Concerned over a small video snippet autoplaying on my homepage (Negative page load speed = Negative SEO)

[Sam.at.Moz]

I'm looking at embedding a short 20 second autoplay video to show as the background in a Jumbotron (I'm using Bootstrap) right below my navbar.

This looks great and works well for branding ect, however I'm concerned the loading speed will be hit after crossing over from a static image (perhaps 300kb) to a video (perhaps 2MB) which could detrimentally hit my SEO (I also can't help but notice not many SEO minded websites have these autoplaying videos - Perhaps for this reason!)

Does anyone have any experience with a similar issue? Is there anything I can do to compress the video right now to a similar file size to an image?

I've set it up using a media query to not show on mobile/tablets.

Sam

[ClaytonJ]

It is a matter of personal choice. AirBnB use auto play/ambient video. I personally love it.  So there are ways to address the slow loading, however it is problematic. I personally steer clear of videos on the landing page above the fold as I have not seen an instance where it assists in customer conversions. In fact video has been a negative in my experience, specifically on eCommerce sites.

So back to your question I would get customer feedback, but if wanted to try video I would still look at a placeholder or a short 7-8 second piece to liven the page. Also if the user doesn’t see the images and videos as they are below the fold again use placeholders and detail so the images and videos only load once the user scrolls down and when actually needed.

Hope that assists.

[Sam.at.Moz]

Thanks Joh,

Will look to reduce the length of the video, it's not really there to boost conversion rates but rather appeal to the target market (I.E. Align our brand with the viewer).

Great idea on autoplaying videos below the fold only when needed.

Sam