: Will embedding YouTube videos vs. Flash videos make a difference for SEO purposes? Looking to find a solid list of SEO benefits to using YouTube videos on my site vs. flash video or anything

@Cofer257

First, some clarification: YouTube videos are Flash. Adobe Flash is the technology used to play video on YouTube and most other sites.

Now for SEO, it depends on what your aims are. Do you only want users to see the video, or do you want them to come to your web site as well?

If it's a video promoting your company or web site, then YouTube is a great way to go. You can set up your own branded channel, and get plenty of eyeballs on your content. Your videos have a higher chance of appearing in Google search results. One downside is that anyone can embed the video on their own site, bypassing both your site and your YouTube channel (if that's a problem).

On the other hand, if you want to be more like a CollegeHumor type of site, where your business is posting interesting or funny videos, perhaps self-hosting is the best way. The main drawback of self-hosting is bandwidth but you can probably get a reasonable price using a Content Delivery Network.

Another advantage of using your own site is that you can create a good page surrounding the video with plenty of (non-YouTube) content, which can aid SEO. You can get your video to appear in search results with video sitemaps.

You can still use YouTube as well - it can be a great method for additional promotion and to get more visitors to click through to your web site.

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@XinRu657

There are many good reasons to host your content at YouTube (chiefly, bandwidth costs and YouTube's high availability) and some drawbacks to be considered (it doesn't benefit you if your competitors' ads can appear in content accessed from your site) ...

Search Engine Optimization, however, has traditionally been confined to proper server administration, text, and textual metadata with the goal of improved ranking in search results - though image search technologies (like tineye.com) now exist, I think it's safe to say that where your media files are hosted has far less to do with SEO than the text that appears adjacent to the media displayed on your site.

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