When you hear the word SEO, Google is the first name that strikes in your mind. But in this article we are going to deal with YouTube and YouTube SEO in specific. YouTube is a search engine for videos and just like you want your website to rank high on Google SERPs, it is important to get your videos rank top on the YouTube SERPs.
What is YouTube SEO?
Just like Google, YouTube also has its own search system and YouTube SEO is the process of optimising YouTube videos to rank high in YouTube’s organic search results for a given search query.
Videos are ranked based on a variety of factors including title, description, engagement, time spent etc. For each video, the algorithm evaluates the following factor and rank accordingly.
- Title, Descriptions and Thumbnail
- Viewer Engagement
- What viewers watch and what they don’t watch
- Video watch time
- ‘Not interested’ feedback, etc.
Let’s dive into the article further to have a look at a few tips on how to perform YouTube SEO.
Conduct a Research About Your Competitors
If you have no clue where to start, the first step is to analyse your competitors. Take a look at your competitor’s YouTube channels and check out their SEO efforts. Identify ways to optimise your videos in a better way, and make sure that your videos stand ahead of your competitors.
Pick Keywords That Meet the Viewers Interests
Use the right keyword the right way to ensure your video ranks in the top search results. Utilise Google Keyword Planner, Moz, Semrush or perform Google search to pick keywords that can increase video views.
Use Appropriate Video Title
Video title describes your content. Your titles should be more concise and with the exact keyword, describing what viewers are going to watch. And, for the video to appear in a top position, the title should match with users search intent.
Make Use of Tags
Adding appropriate tags enables YouTube to identify the video category and index it accordingly. When you use tags your videos are likely to appear in recommended related videos, which is an important factor to drive traffic for your videos.
Add Attractive Descriptions
The description is another important field as it persuades users to watch the video and also enables the YouTube algorithm to identify the video content. So ensure to add an attractive description with keywords to increase the chances of ranking and also to increase your video engagement.
Optimise File Name
Include the content’s main keyword in the file name so that YouTube can identify what the video is about.
Transcript Video Into Text
YouTube’s algorithm cannot read videos, hence to enable YouTube to understand what your content is about, you can create transcription for your videos. In order to give viewers more information about the video, you can add the transcript text in the video description
Make Quality In-depth Video Contents
Always focus on making relevant videos with complete in-depth content. Quality content drives audience engagement and increases CTR.
Promote Videos In Other Channels
By optimising your video with appropriate keywords and other stuff, the visibility of your videos in the YouTube platform increases. But, that’s not enough. You must make use of other channels like social media, public forums etc to promote your videos, thereby increasing your views.
Now that you’ve read a few tips on how to optimise your videos for YouTube, make sure that your optimization efforts focus on user experience, and increase engagement.
