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You may have noticed the magnifying glass that has appeared next to search results in recent months – hover over it and you’ll see a preview of the website attached to that result. Well now Google has applied the same principle to video results, allowing searchers to preview a video without having to leave the search engine results page (SERP).
Here’s the rationale behind their decision:
When it comes to videos, people want to spend less time searching and more time watching. That’s why we added an enhancement to Instant Previews—the ability to preview videos. Click once on the magnifying glass next to the title of any video search result in universal or video mode. For some videos, you'll now be able to play through a set of four short segments from the video to see if it’s what you’re looking for (video providers have to opt to make the previews available, so you won't find it for every video yet).
The search engine has also added similar functionality for mobile users, ensuring this is a cross-platform feature that isn’t restricted to laptop, netbook, PC and Mac users.
What Does this Mean for Me/My Business?
Firstly, it means that you’re going to have to make your video content more enticing than ever to ensure that searchers visit your site, rather than just previewing the video on Google and then moving on (although bear in mind that for now Google only allows searchers to preview the video, rather than view the whole thing). In-video calls to action and incentives could be the way to do this, but that’s something online marketers will have to consider in the coming weeks.
Secondly, it means that if you don’t have any video on your site you’ll be missing out on an increasingly important element of the search results. It’s an oft-repeated statement, but YouTube is now the second biggest search engine and is, of course, owned by Google. This new functionality exhibits the importance Google places on video search – to be honest you’d be a mug to ignore it!
Video Marketing from I-COM
If you’re already aboard the video marketing train but want to know more about how these changes might affect your online presence, or you don’t have any videos on your site at all yet and want to see about getting some, get in touch with I-COM and speak to an online marketing expert today.
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