The Ultimate Guide to Video Content

Video content is essential for driving SEO, traffic  and engagement. It significantly boosts rankings, increases click-through rates, and improves dwell time, which search engines favour. To succeed, create videos that meet user needs and provide value, not just trends.

Effective video types for SEO include explainer videos, product demos, tutorials and customer testimonials. Placement is crucial – use videos on landing pages, blogs, product pages, YouTube and social media. Optimise videos with keyword-rich titles, descriptions, filenames, custom thumbnails and schema markup.

Track success through performance metrics, traffic, rankings and conversions. A strategic, quality-focused approach to video content maximises SEO results.

How to Use Video Content to Drive Rankings, Traffic and Engagement

If there’s one type of content that, more so than ever, has become essential to any successful digital marketing and SEO strategy, it’s video content.

Whether you’re running a small business or overseeing the marketing activity for a growing company, understanding the sheer power and potential of video content can be a huge boost to your efforts.

The numbers don’t lie:

• Video content is 50 times more likely to achieve organic page rank (especially in the immersive, AI-led searches we’ve come to expect nowadays)
• Video makes up approximately 82.5% of all global internet traffic
• For SEOs, video can dramatically increase organic traffic to pages from SERPs (as much as 157% in some cases)

Creating video content isn’t, contrary to popular belief, about following trends and capitalising on hype. It’s about delivering your message and value proposition in a way that meets your audience’s needs, and through a type of media that they are regularly and actively consuming.

Consumers want to see more video content from brands, and search engine algorithms have begun to favour content that keeps users engaged and provides answers to their queries.

For small business owners and marketing teams, the opportunity lies in capturing market share through a medium that your competitors aren’t doing as well. The challenge lies in creating a video that:

• Engages your audience
• Performs well in search

This guide will show you exactly how to integrate video into your SEO strategy, understanding why search engines increasingly value video content and ways that you can boost your rankings.

Why is Video Content Important for SEO?

Video and SEO go ‌hand-in-hand, more than you might realise at first impression. Video content addresses several poignant and important ranking factors that search engines use to determine content quality and relevance. These factors are important to understand if you are to position video effectively into your SEO strategy.

Videos Improve Dwell Time and Engagement

When users land on a page with video content, they typically stick around for longer. This increased dwell time sends positive signals to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant to the user’s query. For example, a well-made explainer video can keep visitors on your page for several minutes, compared to the seconds spent skim-reading a page of text. Video content also encourages interaction through comments, shares, and social engagement, all of which are behavioural signals which indirectly contribute to your page’s authority.

Video Thumbnails Appear in in SERPs as Rich Snippets

For a while, search engines have displayed video thumbnails directly in search results, depending on the nature of the search query. This creates rich snippets that stand out from the traditional top 10 text-based listings. These types of snippets appear for various types of content, such as product demos and how-to tutorials, videos of which qualify well for informational searches such as “how to use [product],” which can help your content rank prominently in search pages.

Videos Can Increase Click-Through Rates (CTRs) from Search

The visual nature of video thumbnails naturally draws attention in search results. Users are more likely to click on results that include video previews, leading to improved click-through rates across your content. This creates a positive feedback loop, as search engines interpret higher CTRs as an indicator of content relevance and quality.

Video content can appear in various places, such as Google’s video search results, YouTube search, and even Discover feeds. This creates additional opportunities for discoverability and engagement.

Google is Focusing More on Helpful, Interactive Content

Search engines continue to evolve towards providing more comprehensive, personalised answers to user queries, particularly with the advent of AI Mode which delivers Gemini chatbot-influenced search experiences. Google’s emphasis on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) still exists for traditional search, and aligns well with video content’s ability to demonstrate experience and expertise in ways that text alone cannot.

If you showcase your knowledge and expertise through demonstrations, explanations, case studies, and authentically, this visual proof can strengthen your content’s authority and establish your brand as a trusted source in your sector.

Types of Video Content That Work for SEO

Not all video content performs equally well for SEO purposes. It’s important to distinguish the types that your audience are actively going to benefit from; they should be prioritised before any search engine.

