- Is It Ever Acceptable To Autoplay A Video On A Web Page Google Chrome
- Is It Ever Acceptable To Autoplay A Video On A Web Page Automatically
How to block web pop-ups, alerts, and autoplaying video. Restore the peace and quiet in any web browser. This winter, Google is rolling out a change to its browser, Chrome, that will make surfing the web a bit less bothersome: It won’t let videos automatically play with sound.
Adding the autoplay feature to videos has become increasingly popular over the last couple years, and for good reason. It is a great way to introduce your website to new users, to share the latest news and to create a better web experience.
Autoplay videos are a great way to improve your internet marketing, sales, and Google search engine optimization. However, please keep in mind that they don’t work like magic. You need to invest time learning the best practices and applying them to your site.
Read this article to learn more about the autoplay feature and the best ways to use it!
What Are Autoplay Videos?
As the name implies, these videos play automatically once you reach an important page.
Videos are used on your top pages (such as a homepage, blog page or high traffic article) making them the optimal spots for creating a positive contact with a user. However, only a limited number of people will actually click to watch them. This is a big waste for business sites because now you have a video that no one is playing.
This is why you need to add the autoplay feature so that people will start paying attention to it.
Keep in mind that the video autoplay function can also be used on social media. In that sense, you can use it for several channels.
So, what are all the advantages and disadvantages of autoplay?
The Pros of Autoplay Videos
- Videos are a mix of audio and visual content. In that regard, they can be used by anyone at any time. With autoplay, site visitors can learn more about a company while continuing to browse a website.
- A video is much more engaging than a written post and thus better for conversion. If you force a user to pay attention to your content it will result in higher sales as they will feel more connected to a product or service.
- Given that there are a lot of companies that are still not using video content, videos can be a sign of a tech-oriented and progressive organization (something that can be a clear advantage in numerous fields). By forcing a user to watch at least a few seconds of your video, you are able to show that you’re forward-looking.
- There is an option to use autoplay video only in certain cases. This will improve your targeting, allowing you to focus only on people who might be interested in the content.
- Next thing you need to consider is that videos can support your brand building efforts. You are able to combine different color and sound settings which can help you send a unified message through different channels.
- They are ideal for mobile users as they can watch videos on the fly. This isn’t something that should be neglected as there are many more mobile devices than desktop users nowadays.
The Cons of Autoplay Videos
- There are a lot of people who see autoplay videos as an unnecessary ad. Viewers may even close the page if they become irritated
- Although videos can be used for almost anything, they might seem a bit awkward in certain industries. If you force a person to watch by auto-playing the content, it might seem distasteful
- Due to their nature and the fact they need to be short, a video might not provide enough information and can pose a hindrance.
For example, a person may watch a video and think that they have all the information they need on an organization. However, it would be much better if they simply read one of the articles or the “About Us” page. Sometimes it’s much better to read the information in full rather than just a snippet.
Design trend: how to use blurred images on your website. Even though it seems like there are more advantages than disadvantages, it isn’t so in reality.
Videos are definitely a great marketing tool and can help promote your site and services.
The biggest obstacle comes in the form of viewers. Regardless of your intentions and the quality of your video, most people see autoplay media as ads. So in the end, it all comes down to personal preferences and whether an individual will be willing to watch it.
That being said, you need to be very careful when planning it and properly assess your audience.
How To Properly Use Autoplay Videos
Here are some tips that will help you out in implementing autoplay features on your website:
The Control Menu Has To Be Visible
As I already mentioned, the biggest issues with this function are related to how people react to it.
The best thing you can do is perform a small study beforehand. Your second option is to add a visible menu that will allow them to disable video at their leisure.
The worst thing that you can do for your site is having an autoplay video that users don’t want and cannot close.
Make Sure To Properly Set Up Autoplay
Most videos nowadays are hosted on YouTube so let’s see how you can set it up through this platform.
