Anybody who has created a YouTube marketing video can attest to the fact that it is a very involving process.
You go and put your time, money, and hopes into a YouTube Marketing Video with the hope that it will drive tons of enthusiastic visitors to your product or service website.
You enthusiastically upload the video to YouTube, only to be disappointed when people cannot find your video.
It can be heartbreaking.
Well, this article will show you how you can optimize your videos so they can easily be found by people who are interested in the products and services that you offer.
NOTE: The solutions offered here will also work for YouTube creators who aim to earn money through ads displayed on their YouTube videos.
YouTube Video SEO: How I Got Over 25,000 Subscribers on YouTube
Why YouTube SEO is a Critical Necessity for Generating Traffic from Google and YouTube Search
YouTube is the top video-sharing site in the world. According to Statista (June 2021), it was the 2nd most-visited website in the world behind Google, which was ranked in the top position.
This is the reason why it offers a huge opportunity for marketers to reach worldwide viewers and get their message out to potential customers.
When you combine YouTube SEO with Google SEO, then you exponentially increase your reach and position when people use keywords related to your industry in their search queries on either platform.
The YouTube algorithm, just like the Google algorithm ranks video according to importance and relevance.
This means that videos with a lot of visitors will rank favorably on the platform and the only way to achieve this goal is to perform excellent optimization on your videos.
Read on and see how you can create marketing videos for YouTube with a focus on SEO, thereby improving the chances of increased visibility on the platform.
#1: Carefully Develop Your YouTube Content.
Before you set your camera to start capturing video for YouTube, know that the topic of your video should be relevant to your audience.
How-To videos rank high on YouTube, but you can also research the trending topics in your niche. See what people are searching for and then create a video that addresses their needs.
Ensure that the topic you have chosen is one that people would rather watch than read on a website or blog. It would be a folly to create video content to address a need that people would rather find out through written content.
#2: Do Efficient YouTube Keyword Research
Most marketers are familiar with performing keyword research for Google search engine spiders.
They use tools that are dedicated to finding keywords for Google, but this does not apply when it comes to doing keyword research for YouTube videos.
How do you conduct keyword research for YouTube Videos?
. Write Down Your Keyword Ideas
It’s time to go old-school and break out your favorite spreadsheet app. Write down all the keywords that apply to your video.
Google Keyword Planner may come in handy too.
. Perform Thorough Competitor Analysis
As a rule of thumb, Competitor Analysis is important when you want to rank high on any search engine; the same applies to YouTube too.
Take time to research the keywords that your competition is using to rank high on YouTube searches.
If your video is about how to take care of pet dogs, then look at the top-performing videos and see which keywords they use in their titles, tags, and descriptions.
Take note of these and see how you can incorporate them in optimizing your videos.
. The “YouTube Suggest” feature is your friend
When you start typing a query on the YouTube search engine, it offers suggestions just like Google does.
These suggestions are based on the popular searches that people input and therefore offer you a clue as to which keywords you should use.
You may also add an asterisk (*) before your keyword to fine-tune the suggestions you get.
. Use Ahrefs for YouTube
Ahrefs is a powerful keyword explorer used by many to search for keywords to use for Google optimization purposes.
It can also be used for YouTube keyword research.
Simply go to the keyword explorer and choose “YouTube” as your preferred search engine. Now add your keywords to get results that will help direct your keyword research.
The above-mentioned tips are the best ways to conduct keyword research for your YouTube videos.
YouTube SEO: How to Rank Your Videos #1
#3. Create Your Video
Once you have laid out your ideas in a concrete manner and performed thorough keyword research, you can start developing your video in a manner that will be relevant to your viewers.
. Be engaging
When creating YouTube marketing videos, you must be engaging if you want to build up a substantial number of followers or subscribers.
The higher the number of viewers that you get, the better your ranking will be, so make sure that you engage your viewers so they watch the videos from start to end.
Note that engaging videos are shared more and this exponentially increases the number of people who view your video and increases your ranking.
Make sure that the video is clear and you speak clearly. It does not augur well for your videos if you keep breaking up and going off-point.
This is one reason why you should have a ready script before you start recording your video
Ensure that the video is aesthetically pleasing in terms of quality and presentation. Look at the camera so your viewers can connect with you.
One overlooked way to be engaging to your viewers is to interact with them when they make comments on your videos.
Cultivate this culture of commenting by asking viewers to post comments about the video once they have finished watching it.
