

Adding video to your content is a great way to increase dwell time. By combining both visual and audio elements, video helps visitors understand your brand better. It breaks down complex topics, so all the information can be easily digested by visitors.

#4. Videos Educate Visitors Better

Another advantage to including video on your website is that it educates your visitors better. When you have an article that explains how to do something, it’s a one-way street. You’re telling your readers what to do.

But when you add video, you’re allowing them to see the process for themselves. Your readers can pause, rewind, fast forward, and even loop the video as many times as they want. When you have an article and a video to explain a process, the article will have to be in one direction, while the video can be in multiple directions.

This way, you’re giving your readers the option to learn the process at their own pace. They can replay the video as many times as they want without having to read it all over again.

#5. More Video Means More Engagement

Engagement is when your visitors comment on your articles, share your content and click through to your site. The more engagement you have, the more likely it is that you’ll land on the first page of the SERPs. And when you add a video to your website, you get more engagement.

The average engagement rate for articles with videos is 2x more than for articles without. That’s dramatic. Imagine all the engagement you’ll get, and that will translate to more clicks and more organic traffic to your site.

#6. Videos Build a Solid Backlink Profile

Another huge advantage to including video on your website is that it builds a solid backlink profile. A backlink profile is a collection of links that point to your website. It shows where your website is being mentioned, shared, and linked to.

When you add a video to your website, you have the potential to get links to your website. This can help you get better rankings on the SERPs. And when you get better rankings, more people will click on your website, and you’ll get more organic traffic.

#7. Video Is A Long-Term Investment

Video is a long-term investment. You won’t see the results right away– remember that earning organic traffic is a long-term strategy.

Updating your website with new articles is like watering a garden. You can do it every day, every week, or every month, but you won’t see any changes in the garden for weeks. On the other hand, adding video to your website is like planting a seed. You don’t see the seed growing into a plant for weeks.

#8. Video Can Be Found In Any Language

Another advantage to including video on your website is that it can be found in any language. On the other hand, you can always grow your blog but your articles can only be written in the language that you speak.

Including video on your website means that you can make your website accessible to people who speak other languages. When you reach a broader audience, you have a higher chance of driving more traffic.

Bottom Line

When you’re looking for a handy way to improve SEO, videos are worth-considering. Whether you’re a small business with a shoestring budget or a large corporation, this type of content is versatile and accessible. Thanks to technology– you don’t even need to hire a professional videographer to create marketing videos. Now, only with your smartphone camera and straightforward video editing apps can you come up with a video strategy.