Here are the most effective types to tick both boxes.

 

• Explainer videos – These address common questions in your industry, targeting long-tail keywords and question-based searches. When you create focused explainer videos that address how your product or service works, or explains common industry terminology, you’re maintaining topical relevance and helping the search engine understand your content’s purpose. Structure them to start with the core question, provide a clear explanation, and include practical examples.
• Product demos – Product demonstration videos help customers understand how your products or services work in action, and they can be particularly helpful for businesses selling products, software or goods. These present good opportunities to target commercial intent keywords, and if you focus on demonstrating solutions to specific problems rather than just listing features, with a clear CTA (call to action) at the end, you’re creating valuable video SEO content.
• How-to guides or tutorials – Informational tutorial and instructional content consistently perform well because they address specific user intent with actionable information. These videos often appear in featured snippets and how-to carousels, targeting high-value informational keywords. Include step-by-step instructions, clear visuals and detailed explanations. Consider creating tutorial series that cover adjacent or related subjects to establish topical authority and encourage exploration of your content library.
• Customer testimonials – Case studies provide social proof of your product or service in the words of real people, whilst targeting searches pertaining to your brand, which may include local SEO queries. These are helpful for service-based businesses looking to build trust and authority in their local market. If you can focus on specific problems solved and outcomes rather than arbitrary praise, including details about specific situations, challenges and results, this will help you rank well for solution-focused keywords while building credibility for your brand.

There are other types of content you can create in video formats, including (but not limited to):

 

• Webinar or livestream replays
• Repurposed blog or article content
• BTS (behind-the-scenes) videos

Where to Use Video Content in Your SEO Strategy

Your video placement can dramatically influence its SEO success. Understanding where to embed videos and how to capitalise on their placement will be key in helping you drive engagement, traffic, and rankings.

Consider the following options:

Website landing pages

Homepage and primary landing page videos can profoundly improve engagement metrics. Keep them concise and focused on your primary value proposition. Consider hero section videos or backgrounds that automatically play on mute to capture attention without distracting from your primary CTA.

Blog posts

Embed contextually relevant videos that supplement long-format written content, provide context or serve as an alternative type of content consumption. When adding to blog posts, ensure they’re relevant, add value, and placed strategically within the post, such as an explanatory video alongside written step-by-step instructions, or a service explainer video alongside technical prose.

Product or service pages

Videos on these types of pages (that address common questions and reinforce product or service value) can reduce bounce rates and increase the average time spent on these pages, while providing valuable information users may need in their purchasing journey. Address specific concerns or answer pertinent questions related to each product or service. Consider this content for installation guides, usage instructions, or like-for-like comparison videos to aid user understanding and comprehension about your offering(s).

Your business’s YouTube channel

As the second-largest search engine worldwide, YouTube is essential for omnichannel SEO strategies. Treat it as a content hub that supports your website and SEO goals with consistent branding and clear CTAs. Create playlists that mirror your website structure to aid comprehension and drive traffic back to those key pages.

Social media posts

While social signals don’t directly impact rankings, videos that perform well on social platforms often attract links, mentions and brand searches that do influence SEO. Create videos in the correct dimensions for your chosen social platform(s), whether it’s Instagram Reels or Stories, vertical versions for TikTok posts, and landscape versions for YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn. Don’t duplicate your posts like for like across all platforms – carefully consider what would work best for your goals and audience, and tweak accordingly.

How to Optimise Video for SEO Success

One of the key areas for concern for SME owners and solo marketers is the technical optimisation strategies that are necessary for video content SEO success. Successfully optimising video content requires a comprehensive approach.

Keyword-optimised titles, tags and descriptions

YouTube metadata includes titles, descriptions, categories and tags. Video SEO begins with thorough keyword research that considers how your audience searches for video content. Create compelling titles that incorporate your target keywords naturally, while accurately describing the video content. Avoid clickbait titles that don’t deliver on your promise, as this can hurt engagement metrics and rankings. Write detailed descriptions that provide context for both users and search engines, with keywords included naturally throughout while remaining engaging and accurate and add relevant tags that describe your video content and industry.

