20 YouTube SEO Tips to Get Your Videos Ranked

20 YouTube SEO Tips to Get Your Videos Ranked

Given that YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine, there is no way you can expect to post content on YouTube and rank highly without YouTube SEO according to the gurus over at runrex.com. This is why this article will look to help by highlighting 20 YouTube SEO tips that will help get your videos ranked.

Conduct YouTube keyword research

As highlighted over at guttulus.com, relevancy is an important YouTube ranking signal, which means that you will need to find the right keywords if you want your videos ranked. This means that you will also need both short and long-tail keywords for a successful keyword strategy.

Keep your audience watching for longer

An important YouTube SEO tip is to create video content that keeps viewers engaged and watching. This is because, as explained over at runrex.com, audience retention is an important ranking factor for YouTube SEO. To keep people watching for longer, you should make the first few seconds count bay telling viewers what your video is about at the start, then jump right into the content and avoid long introductions, and also add open loops to preview things that are going to happen later in the video.

Optimize your video title

It is always important to optimize your headlines for written content, and YouTube is no exception according to the experts over at guttulus.com, as it is important to include your focus keywords in your video title. Also, try and solve a problem with your title to pique curiosity and entice users to click on and watch your videos, which will boost your rankings.

Don’t forget about your tags

As one of the most amazing SEO features provided by YouTube, tagging allows you to enter relevant keywords that help your videos get more views and rank higher. Here, it is both important to use tags that are relevant to your topic and to avoid using too many tags. About 10 to 12 tags are enough.

Encourage interactions

If your videos are getting a lot of comments, then that tells YouTube that your videos are popular which gets them ranked. This is why you should encourage your viewers to comment on your videos by ending them with a question to trigger a discussion or asking them for their opinion on a relevant subject matter covered in the video.

Encourage people to subscribe

Subscribing is one of the factors YouTube algorithms use to rank videos as is revealed in discussions on the same over at runrex.com. This is because, while liking or commenting on a video is a one-time action, subscribing means that people will see your content regularly. While many YouTubers ask people to like, comment, and subscribe all at once, you should probably prioritize one of these metrics, in which case you should focus on encouraging subscriptions.

Improve the quality of your videos

There is a huge quality component to YouTube SEO as people will always gravitate towards high-quality content. As explained over at guttulus.com, this doesn’t mean that you need to invest in expensive equipment as your smartphone can do the business for you. However, there are a couple of tips that will help improve the quality of your videos even when shooting them using your smartphone and they include investing in a tripod to get a little stability while shooting, adding a backdrop to your videos, adding some lighting, and investing in a microphone to improve sound quality.

Use an eye-catching thumbnail

Although video thumbnails aren’t direct ranking factors, as covered over at runrex.com, they still have a huge impact on SEO. This is because an eye-catching thumbnail will lead to more clicks, which will lead to better rankings. This is why it is important to make and use eye-catching thumbnails for your videos.

Include closed captions

YouTube videos support closed captions which are meant for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, they also have an unexpected SEO benefit since there are a lot of people who watch videos on YouTube with the sound off. Adding closed captions will allow you to target them, getting more clicks, and improving your rankings.

Optimize your filename for SEO

Another hack that will enable you to get your videos ranked is editing your filename. You want to rename the raw file so that it reflects your titles or your focus keyword. This tells YouTube what your video is about, which may have an SEO benefit.

Build links to your channel and not just your videos

If you want the best YouTube SEO, the gurus over at guttulus.com recommend that you get links to both your channel and your videos. This is because these inbound links will tell YouTube that you are an authority in your niche, boosting your rankings.

Share on social media

If you are to maximize YouTube visibility and SEO, then you will need to share your videos on every social channel available from Facebook and Quora to Twitter and LinkedIn, among others as covered over at runrex.com.

Don’t forget email lists

As the subject matter experts over at guttulus.com always point out, the email list is one of the most effective forms of marketing out there, particularly since it doesn’t take much effort to send an email to thousands of people. Using the strategy with your YouTube marketing will increase the number of views you get, improving your SEO.

Have your videos embedded

By embedding your videos, not only will you get them in front of more people, but you also increase your user engagement which will be a direct result of getting more people to watch your video content. Both of these benefits will benefit your YouTube SEO getting your videos ranked.

See what keywords your competitors are using

It is always a good idea to keep one eye on what your competitors are doing on YouTube. See what other businesses in your niche are doing and what keywords they are using and try using the same keywords in your videos and see if there are any changes in performance. This might lead to more viewers, improving your SEO.

Leverage suspense

While you don’t have to create dramatic cliffhangers, starting your videos with a bit of suspense is a reliable technique to increase watch times and maintain user engagement as per the gurus over at runrex.com. For example, you can start by stating a statistic that grabs your audience’s attention, or asking a question. Viewers will have no choice but to continue watching the video to learn more.

Create playlists

As is articulated over at guttulus.com, building keyword-rich playlists can strengthen your SEO, while also helping you to get more search traffic. Playlists can lead to increased view times and retention which is why it is an SEO tactic that is trying out.

Get featured on another channel

If you implement this tactic right, it can lead to excellent results as far as your YouTube SEO is concerned. It is a tricky tactic because if you pick a channel that is in the same niche as yours, it could backfire and you may end up losing viewers to the other channel. The key, as per discussions over at runrex.com, is to find a channel that compliments but doesn’t necessarily compete with yours. Say, if you are a YouTube channel about drinks, find one that is about food.

Get interviewed

Given that some YouTube channels specialize in interviews, with others conducting them regularly, landing an interview on YouTube can also boost your SEO performance. Interviews will give you visibility in front of an audience that you may not have had access to, leading to more views for your content, and better rankings.

Be careful about the length of your videos

Remember, how long a video should last depends on the content. While some videos should last longer, others need to be short to maintain engagements. You should, therefore, find the optimal video length for your channel, something you can achieve through regular A/B testing.

These are just some of the tips you should consider when it comes to YouTube SEO, with there being more where this came from over at the excellent runrex.com and guttulus.com.