Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for YouTube involves optimizing your channel, playlists, metadata, descriptions, and the videos themselves. You can optimize your videos for search both inside and outside of YouTube. A key component to YouTube SEO is harnessing the power of your video’s text in the form of transcripts, closed captions, and subtitles.
According to Backlinko, the goal of YouTube SEO is to make your videos appear at the top of YouTube’s organic search results. Some of the strategies to achieve this include keyword research, optimizing video titles and descriptions, designing compelling thumbnails, and encouraging engagement from viewers.
Much like Google, YouTube uses a variety of factors to determine the ranking of search results. According to a survey conducted by Briggsby, some factors considered by YouTube’s algorithm include watch time, relevance, viewer engagement, and channel authority.
The first step in YouTube SEO is keyword research. Using tools like Google Trends or Keyword Tool, one can identify what users are searching for in relation to the content of your video. These keywords should then be incorporated into your titles, descriptions, tags, and even your spoken dialogue to increase your video’s visibility in searches.
The titles and descriptions of your videos need to be compelling and keyword-rich. Google uses this information to understand the content and relevance of your video. However, keep in mind that your titles also need to be compelling to viewers. YouTube’s Creator Academy suggests focusing on the first 100-150 characters of your description, as these are what come up in YouTube search results.
Designing compelling thumbnails can also dramatically improve your video’s views. According to YouTube, 90% of the best-performing videos have custom thumbnails. Your thumbnail communicates to potential viewers what the video is about. Therefore, it should be professionally designed and consistent with your channel’s brand.
Viewer engagement also plays a critical role in YouTube SEO. YouTube prioritizes videos that lead to a longer overall watching session over those that receive more views. It’s thus essential to encourage viewer interaction by asking viewers to like, comment, share or subscribe at the end of the video.
Lastly, channel authority or credibility is another factor that can affect your ranking. One way to build this is by regularly posting high-quality, engaging videos, and actively promoting your channel. This can lead not only to higher views but also to higher chances of showing up in user recommendations.
In summary, YouTube SEO works by optimizing your channel and videos so that they stand out in YouTube’s search results and recommendations. The key to achieving this is to create high-quality and engaging content that viewers would want to watch and share.
Sources:
- Backlinko
- Briggsby
- YouTube’s Creator Academy
- Google Trends
- Keyword Tool.
