YouTube SEO: How to Optimize YouTube Videos

Let’s talk about YouTube SEO. As the second biggest search engine, YouTube provides marketers with a huge opportunity to increase their site traffic. Just like Google, YouTube has its own algorithm that decides the ranking of the search results. By optimizing your videos for YouTube, you’ll make it easier for your intended audience to find your videos and increase your site traffic as a result. Sounds like a win-win, right? Let’s get started.

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Factors Impacting YouTube Ranking

Here are some of the main factors that go into the rankings of YouTube videos.

• Watch time: YouTube cares more about how long people watch your video than how many views the video has. Think of watch time as the opposite of bounce rate for videos. The longer the average view duration of the video, the lower the “bounce rate” of the video which tells YouTube the video is valuable.
• Video length: Longer videos tend to rank better than short videos. Many resources suggest making your videos at least five minutes long.
• Your number of YouTube subscribers
• Keyword relevance
• Subscribes after watching
• Reactions (comments, likes, dislikes, shares)

A few tips for YouTube SEO

Remember, YouTube cannot watch the video for you. YouTube is relying on you to tell it what the video is about so it’s able to rank the video. Here are a few steps to help you accomplish this.

• Use keywords in the video filename
  • When you’re finished with the video, be sure to include the main keyword of the video in the file name. For example, if you’re trying to rank for the keyword “3D printed car,” you’d want to name your video 3D_printed_car_video.mp4.
• Create an optimized title
  • The title of the video should be at least five words long and include the major keyword you’re trying to rank for. Try putting the keyword you’re trying to rank for towards the beginning of the title.
• Use tags
  • Use relevant keywords that fit your brand and will interest the people that the video was intended for.
• Create a full description
  • Don’t be afraid to include several hundred words to articulate the key points from the video. This will make it easy for YouTube to see what value the video offers. Be sure to include plenty of relevant keywords in the description as well. You could even include the script of the video in the description.
  • Some basic guidelines for the description include:
    • Including a link to your website at the top
    • Including your keyword in the first 25 words
    • Making the description at least 250 words
    • Including your keyword at least 3-4 times
• Upload a transcript
  • This makes it easier for people to watch the video when they’re at work and don’t want to disturb coworkers.
• Use a strong call to action
  • Use YouTube Cards to drive people back to your website or send them to the next video of the series if it’s relevant
• Create an eye-catching thumbnail cover
  • We’ve all heard the saying a picture is worth a thousand words and this is exactly why your video should have an appealing thumbnail cover. You can design eye-catching YouTube thumbnails with Canva.

Promote your video

The final step in optimizing your video is promoting it. Once the video is uploaded to YouTube, it’s up to you to encourage viewers to watch your video. Embed the video on your blog and company website. Promote it in your email marketing efforts as well as your social media channels.

Have you experimented with YouTube SEO? Keep the conversation going by commenting below or tweeting @WTWH_Aly.

Need help creating compelling video content? We can help! Click here.