Because Vimeo is smaller and more niche, your videos have a better chance of being found and followed within their community driven platform. There is less competition on Vimeo vs YouTube and sometimes quality over quantity is better. With that being said, Vimeo’s numbers simply cannot compete with YouTube. Vimeo on the other hand, isn’t as strict and won’t disable your content. If you choose Vimeo, be aware that it technically is stealing if you don’t own the rights to any media in your video. It is imperative to use good judgement when sharing your work. YouTube- Which is better for your website?
Online video platforms and web video have exploded in popularity over the last five years. Recently Youtube announced that over a billion hours worth of content is watched on Youtube per day. In fact, recent estimates predict that 80 percent of all consumer Internet traffic will be based on the streaming of or downloading of video content within just two more years.
Each video-sharing platform comes with its plus and minus points. The infographic given below lists the pros and cons of Vimeo and YouTube.
Producing videos to connect with your audience and grow brand recognition requires a strong foundation in the principles of digital marketing. It also requires a video platform to host your videos. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of video hosting sites and platforms out there. So, how on earth are you supposed to choose the best one?
Currently (and for the foreseeable future), two of the most dominant platforms are YouTube and Vimeo. You’ve probably heard of both of them, yet if you’re like most people, still have questions regarding which platform is a better fit for your needs. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, which is why it’s important for you to fully understand the differences between them before choosing one over the other.
So, with that in mind, let’s break down the pros and cons of both Vimeo and Youtube. We’ll start with Youtube, the Google-owned web video giant.
YouTube Pros:
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YouTube Cons:
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Let’s move on to Vimeo.
Vimeo Pros:
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Vimeo Cons:
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Vimeo vs YouTube: The Search Algorithm
Both sites have robust search engines, and they’ve got their differences. Vimeo search has several elements to its internal search algorithm that YouTube doesn’t have … which may or may not be an advantage.
YouTube’s algorithm looks at:
– relevance
– Upload date
– view count
– rating
The default is “relevance”, but you can sort videos other ways.
Vimeo lets users search by:
– most relevant
– newest
– oldest
– most played
– most commented
– most liked
– Alphabetical
In Vimeo, the default sort is also “most relevant”, so to that extent the algorithms are similar — but YouTube ignores comments, while Vimeo factors those in. Why is that?
YouTube has good reasons to ignore comments: because most are pretty juvenile. The Vimeo community seems to be populated by more creative types.
Vimeo vs YouTube: Google Universal Results
It’s true if you’re trying to optimize videos for Google universal search, Google will show videos from Vimeo as well as videos from YouTube in its results. Of course, there are significantly more videos uploaded to YouTube, which is why Google tends to display significantly more YouTube videos in universal search results.
You can learn more about improving your video’s ranking by enrolling in our Advanced SEO certification course.
In fact, according to the latest data that I saw from Hitwise, the ratio was 86 to 1 (YouTube to Vimeo). So, your client won’t be handicapped by solely using Vimeo. The Vimeo video will show up.
But your client will probably be outnumbered by competitors who understand the value of YouTube.
So Which One Should You Use?
If you have the resources to use both, the answer to this question is simple. You’ll wind up with more exposure, and more options for fine-tuning your marketing strategies and content to different audiences.
If your resources are more limited, however, you’ll need to be more discerning. A good guideline is to ask yourself what your goal is with your videos. Is it simply to reach as many eyeballs as possible with your content? If so, use Youtube. If you have a more targeted message you’re trying to get out there to a niche group of people, you’re better off using Vimeo.
At the end of the day, they are both great resources. You just have to make a list of your goals, and then make an educated decision from there.
Just like YouTube, Vimeo is another popular video sharing website with a highly engaging but targeted audience. This MarketingWit article will take the merits of both websites into account, and help you determine which one is best for video sharing and your business. Vimeo or YouTube?
Why the name Vimeo?
The word ‘Vimeo’ is as a combination of the words ‘video’ and ‘me’. It can also be anagrammatized into the word ‘movie’.
Pictures speak more than words, and videos convey more than pictures. These days, people do not want to read in order to gain information. They are just too bored or lazy to read. Why go through some text when you can obtain the same information by watching a video online? And which website comes to your mind when you hear “online videos”? YouTube. Duh!
