Liz Pratt is the Marketing Communications Manager for SearchPro Systems.
When putting together an amazing video SEO program, a lot of focus is put on creating some fantastic videos. Once compelling video is created, however, it’s time to promote it. It is at this time that marketers need to make a decision: to host or post video? In other words, is the best choice to post the content to video sharing sites? Or should you host video on your own servers (or use a proprietary video platform?) There are several factors to consider, but in many cases, a combination of the two can optimize your VSEO strategy.
Richard van den Boogard approached this question on www.ReelSEO.com by outlining a set of 19 criteria to consider. If you’d like to read that article, click here: http://www.reelseo.com/video-marketing-strategy-hosted-versus-posted-video/. However, I have simplified the list to a few paragraphs below.
One major thing to keep in mind is cost. Sites such as YouTube will be free, but in order to host video on your site, you may have to pay quite a bit to avoid traffic jams for many viewers at once, or to post a large volume of video content. However, if you’d like to get creative and post video in dimensions outside what YouTube can offer, hosting on your own site would be a great option.
Another factor is the video playlist, which is an effective and attractive way to organize your VSEO content. YouTube allows you to create, edit, or embed them just as you could with a proprietary player. However, Google and YouTube consider playlists when ranking video for Universal Search, so put some serious thought into this option.
If viewership statistics are extremely important in your VSEO strategy, using your own platform could be more beneficial, as YouTube offers only generalized, aggregated information. However, no other site is as embeddable as YouTube, which means if user wants to share your content, it will be fast and easy, pushing you up the Universal Search ranking with more links. A smart middle-ground option is to use YouTube as a video source embedded on your own site, as every view will count as a view on YouTube.
Finally, VSEO isn’t actually about the images in your video, it’s about the descriptive text associated with the video. The title, description, and tags for your video are what will affect your Universal Search rankings, and videos on YouTube are most likely to show up because they usually have higher view rates and thus more authority.
Unless your business has incredibly strong branding and a need to monetize content or post content in dimensions that YouTube doesn’t allow, posting video on sites like YouTube will most likely get you the best ROI for your VSEO investment. However, that doesn’t mean that you should rule out posting on your own site as well, just weigh the options and figure out if the investment is right for your business. Using both, you can leverage the wide reach of video sharing sites to drive traffic to your own site, then provide users with more information and material once they arrive on your page.
SearchPro Systems is a leading New England based national digital marketing firm offering complete end-to-end Universal Search marketing solutions, specializing in video SEO.
SearchPro Systems
2024