Do you know that there are at least 26 million e-commerce sites worldwide? It’s a battle for eyeballs out there. E-commerce owners and marketers leave no stone unturned when it comes to attracting more customers. And when we talk about attracting customers, we talk about video content.
E-commerce videos should go beyond captivating your audience. They also need to rank well on search engine results pages (SERPs) to ensure that your products and brand receive the visibility they deserve in the highly competitive online marketplace.
Now, the million-dollar question: “How to make e-commerce videos that are SEO-friendly?”
We’ll dive into crucial SEO-boosting elements that every e-commerce video must incorporate to ensure it stands out in a crowded digital marketplace and maximizes its potential for success.
Whether you’re a seasoned e-commerce expert or just dipping your toes into the world of online retail, these essential elements will help you create compelling and discoverable video content that elevates your brand and drives sales.
Why Do Your E-commerce Videos Need to Be SEO-Friendly?
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But, before we get into the nitty details, let’s find out why you need to pay more attention to SEO when creating your videos. So, why is it important? E-commerce videos need to be SEO-friendly for several compelling reasons:
Increased Visibility
Search engine optimization (SEO) can help your e-commerce videos appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs).
That means that when potential customers search for products or information related to your business, an SEO-friendly video is more likely to be seen. This can result in a more promising brand’s visibility.
Higher Click-Through Rates
Videos (whether it’s animated explainer videos, tutorial videos, product videos, etc.) are known to have higher click-through rates (CTRs) in search results compared to text-based content. When your e-commerce video appears in search results, it often stands out visually.
Thumbnails, titles, and descriptions that are optimized for SEO can capture the user’s attention. These elements provide a sneak peek into the content and give users a reason to click on your video.
Human beings are naturally drawn to visual content, and a compelling video thumbnail can be a powerful magnet.
Enhanced User Experience
SEO-friendly videos often have better-structured metadata, including titles, descriptions, and tags. This not only helps search engines understand your content but also improves the user experience.
When your audiences find relevant and well-described videos, they are more likely to engage with your brand because of the convenience they get from watching the content.
Long-Term Marketing Investment
Improving your SEO efforts aren’t an overnight practice. It takes consistency and patience before you can see the visible result. That all said, once you nail it, it can provide long-lasting benefits.
Once your video starts ranking well, it can continue to drive organic traffic and conversions over time without the need for constant advertising spend.
SEO-Boosting Elements For Your E-commerce Videos
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To ensure that your e-commerce videos are optimized for search engines and can achieve higher rankings in search results, consider incorporating these SEO-boosting elements:
Keyword-Based Titles
Keywords are the rule of thumb of SEO, in general. Identify relevant keywords and phrases related to your products or content. Then, integrate these keywords naturally into your video title, description, and transcript.
Keyword-based titles are directly aligned with the core theme and content of your video. They include specific keywords or key phrases that users are likely to use when searching for products or information related to your e-commerce business.
These keywords should reflect the main focus of your e-commerce video, whether it’s a product demonstration, a how-to guide, or an informational piece.
High-Quality Content
At the end of the day, it will come down to one thing: the quality of your e-commerce video itself.
No matter how hard you try for the SEO practice, if your content doesn’t really have anything to offer in the first place, it will all go in vain.
So, focus on creating video content that provides value to your audience. Well-crafted e-commerce videos that provide genuine value and information help establish trust and credibility with your audience.
When viewers perceive your video as a reliable source of information, they are more likely to trust your brand and make informed decisions about your products or services.
Compelling Thumbnails
Along with the title, thumbnails are the first things your audience sees when they find your e-commerce video. Compelling thumbnails are a critical aspect of video SEO and can significantly influence a viewer’s decision to click and engage with your content.
You can use your education experience with design graphic tools Canva, Visme, Picsart, Photoshop, etc., to create an engaging custom thumbnail.
