Reading is becoming a lost art, at least in the online world. The research found that one-third of all online activity is spent watching videos. That alone should tell you that your online marketing strategy is incomplete without video content. However, simply uploading videos on YouTube will not get you results. Did you know that 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds? When the competition is so fierce, it is easy to get lost in the crowd. This blog will give you the best YouTube SEO tips to help you rank higher and grow your channel.
Tips to Rank YouTube Videos
Step 1: In-depth Keyword Research
The first steps in the YouTube SEO process are to lay the groundwork and generate a big list of potential keywords. Why do you need keyword research? The simple answer is because you need to know what users are searching for to get an idea about what’s in demand.
The good news is that you do not need deep technical knowledge for keyword research, the search bar on YouTube is enough. All you need to do is to open YouTube and enter a word or phrase in the search bar and let YouTube’s Search Suggest feature do the rest.
Step 2: Check Similar Popular Videos
Being successful online is all about finding your niche; identifying what users are interested in and then generating quality content. One thing you need to get used to quickly is the fact that like you, there are other aspiring YouTube stars out there with similar channels and videos. How can you stand out?
Learning about the competition will help you level the playing field a little so that you can build your identity or your brand. One way to do that is to do a little research about the popular videos that are currently attracting users. You can check out the keywords that those videos use in the title and description.
Step 3: Focus on High-Retention Videos
Always remember, when it comes to YouTube SEO, it is not just about getting clicks, you need to make sure people actually watch your video. YouTube has gone on record to state that audience retention is a significant ranking factor for videos.
The bottom line is quite simple, if your video manages to engage the user and keeps them on YouTube, then YouTube will automatically rank your video higher in the search results. Since it is in YouTube’s interest to keep users online on the platform any video that meets this goal will get a boost.
Step 4: Use your words and say it
In the latest update, YouTube introduced a cool new feature that automatically transcribes your videos so that it becomes easier for the user. What this means is that if your targeted keyword appears in the video then YouTube will automatically pick up on it.
When you actually say the keyword in the course of the video it will become easier for YouTube to understand the content and hence give a better ranking. However, you need to make the keyword appear naturally and not as though it is forced into the conversation because YouTube will pick up on that.
Step 5: Write a Good Description
One common mistake beginners make is that they feel since people are there to watch the video, no one is going to bother with reading the description. That could not be more wrong. Your video description is super important because even if people do not read it, the web crawlers over at Google and YouTube certainly read it.
A well-written video description will help search engines like YouTube and Google understand the context of your video. One helpful tip when writing the description for the video is to include the targeted keyword in the first 25 words and stick to a description of at least 250 words.
Step 6: Promote on External Sites
The driving factor behind a higher rank is the number of views on your video. There is no way of getting around it if you want YouTube to start measuring the signals for your video you need to increase the number of views and fast.
A third-party website like Quora or medium is great platforms where you can you get a high quantity of views for your YouTube videos. The logic behind promoting your videos on these sites is quite simple, you are basically posting content where people are already looking for information.
Step 7: Decide the Length of the Video
The length of the video can be a little tricky because there is no hard and fast rule about how long a video should be. However, we can follow the basic SEO rules for text content and say that the longer and more detailed the video the better.
SEO experts mention that the data from multiple YouTube ranking factors study indicate that longer videos have an edge over short videos. The length of the video should depend on the kind of video you are creating.
Conclusion:
Even with all the tips mentioned above, it is possible that your video may not get the rank you want because first of all these things take time and you need to be patient. Secondly, since SEO trends tend to change quite quickly you need to be able to change your strategy and adapt.
One of the coolest features of YouTube is the fact that you can gather incredible insights just my monitoring the stats available through analytics. The new YouTube studio allows you to keep an eye on everything, from watch time to subscribers. Even after you created, uploaded and optimized your video, you should follow the results and so that you can make the necessary changes depending on the user engagement.
