YouTube has more than 3 billion searches monthly and is isn’t a popular platform or social networking, but widely known as the internet’s second largest search engine. Every single minute, an average of five hundred hours of video is uploaded!
There are 2 billion current active users on YouTube per month who watch over 1 billion hours of video content everyday. YouTube videos are individually identifiable, searchable, or able to be organized and catalogued.
It’s important to note that the YouTube algorithm isn’t always rewarding the most interesting content or videos. For example, if you’re publishing content that’s similar to what other creators have already posted before, your video might be buried in the search results.
That doesn’t mean that it’s in a marketer’s best interest to have an “if we build it, they will come” mentality on YouTube. Content creators and marketers who publish video to YouTube sometimes assume that the most interesting content is naturally selected by the algorithm and pushed to the front page, to be rewarded with millions of views by some combination of timing, luck, and merit.
However, given the huge volume of content available on YouTube, it’s more beneficial for our purposes to think of YouTube as the world’s largest video library archive. The key to gaining more views on YouTube videos isn’t to be unique or bold enough to stand out from the crowd.
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YouTube is a search engine
Does this sound a lot like the SEO strategies that help websites rank higher on Google? That’s because it’s the case. Because YouTube is a video search engine, videos can be optimised to perform better by making them easier to find.
This article will explain how YouTube tags, catalogues, and suggests videos to its users, as well as how you may leverage those capabilities to help you set up your video for success. Of course, this assumes that increasing the number of views on your videos is part of your overall goal.
Many people use YouTube as a quick hosting platform for their video to embed on their own websites and social media feeds, and getting YouTube viewers isn’t a priority for them. That is an entirely legal manner of using the platform. We’ll look at ways to enhance video content to attract new viewers and broaden your audience, as well as the technical steps necessary to do so.
Work backwards from the audience you wish to reach.
To get more views on your YouTube videos, start by making it simple for those who are already interested to find you. You can only accomplish this effectively if you know who those people are and why they would be fascinated in seeing what you share. Working backwards from there, you can tag your video as likely to be relevant to them.
The advantage of publishing to mega-networks like YouTube is that you don’t have to build an audience from scratch. However, given the vast volume of video content available, waiting for people to stumble across your content by chance is unlikely to result in more than a few views and a little return on your effort.
You must structure your content and publishing around the exact individuals you want to watch it and the marketing results you want to achieve for your video content to be worth the expense and effort of producing it.
If you’re just starting with audience targeting and content planning, check out TubeBuddy. With those fundamental goals in mind, you can work backwards to figure out what metrics you’ll need to track to evaluate your success and how you’ll arrange your stuff to get there.
A refresher on YouTube analytics
In a nutshell, they are the statistics on your video that tell you whether your video marketing strategy is working or not. They are as follows:
Watch time: This KPI counts the number of minutes a viewer spends watching your content. YouTube prioritises content and channels with longer watch times in its recommendations and search results. A low average watch time may indicate that your viewers are becoming bored, or that your video is too long to keep their attention.
Retention rate: This is the proportion of audience members who stay to watch the film till the end as opposed to those who depart before the end. YouTube favours videos with high retention rates, deeming them quite likely to be significant and recommending them to more viewers.
Engagement: This refers to actions that viewers perform in addition to watching the video, such as leaving a remark, liking it, sharing it, subscribing to it, or bookmarking it for later. Engagement is frequently the most crucial measure for marketers to track since it indicates how many people are interested enough in your content to take more action. Comments can provide a detailed picture of how your content affects users. Shares are important for establishing a following since they reflect how much viewers appreciate your video and your identity. Likes and dislikes can help you evaluate which content worked and which did not, and it also tells YouTube which content is likely to be of good quality when promoting videos in viewers’ feeds.
Thumbnails: The thumbnail is a small image of your video that appears beside the title on a results page or link. It gives the audience a preview of the content you’re sharing, allowing them to decide whether or not to watch it. A well-crafted thumbnail is simple to create and can have a significant impact on how many visitors opt to click and watch your video.
Title keywords: The keywords you select in the title of your video inform YouTube what’s in it and guide visitors to your content when they search for comparable terms or phrases.
Re-watches: This indicator counts the number of times users watch specific parts of your video again. If your video has a high re-watch rate, viewers are likely interested and invested in the issues you’re presenting and may want to learn more. This might be valuable for planning and preparing future material.
Demographics: These statistics account for the many categories of viewers who are watching your video, which are categorized by gender, age, and location.
It is critical to understand what these YouTube metrics are intended to measure. They all contribute in your video rankings on both YouTube and Google, so it’s a good idea to follow some fundamental best practises to keep these metrics in check, as we’ll go over below. However, it is critical to keep your eye on the big picture and not get caught up in the numbers. Good metrics should be utilised as indicators of progress rather than as the objective in and of themselves.
How Google ranks YouTube videos
YouTube views do not originate exclusively from users who are already logged in to YouTube. Google is also a significant driver of your YouTube videos. In order to include your video in search results, Google must first comprehend its content. YouTube content is ranked by Google in the following ways:
- Crawling the video and generating a preview and thumbnail for the user to view.
- Extracting meta tags and page texts from your video descriptions to provide more information to the user about the video’s content.
- To evaluate relevance, analyze the video sitemap or structured data.
- Audio is being extracted in order to detect more keywords.
Keywords are derived not just from the text related to your video in the descriptions and tags, but also from the audio itself. This is why inserting relevant keywords in your video script will help increase the video’s Google ranks.
The importance of keyword relevancy over volume
This prompts the question: what are the “correct” terms, then? A key question may be: what distinguishes a good keyword from a weak one? Let’s go back to the “YouTube is like a massive library archive” comparison for a bit. If merely making a noise and being noticed were important, the optimal keywords would be those with the highest search traffic in trying to entice the most visitors.
