Seen suggested video clips yet?

The ones which are embedded in Google search results and take you to the point in the video where you will find your answer?

What are they?

Google is currently testing this feature in its search results.

The suggested clip directly jumps to the part for which you put up the query which means that you don’t have to see the irrelevant parts anymore.

For example, when you say “How to tie a shoelace”, this is the suggested clip that turns up. The clip starts at 17 seconds and is just 25 seconds long. The total video length is around 2 minutes 3 seconds. This means that the user is watching only 41% of the actual video in this case.

How does it affect users?

They get to skip the “irrelevant” parts of the videos making for a user-friendly experience.

Additionally, the user doesn’t have to leave the search result page to watch the video, an added bonus.

Source

As we saw in the “How to tie a lace” example, suggested clip showed 41% of the video. Without this feature in place, the user would be required to watch the whole video to get to the point where he would find his answer.

What does this mean for you?

Having your video appear as a suggested clip in the search results can have a great impact on the CTR.

Since the suggested clip occupies a major visible area above the fold, it dominates the search result page.

How can you optimise your video to get your featured snippet?

Right now, there is not much information on what helps a video become a suggested clip. However, these tips can come in handy:

These results are largely being triggered by “how-to” queries. So focus on creating “how-to” explainer video content. Make sure that one video only covers a single topic instead of being a complete guide to something. For instance, if you have a video which offers a complete tutorial on iMovie, split up the tutorial into different parts.

Having a clear video transcript and a detailed description is an added SEO advantage.

A good video transcript helps Google understand what exactly is the nature of your video and gives clarity about what questions are answered in your video.

Conclusion

Suggested clips in search results are a quick way of delivering information to the users. These clips offer a good opportunity to marketers to claim the first page of Google results and boost their visibility. To put your video in the suggested clip space, we advise you to invest in “how-to” videos.

By: Bhavna Sultana