When was the last time you watched a YouTube video? Probably not more than an hour or a day ago. If you make videos, you almost certainly have a YouTube channel. If your SEO and Content Strategy for 2022 solely includes Google, you’re missing out on a large portion of your audience. YouTube SEO Companies, the world’s second-largest search engine, has grown in importance year after year. The platform now has 230 million active users and accounts for 25% of all mobile traffic worldwide. Users are increasingly flocking to YouTube for instructional videos, entertainment, and keeping up with current events. However, with increased popularity comes increased competition.
YouTube SEO can help your company stand out from the crowd by attracting more views and engagement. At its heart, YouTube video SEO adheres to the same principles as Google SEO: you must optimize for the algorithm’s ranking elements. Understanding these YouTube ranking variables and strategizing the best strategy to rank high on YouTube searches will assist your company’s channel in reaching a larger audience on this platform.
1. Optimize for relevant keywords to appear in YouTube searches.
Keyword research is the foundation of SEO, and YouTube SEO is no exception. Keywords can indicate the level of interest in a given issue, which can help you develop a tailored content strategy. There are several tools available to assist you in determining the ideal keyword mix for your films. You can conduct keyword research for the YouTube search engine using an SEO keyword research tool such as Ahrefs or SEMrush.
If you don’t want to employ a YouTube keyword research tool, you can type a topic into the YouTube search bar and take note of the suggested searches, which are often searched for terms. You must filter your terms depending on search volume and difficulty, just like you would with Google SEO. Targeting keywords with a search volume of 40,000, for example, may not yield results if you’re a new channel. Surprisingly, most rookies do this instead of focusing on long-tail keywords and phrases with low competition. You’ll be surprised at how ranking #1 for these keywords will generate a lot of traffic. For the best mix of keywords to target for video optimization, strike a balance between high search volume and low difficulty.
2. Understand when and where to employ keywords on your YouTube video page.
Once you’ve narrowed down your list of target keywords, you’ll need to know where to employ them for video optimization. You can add keywords to your videos on YouTube.
- Title of the video
- Description of the video
- Tags
Consider the video description to be a blog post. The primary keyword must be included in the video title. While your title should be optimized, it should also stand out and capture the attention of the viewer. This will boost your click-through rate and, as a result, your YouTube ranking.
- Because the video description might contain up to 5000 characters, it should be well-written and optimized.
- The major keyword should be repeated 2-3 times in the description, and the other keywords should be added 1-2 times.
- The first 125 characters of your description will be displayed underneath your video, so put the most critical information first.
Tags are another excellent method for optimizing your video. You can add as many tags as you want, but they must total 400 characters or less. Aside from keywords, you may also employ tags that your competitors use. YouTube video SEO tools, such as vidIQ, provide suggestions for competitor tags that you may use into your own video.
3. Increase the amount of time people spend watching your videos.
The longer people watch your videos, the better, because YouTube will highlight videos with long watch times in search and recommended videos.
The essence of SEO is content, and YouTube video SEO is no exception. Users will abandon your video after the first few seconds unless your script is entertaining and instructive. Fortunately, research has proven that high-quality production value does not have to be synonymous with exceptional content. Even if you’re recording videos on your phone, viewers will ignore it if you’re providing them with high-quality material. Customers can lose interest in a video in as little as 10 seconds, according to one study. This means that the opening 10 – 15 seconds of your film must be extremely intriguing, so take your time. One approach to accomplish this is to include the benefits from the start.
4. Play around with lengthier videos.
YouTube favors extended videos in the same manner that Google favors long-form blog entries (over 12 minutes long). One reason for this is that lengthier videos are thought to be more instructive, and YouTube aims to recommend the greatest quality videos to its users. Long videos can also boost the overall watch time on your channel. The total number of minutes spent watching your videos is referred to as the watch time. Viewers will naturally spend more time watching longer films. Long movies can thus help you get more watch time with fewer videos.
This, however, is not a hard and fast rule. The ideal video length is determined on the topic presented and your target audience.
The greatest YouTube content approach is to try out a few different video lengths before settling on one that appears to generate the most views and engagement.
5. Personalize your thumbnails
How can you separate out from the crowd of videos ranking for a specific keyword? Of course, the title is crucial, but your thumbnail is far more important. Humans are visual beings, and our eyes are drawn to visual components on a page first. Most of us look at the thumbnail before reading the title of a video. As a result, you can’t just utilize a pre-set screen grab for your thumbnail; it must be custom-designed.
The thumbnail should include a condensed version of your title or a major feature covered in the movie. Of course, this does not imply that you should have a text-heavy thumbnail, but consumers should be able to tell what the video is about based just on the image. The visuals utilized in conjunction with the text should also be tailored to your target demographic. For example, if your movies are aimed at young people, use bright colors; if they are aimed at professionals, use a more serious palette.
