I recently attended Google’s Marketing Live 2022 event and one of the key topics that stood out to me was their integration of key Google services to help provide better topical results in Search Engine Page Results (or SERPs). This included improved internal YouTube search and display ad pairing with Google’s SERP offerings. Meaning that as shoppers search for products and services, YouTube can help provide more answers and better shopping experiences, both on-site and on Google.

In today’s blog post I want to take you through how to use a YouTube video in a blog post so that you can increase your website traffic opportunity further through the use of video content outside of landing pages, sales pages and product listings.

How to add a YouTube video to your blog post

Go to your YouTube channel and select the video you wish to use in your blog post. As the video opens to a new screen, press ‘share’ on the bottom menu.

A popup menu will appear. Press ‘embed’ on this menu.

A further menu will appear, select or deselect any options you need to and press ‘copy’. This will save the HTML code of that video to your device’s clipboard.

Paste this code into an HTML block within your blog post and save, or publish as you need to. This will visually display your video directly on the blog post.

Why and when to add a YouTube video to your blog post

Whilst Google spoke predominantly of ad placements on YouTube videos (where 70% of people bought a brand specifically because they saw it on a YouTube ad), the inference that video is going to be big in the future of eCommerce is there.

We all know that most YouTube videos hosts ads these days and larger brands are taking to the platform to showcase their products or services, meaning Google are keen to increase revenues in this area. Their data also shows that well-placed, targetted ads, also work for advertisers.

What’s more is that larger brands are starting their own YouTube channels, finding that video, whether it is ad-based, or organic content is useful for their brand audience growth. Videos aren’t just about ads anymore they are entertaining, educational and inspirational, connecting brands with people on emotional levels.

Alongside this blog posts are a great way to add content to your website to satisfy Google’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) thirst for all things ‘fresh’. In fact, businesses who use a blog on their website are shown to have 434% more indexed pages on search engines and gain 97% more links to their websites, as covered in my recent article about the value of business blogging.

Marrying the two elements together, blog and video makes perfect sense!

The key question is, “When should you use a YouTube video in a blog post?”

“Where it is relevant”, is your answer.

Relevant content makes for a great user experience and useful elements Google can take snippets from. It also helps with accessibility, ensuring physically or mentally impaired users (either temporarily, situationally or permanently) can gain context and understanding of why the two content types are paired together.

Where to add a YouTube video to your blog post

I personally like to add video content after the introduction of a blog post, specifically where the video visually and audibly presents the topic of discussion. Here is an example. 

This is a great tip for tutorials and opinion pieces.

I also use video directly at the top of the page, where the blog posts act purely as a transcribe. Here is an example of that.

I might use video contextually within a blog post. For example, sharing a tutorial video, where I highlighted a service during the conversation that compliments deeper discussion.

The benefits of adding a YouTube video to your blog post

Going forward video within blog post content serves two purposes; firstly it helps Google catalogue and share improved SERPs for their users, helping you gain more traffic and secondly, it can improve your content’s accessibility, which according to experts can help you tap into the $1.6 Trillion spending power of those with accessibility problems.

Remember, in order to use a YouTube video effectively in your blog posts, think about context, relevance and placement.

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