If any questions arise, address them in the comments; this may also serve as a guide as to which follow-up video you can create for your audience to keep them coming back for more.
. Use keywords in your narration
Although it will not have a direct effect on how search engines rank your videos, using keywords in your narration serves to remind the viewer about the overall goal of the video.
It will bring them back whenever they need to rehash what they have learned in your video.
. Create fantastic YouTube video thumbnails
YouTube video thumbnails are the ones shown when your video is listed in the SERPs. The same is true when you embed the video on a website or share it on Social Media.
Many times, a relevant YouTube video has failed to achieve its potential because the thumbnail was badly designed.
YouTube viewers respond to visual stimulation and a video with an attractive thumbnail will prick their curiosity better than one with a badly designed one.
You should avoid creating clickbait thumbnails. These are thumbnails designed to draw in viewers but have no relation to the content of the video. Ultimately this will make viewers disbelieve your video content.
. Use closed captions and subtitles
Not everyone who consumes YouTube content can hear properly. It is common to ignore the hearing-impaired who struggle to understand what your videos are all about.
Adding subtitles and closed captions ensures that your videos cater to these viewers and will earn you a loyal following amongst them. They too have buying power and you should not ignore them.
#4: Proceed to upload your video
Once you have your video prepared and have included the above-mentioned points, it is time to upload the video to YouTube and do the most important YouTube SEO tasks.
. Create optimized video titles
In SEO, the titles you use play an important role in getting a higher ranking in search engines including YouTube.
Make sure that your titles carry important keywords concerning the content of the video. YouTube allows you to create titles that are 100 characters long, but it is good practice to keep them below 70 characters.
You should place your keyword at the start of the title. Research shows that titles that start with the keywords perform better than those that add keywords at the end.
Adding numbers to your title also helps in improving your ranking. Titles such as “10 best ways” and “Top 5 solutions” get higher rankings on the YouTube SERPs.
. Optimize the description of the video
When you upload your video, there is a section that allows you to write a description of the video. Many people simply use this part to write a summary of the video.
Write a description that has keywords related to the content of your video.
YouTube allows you to write a description of up to 5,000 characters including spaces. Exploit this section to give pertinent, keyword-rich information about the video, and how it helps viewers meet their needs.
The YouTube algorithm pays special attention to the first 2 or 3 sentences, therefore make these the most relevant with regards to keyword use.
Us the description area to add links to your website and other important backlinks that you may wish to include. These links not only include the ranking of your video but help direct viewers to your webpage where they can interact better with you.
. include hashtags (#) in your description
Although hashtags will not have a direct effect on your SERP ranking, they will help viewers to find you. When people find your videos easily, it improves viewership and engagement, which in turn increases your rankings.
Avoid using clickbait hashtags, which have no relationship to the content in your video. This may lead to penalization of your videos and have them banned from the search engines altogether.
. Add keywords to the file name
Here is a secret tip that many people are not aware of.
When you add keywords to the file name of your video, it will rank better on the YouTube SERPs. The algorithms can sniff out the file name that you use for keywords and rank you accordingly.
Oh yes, make sure that you use this tip religiously if you want to et the upper hand over your competition.
For example, a file name that reads as “make-astounding-Sarees-at-home.mp4” will rank better than one with a file name that simply states “145bnvscdteysw324.mp4”.
#5 Optimize your YouTube channel
Optimizing your YouTube videos does not simply end when you have uploaded the video and optimized it, you should optimize your channel as well.
. Optimize the channel title.
Add keywords that are specific to the content of your videos in the channel title. YouTube allows you to create various channels so make sure that each of them deals with related videos.
Additionally, narrowing your channel niche helps you rank better than your competitors.
If you simply add “Indian Recipes” as your channel title, your videos may not rank as well as those labeled “Indian Biriyani Recipes”.
Make sure that you pay attention to such title details especially when you are dealing with highly competitive keywords.
. Optimize the channel playlists
If you have videos covering a wide range of topics on your YouTube channel, you should group them inside appropriate playlists.
Don’t just populate your channel haphazardly with videos without placing them in the appropriate playlists.
If you have a YouTube channel covering “Top Marketing Strategies”, you should have different playlists for topics such as SEO, ASO, Email Marketing, SMM, and SEM.
Crucial tip: You should also do keyword research when it comes to creating and labeling your playlists.
Note that viewers who are looking for tutorials or courses will most likely click on a playlist, rather than scan your YouTube home page for scattered videos.
