In the old days, SEO consisted primarily of optimizing web pages and meta data for keywords, and obtaining as many inbound backlinks as possible, regardless of their relevancy or the quality of the linking sites. Google’s advanced webpspam fighting technologies – primarily the Panda & Penguin updates – have things have changed dramatically. Web videos including those posted on YouTube or embedded into your own website can enhance your SEO efforts exponentially – in fact, much more than you might think.

Web videos offer a more human, personal approach to SEO. Those who watch videos feel a more personal connection, and can actually see a real person behind the company. Today, web videos often rank higher in search engine results than website pages, articles, and other more “traditional” content. Search engines favor videos, particularly those that are labeled and described using keywords relevant to your business, products, and services. Videos can increase your website traffic dramatically, when done right!

How Do Web Videos Benefit SEO?

First, web videos can improve your search engine results page (SERP) rank. There are a TON of online video statistics that underscore how web videos are taking over the Internet. This is especially true when you include vital keywords/search terms in your content.

• Web videos often result in a higher CTR, or click-through rate.
• Lower bounce rates are another benefit of web videos for SEO, as visitors are more likely to visit other pages of your website. Videos have proven to be more engaging, and make your pages “sticky.” Consumers have a very short attention span, and will leave a website page in just seconds if their attention is not captured immediately. In order to achieve or maintain a higher SERP ranking, visitors should remain on your site longer, and visit more pages. This is an important element in achieving a higher search engine ranking.

• Links are still important, but in a different way. Today, the practice of obtaining back links or inbound links has changed dramatically. Links coming into your website should be relevant, and come from quality or authority sites. According to many experts in SEO, web videos in many cases will nearly triple the average number of domains that link to your site. Why? People like your content, and want to share. Given the huge popularity of social media, sharing videos is extremely common on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. It all boils down to the fact that people love video because they fine it is useful – and they want to share information that is useful, engaging, informative, or in some way valuable to others.

It’s important to note that linking to YouTube videos will not benefit your SEO; videos should be niche-specific, high quality, and placed on your company website.

Here are a few vital tips on how to improve your SEO with web videos:

1. Be strategic with your script: include keywords in the dialogue as some video search engines, such as YouTube, automatically transcribe your script and include it on your video page.

2. A title with a root keywords can enhance SEO, but don’t be spammy or keyword stuff.

3. Include a description that includes relevant keywords.

4. Link to your web video from other pages on your website, and include some links that are descriptive.

5. Embed you videos in relevant pages and blog posts on your site.

6. Submitting your video to your website’s site map will help search engines index your pages.

7. Include a link in the video description to your home page or a relevant.

8. Be sure to include a number of relevant tags for every video.

9. For local SEO, be sure to put a location tag on each video (YouTube lets you do this in the Advanced settings).

10. Include mentions of other people and companies in your videos and let them know – this will encourage others to amplify your video’s in 3rd party social media channels.

Here is an example of video embedding (from YouTube):