Remember, the most effective thumbnails are both relevant to the video’s content and accurately represent what viewers can expect. Misleading or unrelated thumbnails may lead to clicks, but they often result in frustrated users who quickly exit the video.
Even worse, search engines may penalize such tactics, so it’s essential to maintain alignment between the thumbnail, title, and content.
Length and Watch Time
The length of your e-commerce video plays a pivotal role in user engagement. Shorter videos are typically better for delivering quick, concise messages, while longer videos allow for more in-depth coverage.
The ideal video length varies depending on your target audience and the nature of your content. Generally, videos between 2 to 5 minutes are popular, but product demos or tutorials might benefit from longer durations.
Balance is key here. Strive for a length that provides valuable information without overwhelming or losing your audience’s interest. Test different video lengths to find what resonates best with your viewers.
Meanwhile, search engines, particularly YouTube and Google, consider watch time as a key factor in determining a video’s ranking. Videos that keep viewers watching longer tend to rank higher.
Transcripts and Closed Captions
By providing text-based alternatives to your video content, you cater to a variety of user preferences.
Some viewers may prefer to read the content, especially in situations where audio playback is not practical or when they are in a quiet environment. Others might have hearing impairments.
This flexibility enhances user engagement, as viewers can choose their preferred mode of consumption.
Transcripts and closed captions provide a textual representation of your video’s content. Search engines can crawl and index this text, which aids in understanding the video’s topic and relevance to specific keywords.
Mobile Optimization
About 90% of consumers use their mobile devices to watch video content– thanks to the rise of social media video content. This staggering number makes it obvious for e-commerce businesses that they have to cater to the mobile audience.
Starts with using responsive video players. These players automatically adapt to various screen sizes and resolutions to make sure that your videos are viewable and functional on a wide range of mobile devices without distortion or loss of quality.
Beyond video players, the overall design of your e-commerce website and video pages must be mobile-friendly. This includes responsive web design principles, such as ensuring that text, images, and video elements are appropriately sized and formatted for mobile screens.
Also, one thing to bear in mind here is that mobile users are often on the go and have limited patience for slow-loading content. That’s why mobile-optimized videos should load quickly to prevent user frustration and high bounce rates. Faster loading times also positively influence your SEO rankings, too.
Consistent Branding
Consistent branding ensures that all visual elements associated with your e-commerce videos, such as logos, colors, fonts, and graphics, align with your brand’s established design guidelines. When viewers encounter your videos, the presence of consistent branding elements reinforces brand recognition and makes your video more customer-centric.
Over time, as viewers become familiar with your brand’s visual identity, they are more likely to trust your content and products, ultimately leading to stronger brand loyalty.
Not to mention that a uniform and well-executed visual identity suggests professionalism and attention to detail. It conveys to viewers that your business is established, trustworthy, and invested in delivering quality content and products.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What e-commerce videos should I create for SEO?
A: When creating e-commerce videos for SEO, consider a variety of video types to cater to different stages of the customer journey and diverse search intent. For example, product demonstrations, tutorial videos, customer testimonials, etc.
Q: How often should I update my e-commerce video content for SEO?
A: The frequency of video content updates can vary based on your industry, products, and marketing goals. Regularly refreshing product videos, especially when there are changes or updates, is important. Additionally, creating new videos to address current trends, customer questions, or industry developments can help maintain a fresh and relevant video strategy.
Q: What should I do after I include all the SEO-Busting elements above?
A: Regularly track the performance of your videos using analytics tools. Pay attention to metrics such as views, watch time, engagement, click-through rates, and conversions.
Wrapping Up
Incorporating the essential SEO-boosting elements into your e-commerce video strategy and diligently following through with post-production actions propel your brand to new heights. These actions ensure that your videos not only capture the attention of your audience but also secure a prominent place on search engine results pages. Remember that the digital landscape evolves, and staying on the cutting edge of video SEO is an ongoing process.
Author
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
Twitter: @breadnbeyond
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: Andre Oentoro