Where should I host, and how should I present, my client's videos for maximum SEO ranking advantage?

• One of my clients, an independent Financial Adviser, has created 3 videos to enhance the content on her site hoping to increase conversions and also to improve rankings if possible.

  My question is; where should these videos be placed to best achieve these ends? ...should they be hosted on YouTube or is there a better way?

Answer:

Assuming of course that your intent is to get the video to surface in Google organic search, then Yes, you should host it with YouTube since, well, you know, uh, Google (who owns YouTube) ranks it's own stuff first.

We recommend you embed the videos in the Web page/s and pack as much data as possible into the page's JSON LD Video Markup (example define the thumbnail images, etc.) to help Google connect the video to the page.

Here's the example code that Google shares for you to work from and here's a great WordPress plugin to use for your Structured Data that includes video markup.

{
  "@context": "http://schema.org",
  "@type": "VideoObject",
  "name": "Introducing the self-driving bicycle in the Netherlands",
  "description": "This spring, Google is introducing the self-driving bicycle in Amsterdam, the world’s premier cycling city. The Dutch cycle more than any other nation in the world, almost 900 kilometres per year per person, amounting to over 15 billion kilometres annually. The self-driving bicycle enables safe navigation through the city for Amsterdam residents, and furthers Google’s ambition to improve urban mobility with technology. Google Netherlands takes enormous pride in the fact that a Dutch team worked on this innovation that will have great impact in their home country.",
  "thumbnailUrl": [
    "https://example.com/photos/1x1/photo.jpg",
    "https://example.com/photos/4x3/photo.jpg",
    "https://example.com/photos/16x9/photo.jpg"
   ],
  "uploadDate": "20...