Self-Hosting Videos VS YouTube Hosting

Everyone loves to post videos on YouTube, and there is quite a buzz about Video SEO. 

What's that?

Daniel Vassiliou recently posted a great piece called "Video SEO: Focus on Self-Hosted Videos Rather Than YouTube" where he discusses the differences between hosting your video on YouTube and posting them on your own site. To make it very simple, someone searches for your item (pick your particular product or service into this scenario) and as a result a video comes up in page one... and let's say just for discussion sake it is your video. If your video is hosted on YouTube and the person goes to YouTube to watch the video, what is the next step the visitor must take in order to go to your site? They have to look for and find the link back to your site which should be in the comments section. One would hope the visitor finds the link, click on it, and goes right to your web site right? But wait, other videos are off to the right side of the page and they are competing for your visitors, your potential customers or clients. Your video now has competition.

Creating a YouTube channel and posting videos for the purpose of attracting visitors to your site is easy to do; however if you are counting on the video to point quality traffic to your site there are others doing the exact same thing and YouTube is helping your competition find your viewers or… the visitor may get distracted by these other videos and poof, they’re gone… down that bunny trail, possibly never to find their way back. At the end of the day, your best content should be featured on your own domain, to be used for drive traffic to your site without any side tracks or tempting “bunny trails”.

What's the Alternative? Host Videos on Your Site!

The benefits can be stunning however, there could be some draw backs. For example:

1. Many providers set limits on the number of hits your site is able to receive
2. Many providers limit the bandwidth and charge for bandwidth. Bandwidth is the amount of data your site is passing across a network in a given period of time, usually measured by the month. Hosting providers are charged for an allocated amount of bandwidth from backbone providers and wholesale data centers and that cost can be passed on to the consumer in the form of web hosting plans.

Videos can eat up bandwidth and if popular could attract a larger audience which is what any online business is looking to achieve. If your hosting site places a limit on traffic and/or bandwidth, and charges extra for overages, one of two options are available... go with YouTube or, find a web site hosting provider that has unlimited bandwidth and visitor traffic.

Videos on your site for the purpose of sharing your product or services is huge in this day of social media mania... partnering up with the right Web site hosting and provider will cost you less in the long run. 

The below link takes you to Alecsy's latest tips for video SEO beginners.