It can be so frustrating! You’ve got a great website with something people would love, be it a message, product, service, event, etc. You know that if people can just find your site, it will take off; but you just can’t get Google to put you in the top results so people can find you. Well, there’s a little known Google hack to vault you past the other sites.
So, what is this Google hack?
Don’t worry. I’m not talking about some sleazy, spammy manipulative strategy that will stop working in a few months or get you in trouble. We’ve seen far too many “get ranked quick” schemes that try to exploit a blind spot in Google. The problem with those schemes is they are more likely to get you a big, fat Google penalty then high search rankings.
The Google Hack is???
Video. (shhh, don’t tell anyone!!)
It’s really as simple as that.
So, what makes video so powerful? I mean, there are a lot of ways to create content. You can create infographics, put up slideshows or pictures, and write all kinds of articles. How is video, more than any of these, going to launch you ahead of the other websites?
Google Universal:
Google doesn’t just show web pages in their results. A majority of the time, Google includes other types of media in their results, such as news, images, and…yes…videos. The great thing about this is that the other types of media aren’t competing against the web pages in their results for their position in the results. They are competing against the just similar types of media. So, video competes not against web pages, but other videos.
Now, which do you think there are more of?
The level of competition for video is soooo much less than web pages that it’s not uncommon for someone who can’t get their website anywhere near the top 10 to show up on the first page of results. Those videos also have images and are have their own section of the page which naturally draws more attention to them then the plain text of the web page results.
That’s all pretty great, but hold on, it just got a whole lot better this past month.
Google Instant Answers:
For over a year now, Google has been trying to answer people’s questions themselves, as opposed to just delivering links to websites which may have the answers. A good example of this is to look up the results of the USA vs Belgium World Cup game (click here). You don’t have to click on anything, the score is right there. (This, by the way, ruined the game against Germany for me when I searched for when the game would be re-broadcast and Google just decide to show me the score instead…Thanks Google!)
Well, just this past month Google started included videos in these Instant Answers. So now, not only can you get on the front page with a well done video, you can actually show up above all the other search results. That’s right, you’d be better than #1. How cool is that?!
I should note that this is a new feature on Google and you don’t see the videos very often yet…yet.
Video Also Beats Google At Their Evil Game
With Instant Answers, Google often gets it’s information that it shows from the websites it indexes. Then it displays that information…which isn’t really theirs. This, of course, means people don’t actually have to click the results to visit the website which actually originated the information. If you’ve ever seen Google rant about how much they hate websites that scrape the content off other sites and duplicate it on their own sites, this may strike you as the epitome of hypocrisy, an interesting thing to do for a company who claims their motto is “Do not be evil.” Anyway, my rant aside, video side-steps this in a way. Sure, the people still don’t have to visit your site to see the video, but if you brand your video and include links in the video, itself, you still get a lot of the benefit from it and may get the person to visit your site if they click one of the links in the video.
Hack Away!
So, there you have it. With a well done video, you can not only leap onto the first page of results, you can actually get your video positioned above all the natural results. And by “well done video” don’t think you have to spend thousands of dollars on production. The primary factor that defines a video as well done is the quality of the information/entertainment of the video. Second, is the quality of the audio (use a mic). And, third, is the quality of the image (1080p cameras are available for under $100). This is absolutely something within the capabilities of nearly every church, ministry, school, and business out there who knows their stuff. You can do it. Hack away!
Share Your Thoughts:
- Have you created any videos for your organization? Tell us about them.
- What advice would you give for people who want to make videos?
OurChurch.Com Director of Marketing Services
Kurt serves as OurChurch.Com’s Director of Marketing Services, bringing over 20 years of expertise in search marketing, and has developed numerous marketing services and served hundreds of churches, schools, ministries, and businesses.
He has authored more than 500 articles on the subject, contributing to platforms like the Christian SEO Guys blog and Church Marketing University, and is an active participant on LocalSearchForum.com.
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kurt is an ordained minister, serving as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL, demonstrating his commitment to both faith and community. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from Georgia Southern University. He also holds a Specific Ministry Pastor Certificate and a General Pastor Certificate from Concordia Seminary.
2 Comments
Good Stuff! Looks like something was left out here:
Don’t worry. I’m not talking about some sleazy, spammy manipulative strategy that will stop working in a few months of get you in trouble. –
Thanks! I've fixed it.