Why Should You Start Optimizing Videos for Your Blog?

Cover Photo - Things to Remember in Using Videos to Optimize For Dwell Time

Video marketing has been making the rounds in the digital arena for quite some time now and frankly, I think it is one of the factors that made the internet the global powerhouse it is today. Ask anyone and they are bound to recall a particular video that made a mark on them one way or the other. This is an obvious fact but there are still a few people who fail to see the potential of investing in video marketing as a solid content strategy.

Textual content is still a powerful factor in increasing online visibility so delving into video marketing is not to disregard this fact. In fact, inserting videos to your articles can level up its quality and increase efforts in helping these two mediums complement each other.

I have already covered the steps on how to optimize videos for SEO in 2019 a while back, but I’m writing this today to give you a simple reminder that optimizing videos for your own domain can also help you massively in generating user engagement and conversions. Check out more about this below:

Increase Dwell Time

It is one of the most important benefits that you can receive if you optimize videos for your blog. Video content can greatly increase dwell time, especially if visitors are engaged enough to stay on your page for a long time. Optimize your videos to have a clear and concise storyline, one that can give value to your users. The click-through rate may increase, especially if the typical visitor is used to reading long-form content from your site. It will bring a fresh take on how you market your content and will be appreciated more by the audience because of the bite-sized information your present.

Never underestimate the power of visuals particularly today when videos are in high demand among an audience who are distracted by a myriad of content across the net. Dwell time is an essential metric in creating quality content and it should also be considered as a ranking signal since it determines if your content is great enough to keep users on the page.

Evaluate User Behavior

We can never really tell how a user spends his or her time on the site. It’s not like we can breathe down their necks in every digital activity that they do. Literally taken, that’s just creepy.

In the content marketing sense, this can be compared to boring down on users with an avalanche of content that is probably unhelpful for them all while consuming a lot of their time.

How can you evaluate user behavior? Well, Google Analytics can be your partner in accomplishing this report. Of course, you would want your visitors to stay longer on your page so embedding these videos can help you achieve that goal. This is also connected to the previous point, measuring dwell time can also help you determine user behavior.

average time on page

To help you confirm that your video marketing efforts are working, check the average time-on-page of the users and test at least two pages: one without an embedded video and another with a video inserted in the content. If you are feeling a little more experimental, opt for an A/B test of this initiative and see how it would help in attracting visitors to your content.

Visibility in the Search Results Page

visibility in the serps

If your content is sufficiently ranking, chances are your videos might appear on the search engine results page. Thumbnails of your videos can help more users see your content, which will result in a boost in user engagement.

Users may look for a video explanation, especially if you have instructional, navigational, or transactional content. Having the visibility in the search results can help in ensuring that you keep them interested enough to explore your website. For now, only videos on YouTube are supported by the SERP feature of having a thumbnail on the results page but you can still use this to your advantage.

sean si

If you would prefer to use Youtube to host your videos, you should still make sure that you lead users into your own domain. Give them a taste of the video content in this channel then make a promise that they would see a lot more if they visit your website. Always remember that promoting your content is just as valuable as the steps you have to take in creating it. One way to do so is to be visible on the first page of Google.

Generate Leads

Boosting user engagement and evaluating their behavior on the site can help you better accommodate their intent. Producing videos that are both entertaining and insightful will eventually lead to users thinking of doing business with you. As I said before, videos can be a great source of recall so if you would be remembered by a fraction of the market you are targeting just for a simple effort of embedding a video to your content, then they are more likely to do business with you.

Providing visitors with valuable videos can also help increase your E-A-T since the mere effort of appealing to their visual sense is a great plus for it. If you find the perfect style for video marketing that will greatly affect the engagement and satisfaction of your users, then it is only natural that leads would come knocking at your door.

Key Takeaway

In this age of viral videos and eye-catching articles, standing out can prove to be difficult which is why you have to catch up if you are not thinking of this strategy already. Level up your content marketing strategy by creating videos as part of your optimization techniques. This way, you will have a lot more to offer to your users which can help you retain them so you can offer other valuable insights to them.

Have you tried embedding videos to your articles? Comment down below on how it gave you an advantage over your competition!

Share on:
Sean Si

About Sean

is a Filipino motivational speaker and a Leadership Speaker in the Philippines. He is the head honcho and editor-in-chief of SEO Hacker. He does SEO Services for companies in the Philippines and Abroad. Connect with him at Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out his new project, Aquascape Philippines.