When you wish to embed a video, first you need to copy the HTML code which can be found if you click on Share then Embed.
- The Share button can be found in the lower right-hand corner
- Once you get to the Embed menu, all you have to do is press Copy to get the code
- Then use your blogging platform to choose the page, product or category where you wish to paste it. Next, find the HTML pane of the editor; here is where you need to paste the code.
- HTML is to the far right
- During pasting of a link you need to add ?rel=0&autoplay=1 to code so that video plays automatically.
Grab Attention Quickly
Is It Ever Acceptable To Autoplay A Video On A Web Page Google Chrome
Autoplay videos are always under a lot of scrutinies.
This is primarily because people didn’t request them. As a result, you need to grab attention much more quickly in comparison to regular ones.
The initial few seconds of content should create intrigue; you have to force the viewer to pay attention.
They need to be extremely impactful which can be accomplished by using interesting color schemes and music, loud tones and dynamic scenes. If you don’t succeed in capturing your audience’s attention within the first 5 seconds, you can be certain that a visitor will stop watching.
Keep It Short
Unlike regular videos that you post on YouTube or on your blog, people will not have much patience when it comes to this form.
Even if you have a revolutionary product or service, visitors initially came to your blog to check something else. Given that you’re distracting them from their primary goal, selecting a video that lasts too long is likely to irritate your audience. In fact, a lot of people close autoplay videos as soon as they see them which makes this “borrowed” time that much more precious.
This is why they need to be as short as possible and relay your message quickly.
The video shouldn’t last longer than 30 seconds, similar to a television advertisement.
Some sites think that making their video longer they are able to make a good impression and explain their product better. This isn’t true as your main goal should be creating a positive, unobstructed experience.
Add Subtitles
Most autoplay content on the web doesn’t have sound to start with.
Furthermore, a lot of users tend to mute their videos as they browse through social media or a blog. As a result, you are highly dependable on subtitles.
This way, an individual can continue browsing without being disrupted while still being able to follow along with the video.
Basically, you have to do your best to create content that is not disruptive.
Expectations of autoplay are pretty high so make sure to meet them. Unless you’re able to provide top-notch content, don’t even try posting it.
Example of a quality video – it is short, dynamic, non-disruptive and fully explains the product.
Example of a quality content – it is short, dynamic, non-disruptive and fully explains a product
What Is The Future Of Autoplay Video?
Unfortunately, even with all the potential benefits, it seems that the future of this type of content is rather grim.
Diane jordan lcpc ncc mac lac home page. As of January 2018, Google Chrome will start blocking them. As the most popular browser this will mean that this option will not be available for the majority of people thus rendering it useless.
Here is an excerpt from Google’s statement:
Google obviously doesn’t wish this function to be disruptive for users. Unfortunately, there are a lot of apps that are focused on it so we need to see how it all will pan out in the end.
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In a recent article, our Knutsford web agency predicted video will continue to be one of the few leading website trends in 2017… Well over the past year, there still continues to be an increasing trend of businesses using autoplay video’s on their website homepage.
With internet speeds increasing, web-browser technology advancing and the ease of capturing HD or 360 interactive video straight from your smart phone, implementing a video on your website homepage, news feed or social media has become the everyday normality and can be implemented with a simple click of a button!
As a Knutsford web agency, everyday we are tasked with designing a new website but should video be incorporated in every design? Is video appropriate for every business website? We provide our intake on both the good and the bad of points of why you should – or in some cases shouldn’t – have a video on your website homepage
4 reasons why you should have a video on your website homepage
First Impressions
Regardless of if a user lands on your website through a newsletter, social media or a good old-fashioned internet search, first impressions count for everything and could be the difference in converting a user to a customer or an increased bounce rate. According to study, 4x as many customers will view your business more positively after watching video content about your products and services.
