YouTube SEO How to Rank Your Videos

Every month, people view YouTube videos for more than a billion hours. YouTube SEO is a powerful marketing platform that all businesses should be using.

This should not be becoming as news to any person who knows about the internet. You could have marketed your brand on YouTube at some point. It can be worse if you discover that no one is watching your videos. However, it should not demotivate you from your YouTube SEO efforts.

Marketing is one of the key roles of YouTube. Marketers spend a lot of money on developing curated content and no one views them. It is not good to abandon your efforts very fast.

The key to YouTube SEO is to have your videos rank highly in both YouTube and Google searches. It will help you to create an automated flow of individuals. The searchers use valuable keywords that are related to your brand to find the videos.

YouTube is the second most used search engine on the planet. Therefore, you need a clear understanding of how YouTube SEO works and the functioning of algorithms.

SEO experts have a clear understanding of how the Google algorithm works. It takes a long period to gain this knowledge. However, you have to take a lot of time, patience, and testing for your YouTube SEO to succeed.

YouTube SEO How to Rank Your Videos:

This article will give you some tips on how to rank your videos on YouTube. When your videos rank high on YouTube and Google, you will begin to attract several views.

1. Length of Video:

During the first launch of Google, part of its algorithm relied on view. When your video gets more views, it will begin to rank higher. YouTube changed their policy close to two years ago. Even though the platform still counts aggregate views, it now does it hand in hand with engagement metrics.

The key metrics for YouTube SEO include social shares, likes, comments, and a number of seconds viewed. The additional metrics will help in cutting back the clicks.

This extra metric help in cutting back on clock farms that used to rack up several millions of false clicks. Before this, pumping up tons of videos with minimal focus on content was the order of the day. Currently, you stand to benefit more when you create content-rich videos that are good at driving user engagement.

YouTube does not provide any guidelines on the optimal length of a video. However, from experience, a good YouTube video should run for approximately sixty seconds. The video should not be so long for several reasons.

When you keep a user engaged for several seconds, your video will begin to rank highly. It will help you to achieve your YouTube SEO goals. Therefore, when you have a longer video, it will bring additional seconds to your count.

In the mind of YouTube, something that is too short will come out like spam. A longer video will have more content hence leading to better user experience. The bottom line is creating YouTube videos that drive engagement and provide great content

2. Name of the Video Affects YouTube SEO:

The most common YouTube SEO mistake is using an improper naming structure. It takes place in both the video title and the raw video file.

YouTube cannot see what your video is all about. Therefore, the algorithm will look at the raw file to assist in determining the content. Are you familiar with Amazon’s optimization elements (subtitles, summary, and titles among others)? The process of the raw file of your video is similar to this.

The first thing is to right-click on your YouTube video and then select the ‘Get Info’ option. Add the tags that are related to the synonym keywords and video keywords. Use your main and secondary keywords as the basis of naming your file.

An excellent example would be ‘Ranking Videos in Google” or ‘How to rank YouTube videos.” You also need to add a few comments on what the video is talking about. Read this link How to Grow Your YouTube Channel.

After uploading the file to your YouTube account, it will pull through the raw file name automatically. You need to use the same title on the title of your video. For brevity purposes, we have not looked at how to select the right keywords. It is one of the most critical elements in the YouTube SEO ranking process. You can read more about how to select the right keywords for your video content online.

Read more: Best Keyword Research Tools For Small Brands In 2019

3. Description of Your YouTube Video:

The first thing is to add a link to your website. If you carry out a digital marketing audit, you will discover that most marketers don’t link their landing page or website. While YouTube video views are great, it is simply a means to something that is great.

The desired action should be getting clicks to your website to help you finish the marketing process. It includes making purchases, leads capture, and so on. Therefore, don’t forget to add links to help you optimize the rest of your YouTube video description.

You have to come up with a unique description. Do not recycle content from all your YouTube videos. Google dislikes duplicating content and it will hold that against you. Every video is different and you need to treat it in that manner. Let each video that you publish has a unique description.

You need to aim for a minimum of 200 words. Besides, you should also use synonym keywords through the description. For example, if your keyword is ‘how to rank videos on YouTube,’ you can use Yahoo video rank, ranking YouTube videos in search engines, etc.

Avoid using one keyword twice because the search engine will slap you with keyword stuffing. You can choose to write a transcript of your video. However, it can really consume a lot of time. Contractors can help you achieve this objective if you don’t have the time for that.

4. Create a Playlist to Enhance YouTube SEO:

This tip is critical when it comes to YouTube SEO. The final piece when uploading a new video on YouTube is the playlist. The feature adds a new layer of signals that explains to YouTube what your video is talking about.

