After Google, YouTube is the world’s second largest search engine. With its creative content and monetizing power, it is of no wonder that it generates an estimated 92 billion page views each month.
However, with a search engine that doesn’t work like others, just uploading a video would be of no significance.
The video has to be on the top ranks in the YouTube search for it to provide any kind of monetizing capability. Thus, we have listed a few ways you can utilize the SEO and put your videos among the top videos in the search list.
Find YouTube Keywords
Finding the right keyword is the most important aspect of YouTube SEO Rankings. It is different from search engines like Google and Bing. Perhaps the easiest way to find the keywords that are applicable to your niche is to use the search box in the YouTube home page. It shows the words typed by the consumer and can give you an idea about what words should be included. Most common keywords used in YouTube SEO starts with “How to”, “Hacks” or the product name itself.
Video Title and Tag Optimization
A good title for YouTube consists of the related keyword and a solution to the problem. Make sure the title is at least 5 words long. For example, a vanilla cake making video can be titled as “Cake Making: Learn how to bake a vanilla cake” or a simple ” How to make a vanilla cake”. YouTube SEO also provides a helpful system of tagging. It allows you to enter keywords that are relevant to your video to increase views. Not only that, a correct tag can help your video show up as a related video on the sidebar.
Encourage People to Comment, Like and Subscribe
There is a reason the majority of the YouTubers ask their fans to like, comment and subscribe. YouTube algorithm uses the subscription count as one of their ways to rank videos. Comments are another to increase your ranks. Having lots of comments shows the popularity of a video, which encourages YouTube to prioritize it. Likes can also boost one-time popularity which can draw new subscribers.
Increase the Production Value
No keywords or tags can increase the views if the video is not well made and interesting. It is essential for a content creator to produce appealing videos that can engage the audience. If one does not have the means to buy high-end pieces of equipment, basic things from an online retailer can do the job. Few things that can increase the quality of the video are a tripod for the camera stability, a mic for the clear transmission of your voice, some lights for the recording and a clear backdrop be it a wall or a sheet of cloth.
Use a Striking Thumbnail
An eye-catching thumbnail may not directly affect the algorithm system but it has a huge impact on SEO. A striking thumbnail means it can garner more attention from viewers resulting in more views and clicks. Using a thumbnail that easily attracts viewers will affect the CTR or the click-through-rate and that is a factor that is often counted by YouTube.CTR is the percent of people that click on your video among other videos of similar nature. Furthermore, many users often click on videos just based on the thumbnail, so it is important to put time and effort into choosing an appropriate one.
Use Closed Captions
Another important perk of YouTube SEO is the ability to use closed captions. These are captions meant to help people who are hard of hearing or are deaf. But they have an unexpected advantage. They are crawlable by search engines. They are also helpful for viewers who may like to watch the video with different language subtitles.
Promote on Social Media
Promoting your video on various social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, Reddit, etc is important in this age. YouTube thrives on social engagement and there is none as much as in Facebook. A video with a good description shared on Facebook can drive tons of traffic. It is the reason Facebook is a highly sought after advertising site. Twitter is also a good site to drive up your traffic. Quora and Reddit can also significantly increase the views and engagement if shared on a specific page related to the content of the video.
Use Playlists
A playlist is a good way to tell the viewers and YouTube about your official videos. It is handy and easier for the viewer to click the playlist rather than going and manually clicking on each video. Using a keyword rich playlist can easily strengthen your SEO by increasing the search traffic. It also suggests YouTube which videos can be played next and thus increasing the chances of your video being listed in the “up next” place.
Embed Your Videos
Embedding videos is another popular way to increase your youtube views. YouTube provides links that enable you to embed videos anywhere directly, be it a blog or social media like Twitter. It puts your video in front of more people and has the capability of increasing your engagement gradually. Another popular site to embed video is Quora. You can answer a question pertaining to your video and then provide the link, which can easily generate a few hundred good quality views.
Collaborations
Getting featured in another channel can also provide a decent result. But you have to careful to make sure that the niche does not directly compete with yours. Any channel with a moderate to huge viewership and that posts complementary content is great for increasing your viewership. For example, if you have a fashion blog, collaborating with a makeup focused blog can significantly increase both the viewers while not taking away any from either of you.