Correct filenames

Before uploading any videos, rename files from “video_001.mp4” to “how-to-install-kitchen-cabinets.mp4,” which is relatively simple in providing additional context for search engines. Use hyphens to separate words in filenames and avoid special characters or spaces.

Custom thumbnails

Custom thumbnails can dramatically improve CTRs and influence how well your videos rank in search. Create visually enticing thumbnails that accurately represent your video content and stand out in organic search. Make sure to add text overlays where appropriate, ensuring its readable on mobile devices. Use consistent branding elements across thumbnails to build recognition and trust.

Video sitemaps

These sitemaps help search engines discover and index your video content more effectively. Include titles, descriptions, duration, and thumbnail URLs in your sitemap. Submit these through Google Search Console to ensure proper indexing. Update these sitemaps as you add more video content, keeping tabs on any indexing issues or errors in Search Console.

Schema markup

Implement video schema to provide search engines with detailed information about your video content, and by extension, help them appear in rich search results and video carousels. Include the same key information (title, description, upload date, duration, and thumbnail) in schema markup.

Channel optimisation

Create a comprehensive YouTube channel that reflects your brand well and supports your SEO objectives. Use your primary business keywords in your channel name and write an optimised channel description that explains what viewers can expect from your content. Organise your sections properly, featuring your most important videos and themed playlists that group related videos together. These can rank in video search results themselves, helping viewers discover more of your content.

Transcriptions and captions

For each video, add accurate transcripts and captions to improve accessibility and SEO performance. YouTube can index caption text, giving you additional opportunities to rank for relevant keywords and search terms. Make sure captions include relevant keywords naturally and avoid keyword stuffing.

Cards, end screens and CTAs

Use YouTube’s built-in features to guide viewers to additional content and drive traffic to your site. End screens can promote related videos, encourage signups or subscriptions, or direct viewers to your website. Include clear CTAs that tell viewers what to do next, whether it’s adding comments, subscriptions, or website visits. Clarity is everything.

Measuring Video SEO Success 

Track relevant metrics that demonstrate video content’s impact on your SEO and business objectives.

• Performance metrics: Monitor views, watch time, and engagement rates across all platforms to gain insights into content quality and relevance. Track average view duration and audience retention to understand which content resonates most with viewers. Use this data to tweak, improve and optimise video content, both existing and future.
• Traffic: Measure how effective your videos are at driving referral traffic to your website. Explore referral traffic from YouTube, your social media video posts, and embedded videos on your site to get a clear picture. Use UTM parameters in video descriptions and CTAs to accurately track traffic sources and campaign performance. This helps you identify which videos have supported your lead generation and conversion efforts.
• Page ranking: Monitor how videos affect your page rankings for target keywords. Track ranking improvements or drops for pages where you’ve added video content and compare performance vs pages without video. Use Google Search Console to track clicks, impressions, and average position improvements for pages with video content. Use tools like GA4 (Google Analytics 4) to track user behaviour, exploring metrics like time on page, bounce rate, and goal completions.
• Conversions: Track lead generation, email signups, and sales attributable to video content to get a sense of how video is impacting your conversion rates. Set up goal tracking in GA4 to monitor specific actions taken by users who engage with video content.

Maximise Your Video Content Strategy with Expert SEO

There aren’t any ‘hacks’ or ‘tricks’ to achieving overnight video SEO success. The real strategy lies in starting methodically rather than trying to create everything at once. Start by identifying one type of video content that aligns with your expertise and audience needs, whether that’s an explainer video, product demo, customer testimonial, or how-to guide. Focus on quality over quantity, ensuring each video provides genuine value to your audience first, and supports search engines second.

Creating compelling, engaging and effective video content is just, however, one piece of a broader SEO strategy. At Artemis, we help businesses like yours develop and implement top-tier SEO strategies that leverage all types of content (video included) to drive meaningful results for your business. We craft tailored SEO and digital marketing strategies tailored to your specific sector, audience, and business goals.

If you’re considering ways to improve your online presence and would like to explore ways that Artemis and our bespoke digital marketing services can help you, get in touch with us today!