What’s this about?
This is an extract from TWIS SEO News & Updates 28 July 2017.
Read about the horrors of Google briefly testing auto-playing videos in SERPs. There’s no confirmation but this is likely to go live soon enough. Ewwww.
If you would like to discuss ranking videos in organic SERPs and the way this change could impact your web business, please feel free to contact me.
#SEO #Google #SERP #AutoPlayVideos
Google Tests Auto Playing Videos in SERPs
Summary:
- There was a brief test running auto-playing videos in Google SERPs.
- Lots of people got fairly upset.
- Luckily, it went away fairly quickly, as Google tests things regularly.
- Prepare for it to launch some point soon.
Actions to take:
- Prepare for auto-playing videos in Google SERPs. Google usually only releases tests like this into the wild if they are likely to surface. Think of them as “release candidate” tests.
- This means that you should ensure that your videos have a chance of surfacing in SERPs, so create video.
- If you do create video, auto-play in-feed tends to need to be attention grabbing within 2 seconds, and get the main point across within 6 seconds.
- Make sure your videos draw people in, before keeping them engaged.
- Contact me if you would like to discuss ranking video in organic SERPs and ensuring that the videos grab the user’s attention.
Discussion:
I think most users (or at least the vocal ones) have a healthy dislike for auto-play videos. They distract and annoy the users. Once the auto-play videos are in SERPs it’s not a huge step to see Google adding pre-roll or mid-roll advertising to these videos.
Google did actually used to be one of the internet good guys. Something changed and they are now heading down the rabbit-hole of balancing annoying users and making money off them.
There is a chance that with the Google homepage becoming more feed-like, this is a tester for auto-play video in the feed. It’s likely that auto-play also increases overall engagement time on site.
More info:
The State of SEO Mid-2017 Released
TL;DR
- Google briefly tested auto-playing videos in SERPs.
- A number of people got upset by this.
- Read The State of SEO in mid-2017.
- Read about how Google’s Mobile First Index is not Mobile Friendly.
Thanks for reading. If you would like to discuss what these changes mean for your web property, or would like to know how to implement them, please feel free to contact me.
