Video SEO key for e-Commerce Sites and Google Search

Recently, Icecat took over Autheos, a video content syndicator. Video on e-commerce sites is becoming increasingly common to give online shoppers a better feel of a product. Video can also be prominent in Google Search.

Videos can appear on the main Google Search results page or the Videos tab. Videos are frequently presented with a thumbnail image and other helpful information such as the playback duration and summary text. In addition, Google can now highlight key moments in video content. This allows online shoppers to navigate through the video like chapters in a book. When a user taps on a key moment, they will land on the product page to watch the video from that moment in time.

Common uses of video on e-commerce sites

Video can create deeply engaging experiences for online shoppers on an e-commerce website and help them look for relevant content from the Google Search page. Videos are often used on:

• Product Pages: Videos are frequently embedded in product pages. To provide richer inspirational or functional information about a product than by static images alone. Icecat asks brands to upload video content to the Icecat PIM so retailers can download these in the so-called Product Datasheets.
• Articles and Blog Posts: Nowadays, a website also has articles and blog posts that include video content. Adding more product content to your website helps visitors to make a better purchase decision. Different types of content are useful to different shoppers based on whether they are still researching or are ready to buy.

Furthermore, video is also used in many other ways to support e-commerce, for example, in social media.

Getting the most out of videos with Google Search

The following tips can help Google index video content hosted on your e-commerce site.

• Include Video structured data on pages containing video content. This can be particularly important on product pages with embedded videos in a media carousel. For example, Google may not see videos that require user interaction to display. In addition, consider adding structured data that’s relevant for each page, such as Product, HowTo, or Q&A markup.
• For the videos that need maximum exposure, consider creating a page dedicated to the video that describes the video content.
• Create a video sitemap file. This will help Google to find all your web pages with video content.

Wouter Maatman

Digital Marketing Manager at Icecat N.V.