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Videos and Google site ranking
I was reading and article about site ranking on the Inman Report today. Here's what Bernice Ross had to say about video and Google ranking:
"Google's algorithm (the mathematical formula that determines Web ranking) seems to assign higher rankings to sites that have video. Consequently, use video to improve your ranking. Please note that virtual tours that scan still photos do not rank as highly as actual video. Furthermore, Google recently started using software that allows it to convert the voice track of a video into searchable text.
This means that if you are using music on your videos, it's smart to dump the music and replace it with a voice track. The music does nothing to improve your search-engine ranking, while the voice track does. Also, don't forget to add plenty of still pictures, as this helps your ranking as well."
Anyone know if this applies to all videos or just Google/Youtube videos?
We've known this for a while, yet after putting up dozens of videos on pages that SEO optimized for title, description, keywords I have yet to score in this category on my own site/pages. On one property I got lucky and the video uploaded to Youtube, or DailyMotion showed on the first page. Most are nowhere to be found... Aarrgh!
http://www.reelseo.com/engagement-objects-seo/
Someone share the magic formula, please!
But the NEW news is Google's ability to convert speech-to-text and use that in the placement algorithm. Does that mean that the spoken word in a video is more powerful than encoded text on a page?
The problem is... it's a secret!
If I told you, I'd have to ..... you:)
As I understand it, simply EMBEDDING video on the site doesn't necessarily improve the site's ranking. Embedding improves the ranking of the VIDEO in search engine results, but not the site where it is embedded.
I don't know if I understand it correctly, but I believe that's how it works. If a video has links pointing back to it and/or it is embedded, that should improve the ranking of the video.
Anybody know more about this than I do? (I know somebody does... chime in please!) I've kinda been wondering about this myself too...
Thanks Matti. TONS of awesome stuff there. I love Reel SEO!
It's the imbound links that help drive traffic from videos. For example, if you post your video on 12 video sharing sites with strong long-tail keywords in title and description with a link back to your site - that's the ticket. At least in my experience.
I am now subscribed to Reel SEO on facebook. I spent a little time on their website and although there is some good information on there, I am still bewildered by Google. In my local area I am dominating the "Video" tab of Google for any and all related search terms. That's great but......nobody even knows about it but me and a few other colleagues. So it's pointless right now. I know that will be great thing to have someday as people start discovering the fact that Real Estate videos are available. The big ticket scenario for me is getting that little video thumbnail onto page 1 of the "Web" results. I had 2 side by side thumbnails on page 1 for about 3 days and then all-of-a-sudden they got scattered back to like page3 and page6 where nobody goes. BTW most of the time the thumbnails are from WellcomMat.
It's annoying, I got two thumbs up there for about a week from YouTube and Vimeo, then they both disappeared. After a while a different one this time from WM showed up but now that one is gone as well. Google must have made some big changes... I can remember Fred saying that he could get multiple thumbs up easily on the first page. From what I can deduct lately, it's pretty much impossible now?
Google knows how big video is. Why make it so difficult. They are probably concerned that every Tom, Dick and Harry will post a bunch of cheesy videos and the robots aren't smart enough to determine the relevence to the search terms.
I guess this post was originally about website SEO, sorry if I'm off subject. I don't have a website right now, nor do I really want one right now. I understand the bennefits of hosting raw video like QuickTime MP4's and giving my Realtors a page of their own, which I believe you all are saying Google likes. It's just that I don't really have the time to manage something like that. So my hope is to just build up my Youtube and Dailymotion Channels and keep directing my facebook friends there.
So anyone know what the NEW tweaks are to get front page exposure?
Well... this isn't quite there yet, but I think having quality voice over will become an issue in the future:
http://www.reelseo.com/google-speech-recognition-video-search/
It's amazing what Google is doing... but that's also part of the reason people are confused: it's moving so fast introducing new things that it's hard to keep up with all the latest SEO trends... ReelSEO is a good source for video though... I haven't even scratched the surface reading their material, but I've learned a lot in the few short months I've visited the site.
@Dustin Nay
I'ts my understanding that Google has gone beyond this July 2008 announcement. That announcement was for users to find relevant information with a client-driven wiget text-search of the audio track.
I think the new news is that Google is using a speech-to-text componet of video in their rankings engine.
I don't think "speech-to-text" is currently being used for organic search. The logo for Google Audio Indexing (Gaudi) still has the "labs" component, and the home page for the technology is still under the labs sub-domain. I think it is still only being used/tested on the political video feeds from Youtube (see: http://labs.google.com/gaudi/static/faq.html). I think if that were different they would have updated their official pages about Google Audio Indexing... though maybe they are and haven't released that info publicly yet?
Apparently a search-by-voice app for iPhone was released last year... but it's only speech-recognition, meaning it doesn't transcribe audio from the internet. Rather, it converts text results on the internet to a voiced result for the iPhone user (and recognizes the search queries spoken by the user).
On a side note: through your Google Voice account, you can search local business listings by calling GOOG-411 through your Google #. I've found it a useful tool a few times when I'm out of the office and can't find a number. Of course not all businesses make it through the system, but most larger businesses will appear! Love it!
I don't think "speech-to-text" is currently being used for organic search. The logo for Google Audio Indexing (Gaudi) still has the "labs" component, and the home page for the technology is still under the labs sub-domain. I think it is still only being used/tested on the political video feeds from Youtube (see: http://labs.google.com/gaudi/static/faq.html). I think if that were different they would have updated their official pages about Google Audio Indexing... though maybe they are and haven't released that info publicly yet?
Apparently a search-by-voice app for iPhone was released last year... but it's only speech-recognition, meaning it doesn't transcribe audio from the internet. Rather, it converts text results on the internet to a voiced result for the iPhone user (and recognizes the search queries spoken by the user).
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-launches-voice-recognition-search-for-apple-iphone/8021/
On a side note: through your Google Voice account, you can search local business listings by calling GOOG-411 through your Google #. I've found it a useful tool a few times when I'm out of the office and can't find a number. Of course not all businesses make it through the system, but most larger businesses will appear! Love it!
Sorry about the double post... here's another one for good measure! :P