For every YouTube video, learn to create a new playlist using your synonym keywords. You need to have a focus keyword and other LSI keywords. Use them naturally in your video title and the raw file name. These keywords should also be part of your playlist name and description. It is one of the most effective tips for YouTube SEO.

5. Custom Thumbnails:

Which videos have a high likelihood of attracting clicks? When you upload a new video on YouTube, the platform will give you three random screenshots that you can learn from. The screenshot may be an unsavory pose that is pushing visitors away from your video.

If you add a custom thumbnail to your video, you will be able to control the users’ first impression. It is advisable to add a thumbnail that informs your users what your video is about and why they need to click on it.

When you do this, it will drastically increase the CTR (Click-through rate) of your YouTube videos. Simply click in the ‘custom thumbnail’ button and you will be able to add a new thumbnail. You will find this button on the ‘Upload’ screen.

However, there are a few things that you need to note about uploading custom thumbnails. The optimal size for your images should be 1280 by 20. It needs to be GIF. BMP. PNG, or JPG. The image should also be below 2MB.

Use bright colors such as orange, red, and yellow. It will help you to stand out against the blue links and white backgrounds in Google.

6. Optimize the Channel page for YouTube SEO:

The other great opportunity to alert the search engine algorithm about your content is the channel page. Optimizing this page will help you to significantly enhance your YouTube SEO efforts. Be keen to find out all the aspects of your page.

There are so many accounts out there whose primary function is to flip, rip, and repost videos for purposes of profit. In most cases, the profiles are created by spammer SEO practitioners who leave them black.

When you optimize your channel page, it will trickle down to the videos and help you rank them. You need to fill out four critical aspects of your profile to achieve the YouTube SEO goals.

i) Channel Art

When you have a background and profile picture, it will give your users a better understanding of your page. The primary goal of Google is enhancing user experience. Be keen to follow the best practices of Google when uploading your images on YouTube. Don’t forget to include your business name, channel name, and keywords.

ii) Links

Adding links to your websites and social media pages will help in driving valuable traffic to your YouTube page. It will also enable the search engine to link them with your website or business. It is a valuable addition to your brand SEO when visitors are searching for your brand. The first results pages will populate with your social media pages and main website.

iii) Description

This is an excellent opportunity of explaining what your channels talk about and also sending text signals to the search engines. Be thorough and also sprinkle in the synonym keywords as much as you can.

iv) Subscribe

When you were still a child and your buddy gets into trouble, you could also get punished. We can refer to this as guilt by association. In the same way, you could also benefit from the good deeds of your friends. When you subscribe to powerful YouTube channels whose content is similar to yours, you will send small association links to your YouTube channel.

7. Push to Social Channels:

Traditional SEO has two main components. The first one is on-page SEO that comprises of keyword density, content, site speed, site structure, and code. The second one is off-page that typically comprises links.

Social media has literally changed human behavior and this has forced the search engine to take notice. Currently, we have a third-ranking factor that we call relevancy.

Relevancy

Google always sides with the user all the time. No one wants to see irrelevant and non-updated irrelevant results. Google uses social signals to measure relevancy. At the basic levels, if human beings are discussing something on social media, then that topic is relevant. If you wish your videos to get to the top position, you have to get several links on social media. There are several ways of achieving this objective.

The first trick is to auto-sync your YouTube channel with Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ accounts. Each time you post a new YouTube video, it will end up pushing to these accounts. You also need to post to your personal account to improve your YouTube SEO.

The other trick is posting to Google+, Facebook, and LinkedIn groups. One of the best ways to get shares and likes is social media. Lastly, you can decide to purchase signals. There are several sites online that can help you to get signals for purchase.

8. Build Links and Embed:

If you follow the above seven tips, Google will index your YouTube video within minutes. However, building links to your YouTube video URL and embedding the HTML on the other sites will help you to rank for the competitive keyword searches.

It is one of the most effective ways to achieve the desired YouTube SEO goals. Even though link building is a tricky exercise, it acts as a double-edged sword.

The secret is building the right links for your videos. It will help your video to rank for any keywords that you wish. You should not build the wrong links because Google will flag your video as spam and remove it. It is better to build a small number of links over an extended period. Some of the great sources of videos include email signatures, Pinterest, Tumblr, Web 2.0s (Weebly, WordPress, etc.) and blogs. You should also remember to add all the YouTube videos to your personal blogs.

Summary:

YouTube is a powerful SEO tool as long as you use it properly. Video marketing is still at the infancy stages and will continue to become more effective over time. When you get your content in front of the right people, it will help in the success of your website. The above tips will help your YouTube SEO efforts to succeed. It is one of the best ways to help your brand stand out in search engines.

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