Video marketing has gained prominence as a potent force in the digital marketing arena, with an increasing number of companies adopting this approach to captivate their audience and elevate brand awareness. Despite this trend, the question persists: does video marketing genuinely enhance search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns?
A widely circulated hypothesis posits that video content bolsters SEO efforts due to Google’s prioritization of video in search engine results pages (SERPs). As video consumption has surged in recent years, Google and other search engines have adjusted their algorithms to showcase more video content, particularly from platforms like YouTube. Some evidence suggests that incorporating video into a content strategy can boost user engagement, dwell time, and shareability, ultimately leading to higher search rankings. Furthermore, properly optimized videos with keyword-rich titles, descriptions, and transcripts can amplify visibility and attract organic traffic. This hypothesis implies that integrating video content is essential for businesses to remain competitive in the digital landscape and strengthen their SEO performance. However, when Videoquant, a Boston-based tech startup specializing in video data mining, examined this hypothesis, the results proved to be mixed and more nuanced than the marketing hype suggests.
Methodology
In order to assess the influence of video marketing on SEO, Videoquant carried out a statistical analysis in collaboration with a customer in the property and casualty (P&C) insurance sector. This analysis involved examining and comparing organic search engine results page (SERP) positions across brands for a pool of keywords, comparing rank between pages that either contained or lacked video content.
Findings & Discussion
The findings from Videoquant’s study reveal a complex relationship between video marketing and SEO success. On average, video content did not significantly contribute to improved search engine rankings for the P&C keywords analyzed. Pages that featured video content tended to rank no different than their control counterfactuals for the keywords analyzed (p-value = 0.90).
In contrast, it was easy to spot other attributes that did yield statistically significant increases in SEO rank, all else equal. For example, testing by Videoquant revealed that use of JSON-LD boosts SEO rank for the tested P&C insurance keywords by ~30% with statistical significance (p-value = 0.02).
However, the findings present a more nuanced picture than initially meets the eye. In addition to the primary results, Videoquant’s research discovered evidence suggesting that Google selectively boosts page rank for video content, and the keywords studied by Videoquant so happened not to be selected by Google for this boost. Although the tested keywords did not show a significant lift in search engine rankings, there were indications that a substantial breakout could occur with other keywords. This implies that the relationship between video marketing and SEO success may be more intricate than previously thought, with the potential for video content to positively impact search rankings depending on specific keywords or search terms. Testing additional keywords was beyond the scope of this analysis.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Videoquant’s position paper underscores the complexities of the relationship between video marketing and SEO success. As the test results indicate, the mere presence of video does not guarantee improved SEO outcomes. While video content can potentially enhance SEO efforts, the results are not assured due to search engines’ selectivity in boosting SEO through video. Therefore, before committing significant resources to video for the sake of SEO, it is prudent for brands to first test whether their SEO focus aligns with the topic areas where search engines prioritize pages with video content.
References
- Google Search Central. (n.d.). Video best practices. Retrieved from https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/video
- Patel, N. (2020, January 7). How to Get Your Videos to Perform in Search. Neil Patel Digital. Retrieved from https://neilpatel.com/blog/video-seo/
- Smith, C. (2021, June 22). How Video Content Impacts SEO and Organic Traffic. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/video-content-impacts-seo/409226/
- Shewan, D. (2021, May 11). Video SEO: The Definitive Guide. Backlinko. Retrieved from https://backlinko.com/video-seo-guide
- Olenski, S. (2017, February 3). How Video Marketing Creates Immediate SEO Results. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2017/02/03/how-video-marketing-creates-immediate-seo-results/
- Enge, E. (2020, July 14). How YouTube Influences Google SERPs & Why It Matters. Perficient Digital. Retrieved from https://www.perficient.com/insights/research-hub/youtube-and-google-serps-study
- Southern, M. (2021, February 25). Google: Video and Images Will Improve Your Content’s SEO. Search Engine Journal. Retrieved from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-video-images-improve-seo/397527/