Advances in machine learning and AI have changed the rules that govern search engine algorithms and the SEO industry as a whole. As we optimize our website for SEO in 2019 it’s paramount to keep two factors in mind:
- The intent of user searches
- The path users take to find our website
More and more webmasters are turning to video to help meet these demands and optimize content across their website for their sales funnel. Animated explainer videos offer an interesting alternative for brands looking to separate themselves from the competition and educate customers as they land on their website.
Animated explainer videos are short 60-120 second videos that provide a brief explanation of how a product or service works. According to Think with Google, close to half of all online shoppers will watch a video of a product or service before buying that product or service.
Used in conjunction with savvy sales copy and user-generated content, a helpful animated explainer video could end up being the difference between a bounce and a purchase.
Here are just five more ways that animated explainer videos can vastly increase your online web presence in 2019.
Longer Session Durations
While user signals are not a confirmed ranking factor, they do provide valuable data to search engines and can provide direct value to your website. Google Analytics tracks a metric called Sessions, which is a collective group of actions users complete on your website. Webmasters can track how long the average session duration lasts and even what specific actions and content users are engaging with.
Providing an engaging animated explainer video that users watch through until the end of the video is a great way to keep people engaged with your site and encourage further actions. The success of your explainer video will be reflected in your sessions data and ultimately your organic rank for your target keywords.
Nurture Leads Through Your Sales Funnel
The sales funnel is composed of three stages:
- Top: Awareness and Interest
- Middle: Evaluation and Navigation
- Bottom: Action and Purchase
The middle of your funnel is typically where users glance around your website, read some reviews, and compare product prices before deciding on a purchase. Implementing an animated explainer video in the middle stage of your funnel can help users better understand your brand and even encourage them to take action on your site.
Brands can add animated explainers videos to the corresponding product or service page they’re showcasing to give users a clearer picture of how that product or service could benefit them. Consumers are more likely to purchase something they trust. Animated explainer videos build trust by simplifying concepts and making it easier for customers to understand what a product or service can accomplish.
Greater Brand Awareness
Video, in general, is a unique branding tool that goes beyond the confines of graphic design and written content. Being able to visually display a product or service in action can be powerful for brand recall.
Furthermore, explainer videos can be shared on video platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and Flickr that populate search results separate from their original landing page. Sharing videos across social media and these platforms allow your explainer video to reach more people and cultivate greater visibility around your brand. Unlike many other types of video, animated explainer videos make your brand appear professional and creative.
Acquire Higher Quality Backlinks
Alongside the benefits that video can confer to your on-site SEO presence, a well produced animated video has the ability to be highly shareable and linked to. Since social signals are of lower importance to Google and Bing’s algorithms, we’ll focus on backlinks for now.
Animated explainer videos are great link bait because they provide useful information and they’re difficult to create, If you’re blogging about a popular service or product and want to provide more context, you’re going to want to link to a video or tutorial.
Webmasters can utilize keyword research within their industry to find blogs on similar topics and then send an email with a link to the explainer video letting authors know how it could help their audience.
Of course, sharing videos on social media also increases its chances of gaining traction and getting linked to by individual users who write about the same topics.
Get More Traffic to Your Website
Finally, having a popular and successful animated explainer video can drive considerable traffic to your website via social channels, backlinks, and give you greater organic visibility. Furthermore, animated marketing videos can serve as great marketing collateral for email marketing campaigns and other outreach strategies!
Video has the ability to outrank comparable search results and even be included in a video carousel depending on the nature of the search. Whether a video is hosted on YouTube or your native site, it opens up multiple additional channels to acquire real estate organically.
Ultimately, the efficacy of your animated explainer video comes down to how well you incorporate it into your digital marketing strategy. Still, it’s a great alternative to other video formats and can offer your business numerous organic benefits.
For more information or to work with our team, make sure to contact us today!.