Deimira Paa Baidoo: Why Use Multimedia for SEO?

Content is more than just the words on a website (although those are important). Multimedia — images, videos, and lists — are also forms of content. Like text, multimedia content can be an important component of your website and contribute to SEO.

Multimedia can correlate to a higher quality page for search engines. Using two or more forms of multimedia makes it more likely that others will link to your site as well, giving you those important backlinks that boost your page authority. In order to be successful with multimedia, make sure you are using it correctly.

List Content

A list on your website uses bullet points or numbers with each piece containing a snippet of information. There are several benefits to using lists, and we will present them in a list of our own:

• Readable — Lists are easy to skim and the eye will typically jump to them. This makes them a good place to put details you need to draw attention to and allows you to condense ideas into a simpler format.
• Shareable — Because steps, facts, or tips presented in list format are easier to read and more memorable, they are more likely to be shared through a link.
• Add Structure — A list breaks up your page, making it more inviting to read. There is more visual interest than consistent large blocks of text.
• Convenient — Of all the multimedia, lists are one of the easiest to add. You’re already writing content, so whenever you have a series of items, such as services, options, or facts, break them up into a list instead.

In order to have a list that works, some considerations need to be taken for the design and content. Grammatical rules are flexible, but be consistent with punctuation and capitalization. Try to make your points similar in length and related to each other. Like all content, don’t use a list if it doesn’t fit and you have nothing valuable to convey.

Image Content

Photographs and drawings, whether they are your own or from a stock website, add a visual interest to your website by helping you illustrate a point or break up text. Beyond the reader’s experience, they can bring your website up as a result in Google Images and become a hyperlinked image back to your site if used elsewhere.

If using your own photography, it needs to be high quality. Amateur photos can make your site look less professional than if you had no photos at all. If you are opting for photos found online, they must be stock photos you have paid for the rights to or available for free commercial use. Using photos you don’t have license to can result in costly copyright violations.

Video Content

There are a number of ways you can incorporate video into your content. An embedded video can show your process, provide instructions, or add a decorative element when used in a header. You can host your videos yourself, or on a platform like YouTube or Vimeo.

Like photos, videos need to be high quality and they need to contain footage and sounds you have the rights to. Professional video production can run into the thousands of dollars, making this one of the more costly multimedia options. When done well, however, it is highly shareable.

When using multimedia content, especially images and videos, it’s important to remember that text content is still essential. Search engines cannot determine what is depicted in your video or pictures. Headers, captions, and alt text can help, but well written content is going to be most effective in showing search engines that you have valuable information on your website.

About Deimira Paa Baidoo — Deimira is a business consultant and entreneur that provides support for businesses looking to engage in the world of marketing for the first time. He can also be contacted on his personal website at www.DeimiraBaidoo.com and at www.DeimiraPaaBaidoo.com for speaking engagements.