Think back to one of the first times you used the internet. In those early days, Google was popular, but it was far from the only game in town. Search engines like Yahoo and Alta Vista were legitimate contenders back then. Marketers had to understand how each search engine ranked pages, learning the ins and outs of each algorithm to optimize the brand's website. But with the rise and dominance of Google, SEO shrank to focus on one algorithm.
Thanks to Generative AI and new social media platforms, that's changed. But that doesn't mean everything goes out the window. The terrain looks different than in those early days of the internet, with new players on the scene. However, the core concept has returned—marketers must optimize content across various search platforms.
But you probably don't have all the time in the world to master every platform's search algorithms, so you need a strategy to optimize your time and your brand's ranking. That's where SEO Video Marketing enters the scene. Tapping into three major video SEO marketing trends for 2025 will position your brand at the top of mind and the search results, no matter the platform.
What is Video SEO Marketing?
If your brand hasn't incorporated video marketing into your broader SEO and Content marketing strategy, now's the time to start. Projections predict Americans will watch 68 minutes of online video content daily by 2027. Don't despair about catching up either—some of the same content SEO rules apply when you want to reach a wider organic audience with videos.
Video Marketing SEO Tips
It goes without saying, but an essential consideration in video marketing is that you've created videos that resonate with your audience. Meaningful video content that answers questions, explains how to use a product, troubleshoots a common problem, or demonstrates why another solution isn't sufficient won't just be well received by your potential customers, it'll help boost your rankings on the results page.
That's because for Google and YouTube SEO, just like traditional content marketing, your video content needs to EEAT. The video should demonstrate your brand's experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness to users and the bots that crawl and index pages for search engines. Developing video content that accomplishes these goals can be the most challenging aspect of video SEO marketing. But mastery will bring an enormous return on investment. Some other tips to consider:
Place videos properly: Google likes seeing videos on pages, but it loves when those videos are at or near the top of the page, not buried underneath dense text.
Incorporate keywords into titles: This will make your video rank higher and enable customers to assess its relevance to their search in a single click.
Use Tags and Categories: Platforms like YouTube allow creators to select their video's category and add tags to make it easier for users to find. Using as many relevant tags as possible for a video will increase your customer's likelihood of seeing it.
Take the time for Transcriptions: Google's bots aren't able to watch the video, even though they know it's there. That means they need another way to assess a video's relevance. Creating a transcript will make it easy for bots and accessible for your customers. Short on time? Platforms allow creators to enable automatic closed captions.
Get ahead of the trends below in 2025
1. Videos Will Become Central To SEO Across All Search Platforms
Generative AI's growing adoption has changed the SEO world. With AI answers appearing before results, the types of searches SEO experts target with content have changed. Focusing written and video content on commercial searches will only grow as more results feature AI answers.
On the other side of the equation, Google's rankings prioritize content containing authentic human insights. As brands look to achieve higher organic traffic, they'll need to ensure that their content meets the demands of algorithms and potential customers.
Web Pages
Adding video content to web pages will grow in 2025 because creating video content with human insights is still well beyond the realm of even the most advanced AI systems. Prioritizing placing video content on web pages will give brands a surefire way to optimize for EEAT.
YouTube SEO
Another trend to keep an eye on in 2025 is the growth and solidification of YouTube SEO as a core part of any brand's marketing strategy. According to a Google survey, 90% of people discover new brands and products on YouTube. Any brand or business looking to grow in 2025 will need to find a home on YouTube, creating content that addresses customer concerns, testimonials, or demonstrations.
Social Media Searches
Google and YouTube aren't the only search engines on the block in 2025. Social Media will continue to trend upwards as a search tool for customers. And, as more social media platforms trend to video, businesses will need to create content to aid discovery on social media channels. Data shows that almost a quarter of shoppers aged 18-34 use TikTok to research and consider purchases. Using hashtags, leveraging user-generated content, and sharing reviews will populate company feeds in 2025.
2. Short Form Videos Are Here to Stay
Speaking of TikTok, it's safe to say that the short-form (15 to 60 seconds) videos it's famous for are the direction for video content. For businesses, that means the challenging task of creating EEAT-worthy content in a minuscule timeframe.
TikTok
The payoff for investing in short-form videos can pay big dividends, with TikTok taking off in the US. Projections show there will be over 110 million TikTok users in the US alone in 2025. That means millions of potential customers might come across your business in their feed. Even with a murky legal road ahead for TikTok, its format lends itself to cross-posting on IG Reels and YouTube Shorts.
Instagram Reels
Creating content that's fit for a particular buyer persona on TikTok can be posted on Instagram Reels to reach that same persona. If your marketing strategy has you investing in social media, putting that effort into short-form vertical videos is the way to go. Reaching 11,000 followers per post, Reels have the highest average engagement of any post type on Instagram.
YouTube Shorts
With 258 million unique visitors per month, YouTube is the place to be and then some. It's also the place to start video content marketing. Survey data show that 84% of TikTok users and 88% of IG Reels users are on YouTube shorts, but only 40% of YT Shorts users go on those other apps. In 2025, expect competitors to prioritize using YouTube Shorts to drive customers to full-length YouTube videos. We may see a complete YouTube marketing funnel develop as the trend continues.
3. Authentic Content Will Set Brands Apart
At the core of Video SEO marketing is the drive to create content that resonates with audiences and drives them to engage with your business. Creating content that does this will also result in a higher search ranking. Based on changes that started in 2023, and continued through 2024, we can expect businesses to use live streams, employee-generated, and user-generated content to build authenticity.
Live Streams Will Continue to Grow
Even though there's preparation beforehand, anything can happen in a live stream. That possibility creates real, human-centered, moments that audiences crave. As it stands, 27% of internet users watch at least one live stream weekly. As brands depend on those "anything-can-happen" moments to reach new customers, we'll see more live streams in 2025.
Employee Generated Content
What better way to showcase experience than by highlighting the knowledge of your employees? In 2025, businesses will continue to turn to employee-generated content as a way to build trust and demonstrate their expertise.
Outsource With User Generated Content
As we turn to 2025, search engines like Google are prioritizing user-created content in results. In the AI age, user-generated content is believed to be more responsive to customer searches and, therefore, ranks higher. And with the difficulties businesses have creating punchy video content, expect brands to leverage user-generated content to climb results page rankings.
Put The Trends to Work For You
Navigating the world of video marketing SEO requires keen attention to the latest trends across all marketing channels. You could spend months or years mastering the latest SEO best practices only for them to completely change.
Instead, trust your video marketing content with trendsetters at CMG Local Solutions. With decades spent creating video content for broadcast, we know how to create messages that resonate with your customers. We'll focus on the trends; you focus on success.
Contact us today to get started.
