In 2023, the video format has lost none of its power and is still one of the best things to implement in your marketing strategy. As of now, YouTube is the second most visited website in the world, behind Google, which owns the platform. And since YouTube is a search engine, videos require the same optimization as regular websites.
What's more, video optimization not only results in a much higher ranking on YouTube, but also significantly increases the chances of appearing in Google search results and increases traffic.
If you haven't set up YouTube yet, you can check out our post on how to create a YouTube channel.
So if you want to know more about optimizing YouTube to increase your brand visibility, read on.
Content
Step 1: Do some YouTube keyword research
Step 2: Optimize video metadata
Step 3: Improve user retention and engagement
Step 4: Promote your videos
Step 5: Arm yourself with powerful YouTube SEO tools
Step 1: Do some YouTube keyword research
When it comes to marketing, you should be smarter, not tougher.
1. Find related keywords
As with many things in SEO, video optimization starts with thorough keyword research. In this step, you need to find the most relevant keywords for your niche and the keywords that users usually use when searching for a product or service similar to yours.
One of the most reliable tools for this activity is Google Keyword Planner. This tool will give you lots of variations of keywords along with their competitiveness based on the default terms you enter.
2. Analyze search trends
Another way to add powerful target phrases to your keyword list and get an idea of search trends in your industry is to use YouTube's autocomplete feature. This method is extremely useful because it allows you to collect keywords that people actually type into YouTube.
You can also go to the most popular videos that are similar to yours and copy the keywords they are optimized for. What's more, you can collect tons of ideas for future videos with YouTube's autocomplete feature.
Google Trends is also a great tool for analyzing search trends and comparing keywords by popularity. For this tool to give you YouTube-specific data, just switch from Web Search to YouTube Search.
In addition to letting you understand what's currently trending in your industry, this tool shows you how monthly searches change over time and estimates the popularity of keywords in a certain geographic area. Google Trends is also very useful when you create a list of keywords and want to compare them against each other in terms of popularity.
3. Collect keywords for videos
I'm sure you'll notice quite often that YouTube videos appear among the Google results pages for specific keywords. In fact, about 20-40% of YouTube traffic will be generated from organic search. This is why collecting and optimizing videos for such keywords can significantly increase their chances of competing for a place in Google's organic search results.
The best way to collect such terms is to enter your target keywords into Rank Tracker and see if the results pages contain any videos - this way you can uncover keywords that are more likely to bring up video in organic search results.
Step 2: Optimize video metadata
Like it or not, since Google and YouTube implemented machine learning for object recognition, YouTube can now identify objects in your video while estimating its relevance to a specific search query. Basically, video metadata has lost a bit of its power, which doesn't mean it shouldn't be optimized.
In fact, it's the most important thing for us because it's exactly what users consider when deciding whether or not to click on your video. What's more, we recommend uploading a video with already optimized metadata no later than 48 hours after publication, otherwise the algorithm will mark it as unworthy.
Here's how you can optimize your video metadata to satisfy both searchers and YouTube.
1. Create a keyword rich headline
I think it's no surprise that a video title is the very first and sometimes only thing that searchers look at when estimating the relevance of a video. The perfect title should include the keywords you want to rank for as well as summarize the topic of your video. Try to get attention, but don't make false promises or overdo it (don't click on purpose). It's also a good idea to look at your competitors' video titles for inspiration.
Videos with exact match keywords tend to rank much better. The explanation is quite simple - users see exactly what they entered in the search box, and therefore such videos seem more relevant.
Additionally, your titles should not exceed the 60 character limit or they will simply be truncated.
2. Optimize the description
Although video descriptions can be up to 1,000 characters long, the first 100 characters (2-3 lines of text) are the most important because this is the amount of text users will see before they have to click "Show More." That's why it's important to place your target keywords, calls-to-action, and social media account links closer to the beginning.
Another option is to include a transcript in the description. However, I wouldn't recommend relying entirely on YouTube's automatic transcriptions. Make sure you proofread them properly, or consider using a transcription service like TranscribeMe to do all the work for you.
3. Create your own thumbnail
The thumbnail is the very first thing that enters the brain of searchers, because visual information is perceived much faster than textual information. And quite often, people judge a book by its cover and decide to watch or ignore your video based on the quality, informational value, and aesthetic appeal of your thumbnail. This is why I wouldn't recommend choosing from the selection of thumbnails that YouTube automatically generates - think about creating your own.
To make your thumbnail look equally good on all devices, first make sure it meets the technical requirements below:
1280 × 720 pixels
16:9 ratio
< 2MB
.jpg, .gif, .bmp or .png format.
Of course, your thumbnail should be eye-catching to compel the searcher to click on your video. It's also a good idea to add some text to the thumbnail to make it more informative.
4. Add video tags
Optimizing video tags helps searchers discover your videos – they even appear as “keywords” in your source code. The best way to get an idea of what tags to add to your videos is to see what your competitors are using - just install TubeBuddy and the tool will show you the exact tags your video is optimized for.
