Placing video testimonials on website vs. YouTube

[ahw]

We have produced a number of video guest testimonials.

Any SEO considerations or other hosting it on our website (what software to use?) vs. YouTube (and just embedding it on the webpage)?

Are there certain situation or circumstances when YouTube is not the best choice for placing video on a website?

Thanks.

[RyanKent]

The best location to host videos would depend upon the content of the videos and your overall goals.

YouTube hosting offers:

• #3 ranked website in the world. Huge user base

• Google owns YouTube. When I post a video on youtube I consistently see it listed in Google within 2 hours.

• YouTube offers the videos in many formats. If you upload in 1080HD, it will be offered in 240, 360, 480, 720HD, 1080HD so users can choose the version they prefer based on their connection quality. Also YouTube uses a Content Delivery Network which significantly improves playback speeds by offering local servers for users.

• YouTube comments and thumbs up/down is very popular means of engaging users and generating content.

• your videos may contain unwanted ads or links to other videos from competitors if not set up correctly.

Vimeo and other video hosts:

• not as popular as YouTube, but each has a dedicated user base and is most likely more popular then your site. Sharing an occasional video on these sites will add exposure for your videos.

• the other points mentioned for YouTube apply to the many other providers, but to a lesser degree

Local hosting

• while you could offer the video in many versions and offer a CDN, most websites used by small companies do not so you miss out on those advantages. If videos do not play back smoothly, the user experience is significantly lowered.

• video content takes a large amount of disk space and bandwidth which can be a cost issue for small sites

Most often small sites can host the video on YouTube or Vimeo then display the video on an embedded player from their website.

[ahw]

Thanks for the thorough response. It's clear that YouTube is the way for us to proceed. Forgot that it's the 3rd largest search engine.

Clearly the advantages are significant.

I'll have to see how to control for competitor links and advertising.. hopefully this is not too technical.

Thanks for your great help.

Alan

[RyanKent]

My memory is a bit vague here but it should put you in the right direction.

When you choose to embed videos there should be an option for "play related videos" or something similar. Make sure to not select that box. It should add a parameter to the URL along the lines of "&rel=0".

For advertising, if you are a YouTube partner channel, then you can disable ads on any of your videos. Otherwise, as long as you do not include any copyrighted material in your video I believe you are ok. This includes the audio track.