Bruce Rymshaw, December 7, 2012
Over the last few months, an interesting trend has occurred on the world’s largest video sharing network and Google subsidiary, YouTube. While the primary ranking factor for YouTube search results used to be video view count, audience retention is now the most important component in determining a video’s position in the YouTube SERPs.
Why the Change?
Lately, Google’s been emphasizing quality and relevancy over quantity and this goes beyond universal search results. Major algorithm updates such as Penguin and Panda affected more than 3% of all search queries and were intended to improve the accuracy of results by delivering pages which were designed for the reader, not the robots.
Now, this focus on quality has made its way to YouTube and taken precedence over video views, which are counted regardless of the bounce rate from the page and content itself. Until recently, if a user watched less than ten seconds of a five minute-long video, that view (or lack thereof) was still counted and influenced its ranking. The move toward audience retention as a primary ranking factor helps to ensure that the video is more engaging and relevant, as the viewer is staying on the page for a majority of the video’s duration.
Creating Content with Audience Retention in Mind
Today, multimedia plays an integral role in a majority of successful marketing and advertising campaigns. With many businesses utilizing video as a promotional tool and YouTube as their primary (or only) hosting platform, it is important to understand how to get the most from that content.
When developing your own video content, ask yourself:
- “Would I want to watch this video?”
- “Do the titles/keyword/description accurately define the content itself?”
- “What can I do to improve this video?”
All content, whether it is text, video or otherwise, must be designed with quality in mind. In marketing, it is essential to not only raise awareness about your brand and increase its visibility, but to captivate your audience and motivate them to take a genuine interest in your products or service offerings.
While video content is a useful resource within marketing and advertising campaigns, it must be developed with a strong emphasis on quality in order to be truly effective.
What are you doing to get more value from your YouTube videos? Share your thoughts with me at brymshaw@webimax.com or leave a comment below!