Boost your SEO rankings
Video has become an excellent way to target your chosen keywords within numerous search engines. According to statistics, YouTube has become the second biggest search engine after Google, with other video platforms such as Viemo now being widely adopted by over 20 million users. With an increase in video traffic, video content is expected to rise with experts predicting video will account for up to 80% of internet traffic by 2019 – Source BBC
Just as you can when uploading to YouTube, simply apply your chosen keywords in the description and meta-tags and according to Forrester, a video correctly indexed by Google may have up to 50 times more chance of ranking within the first page over a regular search enquiry based on your chosen, targeted keywords.
Suitable to all mobile, tablet and desktop devices…
With mobile surpassing desktop in the number of users across the globe, time spent browsing on websites has proven to become shorter and shorter with 50% of mobile users likely to abandon your website if it takes longer than 10 seconds to load or read the information they need.
With websites now optimised to accommodate all mobile, tablet and desktop devices, it’s become an essential that all businesses make their websites fully responsive. By implementing video, information can be absorbed much quicker than text and a number of different versions of the video, in terms of size and the length to accommodate a number of factors such as speed and attention span.
If you are unsure if your website is responsive, or would like to make your website responsive – our web design agency in Knutsford offer a fully responsive rebuild service – See our Solutions page for more information…
Increased Click Through Rate / Page Sessions
Following in the footsteps of first impressions, this is where things get a little analytical. Research shows that three out of five users will invest two minutes in a video that explains a product or service they are thinking of purchasing, almost double the time a user will spend reading text which will increase average page duration (time spent on your landing) page.
Along with improved page sessions, according to Hub TV, video is likely to generate 41% higher click-through rate than a website with text, a blog, or email marketing which will also have a higher conversion rate.
3 reasons why you shouldn’t have a video on your website homepage
When video becomes the call-to-action.
While showcasing a combination of different types of media can prove to be helping in getting you branding and messaging across, do you measure the success of your website based on how many users view your video? No! You measure the conversion rates and sales.
For every business, within every industry, the call-to-action will never be the same. For some, the purpose of your website may be getting users to subscribe to your blog where others may want to improve online sales. For example, if you want to increase newsletter subscribers, will adding a autoplay video about your business increase subscribers or prove to be a distraction!? Although video’s may look cool, question if having a video meets the call-to-action of your website.
Slows down pages that need to be speedy
Regardless of organic, social or referral traffic, your homepage will very likely be your main landing page which means it will also be where most users will experience your website for the very first time. Remember when I discussed first impression!? Well first impressions of speed really matter as 57% of online shoppers will abandon a page after just 3 seconds of load time. To add to that, search engines openly favour websites with faster loading time so if your video takes an age to load, it could very well rank much worse in desktop and especially mobile search.
Not only could embedding an large, HD auto-playing video drain the bandwidth with the amount of data required, if a user is accessing your website on a weak connection such as mobile data or accessing free wifi – this could cause several seconds of delay which will like put users off.
Google AMP News Articles
Although this next reason might not apply to most local businesses, if you are a local business who reports local news or hosts regular events – you may be familiar with Google AMP (Click for more information) In summary, Google AMP is a stripped-down, faster version of pages containing news relevant to your news as shown in the example image. Although some are very fast to load, other news websites cluster news pages with video advertising which not only takes an age to load, if they have volume they become a distraction from what you were looking for!
With advertising video’s slowing down speed and being irrelevant, this can have a impact on search rankings and lead to an increased bounce rate.
Should you have a video on your website homepage?
Honestly, there isn’t a right or wrong answer – it depends on your industry and website goals. Embedding a video on your homepage looks cool and offers many positives but you must think about the negative effects it can have. If you would like to discuss video or the possibility of a redesign of your website, get in touch with your local web design agency in Knutsford.
Is It Ever Acceptable To Autoplay A Video On A Web Page Automatically
Give our Knutsford office a call on 01565 653616 for a free, no-obligation quote or to ask about what services we could provide for a new or existing website.