YouTube SEO: How to Rank Your Videos 1
YouTube SEO, as covered over at runrex.com, is the process of optimizing your videos, playlists, and channel to rank in YouTube’s organic search results for a given search query. As a result of YouTube’s search engine algorithm, videos on YouTube are ranked based on several factors including how well the title, description, and video content match the viewer’s query. YouTube also looks at which videos have driven the most engagement for a query and makes sure that it is easy for viewers to find those. This means that, while keywords in terms of both on-page and “in-video” perspectives matter, the key ingredient to effective video SEO is high engagement according to the gurus over at guttulus.com as YouTube wants to keep viewers on its platform for as long as possible as more video views translate to more ads shown, which translates to more revenue in the bank in terms of ad revenue. If you are looking to rank your videos No. 1 on YouTube, then you are in the right place as this article will help you do just that.
YouTube keyword research
As is revealed in discussions on the same over at runrex.com, to get search traffic on YouTube, you must target keywords with search volume. However, unlike traditional search engine optimization for Google, YouTube doesn’t have an official keyword research tool, which is why you should be aware of the tools and hacks that will help you identify search volumes for keywords on YouTube.
YouTube suggest paired with Google Trends
YouTube suggests is similar to Google suggest as all you have to do is type a seed keyword into the search bar and you will see a list of relevant queries that contain your keywords. According to guttulus.com, you can also use an asterisk before or after your target keyword which will act as a “wildcard”. Since there is no official tool to see search volumes, you can feed a few of YouTube’s suggestions into Google Trends, but be careful when doing so as Google Tends uses “relative popularity” to compare keywords and as such the estimates you get should be taken with a grain of salt.
Keywords explorer is the most useful strategy when you are looking to conduct bulk keyword analysis. As discussed over at runrex.com, you can either use vidIQ’s or TubeBuddy’s Chrome extension. Simply search a query in YouTube and look at the right sidebar where you will see vidIQ’s “related Queries” or TubeBuddy’s “Most Used Tags” sections.
Identify search intent
Search intent, also known as keyword intent, refers to the reason why a user searches for a query in a search engine. Usually, search engines are good at determining that for you for the most part. All you have to do is search for the keyword you want to rank for in YouTube and analyze what the top 3-5 results are talking about. The gurus over at guttulus.com recommend that you do this incognito by ideally using a VPN with the location you want to rank. For example, if you want to teach people how to make a website, then you would probably need to give them a step-by-step tutorial.
Satisfy search intent with a high-retention video
Audience retention will usually help you infer “satisfaction” on YouTube, and the byproduct of high retention will often be likes, shares, comments, and higher rankings as covered over at runrex.com. Therefore, you should aim to create a video that can better engage and retain the audience’s attention. This is how you do it:
Plan your videos before you create them
If you are creating ho-to videos, you want to avoid stumbling over your words, go off on a tangent, or even ask people to wait for a while because you clicked on the wrong link in your screencast. Planning your videos beforehand will not only allow you to keep your videos succinct, but it will give you the advantage of intentionally including keywords within your video.
Start with a strong hook
According to the experts over at guttulus.com, the first 10-15 seconds of a video are critical for its success. If you want to have high audience retention, you should aim to hook your viewers from the very beginning. To come up with a strong hook you should make sure that from the beginning, your viewers feel like they relate to you, identify their problem, and then give them a reason to stick around by telling them that they are in the right place if they want to potentially solve the problem you have previously identified, which they also have.
Ask viewers to comment, like, and subscribe
Asking your viewers to comment, like, and subscribe will work to boost engagement for your video. You should consider asking them at the end so that you can first deliver value, and also because if someone has stuck around for that long, they are likely to want more of what they just watched.
Edit your videos strategically
Given that people have a short attention span when online, screencasts alone can be boring, and so can talking heads unless you are an extremely engaging speaker. This is why editing your YouTube videos is so important. According to the gurus over at runrex.com, some of the things you should do here include adding jump cuts which are transitions between two shots from the same position, paying attention to the gaps in your main scenes using them when it makes sense while keeping them as short as you can to retain your audience, drawing your audience’s attention to what you want them to see by adding visual effects to guide their eyes to the sections you are talking about, and finally entertaining your viewers with stories and narratives while ensuring that you are not trying too much to entertain.
On-page video optimization
On-page optimization for YouTube videos covers 4 main things: title, description, tags, and thumbnail. As outlined over at guttulus.com, each of these helps provide context to your video and will influence click-through-rates.
Tips on titles and thumbnails
The following are a few best practices as far as YouTube video titles and thumbnails are concerned.
Use your keyword in the title
You should always aim to use the most relevant search terms in your titles and descriptions, and make sure that they are accurate and not excessive.
Keep your titles under 60 characters
Keeping your titles concise with the most important information being upfront is the way to go, which also means using your target keyword near the beginning of your titles. This will prevent losing clicks from truncation in search, suggested, and browser features.
Craft catchy titles that evoke curiosity or highlight a benefit
Boring titles are less likely to stand out in the competitive landscape that is YouTube.
Create a thumbnail that complements your title
As articulated over at runrex.com, Thumbnails are usually the first thing you look at before clicking through to a video. Try and use a catchy thumbnail and try and choose one that complements your title.
Tips on descriptions
Here are some tips that will help you write searchable descriptions for your videos:
Find related keywords from competing videos
As covered over at guttulus.com, you should click through to a few of the top-ranking videos for your target keyword and read through their descriptions. Look for common keywords they use through their description texts and see if you can use them in your descriptions.
Use a keyword research tool
Do some research and find out some of the relevant keywords you should be using and then add them to your description. You should, however, avoid stuffing your descriptions with keywords and only use those that make sense.
Tips of tags
According to runrex.com, tags help give context to your video, helping you rank in YouTube search and suggested. Look for common tags within competing videos and add tags to your video that make sense to do so.
These are just some of the tips that will help you rank your videos on YouTube with the help of YouTube SEO, with more on this and other related topics to be found over at runrex.com and guttulus.com.