But there are other video sharing websites like YouTube, and if you are a content marketer, or a brand, or a filmmaker, or an artist, then you might have also heard about Vimeo. YouTube and Vimeo are the two most popular websites for sharing and watching videos for entertainment and learning. Vimeo and YouTube, both are good in their own terms but, this MarketingWit article will explain which is better for video sharing.
1. Video Quality & Traffic
✦ Professionals believe that Vimeo offers better video quality than YouTube. Videos converted by Vimeo have higher bit rates than the videos with the same resolution on YouTube. Bit rate, while not being the only factor in deciding video quality, and its effect on the overall quality cannot be ignored.
✦ At the time of writing of this article, YouTube is the third most popular website in the world as well as in the United States. According to Alexa, Vimeo is the 98th most visited website in world. So, there is no comparison between YouTube and Vimeo when we are talking about traffic. Yes, YouTube videos are watched by millions of random users, but they do count if it is the number of views or shares are your priority.
2. Search Engine Visibility
✦ Vimeo and other video sharing websites get lesser views and subsequently lesser traffic than YouTube.
✦ YouTube is a Google-owned company, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise when you learn that YouTube videos rank higher in a Google Search than those on Vimeo.
3. Ads and Monetization
✦ Vimeo is well aware of the fact that many short-film makers live off the revenue generated by their films, and has introduced Tip Jar for Vimeo Pro and Plus users. Any viewer can donate as much as he likes to the film creator via the Tip Jar. Unlike other ad agencies, Vimeo doesn’t take any commission out of the tips, and deposits the tips from this Tip Jar to the PayPal account of the filmmaker.
✦ Using YouTube, you can easily monetize your videos with pre-roll, post-roll, and overlay ads. All you need is content which is in demand, and doesn’t violate YouTube’s Terms of Service.
4. Community
✦ Vimeo has a community of helpful professionals from all around the globe, who give constructive feedback about your work.
✦ YouTube doesn’t have a dedicated community of experts.
5. Quality of Content
✦ Vimeo is a place for showcasing artistic and amazing content. This makes it easier for anyone to find high quality content easily on Vimeo.
✦ YouTube, on the other hand, has far more videos than Vimeo. So, for most of the searches, you will find many homemade and cat videos for a single high quality video.
6. Layout of the Website
✦ Vimeo’s clean interface along with better video quality, and video player customizations will save you a lot of your brand-building efforts. Just like YouTube, you also get an option to place your brand logo on all of your videos so that they are easily recognizable. On Vimeo’s interface, the video gets the maximum space, and hence more user attention.
✦ We have no gripe against the layout of the video player on YouTube, but Vimeo makes it more appealing. On YouTube, the video player is surrounded by tens of distracting things like related-videos, comments, ads, etc. This distracts the viewer from focusing on the video.
7. Privacy Options
✦ Vimeo users can also choose whom to share their password-protected videos with. Only authorized users can watch the videos after entering the password. You can also specify domain permissions like who can embed your videos and who cannot.
✦ YouTube has two options for video privacy―Unlisted and Private videos.
8. Membership
✦ Users with a Basic Vimeo account can upload only one HD video per week. Though, it has been observed by many that it takes longer to upload a video on Vimeo.
✦ YouTube is free to use. Users can not only watch unlimited amount of videos but can also upload countless videos. For new users, there is a restriction on the duration of the video that can be uploaded, but it gets removed with time. What else? YouTube lets you upload your films in Ultra HD (4K).
9. Made for Content Marketers
✦ Vimeo caps the number of views on commercial videos to 250,000 but YouTube doesn’t.
✦ YouTube allows its users to upload all but adult videos. You can upload your product demos, walk-throughs, and TV commercials free of cost. You can also include a link to your website in the video description for driving additional traffic.
So, here is the ultimate question:
Well, it really depends on what you are trying to achieve. If you are into an entertainment/infotainment business, and want to earn to some revenue while getting more shares and views, i.e., more exposure, then YouTube is where you should upload your videos. YouTube is a personal and marketing platform, whereas Vimeo is a platform for professionals.
On the other hand, if you want to showcase your creative work, and are also looking forward to receiving some genuine feedback from filmmaking experts and artists, then Vimeo will suit your requirements best.
Do let us know which one out of these two would you prefer for sharing your videos and why through the comments section below.