Is YouTube Best For SEO On Video? Or WordPress Self Hosting?
Video is one of the most popular forms of content on the internet, and many businesses have caught on to the fact that online videos work great for SEO.
That being said, not all videos are created equal, and you need to make sure that the type of video you produce is going to help your SEO strategy.
In this article, we will discuss the different types of videos that you can create to optimize your SEO. We will also discuss the pros and cons of each style so that you can decide which one is the best fit for your SEO strategy.
Educational Videos
If you’re teaching others something new, then you can definitely use video to demonstrate. However, videos that are purely educational are not going to attract any traffic, and you might as well not even bother.
The best video for SEO is one that explains something new or provides an in-depth explanation about something. For example, if you’re explaining some basic SEO practices, or if you’re showing how to write a winning article for a magazine, or how to properly use a product, or how to properly use social media – these types of videos will perform much better than an educational video explaining what SEO is.
The reason is that people already know what SEO is, and they’re probably also aware of the content you’re trying to promote. However, if they don’t have much knowledge on the topic, then you’re probably going to gain some viewers, but not very many.
In addition to explaining new things, you can also use videos to highlight important information about your niche. For example, if you’re an affiliate marketer for a product such as ClickFunnels, then you might want to produce a video showing how to properly use the tool – including where to get started and how to generate traffic. Or, if you’re a dentist, you can create a video showcasing various procedures that you perform. Just remember: if you want to rank well in the search engine, then your video content needs to match as closely as possible the keywords that users enter – so be sure to use those key phrases in the video’s description.
Product Review Videos
If you’re reviewing a product or service that you’ve tried yourself, then you can create a valuable video for SEO purposes. The best review videos are detailed and provide tons of useful information about the tested product or service. They also explain how the product or service compares to the competition, and they highlight its key features.
In addition, the video reviewer should have some sort of personality that will make the viewer interested in what they have to say. If the reviewer is knowledgeable about the topic, it will make them more credible and the video more valuable.
You can also use a product review video to demonstrate how others are using the product or service that you’re testing. If you’re trying to sell a product that costs thousands of dollars, then you might want to create a product review video showing several users talking about their positive or negative experiences with the product or service. That way, you can show that the product works for some people and not for others – which is pretty important information when you’re pitching a pricey product.
A detailed product review video will do wonders for any business, whether or not they’re selling a product online. Why? Because consumers can learn a lot from these videos, and if your goal is to educate viewers about your product or service, then these videos can help a lot.
How-To Videos
If you’re explaining a process or showing someone else performing a specific task, then you can create a valuable instructional video for SEO purposes. The best how-to videos are short and to the point – they teach viewers the necessary steps to follow in order to complete a certain task successfully. They also highlight any potential pitfalls that the unwary may encounter along the way.
Obviously, how-to videos are going to be a lot more valuable for businesses that are online and selling their products or services directly to customers. However, even the most established offline businesses can benefit from how-to videos since potential customers may not be able to follow instructions perfectly during the first attempt – but with help, they can complete the task successfully the second time around. In other words, a how-to video can help a business prove that they’re a responsible party who can be trusted to perform a certain task – even if that business doesn’t offer the product or service online.
Short-Form Videos
Shorter videos perform better in SEO than longer videos, because they’re more likely to be scanned by search engines. In other words, videos under three minutes tend to do better than longer ones, because they’re easy to consume.
As a general rule of thumb, you always want to aim for short-form videos that are under three minutes. Anything above that, and the benefit of shorter videos turns into a detriment. It’s better to have several short-form videos under three minutes, each focused on a different key phrase, than to have one long-form video – especially if that video is over 10 minutes long.
Now, you should definitely take into consideration that the video’s format is only one factor that affects its SEO – the content inside also matters. But as a general rule of thumb, keep your eye on the form factor, and you’ll surely achieve great things with your SEO.
Long-Form Movies
Long-form videos are those that are above three minutes. Typically, these videos are more valuable for entertainment purposes than they are for SEO – that is, unless you’re trying to promote a short-form video on your site. In that case, the longer the video, the better.
The best long-form movies are typically drama films – thrillers, horror films, etc. – although any type of movie will do as long as it’s above three minutes.
Since these types of videos tend to be longer, they’re generally going to be more valuable for SEO – unless you have a really great short-form video that you think will appeal to a broader audience.
Slideshow Videos
A slideshow video is made up of a series of images that are displayed one after the other, usually in chronological order. The advantage of a slideshow video is that it’s easy for users to navigate – as long as they want to keep watching, they can simply scroll through the images, one by one. In addition, since people are generally more attracted to images than they are to text, you’re going to have more opportunity to grab the attention of the viewer.
However, a slideshow video does not provide any narrations or explanations about the images – which means that you’re going to have to fill that void with text of some sorts. As a result, you need to make sure that the text you include is relevant and tied to the topic of the image. Furthermore, if you think that the images in the slideshow video are going to be valuable for SEO, then make sure that the text is also compelling enough to be worth watching.
Live Video
This is a relatively new format that just recently made its way into the mainstream – but live video is growing in popularity every day, and it’s not hard to see why. Live video allows for a lot more interactivity than a typical video, and it feels more natural to watch someone perform an action as they walk you through the process. In addition, when combined with a virtual hangout with someone, live video allows for more engaging content that will undoubtedly attract an audience.
The disadvantages of live video are fairly obvious – the lack of a pre-recorded video makes it more difficult to rank well in search engines, since they don’t have the opportunity to study your video content and come up with keywords to describe your videos. But apart from that, live videos are a great way to attract an audience – especially if you’re doing it right.
Voice-overs
A voice-over is simply audio recorded alongside a video – often with some visual representation, such as a table or a graph – but not always. For SEO purposes, you typically want to have a voice-over attached to a piece of video content that is above the 300-word limit – anything below that, and you may as well not even bother.
As a general rule of thumb, if you’re describing something that is animated – such as a cartoon, a graphic novel, or a video game – then you can definitely use a voice-over to enhance the content’s entertainment value.
However, if you’re just reading off a script, then you’re probably not going to entertain the listener – and, thus, you may as well not even bother with the voice-over.