Why Does Google Love Video and How Can Your Business Use It to Rank Higher?

Google’s Love Language is Video: Your Small Business Guide to Winning at SEO

Let me ask you a question. When you think of Google, what comes to mind? A list of ten blue links? Keywords? Complicated algorithms you can’t possibly understand?

For years, that was the game. We were all trying to figure out the secret handshake to get on that front page. But what if I told you that the most powerful signal you can send to Google in 2025 has less to do with keywords and more to do with hitting the “play” button?

Here’s a number that should stop every small business owner in their tracks: according to projections from Cisco, a global technology leader, over 82% of all online traffic is now video. This isn’t a “trend” anymore. It’s the air we breathe online.

It’s not just that people love video. The big secret is that Google is absolutely obsessed with it.

I’m Linda Donnelly, and for over a decade, my team at Business Solutions Marketing Group has helped small businesses navigate the choppy waters of online marketing. I’ve seen fads come and go. Video is not a fad. It has become a fundamental pillar of a successful SEO strategy. In this guide, I’m going to pull back the curtain and explain, in plain English, why Google is so in love with video and how you can use that to your advantage to attract more customers and grow your business.

The Big Secret: Google Doesn’t “Love” Video, It Loves What Video Does

This is the most important mindset shift you need to make. Google doesn’t have emotions. Its algorithm doesn’t sit back and enjoy a good cat video.

Google is like a restaurant owner who is singularly obsessed with customer satisfaction. They don’t really care what’s on the menu—whether it’s text, images, or video—as long as the customer who orders it leaves happy, stays for a long time, and tells their friends about it.

Right now, video is the dish on the menu that gets the most five-star reviews. It keeps “diners” (your website visitors) at the table longer and makes them happier than almost any other form of content. Google sees this, and it rewards the “restaurants” (your website) that serve it.

So, when we talk about “video SEO,” we’re not talking about some secret technical trick. We’re talking about using video to give Google’s users exactly what they want. And when you make Google’s users happy, Google makes you happy by sending you more traffic.

The 4 Reasons Video is Your Golden Ticket to the Top of Google (The Deep Dive)

So, how does this actually work? Why is a simple video on a page so powerful? It comes down to four key factors that directly impact your ranking.

Reason #1: Video Skyrockets “Dwell Time” (The Stickiness Factor)

What It Is: “Dwell time” is a simple but incredibly powerful metric. It’s the amount of time a visitor spends on your page before going back to the search results.

Why Google Cares: Dwell time is one of Google’s primary ways of judging your page’s quality. Think about it. If a user clicks on your page about “how to install a smart thermostat” and then clicks the “back” button after five seconds, it tells Google, “Nope, this wasn’t the right answer. This page is low-quality.” But if a user clicks on your page and stays for three or four minutes to watch a video of you explaining the process? It sends a massive signal to Google that says, “Jackpot! This page is exactly what the user was looking for. It’s helpful and engaging. We should show this page to more people!”

How Video Moves the Needle: Nothing makes a page “stickier” than video. A visitor might scan a 2,000-word article in 45 seconds. But if they press play on a 3-minute video, you’ve just earned 180 seconds of engaged dwell time! That’s a huge win. The data on this is undeniable. A widely cited statistic from research published in Forbes suggests that the average user spends 88% more time on a website with video. More time on your page is a direct signal to Google that you are a high-quality result, which directly leads to higher rankings over time.

How We Help with This: Our Video Marketing Programs focus on creating a library of “FAQ” and “explainer” videos for your business. These short, helpful videos are designed to be the “stickiest” content on your site, keeping potential customers engaged and signaling to Google that your page is the most valuable resource.

Reason #2: Video Earns High-Quality Backlinks (The Authority Factor)

What It Is: Backlinks are simply links from other websites to your website. In Google’s eyes, every link is a “vote of confidence.” A link from a trusted, authoritative site is like a letter of recommendation from a respected community leader. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the more authoritative your website appears.

Why Google Cares: Google wants to rank the authorities in any given field. Backlinks are how it determines who the real experts are. It’s a foundational part of how search has worked for twenty years.

How Video Moves the Needle: Let’s be honest, long blocks of text can be boring. A local blogger, a news site, or an industry partner is far more likely to share and link to a page that has an engaging, helpful video embedded in it. A great explainer video from a contractor or a beautiful product demo from a boutique is a valuable asset that other creators want to share with their audience. Research from video marketing experts at Wyzowl has consistently shown that users are twice as likely to share video content with their friends as any other type of content. More shares lead to more visibility, and more visibility leads to more authority-building backlinks. A great video doesn’t just sit on your page; it becomes a magnet for authority-building links.

How We Help with This: We don’t just make a video; we create a shareable asset. By professionally producing and optimizing your videos, we create content that other websites are proud to link to, helping to build your business’s domain authority and overall SEO strength.

Reason #3: Video Dominates the Search Results Page (The Real Estate Factor)

Go to Google right now and search for any “how-to” question. “How to fix a running toilet.” “How to bake sourdough bread.” What do you see?

It’s not just a list of ten blue links anymore. The search engine results page (SERP) is a dynamic, visual landscape. And video is taking over. You’ll see:

Video Carousels: A horizontal, scrollable list of video thumbnails, often appearing right near the top of the results.
Featured Snippets: The answer box at the very top of the page. Increasingly, these snippets feature a video that directly answers the user’s question.
Standard Results with Video Thumbnails: Even in the regular organic listings, Google will often show a small video thumbnail next to a result. Our eyes are naturally drawn to these visuals, which dramatically increases the click-through rate.

