How Video Can Boost Your SEO + Tips & Content Ideas

When a person lands on your website whether they’ve come through a Google Search or a social media post or maybe even a paid online advert, you’ve got mere seconds to grab their attention and get them engaged.

What's one of the best way to engage visitors? 

VIDEO!

Why?
1. Because people are lazy and don't want to read reams and reams of text
​2. People love consuming video

The trend is clear when you see how social media platforms are focussing more and more on video content. TikTok is ONLY video and with its huge success, the once deemed "image sharing platform" Instagram is scrambling to get a piece of the short form video pie with their recent focus being placed on Reels.

So, given the popularity of video, there are several benefits to using video content on your website including:

• Improving SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) - we'll look at how and why
• Increasing engagement
• Getting more conversions (calls, enquiries, bookings)

In this blog, we'll look at how video can help you do all of the above PLUS we have a lots of video content ideas and a list of DO's and DON'Ts when it comes to video content.

Interested in learning more?  Read on...

How Video Content Improves SEO

We all know about the importance of SEO but how can video help? Quite a lot actually!

Video is becoming one of the most important aspects of content marketing and can really help to improve your organic search ranking.

• Videos were found to be 53x more likely to generate 1st page rankings than other traditional SEO techniques according to Forrester.
  
  
• Google is reportedly putting video thumbnails to approximately 1 in 4 search results and when they do, users are more likely to click on them.
  
  
• It is also rumoured that Google prioritises search results with video but this has not been explicitly declared by Google.
  
  
• If your video content is something that people would want to share, you can get more backlinks to your website  – another big tick for the Google algorithm :)

​More Engagement = More Time Spent on your Website = Good for SEO

Another way video helps your SEO is that Google rewards sites where users spend more time, and studies show that people spend twice as long on a web page that has video content than one without.

​Time spent on a website helps search engines to figure out how valuable that result was to the user. If someone immediately leaves, clearly the site wasn't what they wanted and so the search engine will see it as a poor result. But if someone spends time browsing the information on the site, it must be relevant and a better match for what they were searching for.

Because most people prefer to consume video rather than reading heaps of text - in fact, most won't – they'll simply skim, skip, or bounce, engaging video content can be a super simple way to keep people on your website for longer.

Any old video will do...right?

WRONG!

Be careful - you can't just start adding random video content to your website in the hopes that it will dramatically improve your SEO overnight. 

Quality is KEY.

I'm not necessarily talking about production quality though - it's more to do with how useful, valuable, helpful, or entertaining the video content is. Google will actually punish websites that have poor quality video content. When users start bouncing off your page because the video content is rubbish, Google will realise that your page isn't valuable and your ranking will plummet.

Also, your video needs context, so make sure the content of the video is relevant to the page it is embedded on. Write meaningful content and back it up with relevant imagery too. This gives you the added opportunity to include important keywords for the search engines.

So it's really important to give careful consideration to the videos you create.
​Ask yourself what you are trying to achieve in creating it? How will it help the visitor?
​

​Improving Engagement & Conversions

Here's a key stat: 72% of people would rather use video to learn about a product or service according to Hubspot and the average user spends 88% more time on a website that has video.

These are significant stats.

​Videos are powerful not just because they can power up your SEO and keep people on your website for longer, they also act as your round the clock "sales and marketing team", always there to deliver the information to your website visitors at any time of the day or night.

So much can be achieved with video.

Here are some examples of what you can do:

1. Build KLT (Know, Like and Trust): By using explainer videos, you can put the face (or faces) behind the brand front and centre. People buy from people so it's important to show that you're not just a faceless corporation. It gives you the ability to show your personality and allow people to get to know and like you. It's much easier to tell from watching a video whether you think this person will be a good fit for you or not. Putting yourself on camera also helps build trust.
   
   
2. Behind The Scenes: People LOVE seeing "under the hood" so use it as an opportunity to give them a look at your studio or a behind the scenes of a photoshoot so they get an understanding of what the experience is like and can therefore start imagining themselves in that situation. It's a great way to add real authenticity to your brand as well.
   
   
3. Product Demos: Video is a great way to show off what products you offer, how they work, their unique features and how people use it in their homes. Again, you're allowing people to start imagining having those products for themselves and they haven't even booked you yet! 
   
   
4. Answer FAQs or Handle Objections: Empower your website visitors to find the information they need by creating videos to answer questions you get asked all the time or to handle common objections. People like being able to help themselves to the info they need, especially if they've just discovered you, and it will help to move the user further along the journey to becoming a client.
   
   
5. Educational / Helpful Content: Show your expertise and build trust as a thought leader by offering helpful information, tips or "how-tos" that you know your target audience will value. 
   
   
6. Client Stories: A client telling their story of working with you is so powerful. Anyone can make up a written testimonial but seeing a real person on video is a great way to add authenticity and trustworthiness. There's no better way to showcase how working with you has helped them than using video.

​Video Content Ideas & Tips

​Explainer / Introductory Videos:

• Allows you to build KLT (Know Like Trust)
• Remember that people buy from people so put yourself in front of the camera (for a change)
• Empower your visitors to find the information they need
• Demonstrate your unique personality to attract people you'll connect with
• Introduce yourself (plus any other team members) and your business and what you do for your clients - remember, it’s all about them, not you.
• What problems can you solve for your client? How do you make their lives better?
• What can they expect from working with you?
• Address common objections that you regularly come across
• Answer frequently asked questions
• Show behind-the-scenes of the experience you offer
• Share a tip or a snippet of advice (think about your target audience - what kind of things would be helpful / inspiring / entertaining even?)

​Product Videos:
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According to Invodo, 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them feel more confident about going ahead and making a purchase. Ok, you may not be selling products directly from your website as with an e-commerce store, but you are still selling products, so why not give your clients the opportunity to see what you have to offer.

There are multiple benefits for doing this:

• You’re educating people on your products
• Make sure you show the products and not just talk about them
• Demonstrate their features, how they work, how they can be displayed or used within the home, the benefits of buying from you etc. This helps people to imagine how they’d use the product in their own lives.
• You’re helping to filter out people who just want “the digitals”
• You’re planting that seed of desire for products early in the process, before they even book you
• Your clients will have a much clearer picture of what they want to buy before they even enter the sales room 
• If you can’t have an in-person pre-shoot consultation with your client to show them the products, a video is a great alternative to have that you can send to them

​DO’S & DON’TS

✅ DO have a clear goal in mind for each video you create
✅ DO embed the video directly onto a page on your website
❌ DON’T create a page with JUST the video on it
✅ DO add subtitles or close captions - 80% of people are more likely to watch it
✅ DO ensure the video is surrounded by relevant, related content so there’s clear context
✅ DO create content that answers questions a prospective client might have
✅ DO provide value through your video content
✅ DO consider adding a video to every blog post to keep your content fresh and engaging
✅ DO add your video content to YouTube which will also help boost your SEO and drive more traffic
❌ DON'T forget to include your titles, tags, descriptions and choose an eye-catching thumbnail image or create one from scratch to use 
​

Conclusion

If video hasn't been a part of your content marketing strategy up to now, we recommend you put it on your agenda pronto!

As we've seen, not only does it help improve your SEO, it also helps to improve engagement on your website and ultimately lead to more clients taking action and booking you as their photographer.