Are you or your clients video content creators? If so, things just may have just gotten a lot more interesting for you. As of today, we at Flying Point Digital have spotted Quick Answer results with YouTube as the source. If this isn't just a test, this certainly represents an exciting new development in the world of search.
Should Marketers Be Concerned About Quick Answers?
Yes. In a recent study of 1.4 million queries, 35% of results featured a quick answer with a sidebar, and 29% of results had a rich answer with no sidebar. (Source: Stone Temple Consulting)
This indicates that 64% of queries done in the study generated a quick answer result.
With all of those queries being answered directly on the first page of Google search results, it's imperative you start thinking about ways to show up as a Quick Answer, and how you can drive more traffic from the click beyond the question answered.
Findings & Observations For YouTube In Quick Answers
The search phrase used in this example was "what is foundation primer". It's important to note that the more traditional video SERP result is still present on this page, and is ranking in position four. This means double exposure for this lucky YouTube creator, but it also means that you don't necessarily need to be in position one in order to be anointed as the Quick Answer result.
Why Is This Significant?
The significance of this comes from the fact that content creators are no longer relegated to creation on their own properties in order to get into Quick Answers. Additionally the fact that such a high authority domain that once was NOT part of Quick Answer results is now part of it means opportunity for you to slip in before the masses and try to get your "how to" or "what is" video ranking not only page one, but also as a Quick Answer result.
How'd They Do That?!
One of the key elements of having a YouTube video rank, whether it's for Quick Answers, Google Search or native YouTube search, is providing a transcript along with the video. In the case of the video for how to use foundation primer, the ranking is more than likely a result of the transcript being not only added to the video under transcripts, but also pasted in its entirety in the video description. Other than the additional content, user engagement metrics such as likes, shares, embeds, and comments most likely play a role in elevating the ranking of videos within search results. Having a couple backlinks--as this video has--is likely helping this video rank as well.
Takeaways for How To Rank Your Videos In Quick Answers:
- Transcribe all of your videos. Definitely add the transcript to the video itself, but consider adding the transcript in full to your video description.
- Be sure to research and answer a question that you see people answering poorly or indirectly. Provide a better answer within your video.
- Promote your video on social, and through any other channels you can in order to increase engagement metrics and ideally get some links pointing to your video. Additionally, be sure to embed your video on your website. The number of sites a video is embedded on is a major ranking factor for YouTube.
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