When was the last time you watched a video on YouTube? Not more than an hour or a day ago, most likely. You almost probably have a YouTube channel if you make videos. If your SEO and Content Strategy for 2022 is entirely focused on Google, you will be missing out on a significant chunk of your audience. Year after year, the value of YouTube SEO Companies, the world’s second largest search engine, has expanded. The platform now has 230 million active users and accounts for 25% of all global mobile traffic. Users are rapidly flocking to YouTube to watch instructional videos, enjoy themselves, and stay up to date on current events. With greater popularity, though, comes increased competition.
By drawing more views and engagement, YouTube SEO can help your organization stand out from the crowd. At its core, YouTube video SEO follows the same principles as Google SEO: you must optimize for the ranking factors of the algorithm. Understanding these YouTube ranking criteria and developing the best approach for ranking high on YouTube search will help your company’s channel reach a wider audience on this platform.
1. Optimize for relevant keywords that will show up in YouTube searches.
Keyword research is the bedrock of SEO, and YouTube SEO is no different. Keywords can reflect the level of interest in a particular problem, which can aid in the development of a customized content strategy. There are a number of tools available to help you determine the best keyword blend for your films. Using an SEO keyword research tool like as Ahrefs or SEMrush, you may conduct keyword research for the YouTube search engine.
If you don’t want to use a YouTube keyword research tool, you can type a topic into the YouTube search bar and note the suggested searches, which are frequently searched terms. As with Google SEO, you must limit your terms based on search volume and difficulty. If you’re a new channel, targeting keywords with a search volume of 40,000, for example, may not provide results. Surprisingly, most beginners do this instead of focusing on low-competition long-tail keywords and phrases. You’ll be astonished at how much traffic you’ll get by ranking #1 for these keywords. Strike a balance between high search volume and low difficulty when selecting keywords for video optimization.
2. Recognize when and where to use keywords on your YouTube video page.
You’ll need to know where to use your target keywords for video optimization once you’ve limited your selection down. Keywords can be added to your YouTube videos.
- The video’s title
- A video description
- Tags
Think of the video description as a blog post. The main term must appear in the video title. While your title should be optimized, it should also stand out and catch the viewer’s attention. This will increase your click-through rate and, consequently, your YouTube ranking.
- Because the video description might have up to 5000 characters, it must be well-written and optimized.
- In the description, the main keyword should be repeated 2-3 times, and the other keywords should be added 1-2 times.
- The first 125 characters of your description will appear beneath your video, so prioritize the most important information.
Tags are another great way to optimize your video. You may include as many tags as you like, but they must be 400 characters or less. In addition to keywords, you may use tags that your competitors use. YouTube video SEO tools like vidIQ recommend competitor tags that you may apply in your own video.
3. Extend the time consumers spend watching your videos.
The longer your videos are watched, the better, because YouTube will highlight videos with long watch periods in search and recommended videos.
Content is at the heart of SEO, and YouTube video SEO is no exception. Unless your script is entertaining and instructional, users will abandon your movie after the first few seconds. Fortunately, research has shown that high-quality production value does not always imply excellent content. Even if you record videos on your phone, viewers will dismiss it if you provide high-quality content. According to one study, customers can lose interest in a video in as little as 10 seconds. This means that your film’s first 10 – 15 seconds must be incredibly engaging, so take your time. One method is to incorporate the benefits from the beginning.
4. Experiment with longer videos.
YouTube promotes long-form blog postings in the same way that Google favors long-form blog articles (over 12 minutes long). One reason for this is that longer videos are regarded to be more instructional, and YouTube strives to provide its users with the highest quality videos. Long videos can help increase your channel’s overall watch time. The watch time is the total number of minutes spent watching your videos. Viewers will naturally devote more time to longer films. Long movies might thus enable you watch more films in less time.
This is not, however, a hard and fast rule. The appropriate video duration is decided by the subject matter and your intended audience.
The best YouTube content strategy is to experiment with various video lengths before settling on one that looks to create the most views and engagement.
5. Customize your thumbnails
How can you stand out from the crowd of videos ranking for a particular keyword? Of course, the title is vital, but your thumbnail is even more so. Humans are visual creatures, and our attention is pulled to visual elements on a page first. Most of us look at the thumbnail of a video before reading the title. As a result, you cannot use a pre-set screen capture for your thumbnail; it must be custom-designed.
A simplified version of your title or a main feature covered in the film should be included in the thumbnail. Of course, this does not mean that the thumbnail should be text-heavy, but consumers should be able to tell what the movie is about based just on the image. The images that accompany the text should likewise be suited to your target audience. If your films are aimed at young people, for example, use bright colors; if they are directed at professionals, use a more serious palette.
Read More: click
