Archive for the ‘thumbnails’ Category:
Refreshing key factors of video SEO strategy
I have just disconnected from my first live webinar on video SEO strategy, organized by ReelSEO, Truveo and Ooyala. The experience itself was good, I connected through a site called Go2Webinar to follow the presentation; I started Skype, dialed a number and entered my personal code. Image was ok, sound was fine. So that’s for the webinar experience.
The content itself was a bit commercial (especially the Ooyala part) but nevertheless there were interesting points worth sharing with you:
1. Video search engines and general search engines work differently.
2. 85% of all video search traffic goes through YouTube. So if you like it or not, think if you can affort not to be there. If you compete there, consider that YouTube values the following ranking factors:
- Views, ratings, shares, comments, suscribers, embeds and inbound links. The community factor counts, so make sure you also suscribe to other relevant users.
- Consider manual upload (vs. API upload) because it allows you to take full advantage of the text fields.
3. Create optimized video landing pages: Make sure every video has its own page and above all its own URL.
4. Avoid Javascript, it won’t get indexed.
5. Minimal page load times are super important for the user experience.
6. Spend time to optimize meta data, that’s the text that describes the content of your video: title, general description, tags, brand name, close captures or even an entire transcription of the video content.
7. Try to get videos into search engines, don’t wait for them to crawl for your content. Reel SEO recommends MRSS feeds and XML sitemaps.
8. Choose eye-catching and relevant thumbnails: the right thumbnail is important; make sure you include a relevant and appropriate representation of your video content. They are key to trigger the “click-to-play”.
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eCommerce Video Thumbnails Matter Enormously
It’s the first impression that counts. In the video e-commerce world, the first impression often is a static thumbnail with a white triangle on top. Will the user click or not, that is the question.
Video thumbnails are everywhere. First, because most eCommerce sites will not autoplay videos on their pages to avoid distractions in the shopping process and therefore prefer to present the video as a player with a thumbnail. Second, when video is introduced on a commerce page, the video player itself does take significant bandwidth and may slow down the page if video starts streaming. Thumbnails solve the page performance problem because video will only stream if the play button is clicked on. Finally, there are more and more video delivery formats where the video content is accessible as a popup or overlay, triggered from a video banner similar to the one here below:
Maximizing click-throughs is an art. Let’s take a few examples from video pioneer eBags.com and analyze some of their choices.
1. Picking a thumbnail for a Product video
As you can see above, out of the five possible choices, eBags opted for a close-up of their Macroloader product. In general, if a video is a product review, it’s a good idea to select a good thumbnail of the product.
Sometimes the product has an awkward shape and would not be easily recognizable in a single thumbnail. In this case, an attractive shot of the presenter works well as shown below for the Travel Hammock product.
2. Picking a thumbnail for a How-To video
A little harder would be selecting the right thumbnail for educational videos. In this case, it’s hard to pick an image that summarizes the problem and suggests a solution. Once again I like the eBags approach because it is very tactical and down to earth as evidenced in this selection for the eBags Universal Plug Adaptor.
Notice how the thumbnail summarizes the problem (unfamiliar electrical plug) and the proposed solution (the black adapter).
3 . Picking a thumbnail for a Branding video
Even harder than How-to’s because of the branding implications. Three different examples to illustrate the various approaches.
First, a Jansport video that narrates the company beginnings and history (below). The selected thumbnail is… the peak of a mountain, which symbolizes coolness, endurance, challenge and lifestyle.
Second example - the Nike video for the Edge Elite Backpack. For a recognizable brand like Nike, eBags chose the thumbnail with the Nike logo, a true click magnet.
Finally - my favorite of all. The Lovcat handbags video. Here the marketer is picking a thumbnail that’s sort of mysterious, inviting you to find out more.
Next time you publish your commerce video, mind the thumbnail!
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