YouTube is an incredible platform that can benefit both small and large businesses. It’s been reported that over 5 billion videos are watched every day on YouTube with over 30 million people visiting the site daily.
That being said it can be extremely hard to stick out on the platform. Over 300 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. This means that your company’s minute and a half video explaining your company culture can seem like nothing to YouTube even when it means everything to your business. Luckily, there are ways to stand out on Youtube and it all comes down to YouTube SEO.
Usually, when we hear the term SEO, people instantly think of Google but YouTube is a search engine just like Google. It’s actually the second largest search engine behind Google. This means that YouTube SEO can be used to get your videos seen. However, it’s a bit different because of the platform. Keep reading to see what you need to do in order to rank videos higher on Youtube so they get seen by the right people.
1. Title
The title of your video is extremely important for YouTube SEO. It should be at least 5 words long and if possible, your keyword should be at the beginning of the title. If you want to rank for a term like “Painting tutorial” then name your video “Painting Tutorial: How to Paint a Picture.”
We wanted our video to be ranked for the term “Baltimore video production” so that keyword is placed at the beginning of the title. This gives the video a better chance at being ranked higher for that specific keyword.
2. File Name
The first step to rank videos higher on youtube is to start with the file name before you even upload your video. Believe it or not, YouTube takes the uploaded file name into consideration when ranking your video. When you upload a video named “final_video.mp4” then YouTube won’t know what the video is about. This is why it’s recommended to name your files with specific keywords that relate to your video and the intended audience.
For instance, if you have a video about how to cut a lemon then name your video “how_to_cut_a_lemon.mp4”. It’s as simple as that and can really have a huge impact on your YouTube SEO.
3. Description
The description is yet another area that YouTube takes into consideration when ranking videos. There seems to be a lot of videos that either underutilize the description box or simply don’t use it. However, the description is just another important aspect of YouTube SEO. Including a keyword-rich description is important because it’s one of the few ways to describe what your video is about. It’s recommended to write about 300 to 500 words. You should also try and put your most important keywords at the start of the description.
Including a keyword, rich description is important because it’s one of the few ways to describe what your video is about.
Another thing to remember is that your description shows up in the search results along with the video itself. When someone looks up the search term “Baltimore Video Production” the keywords will appear bold in the search results as shown to the right.
This is another reason why you should be putting your important keywords at the beginning of your description. Not only will YouTube be able to know what your video is truly about but your viewers will too just by seeing the first sentence or two of your description when they search for something. So make sure it’s something that draws in your audience too!
4. Tags
When you upload a video to YouTube, you have the chance to add tags which gives YouTube more information on what your video is about. With adding tags, comes some things to keep in mind. The most important tags should be the first ones listed in the tag area. This may give your video a better chance at ranking higher for those particular tags. It’s also important to not use too many tags with a recommended amount being 10 to 12. These chosen tags should be extremely relevant and if possible, contain 2-3 words. One word tags simply aren’t descriptive enough and are most likely overused.
YouTube itself recommends that you don’t “tag-stuff” your tag section.
This means that you should only add relevant tags that pertain to your video and avoid trendy tags. If it’s coming from YouTube themselves then you should definitely listen to it. That being said they also say that tags aren’t as important as titles and descriptions. However, they still help your YouTube SEO and should be carefully chosen and placed.
5. Closed Captions
Creating closed captions is something that a lot of YouTube videos don’t do. Although closed captioning is intended for hearing impaired individuals, it also helps boost your YouTube SEO. It’s been found that Youtube indexes the transcript and uses it to rank videos for certain keywords.
Although closed captioning is intended for hearing impaired individuals, it also helps boost your YouTube SEO.
You might be thinking that YouTube already does this automatically but their auto closed captions are filled with mistakes. Spending a few minutes correcting those errors will make a difference since a lot of videos skip this step. It’s an opportunity to get those important keywords that are said throughout your video to be taken into consideration by YouTube.
6. Engagment
Engagement is ALWAYS important when it comes to anything online. What good is your video on YouTube if nobody engages with it? Having people watch, like, share and comment on your video is going to easily boost your YouTube SEO.
Views
The more views you have, the better. It’s as simple as that. Share your video where you can, embed it on your website and tell friends, family and employees to share the video so it reaches more people. Those increased views will help bump up your video higher in the rankings. It’s also important to note that the more your video is watched through fully the better your rankings will be. This shows YouTube that you have a quality viewership, so don’t just refresh the page yourself a hundred times for the extra ‘views’! You can check your average view duration by going to your analytics and finding the audience retention stats.
Likes & Dislikes
Having your viewers click the like button on your video can have a great impact on your YoTube SEO. The more a video is liked, the better the video will do in the rankings. Ask your viewers to like the video to show their support either in the video itself or in the description box. This engagement is crucial in helping your video rank higher on YouTube. But, what happens when someone dislikes your video? A dislike still shows engagement and YouTube won’t penalize your video just because one person disliked it (sounds crazy, right?). So even though you don’t want dislikes on your video, they can potentially rank your video higher.
Playlist Adds
Youtube users can add specific videos to playlists to go back and watch later. When someone does this it shows YouTube that viewers like your video a lot and want to come back to it. Playlist adds show user engagement and the more engagement the better your SEO.
Comments
Having comments on your video is an amazing way to show YouTube that your video is important. This is the most powerful form of user engagement on YouTube compared to everything else. Tell your viewers to leave comments about questions or thoughts they have on the video, or start the conversation by adding your own comment. This can be a simple and effective way to get more engagement on your video helping to improve your YouTube SEO.
Shares
Sharing a video is a great sign to YouTube that your video is popular. Ask viewers to share the video or get employees to share the video across different social platforms. This will boost your YouTube SEO because people can like things all day but sharing means that they liked it enough to show to someone else and that’s impressive.
The Bottom Line: YouTube SEO is crucial to getting your video seen
What good is your investment if no one ever sees your video? If you’re new to YouTube and need some extra help, ask your video professional for assistance. At Dew Point Media, we help our clients with this kind of stuff all the time. Don’t be afraid to ask questions!
YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world so your videos need just as much SEO attention as your website does on google.
