Mediarun Search Marketing News

SEO 'crucial when using video for website marketing'

February 5th 2010

Search Engine Optimisation News

Companies are increasingly investing in video as a new way of maximising website promotion and using this to generate SEO (search engine optimisation) benefits, an expert has claimed.

Benjamin Wayne, chief executive of online video solutions provider Fliqz, has told marketing community Econsultancy that it is the website marketing advantages which are leading so many companies to invest in online video.

While admitting that many smaller firms look to services such as YouTube to host these, he claimed that bringing them in-house can improve site stickiness rather than diverting traffic away from the organisation's page.

"If you allow for any type of viral distribution - and you should - the branding on the players is the only way your brand will appear when your video is reposted," he explained.

Mr Wayne added that website marketing objectives that include raising awareness can use a blended approach that includes both hosted and in-house video content for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes.

"[However], if the goal is traffic or conversion, self-hosting is your best strategy," he asserted.

When using video for website marketing, the key mistakes that companies make are failing to incorporate SEO and not correctly implementing the material with the rest of the website.

Mr Wayne told the news resource that video SEO (search engine optimisation) is a neglected goldmine that is often untapped by firms.

He explained: "We've found that most publishers can get 15 per cent or more of their videos to product first-page Google rankings when properly submitted."

All firms must do to get their video considered by Google is submit an XML video site to the search engine and he said the key factor in determining ranking is title.

The chief executive has claimed that website marketing is increasingly focusing on monetising through customer acquisition and conversion.

He stated that this will require video being introduced as part of the company's web marketing mix and will need firms to consider it as more than simply a vehicle for adverts.

This dovetails with research by e-Dialog recently reported on the Econsultancy website which showed that 39 per cent believe that email marketing is decreasing in relevance, which could suggest that alternative methods of website marketing could become more prevalent in 2010.