Editorial Articles

Tal Rubenczyk of Treepodia explains the importance to retailers of video SEO.

If your business has anything to do with the web there's no need to explain the importance of SEO.

In fact, you probably spend a fair amount of time and money engaged on it already. But is it possible you're running to stand still, missing out on the obvious goldmine sitting right in front of your virtual door? If you have video content on your website, then in all likelihood the answer is 'yes'.

How could that be? Easy enough. Most web users (including e-commerce experts) simply don't know that in order to have your videos indexed by the Google crawlers, you must actively inform Google that such content exists.

We've long relied on the automated nature of the Google crawlers and assumed that all content is created equally, but that's not true.

First there's the inequality in the issue of indexing as mentioned above - videos must be actively submitted in order to be indexed.

Second, there's an inequality in terms of page importance, which is weighted in favour of your video content, placing a higher value on pages with video. In practical terms that means that when your pages with video content are properly indexed, they are automatically ranked at the top of Google's search results (hence the SEO enhancement).

So how do you make certain that your most valuable content is being indexed? One answer is to use a Dynamic Video Sitemap, which exposes all of your video content (including each video's title, description, tags, duration and more), to Google, Bing and other major search engines.

The dynamic nature of this service is critical, in that it is able to update any changes made to your videos in real-time, re-submitting the relevant information directly to Google, so that your most up-to-date content is always being found.

For example, OnlineGolf, Europe's leading online golf retailer, went from 0 video results in Google Video to 1,560 video results within 24 hours of submitting their Dynamic Video Sitemap.

TruffleShuffle, an online retailer of retro t-shirts, also showed positive results in terms of search results, with popular products such as their Elmo Rainbow T-Shirt immediately jumping to the top of page one on Google. Similarly, SilverShake.com, a site that specializes in sterling silver jewellery, saw popular products such as their Celtic Knot Men's Ring show up as number one on Google's video search results, after submitting their Dynamic Video Sitemap.

The point is simple. You already have the video content. You might as well use it most effectively and join these online retailers trailblazing SEO efforts with their top search results.

Remember, the need to actively index your videos is not information that every online retailer knows. If you want to stay ahead, the time to act is now. 

Tal Rubenczyk, CEO, Treepodia
Twitter: Treepodia