Video Hosting Question - host on website via wistia type solution or upload to youtube and embed?

[RonMedlin]

I have a client that owns a Video production company.  They have a lot of video examples of all their different types of services i.e. commercial production, TV broadcast production, business videos, training videos, etc.

Where should I host their portfolio of videos, should I:

A:  Use a paid video hosting solution like wistia

B. Upload to youtube or vimeo and embed to my own site

The only videos titles with keywords that I could see bringing any type of conversions for their business would be their demo reels, for example:  "Atlanta Corporate Video Production Demo Reel."  The other videos would be the name of the video "Court TV:  Cop On Trial For Killing Wife" and therefore wouldn't bring the kind of visitors that are searching for a video production service.  This is why I'm curious about what the best hosting option is.

Any advice would be a great help.

[danatanseo]

Since you are just starting with a Video SEO project, I would strongly encourage you to go the route of a service like Wistia. I just wrote a blog post on the whole subject located here: http://www.danatanseo.com/2012/09/creating-video-seo-strategy-is-hard-but.html  There are references to other helpful resources in the post too.

[Hughescov]

I went through the same problem as you. I went for the Youtube option, embedded 3 videos onto my site and used the old object code so that my videos would get indexed. It took ages for Google to even acknowledge them, never mind show them on the SERP.

I changed to Wistia, using the free option of 3 videos (it might be 5?) and within less than a week, my videos were returning in the SERP linking to the correct page on my site. My site is also listed for the same page on the same SERP. So in effect, 2 results for my one page on the first page of Google.

My good experience!

[Brocberry]

Check out this blog it may be of some help. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/hosting-and-embedding-for-video-seo I'm using jwplayer hosting myself; a couple of YouTube embeds; and now experimenting with Bits On The Run so I can see if I get any rich snippets and so I can see some analytics.

[benjaminspak]

• You Tube - It has a larger audience
• Yoast's new Video Plugin (if using Wordpress) - Embed the youtube video on your site, the plugin creates the video sitemap and rich data (SERP display image) for you.

[PhilNottingham]

It ultimately depends on what you want to achieve - from both a business and marketing perspective.

If you want video rich snippets and conversions - use a third party solution like Wistia.

If you're trying to improve brand awareness through social engagement, use YouTube.

As it's essentially a show reel and you're trying to get people to come to the website in order to learn about the company - i would suggest using Wistia and focussing on rankings and conversions. The content won't do very well on YouTube, so you have little to gain by putting it there.

For a more in-depth explanation, i have written about the whole subject here www.seomoz.org/blog/hosting-and-embedding-for-video-seo and this advice still stands.

[PhilNottingham]

Don't think this is a suitable alternative to securely hosting if you want rich snippets - because it isn't. While Yoasts plugin will allow you to get the rich snippet - it won't stop YouTube outranking you for your own video and also only works with a bit of a hack that YT may turn off at any time.