YouTube SEO: A Simple Guide

Hello guys, Welcome to read this YouTube SEO article. Everyone Knows that Google is the Largest Search engine In the World. Which means Most of the people in the world search their queries on Google. Do you guys have any idea what is the second largest search engine in the world? yes, that’s YouTube!!!.

According to Merchdope, Almost 5 billion videos are being watched on YouTube every single day. That’s right.

Now we’re going to look at how to do YouTube SEO for a YouTube channel, steps involved in it. Applying certain tactics and techniques to make your videos rank well in the YouTube, grow subscribers list and increase watch time for your videos. This YouTube SEO guide is very useful for those who are in the beginning stage of a YouTube channel.

The lists of content on this YouTube SEO guide are:

  1. What is YouTube SEO?
  2. Keyword Research
  3. Video name and Image name optimization
  4. Optimize your video Titles and Tags
  5. Use Eye-catching Thumbnail
  6. Add Subtitles ( Close captions)
  7. Use Optimal Video Length
  8. Create Playlists
  9. Encourage the Viewers to Subscribe
  10. Optimize existing Videos
  11. Best Keyword Research Tools
  12. Share Videos on Social Media

1. What is YouTube SEO?

Like Google, YouTube has its own ranking algorithm. But it is not complicated like Google. Please have a look at certain ranking algorithms on YouTube.

YouTube Ranking Factors - Lets Do Digital Marketing, YouTube SEO

Optimizing our YouTube videos to rank well in the YouTube search results is YouTube SEO. With the simple techniques and tactics, you can make your videos rank well on search results.

2. Keyword Research

Yes, always research the relevant keywords for your video. It is very simple you can do it by simply typing your queries on YouTube search, it’ll show you suggestions which are already searched by the people.

Keyword Research, Lets Do Digital Marketing, YouTube SEO

Here, we can see the suggestions make by YouTube, which denotes the maximum no of searches in that particular keywords.

Also go for videos, no of About results are less. It shows they’re less competitive. And you have a chance to be no 1 in that query search.

3. Video name and Image name optimization

When uploading a video on YouTube, make sure to rename it into Focus Keyword that you’re using. This will increase your chance of getting in top of YouTube results.

Video and Image name Optimization, YouTube SEO, Lets Do Digital Marketing

Use same for Image Optimization, use Focus keyword as a name for the image.

4. Optimize your video Titles and Tags

Your video should have a title, which should indicate what exactly the video is all about. Most importantly, use Focus keyword in the title of your video. The title should be catchy, attractive and keyword focused in order to make the people click.

Optmize your video title and tag, YouTube SEO, Lets Do Digital Marketing

The tags you’re using should be also includes focus keywords and other related keywords.

Optmize your video title and tag, YouTube SEO, Lets Do Digital Marketing

Pro Tip: Use Competitor’s top ranking tags.

5. Use Eye-catching Thumbnail

The best practice in YouTube SEO is to use high quality, eye-catching thumbnail. It is the best way to increase your CTR ( Click Through Rate). CTR is defined as no of clicks to no of impressions in percentage. The thumbnail that you uses should be attractive enough to arouse curiosity among the people to click at it.

Do you know? That most no of clicks are done based on Thumbnail and video title. So it is quite important to go with attractive Thumbnail.

Use Eye Catching Thumbnail, YouTube SEO, Lets Do Digital Marketing

6. Add Subtitles ( Close captions)

It is another way of including focus keywords in the video. It shows YouTube what the content is all about. Chances of showing in the top of the search results are more. Users will find it more useful, thus your video engagement rate will be increased. Use English Subtitles for better engagement. You can either upload as a file or you can edit it in the YouTube studio Editor.

YouTube has its own closed caption viewer, but most of the time it’ll not be accurate.

7. Use Optimal Video Length

According to a study, the average video length of top ten videos on the YouTube are 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Which means always upload videos with a run time more than 4 minutes. Keep consistency in your optimal video length.

Depends upon your content, run time varies. If you’re going with a deeper content, it may take a longer time. But it is needed.

Optimal Video Length, Lets Do Digital Marketing, YouTube SEO

8. Create Playlists

Another smart practice to get more views and subscribers on YouTube is creating Keyword rich Playlists. It also helps with audience retention and more watch time.

Create Playlists  - YouTube SEO, Lets Do Digital Marketing, YouTube SEO

9. Encourage the Viewers to Subscribe

In the starting of the YouTube video, greet your viewers. At the end of every video, ask the people to subscribe to your channel. Because Subscribing is an important factor that YouTube uses to rank the videos.

Unlike Likes and comments, subscribing is a powerful way to reach your target audience at once. So always encourage your viewers to subscribe.

Also Encourage the peoples to comments, more comments and subscribers means the chance of getting ranked in the top results is high.

10. Optimize existing Videos

Don’t just stop with publishing videos on YouTube, optimize it regularly. With the help of analytics in the YouTube Editor Studio, you can view how the video is doing and can include some needed optimization from time to time.

Optimize existing Videos, Lets Do DIgital Marketing,  YouTube SEO

11. Best Keyword Research Tools

There are several useful keyword research tools are there for YouTube. Some of them are

A. VideoIQ Chrome Extension

Keyword research tool, YouTube SEO, Lets Do Digital Marketing

Shows you complete analysis of the YouTube video from Social engagements to keyword ranking for the particular video.

B. TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy is also a Chrome Extension, which needs a YouTube channel to activate. With the help of the TubeBuddy, we can see that keyword search volume, keyword competition and the possibility of ranking in the top of the search results.

There are also paid and free tools are available for YouTube SEO.

12. Share Videos on Social Media

Like I said before, posting videos on YouTube doesn’t end there. To increase your visibility you need to share your videos and its links on maximum social media as possible.

Share it on Facebook: According to research, Facebook native videos have more impressions than YouTube videos shared on Facebook. Your watch time will increase, click through rate will increase.

Share it on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google plus and in other social media.

Apart from these steps, look at the Audience Retention, use a call to action annotations, Encourage the people to comment. And Reply to the comments.

Please post your valuable comments and suggestions for this post on YouTube SEO : A Simple guide

Cheers,

Sujithbeno

4 thoughts on “YouTube SEO: A Simple Guide”

  1. Pingback: How to Track your Website performance in Google Analytics – Lets Do Digital Marketing

  2. Hello

    I’ve been reading on http://letsdodigitalmarketing.net/youtube-seo-a-simple-guide/ and saw that you have mentioned a bunch of great resources! There are a lot of useful tips and tricks.

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