I didn’t know Wonderhowto before coming at Video searh summit but just found the idea very smart strategically. Many players in the ‘how to’ business are investing tons of venture money to create content. howto requests in main search engines represent a few percentages of all the requests so it’s a good place where to be and obviously it’s really long tail…

Wonderhowto knows perfectcly that the value chain to monetize such an investment is not yet ready so they decided to become the aggregating platform and wait to see how and when monetization will come. Time-to-market is just key and these guys know it so they improve their SEO and moreover their VSEO to get free traffic. Moreover they have a stronger value proposition than the one they aggregate because they just have much more content for FREE.

Have a look these guys do a wonderful job in VSEO. Moreover their VC are one of the best VC I’ve met during my roadshow in US : General Catalyst

Their CEO (Stephen Chao) has a long expertise in producing content as he was executive at Fox during a while.
He told me that’s because he knows costs that he decided to not produce

Soon the interview with Mr Chao.

We are proud to announce the launch of your new corporate website at www.videoagency.tv

Videoagency now offers three important services to its clients all over the world:

Video production: Videoagency produces high quality internet videos at low cost, allowing business of any size to create videos that meet their budget and requirements. We have one of the largest filmmaker networks in the world and can dispatch a professional to you locally. Our video production is also available as a white label product to companies who which to offer video production services directly to their clients directly.

VSEO: Video Search Engine Optimization is a development in classic SEO that enables you to leverage on video as a ranking tool. With all the major search engines integrating videos directly in the search results, it is now more important than ever to optimize your videos for visibility to the search engines. Videoagency is pioneering a VSEO strategy which is now available to our clients to help them get the most out of their internet videos.

Digital Asset Management: Taking into account the importance of videos on the internet, Videoagency has developed a tool for companies (such as advertising agencies, media companies and SEO agencies) who need to manage a large number of videos from different sources and clients. The tool will let you upload videos on any video platform, manage the metadata around them. Furthermore, the advanced reporting tools will allow you to track the success of your video campaigns and calculate their ROI more accurately.

Message for all filmmakers: As before, you can register and join our network fro free on: http://www.videoagency.tv/filmmakers.html

Visit www.videoagency.tv for more information.

In NYC the SES (Search Engine Strategies) exhibit was all about Google Universal!

comScore announced the first stats around Universal Search.

“during one week in January 2008. During this period we observed over 220 million Google searches containing a universal result, out of 1.2 billion searches overall:

1. 17% of the queries had a universal result
2. 16% of total Google clicks were sourced from a page where a universal result was present
3. 14% of paid clicks were sourced from result pages where a universal result was present”

comScore also declared:
“This is not an insignificant number and shows that universal / mash-up / blended search results are clearly now in play. It will be interesting to track how this grows (or not) over time.”
“the shift from 17% total universal search results to 14% paid clicks is a vital stat. In other research situations, a move of 3 percentile points is hardly worth mentioning. In the world of search – where decimal points of change move tens of millions in commerce – it’s a big deal. It means that the presence of a universal results yield fewer clicks and will create more competition among search marketers”

AND SOMETHING BIG FOR US:

“It will be incumbent upon the marketers to quickly adapt and create videos and images that are relevant to the consumer and make them available to the search engines”

So if you’re marketer and you’re around just give us a call…We can definitely help you!

I had the opportunity to talk during Videocamp with Fabrice Boutain who is one of my old friend. He is also one of the smartest french guy i know on the french scene and he’s really a talented e-marketer.

He talked to me about his new venture aujourdhui.com and about video on Internet. Have a look.

Aujourdui.com is the next-gen woman portal and is competing with aufeminin and doctissimo. Two french portals targeting women and recently acquired respectively by Axel Springer group (german media group) and Lagardere (French media group)

Now moving on to my second discussion topic:

2/ What about indexing videos into Google Universal ? Are you going to give preference to the people who upload onto your platform?

Most of us who are interested in videos and/or SEO have noticed in these last few weeks a big move in video integration into search queries…Particularily new SERPs with video thumbnails situated before text links.

I have seen many examples of this:

- Some videos come from Youtube and you can play them directly in the SERP
- Others come from Youtube, but you cannot play them in the SERP
- A few come from others sites with thumbnails and some even without
- More impressively, some of them even come from video websites that are not big platforms

I would be curious to know what kind of results you guys are getting on this? Do people clicking on the videos? How, when you’re a video website, can you be indexed by Google?

Last but not least THE big questions concerning Video market on Internet is:

1. Are you going to prioritize SERPs videos uploaded on Youtube in your Algorythm?

If Yes: (bearing in mind your ToS - mentioned above) that would mean that you will be giving more exposure to content producers who accept to license their content to you for free?

If No: What type of commitment can you offer to content producers? A Chinese wall? That could prove to be difficult!!!!

In terms of text content the situation is clear, you were not hosting it and thus got a free license. Now, with video it has become more ambiguous…

So to sum up briefly!

Google is moving towards Universal which strongly impacts SERPs.

This also impacts all online video market as videos uploaded on Youtube or Google could be better indexed thus forcing producers to upload their content on Youtube…

In the meantime, uploading videos on Youtube does not allow producers to make money out of it and more over gives Youtube a free license the producer’s video content…

So in the future, if you are a producer and you want exposure, you will probably have to produce without the intention of making money…Fame is probably the future

But one thing is true, since its beginnings, the SEO game has been very closed and now with the development of Google Universal we are finally starting to open up the game and create new, exciting opportunities…

To Google : “Don’t be evil”. Don’t repeat the mistakes that MSFT did. Be transparent and share your vision even if you’re not sure about it but give directions to the market. Don’t try to dominate every single market.