What's the best way to host video for SEO purposes?

[MountainMedia]

Hello SEOmoz folks,

I'm curious as to whether it will be more beneficial for a website to host a video on the site itself or to host it on YouTube and then embed the code on your site.

The options so far, as it seems, are:

1.) Host the video on YouTube or Vimeo or wherever else, then embed the YouTube code into your own website's HTML.

2.) Host the video on your own website by itself.

3.) Host the video on your own website AND YouTube AND Vimeo.

I'm wondering which option is best. And if hosting your video on your own website is a good way to go, whether to go that route solely or in addition to hosting on YouTube, what is the best way to go about that? Do I have to embed a player AND the video info into the HTML of my website? What player is best for this? Flash, or something else?

And once I get the video on my site one way or the other, how do I write the code to make sure the video thumbnail shows up next to my search results in Google to maximize the SEO potential for the video clip?

Sorry for the long question, but I've been searching everywhere for this and I'd love just a direct answer on it. Thanks for your help!

Cheers,

Dani

[PhilNottingham]

Don't put product videos on YouTube, Vimeo or anywhere public outside of your domain. Commercial content like that inevitably does poorly on YouTube and the negative user engagement metrics will then just suggest to Google that the content isn't high quality and it wont rank anywhere. Moreover, product videos are only really valuable if they're viewed in the context of the product - where users have a clear funnel for conversion.

I would securely host them with a third party platform and then aim to get rankings and rich snippets. While you can mark YouTube videos as "unlisted" in order to stop them being public, the content then won't rank.

[PhilNottingham]

Here's the post i've just published on the topic - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/hosting-and-embedding-for-video-seo

Please have a read through, as it will add a bit more clarity to the benefits of each option. Your summary is great Kane.

[PhilNottingham]

Hi Guys,

I'm actually writing a post on this very topic at the moment, which is due to be posted tomorrow on the main SEOmoz blog post. Hopefully that will answer most of the questions you have and we can continue the discussion in the comments if you have any further queries or points.

Cheers,

Phil

[KaneJamison]

Sorry, I was referring to regular Vimeo, not Vimeo Pro. I believe you are correct that Vimeo Pro can be set up to act as a file host, and the video can be associated with your site.

Another good article that discusses Vimeo Pro specifically, but worth reading for video hosting concerns in general:

http://www.distilled.net/blog/video/getting-video-results-in-google/

[EugeneF]

I am suddenly confused.  I thought Vimeo was recognized as being on the imbedded website (unlike Youtube).   You are stating that it is treated the same as Youtube.  This sounds like Wistia is the only good choice for SEO.

[KaneJamison]

If you're going to have that many videos, I would say hands down to pay the money and go with Wistia.

Having those videos rank in search results for the product name and take people straight to your product page is invaluable.

I should clarify that those Wistia videos appear as if they are hosted on your website - not sure if that was clear.

[edwardlewis]

dont host the video on your webserver... that will make stuff waaaaaaay slow!

[MountainMedia]

That's a great article, thanks a million for the referral!

The only thing that didn't get mentioned in that answer (and maybe I should have clarified this detail better in my question) - is what is the best tactic for product videos for ecommerce sites?

It seems that commercials are better off when hosted on YouTube or Vimeo or Wistia then embedded in the website. Makes sense.

But I imagine product videos would be different...any insights?

[TheGrid]

I like option one the best. Make sure you optimize the title and description of the video, and link to the video on youtube accordingly. With facebook I like to upload it separately to cover more ground.

[KaneJamison]

Phil Nottingham has a great response to a similar question that you should read here: http://www.seomoz.org/q/best-way-to-host-video

Also check out his article on Distilled's site with a great walk through on how to get the video to appear for your site in SERPs: http://www.distilled.net/blog/video/getting-video-results-in-google/

The short answer is that the best option (if you can afford the monthly fee) is to use a service like Wistia. They will assist you with the video sitemaps and any integrations necessary to get the video snippets that you mentioned.

If you don't have the monthly budget, then it's probably best to use Youtube or Vimeo, depending on the type of content. Adding it to your site would be a matter of using the embed code.

The downside to Youtube or Vimeo is that the video isn't recognized as content on your site, so you lose that value. The upside is that you have the opportunity to get in front of Youtube's large audience and get more views than you might have on your own.

I would not host the video yourself. The video will always load faster through one of the established video providers.