Search Engine Journal has covered a recent video conference for webmasters where John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, answered users’ questions. The focus was on adding videos to web pages and the impact of videos on the search results.
One of the users asked about the difference between a video and a static image above the heading for a news site’s content. Mueller answered that there’s no difference: web pages with video and pictures got similar rankings. Besides, he recommended to think how the video was used in the search results: for example, if users see a video thumbnail, that is going to be treated as helpful content. The same is true for images: they can be displayed in the Top Stories Carousel.
Another question touched enchanted listings: where exactly should you place a video on a web page -- closer to the top or somewhere else? Mueller explained that search robots evaluated the video’s function on a web page -- whether it’s central or secondary. The position doesn’t affect that assessment.
Also, John Mueller reminded that it was necessary to analyze the contribution of each of the page elements to the overall perception of its content and the impact on compliance with user expectations.
You can watch the full video on the official Google Webmasters channel.
SEO–expert commentary:
«Adding videos to web pages can improve behavioral factors on your site. Users spend more time on pages that contain videos, which reduces the bounce rate in the analytics. It is important to choose high-quality and helpful videos that can explain the topic of the article from a different angle. Adding random videos that are more or less related to the site’s niche can worsen the user experience on the site».
Technologist SEO-expert of the SEO.RU Company
Konstantin Abdullin
