Google is the most popular and largest search engine in the world, but the site in second place may come as a surprise. YouTube is currently the second largest search engine, its platform comprised entirely of videos. Starting as a niche and nuanced site more than a decade ago, YouTube has come far–and it is still growing. Some estimates indicate that YouTube’s dwell time is up more than 50% from just a year ago. With so many people frequenting YouTube and spending copious amounts of time on this one site, it would be ludicrous to not take advantage of this search engine through creating video content.

Some content creators are lazy, while others are ignorant–neither of which are qualities indicative of success. Though plenty of marketers and hosts will refrain from creating video content to upload to YouTube’s comprehensive platform, those that do will find themselves gravitating toward success at an alarming rate. More organic traffic, better click-through-rates, increased dwell time, and overall user satisfaction are all possible when a website utilizes all of its resources, including YouTube videos. Google owns YouTube, guaranteeing that those who take advantage of this aspect now and create YouTube channels for their websites are certain to have stable futures in the internet world.

YouTube videos provide more than just views or the opportunity to interact with users. YouTube is more than a social media or networking website, and the average content creator can do more than just share the link for their site in their videos. YouTube is a search engine that can be optimized to display results according to keywords and associated phrases, just like Google. And as if that wasn’t enticing enough, 55 percent of all Google search results include video content, meaning that a website with a YouTube channel is far more likely to get noticed on all fronts. Google even adds YouTube videos to image searches, further intensifying a website’s possibility for generating more organic traffic.

People want more video content, that much is factual–but does that spell the end for all text-based content? Absolutely not!

Textual information is just as relevant and engaging as it was ten minutes ago, but it may not be able to compete with the dwell time and click-through-rate of pages with video content on its own. That is why adding embedded videos to textual content is such an ingenious idea. The dwell time increases beyond that of those with just one medium or the other, and the site will be able to generate more traffic through increased exposure with less effort and time. Given these stipulations, it is no wonder that sites currently utilizing video and text mediums are higher ranked than their competitors.

Making videos might seem like a stressful challenge, but ultimately, it is a worthwhile endeavor with guaranteed pay-out. Anyone with a cell phone can create video content, and uploading such content to YouTube is a great way to engage with users and attract attention to a website. Videos should be informative and relevant, but captivating and entertaining to maintain views and increase the dwell time of the average user. When used in conjunction with text-based posts, embedded videos are a great way to upsurge exposure and engender more natural visitors without over-saturating content.