When you get to the optimization itself, it's better to start with longer and more specific tags (like "how to trainput"). And don't forget to include the people in your video as well as your brand name in the tags.
5. Add hashtags
Using hashtags is another way to increase the searchability of your videos. Just add them to the video description and they will appear above the video title. Since hashtags have recently been added to the platform, some of your older videos may not be optimized with them - so be sure to check them out and fix that. It's also important that the hashtags you add reflect the content that users expected to see when they typed or clicked on the hashtag. It's also important to note that YouTube limits the number of hashtags to 15 per video, so don't overuse them.
Step 3: Improve user retention and engagement
As watch time and audience retention have become key ranking signals, YouTube rewards videos that keep people engaged for longer because they better meet content quality criteria. In addition, some engagement indicators such as comments are also highly correlated with YouTube ratings. Here's how you can increase watch time, user retention and engagement with your videos.
1. Optimize for watch time
The best way to get started with watch time optimization is to analyze watch time reports, which can provide you with invaluable insights into average watch time, average view percentage, and audience retention. These metrics help you understand how your audience is engaged and reveal weak points in your strategy.
If you notice that viewers aren't getting past your intro, it might be too long. If that's the case, try to cut out all the unnecessary context and get straight to the point.
To increase your total channel traffic, consider promoting your other videos directly in the video or description. It's also a good idea to combine videos that cover similar topics into one playlist - they'll play automatically every time someone watches a video in the series.
2. Encourage engagement
Like watch time, likes, subscriptions, and comments have a very strong correlation with ratings. The first step to encouraging viewers to interact with your videos is to identify areas for improvement. And there's no better way to do this than with YouTube Analytics - it lets you see exactly which videos lead to subscriptions and unsubscribes, as well as where specific video content is most popular.
To encourage your viewers to comment, ask them a direct question at the end of the video. And of course, answer them to spark further discussion and make your audience feel heard.
Another strategy that is gaining popularity, especially among bloggers, is running contests that require viewers to like, subscribe, and comment on a video. Of course, many of them will unsubscribe immediately after the reveal, but a large number of new subscribers can significantly increase the rating of your video.
3. Improve your channel
One of the best ways to enhance your channel and add interactivity to your videos is to implement cards. There can be 6 different types depending on what you are willing to promote: channel, link, poll, video or playlist, and gift cards.
Since 85% of Facebook videos are viewed with the volume turned off, adding captions and closed captions has become more of a necessity than a nice-to-have. In addition, this is a very good opportunity to make your videos understandable for hearing-impaired viewers or people who speak another language, consider implementing subtitles and closed captions.
And last but not least, the important thing I want to point out is the quality of your videos. The fact is that HD videos are much more appreciated by both viewers and YouTube - 68.2% of videos on the first page of YouTube are in HD. Don't forget to switch to HD video format if you haven't already.
Step 4: Promote your videos
Although keyword research, metadata optimization and improving user retention are very important activities, they will hardly bring you any profit if your video is not seen anywhere. Here's how you can promote your videos and get more views.
Of course, the first thing that comes to mind when we think about content promotion is social media. And indeed, it's a very good place to start promoting your videos. In 2018, 500 million people watched video on Facebook every day. When it comes to Twitter, video tweets are retweeted 6x more often than photo ones.
This makes social media still a very powerful platform for promoting video. And if you want to track what kind of buzz your videos are getting, consider using a social media monitoring tool like Awario, Mention, or Brandwatch. By setting up alerts in Awario, you can track and analyze your social media presence, as well as gain valuable insight into your competitors' video promotion strategies.
Another video promotion strategy that has proven to be effective is embedding videos in blog posts. This way you can earn some links and also fight for organic search results. Videos + content is a win-win.
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The best places to promote your videos are where people are actively looking for answers. So think about putting your videos on Q&A sites like Quora. Find a question that you think your video will cover and place it at the end of your answer. However, I must also warn you that Quora is great at spotting spammers - so be careful and try to help the Quora community first and foremost.
Additionally, consider adding your videos to topically relevant forums or blogs in response to someone's question in the comments.
Another way to get more eyes on your videos to those most likely to watch and like them is to join them in your newsletter. The thing is, such people are already your paying customers and are more likely to at least click on your video link. For example, if you want to inform them about an upcoming sale, you can add a video about how to use your product or why it's better than your competitors'.
Step 5: Arm yourself with powerful YouTube SEO tools
Of course, with powerful YouTube SEO tools at your side, many time-consuming tasks can be done almost instantly. Here is a selection of the best YouTube SEO tools for you to try.
1. YouTube Analytics
YouTube Analytics: Best for overall YouTube channel performance analysis.
Of course, it's only right to start this graph with YouTube Analytics. This tool is irreplaceable when it comes to understanding your audience and how they interact with your videos. It's also worth mentioning that YouTube recently switched from "Creator Studio" to a simpler and more intuitive one