However, as previously said, YouTube is too overcrowded a platform to rely on viral propagation. When it comes to indexing and ranking videos, search engines don’t actually think in terms of “best and worst.” Search engines are developed to determine “what video is optimal for this specific viewer, in this specific instance?” It’s not a matter of quantity or popularity. That is a matter of relevance.
It is rarely a successful marketing strategy to just seek for a large number of viewers, irrespective of who they are. Most campaigns would benefit from a smaller core of engaged fans rather than millions of tepid inactive visitors.
If you devote all of your attention to optimising your content for Google bots, you can expect high volume and low interaction. If you want to cultivate a significant fan base, you must create content for the people who will watch it, not simply the search engines that will rank it.
Audience definition and their needs
If you’d like to know what to say to someone, you must first understand who you are attempting to reach with your YouTube video. By first specifying your target audience, you can make the SEO optimization process more goal-oriented and targeted.
The motivation behind their video searches might help you discover and define your target demographic. Among the most popular motivations are:
I’m curious and want to know: The user is interested in learning more about a specific issue that they’ve already identified. Tutorial videos, how-to videos, and explainer videos are likely to pique their attention.
I would like to do that: The viewer has a certain task in mind, such as arranging a trip or discovering a new pastime. They may watch videos inspirationally or proactively, such as vlogs for inspiration or trip guides for practical advice.
I want to buy: The potential viewer is looking for information regarding a particular product they wish to buy, such as reviews or comparisons. They might check for unboxing videos, influencer reviews, or product demos.
Understanding your audience, their pain problems, and their purchasing drivers is critical for determining which keywords will assist direct those visitors to your YouTube videos. Because keywords are the language viewers use to ask a search engine for specific information, we frequently begin with viewer intent and develop from there.
Make a list of terms or phrases that a viewer could use to express what they want to see in your video. Consider both the main topic (such as “dogs,” “makeup,” or “golf swing”) and the format/genre (such as “tutorial,” “vlog,” “Let’s Play,” or “reacts”).
List the related verbs, such as “purchase,” “play,” “learn,” “explain,” and “explore.” You’ll have a reference point for your targeted keywords if you create a word cloud like this.
Start your keyword research by using an autocomplete tool or exploring competitors.
The simplest approach to begin keyword research is to experiment with a keyword tool (TubeBuddy provides free Keyword Explorer) or the search function on YouTube and Google.
Testing different searches your audience can provide you an insight into what your target audience is already looking for and the precise words or phrases it uses when they talk of it online.
Type in your search box one of your possible keywords. YouTube will suggest the popular searches associated with this, as you write – this is an autocomplete feature.
This exercise, which runs the first letter of the following word in your research phrase, is also the appropriate spot to utilise the Ubersuggest tool.
Gauging YouTube keyword search volume
It is also good to know which words individuals are most often searching for. You can compare prospective keywords in your list by using the free Google Trends application “YouTube search” feature to discover which ones are higher and occur in more sears. Be aware that the higher volume of search usually also suggests that the word or phrase is more competition.
You may also keep tabs of your competition’ keywords in order to compare them to those on your list. Find channels that have several thousand subscribers in your niche and sort the content with the “Most popular” option.
Take a note of keywords used in the name, tags and description of the video with the highest views. You may see whether keywords are already very competitive on your market or indicate shortcomings where content can be provided.
Attaching keywords to your videos
It is now time to make them work after you identify a list of high-value keywords. Here are the areas you can add keywords when your YouTube video is first posted:
Video file name: Before you upload the video even, SEO optimization begins.. Include keywords prominently in the video file name.
Video title: The title must be simple and strong. Think what you’d like to click on. Minimize video titles longer than 70 letters, as the results page and thumbnails of the search engine are cropped off. When you can, try to incorporate the keyword at the start of the title.
Description: Many content providers err in writing simply a few phrases in their video description. The more words you have described, the better. YouTube allows for video description up to 5,000 characters, so make sure you use this property. Include keywords, video content, an attractive hook and a special call to action.
Transcript: A video transcript is another opportunity and include keywords, since the platform’s ranking algorithm delivers extra text.
Tags: Include the keywords, the brand or channel name and the precise keyword phrases when marking your video. Maintain all tags below 127 characters. Nobody loves a bait and switch and an excessively wide array of subjects on your tags will show YouTube that your film is not very relevant.
Try audio keywords to get more traction
The video itself is a unique technique to add extra keywords in your video. You can use audio keywords because Google and YouTube no longer need a transcript to understand what you say. Try to keep your viewer engagement levels constantly in the first two lines you speak in the video.
Bottom line: give priority to volume relevance and start viewing and work backwards
You know that a search engine like Google or YouTube does not have a concept of “Best” when you take nothing away from this tutorial. It cannot assess a video according to its value and does not classify particular videos as more or less deserving of vision. Only the audience may make such valuables. A search engine can only determine the relevancy of the keywords that are provided by users when performing a search and only use the keywords we give them.
Only when analyzing the actions the user does, does the search engine know if it delivered the proper video for the right search. If you provide you lots of keywords to analyse in Youtube and Google, you will return your movie in further searches by completing your description, tags, titles and transcripts. If, after watching the visitor leaves comments, or subscribes to your channel, the video was highly relevant, and you get more searches back. YouTube algorithm. The relation between cause and effect, not a mystical process, is relatively obvious.
Explore some of the free SEO tools that TubeBuddy makes available, and see what you turn up. The improvement of your performance in YouTube requires a small amount of effort, forethought and consistency.