#6 Make use of the “Key Moments” feature
The “key moments” feature is a recent addition to the platform that allows people to see the key moments of your video, even before they watch it.
The key moments are also used by YouTube’s algorithms to rank videos.
Both YouTube and Google have been very efficient when it comes to reading keywords, images, and audio, but they have had a challenge when it comes to properly linking the content of a video with search queries.
In the past, typing a search for a certain keyword would have brought videos that are not related to the keyword, perhaps because of the use of clickbait keywords.
If you have two videos that are exactly the same, but one does not have key moments included, the one with this feature added to it will rank higher.
Key moments help YouTube to present pertinent information to viewers, especially when the video is quite long.
Imagine watching a video for 30 minutes and then realizing it has nothing good to offer you. This can be quite frustrating, right?
Although Google and YouTube can discern some of the key moments of your video, you can improve your rankings by using the “Timestamps” feature, which accurately pinpoints the key content moments of your video.
If you look at videos on YouTube, you will see this feature enabled below the video, which shows all the key moments of the video.
It also helps you watch the moments that are directly related to your search query so you do not have to watch the full video.
For example, if a video covers various topics on how to fix a car engine, and you only want to see content related to fixing the carburetor, the resulting videos will be clipped to the content related to that query, so you don’t have to watch content about fixing the radiator.
In that context, you should use the time stamp to highlight sections of your video which show different critical issues that you are addressing.
NOTE: Key Moments can also be included in the description of your video as links.
You may have seen descriptions that have lines showing the time that a particular topic is addressed. This is what you should have when you use the timestamp feature.
For YouTube creators who want to earn money from advertisements, YouTube will place relevant ads at particular timestamps that relate to certain products.
Using the example above, ads related to suppliers of carburetor spare parts may be placed at the timestamp that you have marked as addressing repairing the carburetor.
So how do you enable the key moments feature in your videos?
To enable the key moments feature in your videos, include the Clip Structured Data to mark the crucial segments of your video.
For a better user experience and coverage, register for key moments to be included in Google searches for keywords relating to the content of your video.
Rules governing Key Moments inclusion
- The videos should be marked for “Public” viewership.
- The videos must be available for people without the need to log in to YouTube or Google.
- The clip structured data must point viewers to a page where they can watch the video. Do not place links that go to other pages.
- The video must be more than 30 seconds long.
- No two video clips of the same video on the same page should have the same start time when it comes to time stamps.
- The deep link should be at a time other than the start point of the video. This is ideally after the first 30 seconds. For example, “http://www.example-enginerepair.com/carburator-repair?t=45”. This means that the carburetor repair clip starts at 45 seconds into the video.
- The video data should have a VideoObject structure.
#7 Follow Up on Your Videos Performance and reach
There are certain functions that you must perform if you want your videos to have a greater reach on the web.
. Follow the statistics of your video
You must keep abreast of the performance of your video.
Keep a close eye on the analytics provided in your videos, to see how many subscribers you have, the number of vies, and other statistics that show you how your video is performing.
These will help you refine your next videos for better performance.
. Share your video on social media
The use of social media is key to driving traffic to your YouTube videos.
Make sure that you know where and when to share the video on social media.
Share the video on relevant group pages as well as your company page.
Carefully choose the social media platform where you will share your content. For example, if your viewers are corporate individuals, then LinkedIn is the best place to share your video.
. Embed videos on websites and blog posts
Some visitors might arrive at your website without going through the YouTube videos. Embedding the videos on blog posts relating to the content of the video will increase engagement with your products.
Using the example for car engine repair, if you have a blog post covering some of the topics mentioned in the video, you may embed the video on this blog post so readers can view the video which may have pertinent information which you have not written down in the post.
Takeaway
YouTube Search is a powerful search engine and can serve as a tool to prole your business further.
There are so many viewers on YouTube and conducting effective YouTube Search Engine Optimization techniques will give you an edge over your competition.
There are no automatic YouTube video SEO tools and you will have to do the hard work when it comes to optimizing your videos, but the results will be worth the effort.
Honestly, the main challenge to getting ranked well in YouTube searches is user engagement. YouTube will reward you when you put a lot of effort into optimizing your videos to give users a smooth and enjoyable watching experience. That is why the platform was created, right?
So, make sure you follow the above laid out procedures and et your videos ranked high on YouTube SERPs, and watch your brand grow in leaps and strides.