Google recently announced that it would be significantly reducing the number of video rich snippets that appear in the search engine results. Here we will look at what this means for the future of video marketing.

1. Google significantly limits
video rich snippets
How will that impact your website?

2. Video rich snippets are an enhanced results in Google’s
SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) that features a
thumbnail of a video next to the search result. They help
users recognize when the site is relevant to search, and may
result in more clicks.

3. We have recently witnessed a sudden drop of video rich
snippets in Google’s search results. This unexpected change
resulted in heated discussion within SEO community as to
both Google’s motivations and the effect this move will
have on the click through rates (CTR).
In this presentation we will look at what the digital
marketing community is saying about the recent update –
and what it means for your video marketing.

4. Timeline of the change
• 16th of July - SEER Interactive noticed that the visibility
of Google video snippets in the search results were
significantly reduced. The author of the article, Chad
Gingrich posted several graphics, including this one
comparing Vevo’s video pages (which are still getting
snippets) to Moz’s Whiteboard Friday posts (which have
lost snippets).

5. Timeline of the change
Credit to SEER Interactive http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/did-google-end-video-snippets

6. Timeline of the change
• 18th of July – Jennifer Slegg, of The SEM Post, reported
a 4% increase in the number of video thumbnails showing
in the search results over the previous day. Despite this
slight change, the overall decline from 16th of July was
still quite dramatic and there was no way of telling if the
rise on will continue.

7. Timeline of the change
• 21st of July – Jennifer Slegg shared data provided by
Mozcast showing further decline of visibility of video
rich snippets. She indicates that this recent trend might be
a permanent change in Google’s search results.
Credit to The SEM Post http://www.thesempost.com/google-video-snippets-visibility-continues-drop-search-results/

8. As an answer to many questions asked by bloggers and SEOs,
Google’s spokesman said that:
“We’ll continue to show video snippets where it’s most relevant.”
Google’s Webmaster Trend Analyst John Mueller argues that the
recent changes were designed to
“clean up the visual design of our search results, in particular
creating a better mobile experience and a more consistent design
across devices.”
He added:
“We’re still showing video snippets, seeing changes from time to
time is normal.”

9. Reason Behind These Changes
• Many suggest that the recent changes made by Google
were motivated by their bank book. While video snippets
from many other sites appeared to be removed, the video
thumbnails for YouTube, which is owned by Google,
were unaffected. This has led to speculation that Google
is favoring its own site, at the expense of others.
• Another suggestion is that by taking relevant videos and
other rich snippets away from the organic search will
bring more attention to Google’s primary profit machine
– Google Adwords.
Profit?

10. Reason Behind These Changes
Jennifer Slegg saw the connection between the change in
visibility of the video rich snippets and the Google’s
announcement in late June that authorship photos were
being permanently removed from the Google SERP.
However, Google’s spokesman had denied those suspicions
assuring that these events were not related.
Algorithm change?

11. Regardless of the negative implications the recent change
might have on CTR, videos and other rich visual content
should still be included in website design as they
significantly enhance overall user experience. Despite the
reduction of the video snippets in the SERP’s, Google’s
algorithm is still relying on video tags and other rich
content when indexing a webpage.

12. Visit www.BoldContentVideo.com to learn more
about how we can help you.
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