Why are YouTube Videos up before our product pages?

[vetofunk]

Hey Guys,

We are in a pretty niche market. One thing we do for each of our products is show a video on it. We are in the <decorative widget> business, so we find that this really helps sell the product.

As our ranking has decreased over the past year, I have noticed that when I search for our product name or a phrase from a product page, our Youtube videos shows up first.

Does this mean Google really is demoting our site? Is this normal? I am just trying to re-gain positioning and not sure if this is a problem? Should we be using a different video title than the product name?

Thanks!

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 10:19 pm (utc) on Sep 5, 2013]
[edit reason] exemplified market area [/edit]

[JD_Toims]

Not sure I understand -- If your videos sell your products and they're what show up first in the rankings, why would you want people to visit your site rather than being sold by the video and then clicking through to your site to buy?

[oliondor]

Same problem here...

[bubba1986]

Not sure I understand -- If your videos sell your products and they're what show up first in the rankings, why would you want people to visit your site rather than being sold by the video and then clicking through to your site to buy?

Ummm...maybe because conversion is higher?

[edited by: goodroi at 7:38 pm (utc) on Sep 6, 2013]
[edit reason] Volunteer moderators love spending time deleting off-topic posts :) [/edit]

[JD_Toims]

Ummm...maybe because conversion is higher?

I'd take any traffic I can get for a product anywhere and anyway I can get it from Google right now, and that includes YouTube. If Google's wanting to rank YouTube above independent sites where they can, then I'd happily take #1 with a YouTube video and not complain.

Also, if the videos mentioned in the OP really sell the product, then conversions should easily be as high from visits to YouTube as they are to the site, otherwise if the videos are getting the visits and not the site, maybe the videos need to be adjusted?

But, I'm really not sure how you can tell conversion rate without all the analytical data necessary available from YouTube?

There have been YouTube videos I don't finish even though I "got the point", liked and bought from [no "times viewed" recorded or incremented when I stop one even 10 seconds short from finishing and go buy.].

There are others I've watched multiple times all the way through and never bought a thing from even though I've visited the site presenting them through organic results and through YouTube multiple times.

[In some cases it's probably 10 to 1 YouTube to site visits respectively, so a conversion rate might look higher on a site, because the owner can't tell I watched their videos 20 times and have only clicked on their site twice in the results, because their videos interest me, but their site doesn't -- Does YouTube give repeat visit / video watched info I'm unaware of, because my views of videos v. website visits could really skew some stats on lower traffic sites.]

Bottom line is: I'm really not sure how exactly can you tell the conversion rate difference between YouTube v. Website without all the data normally associated with visits to a site from YouTube? If you have a way, please, let me know, thanks!

[edited by: JD_Toims at 3:13 am (utc) on Sep 6, 2013]

[bubba1986]

<snip> He asked: why is Google ranking them this way? Your answer "be happy with any crumbs Google throws your way" does nothing for him.

[edited by: goodroi at 7:35 pm (utc) on Sep 6, 2013]
[edit reason] Off-Topic posts will get deleted [/edit]

[JD_Toims]

He asked: why is Google ranking them this way?

Because that's what they think is best overall, including for them [Google]. Is that a better answer?

[My previous two responses provided much more in the direction of a solution than "confirming a problem", which should actually be more fruitful and lucrative in-the-long-run if they're taken to heart and acted upon -- One of the first things I learned in management is not to simply point out a problem, but to find/provide some type of solution for the situation you're faced with, because it's much more productive, lucrative and beneficial.]

[Zivush]

@vetofunk
Have you associated your site with your YouTube Channel?
When a channel is unverified or isn't set properly it might bring the scenario your described.

How to that?
Go to channel settings/Advanced/Associated website and put the URL of your site.

---

"Tell us if your channel is associated with another website. This will help us improve the quality of our search results and verify your channel as the official representation of your brand on YouTube."

---

I think this setting also tells Google that your site pages should appear first on search results, before your related channel's YouTube videos.

Your accounts on Google properties, such as Analytics/Gmail/Adwords, also have an impact on how Google recognize you as the site owner.
It is recommended to use the same account for all their properties our to associate one to each other.

Check it out.

[Robert Charlton]

I just saw a brand new site I'd consulted on ranking #1 for the YouTube title, which contained the same uncompetitive three-word target phrase as the home page of the site.

The site is dreadful. So is the video, but the video has 23 views after a week because the producer got friends to "Like" it. I'll be very curious how well it holds position over time.

I'm assuming that YouTube simply confers some authority on the video, at least initially, whereas the home page of the site needs to built up some inbound links. Could be that the freshness factor of the video helps. Total conjecture. I'm watching with fascination.

[arikgub]

Listen. You want your video rank - host it on Youtube. You want your product to be on the top - host it on Amazon.

Putting your product on amazon and buying a pile of crappy links (yes, "BUYING" - when the links are pointing to Amazon Google doesn't mind so much where they come from) is the easiest (and fastest) way to rank and boost sales.

That's how Google works these days. It is silly to ignore that. Not to say it is impossible to build your own brand that ranks well. It can be done, but takes time, effort and nice budget.

I'm assuming that YouTube simply confers some authority on the video

"Some"?

[vetofunk]

Go to channel settings/Advanced/Associated website and put the URL of your site.

- Do not have that option. Did things change? I don't see a way to put in an associated website.

[Zivush]

@vetofunk
Read this - [googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.il...]
Or this - [support.google.com...]

[vetofunk]

In our Youtube account, we do not have this:

Click on the user menu and choose Settings > Associated Website

This Associated Website link does not exist. I am guessing it's because those instructions are over a year old?

[oliondor]

So funny how people are talking here about what they don't know or believe it's true...

[vetofunk]

I guess my big question is if there was an issue with authority. I also do marketing for quite a few other websites where we do 100's of videos and this is the first time (first site) that when I search for one of their unique products, the Youtube video shows ahead of the actual product page. If this is normal, fine...but wanted make sure this wasn't an issue.

And I would rather my product page show up first, as the product page has multiple images, a more detailed description, the price and the video.

[jimbeetle]

I guess my big question is if there was an issue with authority.

That's what it sounds like to me. After all, whether a Google property or not, youtube is a very strong site in it's own right.

Do you get traffic from youtube?

[vetofunk]

We do get traffic coming in from them, just seemed strange when I looked for our specific unique product and seeing the video above out listing.

[Lexur]

Putting your product on amazon and buying a pile of crappy links (yes, "BUYING" - when the links are pointing to Amazon Google doesn't mind so much where they come from) is the easiest (and fastest) way to rank and boost sales.

This and the recent Wheel's post about making money from guest posts are the reason why I come to this forum every day.

[diberry]

I don't think it means your site is necessarily demoted*. I think it just means YouTube has so much more authority than your site right now that it's going to rank higher. So, your site would need more authority in order to outrank the videos. And while no one's sure precisely what comprises "authority", it's probably natural inbounds, good coding, good content that's readable to bots, and it's looking more and more like Google is tracing some forms of user metrics.

If you can find a way to get some Pinterest traffic - and if you're selling decorative widgets, that sounds very photogenic - Google can follow those links and will definitely reward any pages that get repinned a lot.

*I know you said you've been losing rankings, and that COULD mean demotion, but it could also just mean Google thinks your competitors are doing something better.