Importance of Video Marketing for Local SEO

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Business listings? Check. 

Site optimization? Check 

Registering on local business directories? Check. Check. Check. 

But what about videos? 

Are you using them in your local SEO strategy? 

If not, then now is the time to start video marketing to power up local SEO and drive customers in droves. 

In this guide, we have listed nine reasons video is a must in local SEO and how you can incorporate it. 

9 Reasons Why You Should Do Video Marketing for Local SEO

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1. Google Cares About Video, Which Means You Need to Care About It Too

One of the biggest reasons you should add a video to your local SEO strategy is because of the internal structure of Google's algorithm. 

Google values two things above everything else. They are the quality of your content and its relevance to what people search for.

And to understand these things, Google looks for more than text elements.

It crawls your website to find out what you offer your audience. Visual elements like videos and images tell Google that your local business website is informative, thus boosting your ranking. 

Don't forget to optimize your videos to rank on the first page. 

• Add meta descriptions. 
• Use strong keywords with correct search intent to drive users to your videos. Add these keywords in titles, tags, and descriptions. 
• Use hashtags wherever necessary. 
• Customize the video thumbnail. 

You can use Ahrefs’ YouTube keyword generator to find relevant keywords for your video description, titles, and tags, as shown below.

2. Video Is A Traffic Generating Machine 

Videos appear in 52% of Google keyword searches. This means people are actively searching for videos on Google. 

Therefore, by creating videos that can match your audience's search intent, you can drive both traffic and conversion easily. 

Here's how to use video in your local SEO strategy to generate traffic

• Create How-To Videos: How to video catch users with buyer intent. They have a problem to solve, or they want to learn something. Nearly 1 in 3 millennials said they purchased something after watching the video. Suppose you are a local gardening business. You can create videos on planting the seedlings properly with your potting mix. 
• Create Video Testimonials: People read reviews before buying a product. Ask your customers if they are willing to share story video testimonials. You can also invite them and meet them with your camera gear. This will help boost trust in your local business. 

You can use tools like vidIQ to generate video ideas, do competitor analysis, and get detailed analytics of your videos. 

3. Power Up Your User Experience 

Videos could have this kind of content years ago. So, what held them back? 

One answer could be the marketer's fear. Many marketers feared videos could ruin the user experience. But that's far from true. Users would rather watch a video than read a 2000 word long blog post, even if they have the same content. 

And that's where video helps with local SEO. You see, Google ranks websites based on how much time users spend on your site. Since, with video, most users stay for a long time, it tells search engines that your site is providing quality content. As a result, it will improve your site ranking. 

Here's how you can help users spend more time watching your videos:

• Provide timestamps so that users can navigate to important sections quickly. 
• Intros should be short and catchy. Lengthy intros just bore the audience.
• Provide subtitles to make the video more accessible. 

You can add timestamps and chapters to your videos to improve your user experience and navigation while watching your videos. 

Read: The Role of UX in Local SEO

4. Get More Backlinks 

Did you hear that? Google loves backlinks! 

By backlink, we mean natural, high-quality backlinks. 

When people share your videos, you automatically gain a backlink. And what's a better medium to share content than video? Right. 

After all, when was the last time you shared a Google My Business listing with your friends? Never, right? 

But videos? 

People share them all the time. 

The New York Times tried to answer the question. They studied the psychology of online sharing. The results showed that people watched videos more for several reasons. 

People share content online to improve other lives, build relationships, promote, or share something because it deeply resonates with them. 

Here are some tips to keep while creating videos to gain more natural backlinks. 

• Resonate with the audience: As we saw earlier, people shared content because it deeply resonated with them.
• Show them how you can help people improve their lives. 

As shown below, you can use Ahrefs’ free backlink checker to monitor and track your efforts.

5. Videos Tell Stories 

In addition to being packed with information, videos tell powerful stories. And because of this, videos are more likely to stick in people's minds than just hard, cold facts written in text. 

According to research, over 80% of people remembered watching video ads in the past month; half of them followed brands. 

Brands like Apple have mastered the art of storytelling and thus built a loyal brand following globally. 

Storytelling improves shares, likes, and click-through rates. This affects your SEO ranking indirectly. 

Here's how to tell a powerful story through video marketing:

• Start With A Message: Who is your audience, and what do you want to convey through your video? 
• Add Your Personal Experience To The Story: A good story has a personal experience, failures, successes, learning, etc. 
• Highlight A Struggle: What's a story without a twist? A good story has a conflict. For example, is there a powerful competitor you need to fight against, a financial crisis, etc.?

