YouTube is seen by many people as a social network. Yes, it is a social network with interactive features such as likes, comments, subscribe, etc. But it is predominantly a search engine. People come here to search for videos to watch.
Also, YouTube videos can rank high in video search on Google. This is why it is important to optimize all your YouTube videos for search instead of only relying on the social part of the platform. To create highly engaging and optimized videos, organizations hire animated explainer video production companies. But still if you are creating video by yourself, it is vital to understand the process for optimizing it effortlessly.
So, here’s your quick guide to YouTube SEO…
Do a lot of keyword research:
The first step to keyword optimization is to do a lot of research. Go on YouTube and search for words related to your niche and videos to see videos with which keywords appear at the top and get the most views. This will give you a good idea about what sort of videos not only rank high, but also drive more views.
You should begin this research even before you create the videos as it will give you a better idea on what type of content to create. You can actually base your entire video content calendar on this. You can then get a free video editing software and create all your video content in advance.
Also, make sure you use a good SEO tool to look for search engine keywords you want your video to rank for as this will help drive some extra views from Google.
Optimize with keywords:
After you create videos on topics people want to watch, you can upload them on YouTube. When you do this make sure you optimize the video with keywords you uncovered from your research. The keywords should be added to your video title, description, and tags. Make sure you add a bunch of different primary and secondary keywords to both the description and tags. The title should be all about the primary keyword though.
Promote:
YouTube takes the number of views the video gets as a ranking factor. So, make sure you promote your video as much as you can to drive more views. This should include sharing your video on social media, using influencer outreach, running ads, using YouTube stories, and using a quick live video asking people to check out your new video.
Monitor data to increase watch time:
Views aren’t the only metric that YouTube takes into consideration while ranking videos. Another important metric that it looks at is watch time. Watch time helps it better understand the quality of the video. If the video is of better quality more people will watch it and YouTube will rank it higher and help it generate even more views.
So, you should closely monitor your YouTube data to make sure people are watching more of it. It will help you understand what parts of the video lead to abandonments and what parts of videos get people to watch more. This data cannot be used to optimize the current videos, but they can be used to create better videos in the future.
Use thumbnails and end cards:
Two other tactics you can use to drive more views are to optimize the thumbnails and end cards. So, create thumbnails that get people to click on the play button more often and create end cards for all your videos. The end cards should promote both playlists and single videos.
Another great place for promoting videos is the YouTube banner. Here you can let people know about details such as when you will be releasing new videos so they will look forward to them
Conclusion:
These are all the tactics you can use to optimize your videos for YouTube SEO. Begin using them to move up the rankings and generate more views.