Why Google Cares: Google’s goal is to give the user the best answer in the fastest, most helpful format. For many queries, a short video is the best answer. By prioritizing video, Google is simply meeting user demand.

How This Gives You an Advantage: This is a visual land grab! Every spot on the first page of Google is valuable real estate. By creating video content, you are giving yourself more chances to “win” a spot on that page. You’re not just competing for one of the ten blue links anymore. You can win a spot in the video carousel or even become the featured snippet. It’s like having more lottery tickets than your competitors.

Reason #4: Video Builds E-E-A-T (The Human Factor)

This might be the most important reason of all, especially in the new age of AI. Google has become obsessed with a concept it calls E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This is Google’s system for identifying content created by real, credible humans.

An AI can write a generic article. But it can’t get on camera and speak with passion and conviction. It can’t show its face. It can’t prove it has real-world experience.

Video is the ultimate E-E-A-T signal.

Experience: When you create a video showing a “before and after” of a project, you are demonstrating real, first-hand experience.
Expertise: When you explain a complex topic simply and clearly on camera, you are proving your expertise.
Authoritativeness: When other sites start linking to your helpful videos, you are building authority.
Trustworthiness: When a potential customer can see your face, hear your voice, and get a sense of who you are, you are building trust in a way that anonymous text never can. They are not just hiring a business; they are hiring a person.

In a world being flooded with low-quality, AI-generated text, your ability to show up as a real, authentic human on video is your single greatest superpower.

Okay, I’m Convinced. But How Do I Actually Do It?

Alright, Linda,” I can hear you saying, “I get it. Video is a big deal. But I’m a plumber/baker/consultant, not a film director! I don’t have a fancy camera, I hate the way I sound, I have no idea how to edit, and I wouldn’t even know what to talk about!”

You are not alone.

This is the wall that stops 99% of small businesses from ever taking advantage of the power of video. They see the “what” and the “why,” but the “how” seems like an impossible mountain to climb. They imagine a huge, expensive production, and they get paralyzed. So they do nothing. And they continue to lose ground to the competitors who have figured it out.

Our “Done-for-You” Video SEO Strategy: Turning Your Expertise into Rankings

This exact problem is why we created our Video SEO services at Business Solutions Marketing Group. We saw so many amazing, expert business owners who were invisible online simply because they didn’t have the time, tools, or technical skills to translate their real-world expertise into video content.

We decided to solve that problem.

Our program is a “done-for-you” service that handles all the hard parts, allowing you to provide the one ingredient that only you can: your expertise.

We Handle the Strategy: We start by working with you to develop a video content strategy. We identify the questions your customers are actually searching for, ensuring that every video you create is designed to attract qualified leads.
We Handle the “What Do I Say?”: We help you outline simple, conversational talking points. No scary scripts. Just a natural conversation that lets your genuine expertise shine.
We Handle the Editing and Production: You can record a simple video on your smartphone, and our team of professional editors will transform it. We’ll add your branding, music, titles, and graphics to make you look like the polished professional you are.
We Handle the SEO and Distribution: This is the secret sauce. We don’t just send you a video file. We optimize it with the right keywords, titles, and descriptions. We upload it to the right platforms and embed it on your website in a way that is designed to rank on Google.

Our goal is to make it effortless for you to create the kind of authentic, expertise-driven video content that Google and your customers are rewarding. We handle the technical stuff so you can get back to running your business.

Key Takeaways

Google Follows the User: Google’s algorithm loves video because users love video. It keeps them engaged, on the page longer, and provides the best answer for many questions.
Video Boosts Key Ranking Signals: Video content dramatically increases “Dwell Time,” earns more shares and backlinks, and gives you more opportunities to own real estate on the search results page.
Video is the Ultimate Trust Signal (E-E-A-T): In an age of AI, video is your best tool to prove you are a real, experienced, and trustworthy human expert.
The Goal is Engagement, Not Perfection: You don’t need a Hollywood film crew. A simple, authentic video shot on your smartphone is more effective than doing nothing at all.
Systemize Your Success: The biggest barrier for small businesses is the lack of time and a consistent process. A “done-for-you” service can solve this, turning your expertise into a powerful ranking asset.

Common Questions About Video SEO

How long should my videos be for the best SEO results? The sweet spot for most informational videos (like a “how-to” or an answered question) is between 2 and 5 minutes. It’s long enough to provide real value and keep someone on your page, but short enough to hold the attention of a busy viewer.
Do I have to be on YouTube? Can’t I just put the videos on my website? You should absolutely be on YouTube! YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine, and it’s owned by Google. Posting your videos on an optimized YouTube channel and then embedding them on your website is the best strategy. It gives you two chances to be found: once on YouTube and once on Google search.
What’s more important: the video itself or the blog post it’s embedded in? They are a team! The video provides the powerful engagement and trust signals. The blog post provides the keyword-rich text that helps Google understand the context of the video. The best results come from combining a great video with a well-written, optimized blog post on the same page.
Can I really just use my smartphone to make these videos? Yes, 100%. The camera on a modern smartphone is more than good enough. The two things that matter more than video quality are lighting and audio. Make sure you are facing a window or a good light source, and invest in a simple, $20 lavalier microphone that clips to your shirt. Good audio is the key to looking professional.
What’s the biggest mistake businesses make when they start with video SEO? The biggest mistake is the “one and done.” They post one video on their homepage and then never touch it again. The key to success with video SEO is consistency. Creating a regular flow of new, helpful video content is what builds your authority over time and tells Google that you are a constantly updated, fresh resource. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.