6. Video Increases Conversion Rate 

Did you know customers are two times more likely to purchase after watching a product video than those who didn't?

Videos promote conversions. 

When people search on Google, they tend to click more on results containing videos than those with text only. 

By letting Google and other search engines know that your website has a video, you can increase the click-through rate and drive more traffic to your local business site. 

Here's how to boost the conversion rate of video

• Use a catchy thumbnail: Yes, people judge your videos by their cover. Make them attractive. It will be a shame if your high-quality video gets ignored because of the thumbnail. 
• Optimize your videos to appear in rich snippets. 

You can use Canva to create visually appealing YouTube thumbnails with a consistent design language that resonates with your brand’s content. 

7. Suitable For Every Industry 

Ever tried reading information on the supply chain industry? They are capable enough to put people to sleep.

And if your local business is in a boring industry, you need something more powerful that can capture people's attention. And video provides just that. 

For example, it is often hard to understand what is going on behind the scenes with just words in supply chain industries. Videos provide much more interactive content in an easy-to-understand manner. 

Whether you want to entertain or educate your local audience about your business, video marketing is a great choice. 

8. Gives Your Business A Personality 

SEO is based on one factor – engagement. The more people engage with your local content, the more chances you will have to rank higher. 

But here's the thing, 'people buy from people and not from brands'. More people opt for brands or 'people' that resonate with their values.

For example, when we think of Apple, one face that comes to our minds is Steve Jobs. He is the face behind Apple. The same goes for Microsoft. Bill Gates is the first thing people think of when buying Microsoft products. 

But do you think showcasing your brand's personality through text is enough? Not! Although words have power, videos are more powerful. They give your business a personality. 

Remember, as we move towards a new era of digitalization, more and more people want brands to have human connections. 

Here's how you can use video marketing to add a personality to your local business 

• Show Behind the Scenes—E.g., product packaging, manufacturing, etc.
• Introduce your team members. 

Notice how all the top results for this YouTube search shows videos with a human element and not text-based videos.

Read: YouTube SEO Techniques to Get Increasing Video Views

9. Boosts Social Presence 

YouTube sees millions of users watching billions of videos every day. It's also the second-largest search engine on the Internet after Google. That means ranking your local business on YouTube can bring tons of leads every day. 

Moreover, social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are among the world's most popular visitor sites. Every marketer and business wants to drive some traffic to their site. 

And the good news is video marketing can help you. A solid video marketing strategy can help you convert YouTube and other social media viewers to visit your local website. Thus, boosting both your social presence and local SEO. 

Here's how to create a solid video strategy to convert social media users: 

• Add Powerful Call-To-Action: Call to action let users know what you want them to do after watching the video. Do you want them to check out your local store? Then tell them in a clear, concise manner. E.g., Did you like the video? Don't forget to check our offline store in California. 
• Add Appropriate Keywords And Hashtags: Users search videos through keywords and hashtags on social media. As a result, you must first understand what your users might be searching for on social media and then optimize with those keywords. 

You can use tools like Hashtags.org, as shown below, to discover the trends around various keywords and efficiently use them in your social media and video strategy.

Read: 10 Top Social Media Marketing Strategies for Local Businesses

Video Marketing for Local SEO - FAQs

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Q1. Why Is Video Important In Local SEO? 

Videos boost engagements by making users stay longer on your site. Moreover, most people share videos with others more than they share blog posts or other media forms. Engagement is one of the critical factors in SEO. 

Q2. What Are Some Video Tips For Local SEO?

Some essential video tips for local SEO include telling a good story, optimizing video through keywords, making them resonate with the audience, etc.

Q3. How Is Video Marketing Helpful For Small Businesses?

Video marketing can help small businesses improve their brand visibility. Millions of videos are watched on YouTube and other social media platforms every day. By incorporating the video of your local business, you can spread the word quickly and even convert them through good storytelling. 

Q4. How To Optimize Videos For Ranking Higher? 

To optimize your video to appear on the first page of a search engine, keep these tips in mind: add strong keywords in the title, meta descriptions, and tags. Add transcripts, timestamps, an engaging intro, and, most importantly, catchy thumbnails to improve user engagement. 

Key Takeaways

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• Drive traffic to your local business site from multiple sources by sharing social media.
• Give your local business a personality with video marketing.
• Gain powerful, natural backlinks by creating relevant videos that your audience can easily share. 
• Improve your conversion rate by adding a powerful CTA.
• Leverage the power of storytelling to create an impact on viewers. iPhone advertisements are a prime example of storytelling through video.