It has been over two decades since Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, made the phrase ‘content is king’ the most popular principle in creating content on the internet in his 1996 essay, and it actually still holds up to this day. The internet, in its entirety, is governed by what we primarily see, making visual content search-engine friendly the primary goal in putting yourself out there.
We have come a long way since then, as users now have less attention span, with approximately 81 percent of them only skimming over content. This makes how you organize and present content crucial.
Attractive visual content definitely drives higher engagement than just worded articles, which is the reason a creative agency must do the necessary steps to follow the best practices for better user experience and optimized multimedia content.
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Unfortunately, multimedia content doesn’t work well with search engines. The good thing is that these best practices can help both the user experience and SEO of your multimedia content.
User Experience and SEO Best Practices
Images
Articles that include images can be a potent combination, making them more engaging for your target audience. To make sure they work more to your advantage, use original and more relevant images with your posts. This boosts engagement to a massive 650 percent compared to articles made of pure text.
Optimize your images and make them search engine-friendly by saving them as either png, jpg, or gif files for easy indexing. Rename them using relevant keywords and insert them in the title or alt text to help crawlers identify your content. Lastly, don’t forget to optimize images for mobile devices for faster loading.
Infographics
An infographic is one of the most attractive methods of sharing information due to the way it makes use of images to engage its target audience. However, search engines cannot reach the information contained in the image, so the best way to optimize it is by using a text introduction using the proper keywords. Sharing can also be encouraged by leaving an embedded HTML version of your infographic post.
Videos
Videos make the most impact in terms of multimedia content, making it imperative to have it part of your content arsenal. Take advantage of this by saving your videos in a file format that optimizes quality in an ideal file size.
When using YouTube, tag your videos with your brand name and display a clickable link to your website towards the end of your videos to boost both traffic and conversions. Make sure to use keywords in your title, video description, and tags.
To take it a step further, embed, write a transcript, and add subtitles for a better UX.
Tutorials and Animations
These multimedia channels may be getting a bad rap for being expensive to produce, but this misconception is causing businesses to avoid utilizing this effective strategy. The key is to create tutorials and animations in simple formats.
Keep it short and sweet, use eye-catching thumbnails, and optimize your video for faster loading times.
eBooks or White Papers
Long-form content in the form of e-books or white papers can establish your credibility in your niche by providing valuable information to your target audience.
Clearly state a call to action to boost visibility and make sure to insert the proper keywords for higher page ranking.
Podcasts
People who are always on the go have found podcasts as an alternative source of informative or entertaining content. Improve user experience by creating your downloadable podcasts with high-quality audio and video with a unique title and accurate description.
Relevant keywords should also be inserted in the right places.
Each type of multimedia content serves its own specific purpose and knowing how to exploit all of them should be part of your content strategy for a more profitable business. These channels will help you connect and engage with a wider audience and boost your online presence.
