YouTube has always been a place for us to chill online and watch everything and anything, be it random funny videos at 3 AM or how to measure distance by time for school. 

YouTube has also been an outlet to earn money online while making videos, and it is a thriving place to achieve as a side hustle job. Still, YouTube also needs specific requirements for your videos to trend and reach the right people searching for that particular content. This is where Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) comes into play; here’s a brief guide to implementing SEO in your videos to gain more views and become a YouTube Plaque holder. 

YouTube SEO Meaning

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) optimises our website with the most searched keywords and relevant content to rank under google as a legitimate website. However, Google isn’t the only search engine; YouTube is a search engine in itself. YouTube has its search mechanism, rules and keywords. While Google SEO relies on relevant content and searches history, YouTube consists of search intent. YouTube works on instructional search intent, showing the fastest or most effortless way to buy an item rather than similar places to purchase an item. Therefore, appealing to the platform and people are the easiest ways to rank your videos on YouTube. 

How to rank your youtube video using SEO?

Appeal To YouTube 

Since you are starting your own YouTube channel, you must first consider all the rules and optimisation tactics required for YouTube and follow the below steps to create an appeal to YouTube by fulfilling all the categories. 

  • Video Keyword Research for youtube SEO

To start uploading videos, you need to have your YouTube channel, and before uploading any video, there are categories for tags, description, title etc. These are the areas where keywords lure your audience. YouTube search engine focuses closely on “How To” queries, so build your Video titles around instructional formats. 

Before filling out categories, research for keywords you could use in the description; you could search potential keywords through YouTube suggested videos or Google Keyword Planner.

Look for the number of videos filmed on the same topic, look into the keywords of the most popular video for more ideas, and make your video as accessible as possible. Your own YouTube channel’s traffic analytics shows the users’ keywords to find your videos, so make sure to check your analytics regularly. 

  • Short Tail vs Long Tail Keywords for youtube SEO

Keywords are subject to competition as everyone would make videos on a particular topic like “DIY gifts at home”. This is a long-tail keyword but probably has less competition than “DIY gifts”. So choose the most used keyword and narrow it down to your niche or generic word which you as a YouTube subscriber would search for, like “DIY gifts for Mother’s day” or “DIY Gifts for beginners”. 

  • Video Title Optimisation for youtube SEO

We use focus keywords in articles for google ranking and must do the same for YouTube. Make sure the title is at least five words long and has the focus phrase present at the beginning of the title. For example, “Ziplining Tutorial For Beginners” where people search for tutorials the most, so there’s a higher chance of your video turning up. Clickbait titles can cause penalties, but if they have a fraction of the said title content, it’s fair to use them.

  • Video Description for youtube SEO

Youtube needs to understand the content of your video to display it under ‘Suggestions’, so adding a description would increase your chances. Like Google bots, they recognise images only when there’s alt text. Similarly, YouTube needs an explanation about the video to rank and understand better. If you have started with long-tail keywords for your titles, it’s a slow process to rank but better for the long run as it will help the description title. 

  • Tags for your Video

Every social media platform has its hashtag process, which helps segregate content into different categories, and YouTube uses it. Tags are essential everywhere as they can lead customers indirectly through their search and add related tags to your videos as it does a complete search set through title and description. 

  • Video Transcript 

The best tip for YouTube SEO is transcribing your video as Google can crawl through the text for SEO keywords. Transcription is to add text to the video, and this can be present on the screen and in the comment section. SEO transcription is the easiest way for you to add keywords that can easily stand for ranking and help people with hearing disabilities. You can also time stamps so people can jump to their needed point and provide views for your video. 

Appeal to the Audience 

These are all the factors that the audience needs to watch a video with good content, which can also help you rank under good SEO videos. 

  • Catchy Thumbnail 

Above is an example of a good thumbnail as it explains the content in the title and keeps it apt to the point. The timestamp specifies the time you would spend on the video, and the content is SEO compliant. YouTube Studio also provides thumbnail creations; the only requirement is to create the thumbnail related to the content. Check out your competitor’s thumbnails and make sure it’s different from their style or format so that people can look for something different. 

  • Production Value 

The essential requirement to shoot a YouTube video is a device with a good camera and a tripod. A tripod maintains the balance of the video and quality by staying still, and people do not appreciate constant shaking or nasty quality videos. So make sure you step up your production value, you do not need a DSLR camera for the shoot, but it should have a decent quality of at least 380p. 

  • Video Length 

Text-based videos have more chances of being ranked due to their length, as longer videos rank better due to more content and keywords. When you search for an elaborate term or a movie, the clips with a longer duration pop up first, so don’t worry about the length and constantly check your progress through channel analytics. 

  • High Retention Video

These videos are easy to make as they only require good informative content. Retention is retaining the audience views and having them visit your page for more videos and lessen the bounce rate. These can be through revealing surprises at the end of the video or asking audiences to stay tuned for future videos. Build links at the end of the videos to direct your audience to your channel, and attach links in comment sections as internal linking is vital for more retention.

  • Engagement content for ranking

Subscribers are why one would want to start a YouTube channel and earn money when enough subscribers watch their videos and engage with them. YouTube is a platform for hosting your content and getting paid through subscribers, likes, and comments. So make sure to constantly remind your audience to like, share and subscribe to your channel. 

  • Promotion of your video

Every new product needs marketing, and once you start your YouTube channel, it’s your chance to promote it through social media channels. You can enable it on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram through swipe links with quirky captions for click through rates. You can also update your cover pages and bios with this link, pulling your non-subscribers to watch your videos without notifications. 

  • Create a Playlist of your videos

Always keep your content organised, with the theme, title font, duration etc. Playlists will help people look for similar content in your channel and continuously scroll through them as playlists make it easier for people to search for content on a single track. 

Summary 

We’ve heard of the saying, ‘Content is King’. This is true as no number of SEO hacks can save your channel if the content isn’t good to search worthy. So constantly improve your content by checking your channels’ analytics and engagement report and optimise your video by adding SEO keywords in your title, tags and descriptions for more views. 

If this blog has urged you to start your own YouTube channel, Like, share, and comment on your ideas for fresh content!

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