YouTube has grown into one of the biggest video streaming platform. Apart from entertainment, it has also become an important marketing tool for big brands. It can help your brand to get views, build brand awareness and drives audience engagement. In this article, we will teach you how to improve YouTube video ranking (Part 1). There are so many advanced YouTube SEO tips that you can follow to get desired number of views, leads and subscribers. In this guide, we will teach you how to optimize YouTube videos for top ranking. Before we begin with the best YouTube SEO tips, let’s focus on what YouTube SEO is and how it can help you grow your business.
YouTube SEO Meaning: What is YouTube SEO?
SEO (Search engine optimization) for YouTube, is the process of optimizing your YouTube channel, playlists and videos. Primary goal is to rank your videos for search queries or keywords on organic search results. The second goal is to your video featured on YouTube’s video’s suggestion. You can learn the best YouTube SEO tips and trick to achieve both of your goals.
Best YouTube SEO Tips
Now that you know what YouTube SEO is and how it works, you should teach how to do YouTube SEO Optimization to maximize views on your videos for maximum engagement.
1. Research Relevant Keywords for YouTube
Most marketers tend to get confused while learning “how to do keyword research for YouTube videos”? YouTube keyword research is tough as there is no tool for YouTube keyword research. Most marketers tend to choose random keywords from Google Keyword planner, the method is basically a gamble.
If you’re just looking to start things off, then using advanced YouTube SEO keyword research is the right way to go. Fortunately for you, we have studied the topic extensively and here are some techniques for YouTube keyword research.
- Use YouTube suggest
- AHREF’s keyword explorer
- Neil Patel’s UberSuggest Tool
- Google’s Search Results
2. Edit Your YouTube Videos Strategically
Now that you have learned of the tools and methods to conduct ideal YouTube keyword research, you should move onto the second step and edit your YouTube video for maximum impact. If you’re wondering how to optimize YouTube videos for top ranking then you’ll need to edit your videos strategically to keep your audience engaged throughout the video.
- Add Jump Cuts to Videos: Jump cuts tend to show a transition between two video shots. Jump cuts are used by YouTubers all over the world as they diminish the need to re-shoot. It is out advice that you use jump cuts all over your videos to cut through your videos and make them look more dynamic.
- Add Visual Effects for Catchy Videos: If there are some parts in your video that you want to highlight or want for users to pay more attention to then add visual effect for maximum engagement.
3. Select Ideal Length for YouTube Video
According to a study, videos that appear on the first page of a YouTube search result are more than 14 minutes longer. This suggests that the videos that rank on top need to be usually longer than 5 minutes. But as a brand, make sure you don’t take this factor as the deciding factor for making videos. While it is true that longer videos perform well, they are also tougher to make as retaining user’s attention is tougher than smaller videos. How to improve YouTube video ranking? Determine the ideal length for your YouTube videos.
For example, almost all the tutorial videos are longer than 30 minutes as people need are trying to learn about something. Regardless of how long the tutorial video actually is, it gets likes, shares and subscribers. Same goes for TV shows, Funny videos and movies. You need to take in account your niche and if longer video types suits you. Here are some YouTube SEO Tricks to help you choose the perfect video length for your channel?
- Conduct independent research of the videos in your niche.
- Compile a list of keywords your competitors are doing.
- Analyze the video length of the top-rated videos on your related niche.
- Make a note of observations and choose the video length for your videos.
4. Optimize YouTube Video Title, Description and Tags
Optimizing your YouTube video with SEO tricks requires you to add important keywords to the YouTube title, descriptions and tags. Here are some YouTube SEO tips and tricks to follow for optimizing your YouTube Videos.
- Use Your Main Keyword In Title: Use your primary keyword in your YouTube video title. You should focus on long-tailed keywords and follow the YouTube character limit. Also make sure that your title is small and helpful, remember that your video title should be clickworthy so it compels people to click on your video.
- Optimize Video Description Using Keywords: You should always write video description using your keywords. Don’t overstuff keywords, in your video description, you need to strategically place keywords for optimizing videos perfectly. To further optimize your video description, look for keywords that are in top 10 videos similar to your niche.
- Choose 5-10 Relevant Tag: Tags help you provide much needed context to your video, your goal should be to use tags that are most relevant in your video. If you want, you can also browse through your competitor’s videos to find common tags. At the end, compile a list of 10 most suitable tags and use them in your YouTube Video. You shouldn’t use more than 10 tags per video.
5. Follow In-Video Optimizations
That’s not all, you also need to optimize your videos for better user experiences. There are some small things you can change to optimize the video. Here’s how to improve YouTube video ranking using In-Video optimization.
- Add transcripts to your video content.
- Choose a card or cards that suit your video goals.
- Optimize your end screens.
6. Ask Users to Engage With Your Video
According to researches, the higher ranked videos are co-related to the number of comments, shares and subscribers earned from that single video. This means you can improve your video ranking by asking for users to share, like, comment on the video.
Creating a video that is good and engaging will help in your audience to attract views, shares, and comments and channel subscribers on your YouTube videos. If you are like most people, you would want for this to happen organically. You would want viewers to take action on their own, but you shouldn’t shy away from asking your users for likes, shares, subscribers and comments. While this can’t be considered as an advanced YouTube SEO trick, it can still be considered as a basic technique.
7. Optimize Your YouTube Videos For Session Watch Time
Session watch time refers to the total time spent by your users on a YouTube video without leaving the platform. Optimizing your video session watch time refers to conducting certain practices to keep your audience engaged for a long time. Here are some methods you can optimize your video for a longer session watch time:
- The only way a user will watch your videos for a longer time if they find value in your video content. Adding a bonus tip about a certain topic after regular intervals will help you keep the video fresh for your viewers. You should inform your users about this prior so your users already expect those tips.
- Give out freebies, like monthly demo for your products and services. Users often love waiting for giveaways and promo codes that can benefit them in any way. Just don’t tell your users when you would hand out the freebies in your videos or they would skip straight to that part.
Conclusion: Best YouTube SEO Tips
YouTube SEO is a tough thing to do, you need to have years of experience in order to get that down. Just follow the tips on social media marketing like the YouTube SEO Tips to get your desired results on your YouTube channels.