First, it's been just a week since I uploaded the videos, so I know that isn't much data to go on. But I'd like some input.
I created and uploaded two how-to videos - one for each of my two top articles.
The video for the #1 article is 12 minutes, 52 seconds long. The 2nd video is 5 minutes, 27 seconds long.
The videos are embedded between the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs below/after the table of contents.
I turned off Pre-roll ads in the videos in hopes that my readers wouldn't overlook the video, thinking it was just an ad.
I expected that the videos might increase time on page. But it does not appear so - at least, not yet.
I set BDA so that I could see the stats for those two articles for the last 7 days vs the previous 7 day period. That way, the most recent 7 days is mostly with the videos while the previous 7 days would have been with no video.
For the first article, engaged time went up by just 4 seconds, while Visit Duration decreased by 24 seconds. EPMV went down by 60 cents. For the last 30 days vs the previous 30 days, EPMV is down by $7.71, so hardly any of that decrease could be attributed to the last 7 days' decrease.
For the second article, engaged time went up by just 2 seconds, while Visit Duration decreased by 37 seconds. EPMV went down by $7.21 comparing those two 7-day periods. For the last 30 days vs the previous 30 days, EPMV is down by $1.92, so most of that 30-day average decrease is from the last 7 days.
It would be nice to earn some additional money from ads in the videos, but my main goal for embedding videos is for SEO.
I'm hoping having the videos on the page will result in an increase in page views. Time on page is one thing that Google takes into consideration, so I wonder how the videos will help that, if time on page hardly differs with video vs before video.
Also, I've heard that how-to videos should be embedded near the top, but below the fold.