Google loves video. When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), video is a not-so-secret weapon that companies everywhere are using to boost their organic search traffic.

Search engines prioritize results that answer direct user queries. Videos can answer these questions in an easy-to-digest format that more users engage with. The folks over at Moz found that including video on your website can help you increase backlinks (links on third-party websites that point back to your site) by almost three times more than average, which drives more high-intent, relevant organic traffic to your site.

Website traffic is often seen as a vanity metric (how many users land on your site isn’t nearly as important as what they actually do when they get there) - but that doesn’t mean this metric should be discounted altogether. Ninety-three percent of online experiences start with a search engine, so it’s important to do everything you can to appear on the first page of search results.

When looking at websites with videos on-site, 80 percent of marketers say video has increased dwell time. What is dwell time?

Dwell time is the amount of time a user spends on a page after landing there directly from a search result. It’s one of the major factors that affect your SEO ranking and is a good measure of how engaging your website content actually is. Improving this metric can boost your overall brand awareness and recognition, and is a great bonus no matter what your main website goals are.

On a related note, video content also does wonders for increasing the average amount of time users spent on a particular page on your website. As soon as someone hits “play” on one of your embedded videos, you have captured their attention. The entire amount of time they spend watching your video counts as time spent on page. If your page only includes text, it’s likely your users won’t spend the same amount of time reading that they would be watching your video. If your site’s pages contain a wall of text, some users may lose interest and quickly hit the “back” button.

Another performance indicator that shows you how engaged and interested your users are in your content is your “bounce rate” - which video has a huge effect on. The bounce rate refers to situations where a user lands on one of your pages and then “bounces”, or navigates, entirely out of your site right away. Since this signals a lack of interest in content, then it is important to find ways to decrease this number - an engaging video can do just that.

When video content is included on a page, the bounce rate can improve by 34 percent. This means that visitors are 34 percent less likely to bounce away from a page when it includes video. This could be because video engages users enough to continue browsing and navigating to other areas on your site. Or, if your video includes a strong call to action (CTA), users are more likely to follow through, which keeps them busy on your site.

There are two ways you can define click-through rate (CTR) here: whether or not someone clicks to play the video, or if someone clicks another link that you encourage them to click on from the video itself. It’s a metric commonly used in video advertising but is also an important marker of how user-friendly and clear your website is in general.

Without video, you rely on the words and graphics on your page to encourage users to click on particular links or CTAs. But pages with video have been shown to increase on-page engagement, which naturally boosts your CTR. Plus, providing valuable information also engages the user’s curiosity and desire to know more, meaning they’re more likely to click on any relevant links.

A large percentage of your visitors are viewing your website on a mobile device. Optimizing your site’s mobile experience is crucial if you want to reach your target demographic and get them to convert.

A study showed 50 percent of people in the U.S. view content on their mobile devices and over 36 percent said they watched videos over 5 minutes long on their phones on a daily basis. If you want to keep up with the increasing use of smartphones and tablets, then you should strongly consider incorporating video on your website.

Your best option is to ensure that your website flows smoothly and guides your visitors exactly where you want them to go. By adding properly sized and responsive video content, your visitors will not only stay on your site longer but also have a better experience and convert at a higher rate.

Pro Tip: If you’re able to hook a mobile visitor through video, you also have a great opportunity to retarget them with ads.

One of the best ways to measure your website’s performance is by tracking returning visitors. Whether your goal is increasing brand awareness or conversion rates, return visits show a high-interest level in your brand, what you offer, and even customer loyalty for users who have already converted.

Luckily, video production is a great way to keep visitors coming back. Videos presented in a series, - such as training modules, tips-and-tricks videos, or multi-part educational videos - can keep users coming back long-term. Adding a video (even when it’s not part of a series) can increase the added value that your site provides, which increases your trustworthiness and raises your overall credibility.

Boosting return visits is huge. By aiming more of your marketing efforts toward returning visitors, you can increase your overall ROI by up to 15 times. These are huge gains compared to the money you may spend on new customer acquisition.