Google has released a number of innovative features in recent years that have enabled eCommerce business owners to stand out from the crowd. From keyword and site architecture to on-page SEO and technical SEO – there are so many options. Yet another to join the ranks in recent months has been video for eCommerce.
It almost seems like video and eCommerce are now working hand in hand, with site owners being able to take advantage of several benefits with just a few minor site changes. If you’re ready to take your eCommerce site to the next level, here’s how Google may help you to do it.
Understanding How Product Videos Work
Before you get the camera rolling to produce a product video for your eCommerce site, take a moment to understand how they work in relation to Google. See how other people are doing it, and you may get to grips with the benefits a lot faster.
You can see videos on the Google Search results page and also on the videos tab. Often, they come with summary text, a playback duration, and a thumbnail image. In recent months, Google has also introduced a key moments feature. This lets you navigate certain video sections to find the most relevant parts to you.
For example, if you need to learn how to install a radiator in a car, you don’t have to watch the entire car building video to find it. Instead, you can skip to the part that shows you how.
Using Video On Your eCommerce Site’s Product Pages
One of the best places to include video on your eCommerce site is on your product pages. They can be instructional videos for how something works or installs or a simple video that shows the target market using the product. While there’s nothing wrong with imagery on a website, a video can add another element that helps people make a purchasing decision. It also doesn’t hurt that your video may appear in Google Search.
Putting Videos into Blog Posts and Articles
Product reviews are a big part of online shopping. If you are posting an article or blog post that compares one branded product with another, a video can improve the user experience.
You can even include videos in your blog posts about what your company has been up to, such as new product manufacturing, community ventures, or something else.
Connecting Videos with Social Media
Every week, 45% of YouTube and Facebook users watch over an hour of videos. Of those videos, 85% on social media will be watched without sound. Videos certainly have their place on your eCommerce site, but they also have value on social media platforms.
Fortunately, many of the leading social media platforms manage indexing for you, so there’s no need to worry about improving your video exposure on these platforms.
Running Livestreams
If your eCommerce site has all the bells and whistles, including live stream embedding, you can use these features to your advantage. You can schedule live streams, or run them at random, to interact with your many customers and would-be customers. If you use Broadcast Event structured data along with Indexing API, you can also have a ‘LIVE’ badge appear to garner more interest.
Live streamers that record while they stream can also get additional bang for their buck by embedding their live streamed video on their website for later viewing.
Adding Video Structured Data
If you’re not familiar with the inner workings of your website, it can be worth relying on a digital marketing team for this step.
For your best chance of having Google recognise your video on Search, include video structured data on any pages with video content. This multi-step process involves adding specific properties, validating your code, and making sure your page is accessible to Google.
Give Your Videos Their Own Page
Even though you can include videos on your product pages, blogs, and articles, it can sometimes be beneficial to give them their own page, as well. The type of traffic you get from a video with its own page may be different from that you’d see when that visual content is mixed in with other information. There’s no harm in duplicating the video across more than one page on your site.
Submit a Video Sitemap File
To make sure Google can find the video content within all your web pages, create and submit a video sitemap file. A sitemap has extra information about the videos you have on your web pages that may not be easily discovered during site crawling.
There is more than one way to go about this process. You could create a separate sitemap for the video or embed a video sitemap within your existing sitemap. You can also host more than one video on a web page. With this option, each sitemap entry is the URL for a page with one or multiple videos. You just have to make sure that each site map has fewer than 50,000 URL elements. If you’re unsure how to create a video sitemap file, consult an SEO and marketing business for help.
Benefits of Video Marketing
It might seem like a lot of hard work to include videos on your eCommerce site, but it can be worth it. Many business owners have reaped the rewards of making a few small changes to accommodate this latest feature.
More Views
Would you prefer to read an essay or watch a video to learn how to do something? It goes without saying that a video will be a far more popular option for instructional purposes. You may also experience more views on your video than if you simply posted a video transcript on its own.
Google Prefers Them
The next time you search for something in Google, notice how the search engine shows you the results. In many situations, video is the more prominent offering, followed by helpful articles.
While you may optimise any blogs or articles you write about something, it’s worth putting the same SEO effort into your videos. The views and conversions may just surprise you.
They Make Your Business More Credible
Every day, around 18,000 scam websites make their way onto the internet. Sometimes, they list fake products for sale that you never receive. It’s no wonder that some online buyers have trust issues.
Fortunately, you can gain the trust of your customers with video. After all, what kind of scammer would go through the effort of creating a video about their company, morals, values, and products if their goal was to make fast money?
Is It Time to Look at Video for eCommerce?
Whether you’re trying to improve your digital presence, or you simply want to take advantage of Google’s many innovative features, there’s value in dabbling in video. Why not try your hand at creating a video today? You never know how important it might be to your eCommerce store’s popularity and sales.
FAQs
What is video structured data, and how does it impact SEO?
Video structured data is a specific format of markup that provides additional information about videos to search engines, helping them understand and index the video content more effectively. This can improve SEO by increasing visibility and rankings in search results.
What are some best practices for using videos in eCommerce?
Best practices for using videos in eCommerce include incorporating them on product pages to showcase product features, using instructional videos to aid in the purchasing decision, and leveraging videos in blog posts and articles for enhanced user experience.
