Over recent years, Google has increased its inclusion of videos from video-sharing sites- such as YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion- on its search engine results page and recently, more videos have been ranking high up on Google’s first page.
This blog post looks at the way Google has included video more in search results, some different examples in which videos have started ranking on Google and the reasons why you should include video as part of your SEO strategy
Google’s Increasingly Diverse Results Page
You may have noticed that Google’s results page is becoming more diverse with its layout. Google are now including more images, Q&A’s and videos on their search pages.
The way video has become increasingly visible for browsers is through video carousels. Video carousels are a separate search element within Google’s search results that contains related videos. Sometimes, video carousels rank at the top of Google (as I’ll demonstrate later) and often rank highly for mobile searches.
We see some fairly extreme examples of this where we will see a video, some chapter points for that video, 3 more videos with links to chapter points, 4 x people also ask and then the first organic result is, you guessed it, also a video.
- Video
- 3 x video key moments
- Video
- Video key moments link
- Video
- Video key moments link
- Video
- Video key moments link
- People also ask
- Question 1
- Question 2
- Question 3
- Question 4
- #1 Organic – A link to Youtube
- #2 Organic – Traditional organic website link
In this case, the first organic listing is the 16th link in the primary results.
For many keywords now, video is king.
40% of search results include videos
As you can see from the chart below, videos now show up in nearly a third of all search results pages, and images show up in 40%. This exemplifies how Google is starting to not just rank HTTPS links in their results pages and are looking to increase the interactivity of their pages.
How Video Can Improve Your Overall Strategy
Now you understand how important and visible video is in the search results, lets now have a look at the 3 main ways video content can improve your overall SEO strategy:
1. Enhance the Quality of Content
One way video can improve your SEO is by contextualising your written content and by providing a visual resource for your website.
For example, if you have a factory and you are discussing how one piece of machinery gives your business a USP, then a video would be an excellent way of communicating how it works, how it enhances your products and proving that the machine does actually work.
It should improve your rankings as Google ranks content based on how well it answers the searcher’s query and provides valuable information. By including video in your strategy, you are adding rich content to your SEO strategy, which should give you a competitive edge over your competitors
2. Improves Your User Experience & Time Spent On Your Website
Another way that video content improves your overall SEO strategy is that it improves your user experience, by providing engaging content and should encourage users to spend more time on your website.
If you include video as part of your content, not only are you engaging your audience in different ways, you are encouraging them to stay on your site, which could eventually lead to a new lead or a sale
3. Videos Help Earn More Backlinks
A final way video can enhance your SEO strategy is that it could lead to more backlinks. Think about the amount of times you might’ve shared a video which you have seen on YouTube to friends and family. Websites do a similar thing with content which they want their audiences to see.
Going back to the example made earlier about the machinery, imagine you have an engaging video, which not only informs users about your machinery but generates a lot of shares and is getting linked to by several other websites. From here, your video starts getting greater acknowledgement from high profile websites (such as news outlets or industry-specific websites) and they include a link to your video through their website. Google then likes this, as the content is deemed trustworthy and valuable for audiences and ranks your video high on its results page for similar searches.
Not only does this increases the awareness of your products and services, but it also improves your link equity, ultimately leading to improved rankings for your website.
Bonus
If you advertise on Google Ads videos allow to you also tap into traffic directly on YouTube and not just in the standard search results. This gets you more brand awareness, more engagement and you can connect engagement on YouTube to your ads to improve targeting. Win, win.
Growth of Video for ‘How to’ Guides
Probably the biggest impact video has had on search queries is the rise of content which is ranking for how-to questions.
For example, if you were to search ‘how to measure a kitchen’ the first result you see, underneath ads, would be a video from B&Q on how to measure a kitchen.
This is becoming increasingly common to see videos ranking near the top of results pages for different question search queries. This is because Google is now prioritising content which provides visual aids, as well as step-by-step guides.
Ultimately, Google will provide the best answer, and the form of that answer matters – somethings are better as a written guide, others as a video.
Growth of Video Content in Product Searches
One example we can use, where video has increasingly been ranking is for product searches.
For example, if you were to search for the new iPhone 14, Google’s page would look like:
- Ads
- Link to Apple’s designated iPhone 14 page
- News items
- Images
- Videos
- Organic results
Here you can see how video content is now ranking higher than organic results for certain product searches. This means that businesses such as news articles, written product reviews and retailers are ranking below people who are creating videos where they engage with and review products.
Growth in Video Content for Service Searches
We can also see that video has started to creep into the search results page for local service queries.
For example, if you searched for loft conversions then you would notice that video content is ranking at the bottom of Google’s first page and showing different transformations and how you can complete a loft conversion.
Typically, you would’ve seen the search results filled with local businesses which offered their service in the area where you searched, however, we are now seeing more videos and images ranking.
Video is the big SEO opportunity in many business categories
Traditionally, when a set of search results is not great, that is a clear opportunity. Create something better, and you are well on the way to ranking it.
Is It Time To Start Including Video In Your SEO Strategy?
If you haven’t been convinced already, then it is the perfect time to start including video in your SEO content strategy. Whether that be creating videos for new content that you are currently writing or updating old blog posts with videos, you could be sitting on a potential SEO goldmine.
As Google look to increasingly have a more diverse search results page through the use of carousels and improve the visual and interactive nature of their search results, then it is time to time to start including video in your content planning.
At Bowler Hat, we provide SEO strategies tailored to your business’s needs and requirements. We offer a free digital marketing review and offer SEO consulting for your business, whether that be a small local business or a national company, with several locations. Contact us today if you have any questions.
