According to Business News Daily, over 80% of audiences are drawn to watching a live-streaming video as opposed to reading a blog. It is no doubt that video marketing on your website is a powerful way to drive traffic and build a relationship with your audience. The question is, “what is the best way to air a live-streaming video on your website?”

Currently, there are only two ways to add videos to your site, both of which can directly impact the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your content. In this blog, I will discuss the options and give you the pros and cons of them both.

Linking Live-Stream Videos

There are several free platforms that you can create a live stream video on and link to your website:

YouTube
Vimeo
Dailymotion
Facebook Live
Twitter Live

Linking videos is as simple as copying the URL from the platform of your choice and pasting it where you want it to land on your website. When the user clicks on the link, they are redirected off your website to that specific page on the platform you chose.

Embedded Live Stream Videos

An embedded video is also created on the platforms I linked above. The difference is, it allows you to watch the video on your website without being redirected to another platform. To embed a live video, you copy and paste a link/embed code into your website’s HTML. YouTube will generate a code for you to embed your video directly on your website.

Pros and Cons of Linking Videos

Pros

• Shows you the URL of the video
• Users can copy the URL and share it with their viewers
• Mobile users can send the URL through email or chat
• Your link will redirect you to YouTube which allows viewers to see your other video content and subscribe to it

Cons

• Redirects the viewer from your website slowing loading time
• Video links rarely appear on search results
• YouTube will expose the user to similar video suggestions

Pros and Cons of Embedded Videos

Pros

• Embedded code optimizes the video for SEO (this is huge)
• You can modify the embedded code for the video’s height, width, and size
• With embedded code, you are able to choose the start time for the video and redirect users to specific parts of your video content
• The user will remain on your site which improves your bounce rates

Cons

• YouTube can run ads on your video content, leaving you no control over what they’re advertising
• JavaScript  is the only way to modify the visual appearance of the embedded player design
• It is more difficult for the user to share the video with their network

Videos are Awesome

Whichever way you choose to live stream your videos one thing is for sure: Videos work! However, after a lot of research, I have found that embedding videos are more beneficial for SEO with Google. Users tend to stay on your site longer which in turn boosts your searchability. Providing a website where people can watch a live-stream event, rather than relying on Social Media, is professional and great for your brand.