Hype or reality?

[hammy]

Dont know how true this is but talking to a google rep the other day he said "any site without a video on from the start of 2012 will not be entertained in google searches", how true that is I have no idea.

[Corabar Entertainment]

Dont know how true this is but talking to a google rep the other day he said "any site without a video on from the start of 2012 will not be entertained in google searches", how true that is I have no idea.

You see, this is EXACTLY what I'm talking about!

We keep getting told that we should do this, should have that, etc, but do people's OWN EXPERIENCES bear this out?

I haven't seen anyone come on yet and say "Yes, I always search for products services via FB & hardly ever bother with google these days." or "The videos on my website are viewed by 75% of visitors whereas only 20% of visitors bother with the photo gallery."

It's all " I would imagine" or "I was told", "I suspect" etc. Hence the title to this post: "Hype or reality?" as I was looking for people's real world experiences - both as a customer or as a business owner.

[BeerFunk]

Here is my real world experience. When I browse the web at home, I appreciate video content where it is appropriate, but only as a clearly defined option within the page. Pages that automatically start playing video content or music are a turn-off.

At work, I have limited web access, and that rules out video. Obviously sites like Youtube, well I wouldn't go to them at all in this case. Retail sites (and that would include marketing sites, such as DJs etc) are different though. If there is a site which relies on a video and doesn't have an alternative (or indeed, doesn't have the video as the alternative option), it most likely would not get my custom.

The other thing I've noticed is that a lot of people (mainly youngsters, but not always) only access the Internet through their smartphones. Depending on their phone and data allowance, this may restrict how many videos they can view (if any at all).

One more thing... The government and relevant bodies are always hyping up broadband access for everyone in the UK and so on, but yet many of the best package deals available are very restrictive in terms of monthly data usage. I was shocked to read the small print for a Sky package, which stated that the monthly bandwidth usage would be capped at 2GB!! Again, you can pretty much rule out watching video..

Finally, searching for products on Facebook?? First I've heard of that one, and don't know anyone that does it.

[Vectis]

Dont know how true this is but talking to a google rep the other day he said "any site without a video on from the start of 2012 will not be entertained in google searches", how true that is I have no idea.

Are you it was a "Google Rep" and not just one of umpteen million chancers wanting to take all your cash in return for getting you to the top of google? Sounds very familiar...

The Google algorithm has around 200 indicators; I very much doubt whether having a video on the site or not would flag more than 1 or 2 of them.

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If you look at the stats in the first half of 2011, some 92% of UK internet searches went via Google. Everyone else squeezed into the other 8%.

The same stats show that of all social network visits, Faceache took 54% of the share, Youtube 21% and everyone else marginal with Twitter the biggest at 3%.

Therefore you would be well advised to court:

- Google
- Faceache
- Youtube

in that order, because that's where people go and that's where people spend their online time.

If you carry on reading the article you'll see that 12.54% of all website visits originate at a social media network - and you now know that over half of these are from Faceache and a fifth are from Youtube.

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Link in case you missed it: http://weblogs.hitwise.com/james-mur...ntelligence%29

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I won't get started on what makes a good video...