Mastering video content isn't just for TikTok creators; it's an indispensable strategy for credit unions to boost online visibility and deepen member engagement. But recent updates to Google's groundbreaking video mode mean how and where your video content is published is as important as the information it contains.

This year kicked off with an abundance of changes to SEO—the strategic process of enhancing website content to rank higher in search engine results—with updates to Google’s video mode mong them. This marks a pivotal shift for the way video content is indexed and displayed in search results, and presents an opportunity for savvy credit unions to reach new audiences with engaging, resonant content.

Understanding Google's video mode update

Google's video mode update significantly transforms the process of indexing—essentially, how video content is organized and stored in search engine databases to be retrieved and displayed in search results.

In line with a suite of other SEO shifts in 2024, the video mode update aims to deliver an improved experience by focusing on user intentionality. Essentially, by improving how video content is cataloged, Google can present the content that is most relevant to a user’s search queries. This is a boon for credit unions looking to attract and engage new members, and evangelize the Credit Union Difference, but creating videos is only half the battle; ensuring they are visible and impactful requires a strategic approach to SEO.

Best practices for video SEO

To maximize the visibility and impact of your credit union’s video content, consider the following best practices:

• Optimize titles and descriptions: Craft descriptive and keyword-rich titles and descriptions to improve searchability and provide clear context for your videos.

• Tag content effectively: Use relevant tags to categorize content, making it easier for search engines to understand and index your videos.

• Enhance accessibility features: Include closed captions and transcripts to make your videos accessible to a wider audience, including those with hearing impairments.

• Create snackable, vertical content for SGE: Produce Instagram Reel and TikTok-like vertical videos that offer value to your audience, encouraging engagement and sharing—especially on mobile devices.

• Ensure high-quality Content for Video Mode: Focus on producing truly informative video content to captivate and retain your audience.

• Select impactful thumbnails: Choose compelling thumbnails that accurately represent the content of your videos to increase click-through rates.

• Embed videos strategically: Google will prioritize results where the video is the primary asset on a page, so don’t bury a video where it can’t be found.

• Generate and submit: Create and submit a video sitemap to help search engines find and index your videos more effectively.

• Structured data implementation: Use structured data markup to provide explicit information about your video content, making it eligible for rich results in search.

Amplify the Credit Union Difference

If a picture is worth a thousand words, think how profound video content must be. This is a media today’s consumers expect from their preferred brands, and for mission-driven organizations like credit unions, it’s an opportuinty to show, rather than tell. Video is a format that lends itself uniquely to capturing the compelling narrative at the heart of a credit union—from the unwavering passion of employees, to member impact and community connections. And with the right SEO practices, there’s no limit to that video’s reach and influence.

Thinking about investing in creative content? Not sure where to start with your SEO strategy? Mission Brands can help. Reach out today and let’s get your brand content seen, heard and understood.