Video Search, What is it, and How can it help your business?

Until recently, a video has been a somewhat neglected media when it comes to digital marketing strategies. That is until consumer behavior started to change on a large scale. Market analysts have been announcing for some time now that video is gaining momentum and Cisco Annual Internet Report (2018–2023) confirmed their predictions.

According to Cisco’s extensive report, by the start of 2023, the video will dominate consumer internet traffic, making up over 82 percent of it. Having that in mind, it was high time all those who didn’t use video sufficiently in their campaigns jumped on board with the trend.

To successfully build digital marketing campaigns and SEO services around videos, it is necessary to understand how video search engines work in the first place and learn ways video can help your business.

What is Video Search?

Like the name says it, and as you surely figured out in practice, video search simply means just that – searching for video. There are three common ways of doing it, all equally used and performed by millions every day:

  • Video search using Google search bar or video section
  • Video search on social media
  • Video search on YouTube, Vimeo, and other video streaming services

You have probably used all three methods numerous times, just as billions of people have been doing every day. The thing that digital marketers should particularly be interested in is why people are searching for particular videos and implement the finding in their SEO services and digital campaigns.

Why are people searching for videos?

There are three fundamental reasons behind most video search attempts.

  • The first one would be to escape from reality and focus attention on something different than everyday activities.
  • The second is to connect with someone. Google’s study has revealed that more than 50 percent of video searchers are trying to find confirmation that other people struggle with the same things as they do. For example, searching for common ground with those battling addictions or looking for a community of comic lovers.
  • The third reason and probably the most frequent one is learning something new. Product reviews and how-to videos take top places on YouTube’s most viewed videos list.

Now, how can you implement this and improve your business?

Familiarise yourself with your video audience.

The key to a successful marketing campaign is to deliver the right content to the right audience at the right time. That is way trickier to perform than using written content in either paid or organic marketing.

The reason for this lies in the fact that there is a significant difference between audiences on different video platforms. Having a perfectly structured campaign for academic professors will yield no fruitful results if you direct it to TikTok.

In other words, before you start crafting a video campaign, think about your target audience and choose a video platform accordingly. Once you figured out the platform’s demographics, you need to narrow your target audience further. The best way to do it is to walk in their footsteps and reverse engineer the video search process.

Type in search phrases that are relevant to your niche and track where they’ll lead you. Pay attention to how particular keywords get autocompleted. Finally, study the successful competition and think about how you could provide better content than the one they are offering.

Establish prompt and impactful connection with the video searcher

Once you figured out what your target audience was, the next step is to think about how to connect with them quickly and impact-fully. A general rule is, people want precise information in the shortest possible time. Therefore, understanding what your audience wants and providing exactly that quickly and efficiently is essential for successful video marketing.

Unless your video grabs viewers’ attention from the moment they open it and starts providing answers simultaneously, there is a great chance they will move on to another video from the video search results page. Once it happens, the chances they’ll come back to your video are usually minimal.

Know how the video platform you choose operates

Remember how much effort you keep investing in figuring out how the Google search algorithm works to adapt your SEO services and improve your search ranking? The same attitude should apply to your video platform of choice.

Learn all you can about how the search algorithm works on the platform. Try to figure out what criteria it uses to rank and feature videos. Once you come up with results, do the A/B testing of your videos to see which performs better in search.

Optimise video for SEO

There are several SEO features that videos need to implement to improve the chances of being featured in search results. That is what you should pay particular attention to:

  • Keep the video short. Getting straight to the point without much fluff is the number one criteria for a successful video. Naturally, the optimal length depends on the topic covered. 10-minute videos explaining how to boil an egg and how to build a house stand equally minimal chances of being clicked on.
  • Transcribe the script. A transcribed text within a video significantly makes it easier for Googlebots to crawl the content faster and more accurately. The same applies if you add crafty video descriptions. As a result, your video will get indexed and ranked faster.
  • Content optimisation. Having relevant and properly formatted headlines and content in general also improves crawling. If you add meta descriptions and tags, the crawling and ranking potential will additionally improve.
  • Don’t forget the thumbnails. Attention-grabbing thumbnails are the key to securing rewarding click through rates. They need to contain relevant keywords and include a hint assuring the viewers will get their answers once they clicked on your video.

In summary, understanding how video search works, choosing the right platform, pinpointing audience, and optimising video content in line with SEO requirements will take substantial effort. Will that affect your business? Immensely, and that’s what makes it all worthwhile.

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