Search Google for "how much does it cost to replace a water heater" and look at what comes up. Before you get to most of the plumbing company websites, there is a row of videos. Some are YouTube. Some are short clips from TikTok or Instagram. A few are from local plumbers, and the person searching is going to tap one of them first.
That row of videos is some of the best real estate in search, and you do not need to win an SEO battle to get into it. You need videos that exist on the platforms Google pulls from, with words that say what they are about. Most local businesses have neither.
Search Results Are Not Just Blue Links Anymore
For most of the internet's history, getting found on Google meant ranking your website. That is still worth doing, but it is slow, expensive, and competitive. You are up against national directories, big competitors, and companies that have been publishing content for a decade.
Look at a results page today and the blue links are only part of it. There are video carousels, short video sections, map listings, discussion threads from Reddit and forums, and AI summaries. Google is trying to answer the question with whatever format answers it best, and for a huge number of questions, the best format is a video of someone showing you.
How do I fix a squeaky door. What does a full detail include. How long does a new tattoo take to heal. Why is my car making a grinding noise when I brake. People want to see it, so Google shows them video.
Where Google Gets Those Videos
Google owns YouTube, so YouTube videos show up in search more than anything else. But the short video results also pull from TikTok, Instagram, and other platforms.
That means every video you post on those platforms has a second life beyond the feed. A YouTube video answering a common question can show up in Google for that question for years. A short clip on TikTok can appear in a short video carousel right next to it.
But only if it exists on those platforms in the first place. A video that lives on your Instagram alone gives Google one shot at finding it. The same video on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook gives it four, and YouTube, the platform Google favors most, is often the one businesses skip.
The Words Around The Video Decide If It Shows Up
Google cannot watch your video the way a person does, so it leans heavily on the words attached to it. The title, the description, the captions, and what is said out loud all tell Google what the video answers.
A video titled "Monday vibes" will never show up for anything useful. A video titled "How Much Does A Water Heater Replacement Cost In Phoenix" can show up for exactly that search, and for every variation of it.
This is the part most businesses leave on the table. They post a great explanation video with a caption like "Another day on the job!" and wonder why nobody finds it. The video was good. Nothing around it said what it was.
Answer The Questions People Actually Type
The easiest way to get into video results is to make videos that answer the exact questions your customers search.
Start with the questions you get every week. What does it cost. How long does it take. What is the difference between this option and that one. Do I need this now or can I wait. What should I look for in a company like yours. Each of those is a search someone is typing into Google right now.
Film a short, direct answer to each one. Say the question out loud at the start. Put it in the title. Put it in the description or caption in plain words. Then put the video everywhere Google might find it.
Local Words Matter
If you serve a specific area, say so. The city, the region, the neighborhood. People search "near me" constantly, and they also search with city names attached.
"Best time to aerate your lawn in Kansas City" is a far easier search to show up for than "best time to aerate your lawn." There are thousands of videos competing for the general version and very few for the local one. Your local knowledge is also genuinely more useful. You know the soil, the weather, the codes, and the common problems in your area. A national channel does not.
One Video Becomes Many Ways In
Think about what a single good explanation video can do when it is distributed properly. It shows up in TikTok search for people who search there. It shows up on YouTube for people who search there. It gets picked up in Google's video results. It gets shared in a Facebook group. It might end up linked in a Reddit thread when someone asks the same question.
That is five ways in for one piece of work. Compare that to posting it once on Instagram, where it gets two days of feed time and then mostly disappears from view.
The businesses that win local search over the next few years will not just be the ones with the best websites. They will be the ones with the most useful videos sitting on the most platforms, labeled clearly enough for search to find.
Your Website Still Matters, Video Just Gets There Faster
None of this means you should ignore your website. It is still where people go to check your hours, see your services, and book. But a website can take months or years to climb the rankings for a competitive search.
A clearly titled YouTube video answering a specific local question can show up much faster, because far fewer businesses are competing for that spot. The video gets the click, the viewer gets their answer, and your website is the next stop when they are ready to buy.
Old Videos Can Start Showing Up Too
If you already have a backlog of videos sitting on one platform, they are not lost. Many of them answer questions people still search for. The problem is that they only live in one place, usually with a caption that does not say what they are about.
Go back through them. Pick the ones that explain something, answer something, or show how something works. Give each one a clear, plain title. Then post them to YouTube and the other platforms where they never went. A video you filmed two years ago can start showing up in Google next month, simply because it finally exists somewhere search can find it, labeled in words people actually type.
Try This Search Right Now
Open Google and search the three questions customers ask you most, with your city added. Look at what shows up. Count the videos. Look at who made them.
If there are videos and none are yours, that is a spot a competitor or a national company is filling for free. If there are no videos at all, that is an open lane. Either way, the next video you film should answer one of those questions, with a title that says so, posted everywhere Google looks.
