Video E-Commerce and SEO: Lights! Camera! Action!
Syndication: What
YouTube Can Do For You
Once a company creates a video catalog, it must consider how best to use it for its SEO advantage. YouTube has been the No. 2 ranked search engine since 2008, and is the fourth overall web property. Therefore, it represents a huge potential for businesses in general and online retailers in particular. It's even more valuable for retailers that already have videos deployed on their websites, since they have the media assets and only need to syndicate them properly to further capitalize on their investment in video. There are two main objectives for online retailers who promote their videos on YouTube:
1. Promote the brand. Consider the case of Blendtec, a manufacturer and retailer of blenders. It shared its "Will it blend?" series via YouTube, and re- ported an increase in sales five times over what it had done prior to the video series. Similarly, videos by the Old Spice guy last year delivered more than 100,000 subscribers and 70 million video views to Old Spice's YouTube channel.
2. Increase traffic and sales. While video syndication isn't in itself a direct traffic source for online retailers, by embedding product URLs at the beginning of video descriptions and adding calls to action within videos, such as coupons or offer information, YouTube videos can increase website traffic.
There are online retailers on both ends of the YouTube spectrum: 24 percent of the respondents to SundaySky's survey have no notable YouTube presence (no channel or a channel with fewer than 10 videos), while 34 percent have more than 100 videos on their channel. The same is evident when counting the number of video views: 30 percent of respondents have more than 1 million views, and 26 percent have fewer than 10,000 views. So between a quarter to a third of retailers have clearly decided to "go strong" for YouTube, while a similar-sized segment hasn't bought into the video site.
The top retailers on YouTube in terms of the number of uploaded videos are HSN (55,000 videos), Systemax (3,424 videos) and Buy.com (2,189 videos). The top retailers by number of views include Nike (more than 120 million views combined for all channels), Systemax (more than 67.2 million views) and HSN (more than 32.1 million views). The case of HSN is particularly interesting. Because it has so many videos, and a link to the product page next to each video, YouTube isn't only promoting its brand, but it's also driving traffic back to its website.
Leveraging the loyal audience and traffic that YouTube generates is a significant benefit for companies that upload to the platform. What do you have to lose? Hosting videos on YouTube is free, and the platform allows you to focus on generation of content rather than hosting and delivery.
Video Pioneers Have
Set the Stage for the Rest of the Market
Several first-mover retailers have shown the value of optimizing video and delivery platforms such as YouTube (as well as social networks such as Facebook). The technology is in place for others to follow. It's now possible to have video for large portions of retailers' catalogs, and to get those videos indexed by search engines.
Video's effectiveness as a marketing and sales tool for e-commerce retailers has been recognized and discussed in many forums. Despite that fact, there's only a relatively small portion of top retailers who actually use video and exploit its potential to the fullest. This initial, limited adoption by retailers demonstrates the early stage of the market. However, companies like Overstock.com and Nike have defined a clear and successful video strategy and are setting the stage for full industry adoption. We'll see an increased trend towards video use in a more extensive way as retailers embrace optimization practices for their video initiatives.
