On today’s Tech, No Babel: Vimeo vs. YouTube
Two of the biggest players in the online video space are YouTube and Vimeo. Neither is perfect. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. On today’s show we’ll talk about them and give you reasons for using one over the other.
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Hi Paul – This is a great topic to cover. Here is my take:
YouTube: Every video that you produce for public viewing should be uploaded to YouTube regardless of whether it will be also be uploaded to another site (like Vimeo). This is because…
(1) There are significant search engine benefits to YouTube. Google owns YouTube, so they are more likely to discover and include your video in their main search results.
(2) A lot of people spend time on YouTube for entertainment. Posting your videos there makes it more likely that people will find your content, regardless of their device or default search engine.
(3) YouTube has become a social network in its own right, allowing discussion and sharing of your content. This is where “viral videos” spread.
I would also note that YouTube allows you to post a transcript of your video, which can also help your rankings within their search. It helps them understand more fully what your video is about. If you have a long video (like a sermon) you can use an inexpensive transcription service like speechpad.com.
The biggest downside to YouTube is that they put advertising over the videos. This is especially bad if you embed a video directly on your website. YouTube may display an ad while your video is playing on your site, then they will show a list of “related videos” after your video is done. Often the “related videos” are not related at all, or they are promotional videos from a competitor. This is why YouTube is not the best choice to put videos on your own website.
Vimeo: As you stated, their video quality is better and their website feels more professional. They do have a video search and a social aspect, but it is nowhere near as popular as YouTube, so it doesn’t have the same search traffic benefits.
The biggest reason to use Vimeo is to embed videos on your own website. Their Vimeo Plus service ($9.95/month) lets you display videos your own website without advertisements. So if you need to put videos directly on your site, Vimeo is my service of choice.
You nailed it. Thx for the comment.