Do Video Ads Impact Your SEO?

We all know that adding video ads to your website can really bump up your revenue—sometimes by as much as five to ten times more than regular display ads. But despite this, many publishers hesitate to use them, worried about how these ads might affect their site's performance and whether it’s worth the risk. So, how do these ad units affect your website's search engine optimization (SEO)?

Let's look at the potential benefits, and drawbacks, and explore strategies to mitigate any negative impacts.

The Double-Edged Sword of Video Ads and SEO

Video ads can be a powerful tool for boosting your website's revenue, but they come with their own set of challenges, particularly regarding SEO. It's essential to understand both the advantages and potential drawbacks of running video ads on your site. This way, you can make informed decisions that maximize your earnings while minimizing any negative impact on your search engine rankings.

The Good:

• Increased Engagement: When done right, video ads can be incredibly engaging. Relevant, high-quality video content can capture users' attention and encourage them to spend more time on your page. Increased dwell time is a positive signal to search engines that your content is valuable and relevant, which can potentially boost your search rankings and income.
• Reduced Bounce Rate: Engaging video content can make users more likely to stick around and explore your website further. This can help reduce your bounce rate (the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page), another factor that search engines consider when ranking websites.
• Increased Revenue: And, of course, if you’re a publisher, increased engagement and a reduced bounce rate is a killer combination that can drive your revenue through increased click and conversion rates. Video ad units have higher CPMs compared to display ads, meaning you earn more per every thousand impressions. You can make the most of these conditions by optimizing your strategy and refreshing your ads.

The Not So Good – Things to Watch Out For:

• Increased Page Load Time: Video files are typically larger than images or text and loading them can significantly slow down your webpage if not optimized correctly. Slow load times can frustrate users and lead to higher bounce rates, negatively impacting your SEO.
• Impact on Core Web Vitals (CWV): CWV is a set of metrics that Google uses to measure user experience. Video ads can negatively impact these metrics, particularly Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), if not optimized properly. Poor CWV scores can hurt your search rankings so it’s worth thinking about improving yours.
• Bandwidth Consumption: Video ads consume more bandwidth than other types of content. This can be problematic for users with slower internet connections or limited data plans, leading to a poorer user experience and potentially driving them away from your site. However, using a Server-to-Server (S2S) approach instead of a Client-to-Server (C2S) approach can help mitigate some of these issues. S2S can reduce the initial bandwidth load on the user's device by pre-fetching and caching video ads, leading to faster page load times and a better overall user experience.
• Potentially Intrusive Ads: Nobody likes ads that interrupt their browsing experience. Auto-playing videos with sound, pop-up video ads, or videos that take up the entire screen can be incredibly annoying and lead to a negative user experience. This can damage your brand reputation and ultimately hurt your SEO. That said, not all video ads are intrusive. When implemented thoughtfully, video ads can be seamlessly integrated into your content, providing value to users without disrupting their experience.
• Poorly Optimized Videos: Videos that are not optimized for the web (e.g., large file sizes, slow loading times) can have a detrimental impact on both user experience and SEO.

Striking the right balance between your ambition to grow your revenue while maintaining your SEO performance can be tricky. But, by being aware of the potential challenges and addressing them proactively, you can minimize the impact that video ads can have on your site’s SEO performance. If continually monitoring and optimizing your video ads is a step too far, consider working with an ad tech partner, like Snigel, that provides a dedicated ad operations expert.

In-Stream and Out-Stream Ads – Which is Right for Your Website?

When it comes to video advertising, not all ads are created equal. And, depending on which you choose, it can have different effects on your site's SEO performance. There are two general types of video ads: In-stream and outstream. Each offers unique experiences and benefits for both publishers and users. Which one is right for you can depend on a couple of factors, like how your webpage is set up, the content that is already there and how users usually interact with your site. Here's a breakdown of the potential SEO impacts for each type:

Instream Video Ads

Instream video ads are ads that appear within a video player, often before (pre-roll), during (mid-roll), or after (post-roll) the main video content. They are typically used on platforms like YouTube, and a great option if you are already hosting your own video content on your website.

Potential SEO Impacts:

• User Experience: Instream ads can disrupt the viewing experience if they are too frequent or lengthy, potentially leading to higher bounce rates. A high bounce rate can negatively impact SEO as it signals to search engines that users are not finding the content engaging or relevant.
• Engagement Metrics: If users watch the video content despite the ads, it can lead to longer session durations, which can positively impact SEO. Videos are also often shared, embedded, or linked to, which can generate backlinks and improve SEO.
• Page Load Speed: Instream video ads can affect the page load speed, especially if they are not properly optimized. Slower page load times can negatively affect SEO rankings.

Outstream Video Ads

Outstream video ads are standalone video ads that appear outside of a video player. They can be embedded within articles, in between paragraphs, or as pop-ups, and they start playing once they come into the viewer's viewport. This type of ad allows you to benefit from the high CPMs video units offer, even if you do not host any native videos on your site.

Potential SEO Impacts:

• User Experience: Outstream ads are generally less intrusive since they appear within the content users are already engaged with. They can be beneficial if they enhance the content rather than disrupt it, leading to lower bounce rates and potentially higher time spent on the page.
• Engagement Metrics: These ads can improve user engagement by providing additional content within the page, leading to longer session durations and more interactions. This can positively influence SEO.
• Page Load Speed: Similar to instream ads, outstream ads can impact page load speed if not optimized properly. Ensuring that these ads load asynchronously and are optimized for performance is crucial for maintaining good SEO rankings.

Choosing between in-stream and outstream video ads really depends on your website setup, the content you have, and how your users interact with your site. Each type has its own set of pros and cons, so it's important to weigh them carefully. In the next section, we cover some best practices for optimizing your ad units to minimize any negative impacts on SEO, regardless of which type you use.

Optimizing Video Ads for SEO Success and Great User Experience

When implementing video ads, it's crucial to approach them strategically, ensuring a balance between providing a positive user experience and incorporating SEO best practices.

One technique you can use is something called lazy loading, this delays the loading of videos until they're about to become visible on the user's screen. This significantly improves initial page load times. Lazy loading prioritizes the content users see first, ensuring a smoother browsing experience.

Take time to consider where you place your video ads. Avoid areas that could cause significant layout shifts or obstruct important content. Ideally, place video ads in designated ad spaces that won't disrupt the flow of your website's content. This ensures a positive user experience for both your website visitors and those engaging with the video ads.

The Verdict? Optimization Is Key!

Our experience of testing thousands of different ad setups with over 200 publishers has taught us a lot. One of those lessons - video ads can boost your revenue, often by as much as 23%. While there are potential SEO performance challenges, these can be managed with the right strategy and thoughtful ad placement.

Video advertising continues to offer the highest growth potential for most publishers. The truth though is if you don’t have the tech knowledge or a supportive ad tech partner, it can be hard to make the most of the opportunity without damaging your user experience and SEO. At Snigel, all of our publishers work with a dedicated ad operations expert to help optimize ad delivery and maximize their earnings. Get in touch to learn more about working with us.