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.

I have talked to many specialists in the SEO field over the last few days and we have all noticed that there is a real increase in the number of videos and images appearing in Google’s SERPs.

For most of the experts this is a sure sign that there is a big dance at Google. A dance which could change a lot of things for SEO as we know it. Some even argue that SEO is dead and DAO (Digital Asset Optimization) will take its place.

Is the promise of Universal Search coming true? Just search for “How to tie a tie” in Google and take a good look at the SERP.

SCREENSHOT:

So let’s analyze this page:

There are a total of 11 results with the following:

• 1 image results (3 images aligned next to each other)
• 3 video results with thumbnails (two of which do not originate from YouTube, something very new indeed!) and none with a “+” to expand the player within the SERP.
• 11 text results

This is great news for those who produced the videos that land on Page 1, but bad news for everyone else. The SEO game, which has been pretty much closed for the past few years is now wide open again. What a boom for the SEO market!

I’d really like to know more about the traffic that Google sends directly to Videojug as a result of their videos appearing directly in the SERP (as seen in the “how to tie a tie” example9.

Video SEO (VSEO) is becoming a real area of expertise and its going to be a major challenge for those who do not catch on to this revolution early on.

All you SEO gurus: get ready to tell your clients that they need to produce videos as it will have to become a key component of their e-marketing over the coming months and years. Video will become the tool for getting free traffic to your website in 2008 and beyond. Furthermore it will be a tool that, if used properly, can get you on the first page of Google (the dream of any marketer out there!!!).

Your customers expect video, and Google wants you to deliver it to them, so start producing videos now!

Users clearly LOVE video:

I’d like to hear what you all have to say about this… Comments please

Hey!Spread helps any producer to publish and track videos on different platforms. I invite you to read the interview I had with him. Hey!spread is evolving in the same space as Tubemogul, Divinitymetrics and Visible measures.

Thomas Owadenko: Hello, in a few lines, please introduce yourself (name, age…) and your track record?

Eric Fontaine: My name is Eric Fontaine. I am 30 years old. I did all my studies in Marketing and Strategy. Before launching my own company, I worked at Universal Music Group International and the mobile phone department for 5 years.

TO: When was your company launched and where is it located?

EF: Hey!Spread was launched in July 07. We are in located in Marseille, in the South of France.

TO: Why did you launch it and what is its mission?

EF: Actually, we always try to develop tools that can help people do everything video-realted as easily as possible. And we do it pretty well through our two services Hey!Watch, our video encoding web service, and of course Hey!Spread. On the one hand, video is the trendiest medium on the web and online video platforms pop up like mushrooms. And on the other hand, people are becoming video web producers and want to create the buzz around their video content. Unfortunately, spreading their content over all the platforms is something very boring and time consuming. That’s how Hey!Spread was born. From now on, promoting your video content over the best video portals can be done in one shot. Easy, efficient and quick.

TO: What are the strengths of your products?

EF: Actually, we do not only distribute content. We promote it and allow our client to highlight their video creations. We propose many innovative options like watermarking, encoding, real time monitoring, cross-posting, credentials-checking, job-restarting… All thees features optimize the distribution. It’s not a closed or blind service. The user is almighty. Besides, as we do for all our products, we propose an API. That way, companies can integrate Hey!Spread as a white label and offer it as a new feature. They can spread from one platform to another. It’s very successful.

TO: How many people work in your company?

EF: We are two founders. I, Chief Business Officer and Bruno Celeste, Chief Technical Officer. When there is a peak of activity, we hire external people.

TO: Who are your clients?

EF: We have many different clients. Live streaming video platforms, online video portals, User Generated Content websites, Web agencies and individuals. Actually, most of our clients combine our two services to have a global and powerful video tool.

TO: Why did they choose you?

EF: The main words that we heard are Flexibility, Reliability and Reactivity. Even if we are a small team, we do not need to sleep a lot. We want to be available for our clients at any time. We do not only want to provide tools. We also want to work closely with them to make their project successful. Proposing a good tool is not sufficient, people need human relationships too.

TO: What is your turnover?

EF: We have not closed our first year of activity, so we can’t provide that information.

TO: Who are your competitors?

EF: Actually, we do not have “real” competitors. I mean our tool was thought out for integration as a white label. Both Hey!Spread and Hey!Watch are technical and business enabler tools. Some other services propose the distribution of content, but only through their interface. We want to free our clients from any technical prison.

TO: SEO and Video ? Myth or reality?

EF: As video content is like text or images, we need to find it. But the way it is right now things are still a little confusing. You can use many methods to find videos, like classic search engines or directly on a well-known video portal like YouTube. The main problem is the same with the text 10 years ago: Relevance.

TO: What do you think about Google universal and how it should be?

EF: Google is a company that impresses. How can one not be impressed by two men building an empire based on free tools and Ads. Actually, they invented the current most used business model. The only problem is what is great for Google is not the same for all. Free is not a business model at all. I am sure that too many small companies suffer from this philosophy that everything must be free on the Web. So, each time the same story, you raise funds, propose a free service hoping you will have huge traffic and wait to be bought. I hate this idea.

TO: Did you raise money? How much and who invested or do you plan to raise?

EF: We are self-funded and very proud of it. We are often approached by VC’s but we want to be independent. We make money, we like our clients and they trust us. We keep the good work.

TO: What are the “top 3″ priorities for your company in the coming year?

EF: We are working a new version of Hey!Watch. We will develop 2 new services this year. We are currently negotiating some nice partnerships.