Okay so—videos? I didn’t think they’d help much with SEO at first. Thought they were just for YouTubers doing unboxings and prank vids. I was very wrong.
Not sure exactly when it clicked, but I started putting videos in blog posts, and my site? It started to climb. Like weird fast. Not like “overnight success,” but you could feel something shifting.
Anyway. Here’s how I used video to boost SEO—and some stuff I figured out by accident along the way.
Wait, Video Actually Helps Rankings?
People stay longer when there’s a video. That’s one thing I noticed. They scroll less. Pause more. Bounce rate went down on multiple posts. Google? It notices things like that.
And then, I started seeing video thumbnails pop up in search results. Guess what? They weren’t always from the biggest sites. Some were from random creators with like 300 views. It gave me hope.
Video’s not just fluff—it actually matters. For SEO. For traffic. For people trusting your stuff more.
I Started By Just Answering Questions. Simple Ones.
Didn’t overthink it. I opened my phone camera. Looked at what people were typing into Google—those little auto-fill questions. Things like “how to get rid of pimple scars” or “best keyboard for small hands.”
I made videos that answered those. Like under 2 minutes. Sometimes they were kinda rough, but they were real. And real seems to win these days.
You don’t need some wild production setup. I recorded in my bedroom. One take. If the cat jumped on my lap halfway, so be it.
Titles? Descriptions? Yeah I Had to Learn Those Too
If you don’t tell Google what your video is about, it just guesses. Not ideal.
So I’d stick the keyword right in the title. Not forced, just obvious.
Example: “How to Reset a Chromebook | Easy Step-by-Step”
In the description, I wrote like I was explaining to a friend. I’d drop the keyword once or twice but didn’t keyword-stuff it. That’s annoying. Google knows.
I also threw in some links to my site and socials. Sometimes no one clicked. Sometimes traffic jumped. You just never know.
Embedding Changed Things. Like, Big Time.
This was the move: I took those same videos and slapped them into my blog posts. Near the top, just under the intro.
Not even joking, average time on page went up by 30 seconds on some posts. That’s huge in SEO world.
One article went from page 3 to page 1 in a week. Just ‘cause the video kept people around longer. I didn’t even update the post text. Just… stuck in a video. Wild.
Schema Markup—Ugly Name, Pretty Results
Alright so this part? It’s technical. But worth it.
I added video schema (some plugin helped, don’t remember which). Told Google: “Hey, there’s a video on this page and here’s what it’s about.”
After that? Rich snippets started showing up. You know, those cool search results with a video thumbnail and the timestamp? Yeah. That. Free clicks.
Was it hard? Kind of. But once I got it working, it was like unlocking a cheat code.
Subtitles Help Way More Than I Expected
People watch stuff with the sound off. I do it. You do it. So captions are a must.
Plus, captions make your video readable to Google. That’s huge. It turns your video into something Google can actually understand.
Sometimes I’d copy the transcript and paste it under the video on the blog too. Bonus SEO juice. Zero regrets.
YouTube or Self-Host? I Flipped a Coin
Tried both. Here’s what I learned:
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YouTube gets more reach. Plus, it’s Google’s baby. So yeah, videos there get love.
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Self-hosting keeps all the traffic on your site. But you need fast hosting. Otherwise, slow load times hurt.
What worked for me? I uploaded to YouTube, then embedded that on my blog. Best of both worlds. Traffic + exposure.
Tell Folks What to Do. People Need That
If you don’t say “like and subscribe” or “check the link,” nobody will.
So I started dropping little calls-to-action. Subtle. Real. Like:
“If this helped, hit the like or drop a comment.”
Engagement shot up. And Google? It sees that too. It sees when people comment, share, click. Those signals matter. A lot.
Promote That Video Like You Promoted Your First Crush
No one will watch it if they don’t know it exists. Harsh but true.
I posted it on Twitter. Threads. Instagram. Put it in emails. Sent it in DMs. Sometimes I even linked it on Reddit. You gotta hustle a little.
The more people click it, the better it performs. Social + SEO = happy algorithm.
I Tracked Everything—But Not Obsessively
I checked analytics maybe once a week. Not daily. Otherwise, I’d go nuts.
Kept an eye on:
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Watch time
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Keywords it ranked for
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Click-through rates
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Bounce rate on blog posts with video
That told me which videos were doing work and which were just… there.
The underperformers? I updated ‘em. New title. Better thumbnail. Sometimes I re-filmed ‘em altogether.
TL;DR: Video Is SEO Rocket Fuel (But You Gotta Use It Right)
Listen, I’m no video pro. My first uploads were shaky, badly lit, and awkward as heck. But they worked. Because the content helped people.
You don’t need perfect. You need useful. Honest. Fast-loading. Well-placed.
So start small. Record your answer to a common question. Upload. Embed. Optimize just a little. Then do it again.
If you’re trying to grow online, video isn’t optional anymore. It’s the leverage you didn’t know you needed until it starts working.
And trust me—it will work. If I can do it? You definitely can.
Want help with video ideas or how to write descriptions that actually rank? Ping me. I got you.
Also, you can learn more about Content Featured on Google here.