How to Optimize YouTube Videos?
Why should I optimize YouTube videos?
If you're interested in creating high-quality content for consumers, YouTube is a great way to go. The video platform has over two billion users worldwide and consumers are viewing videos more and more as of recent. If you're going to create videos, YouTube is where you need to publish your content.
Like Google, YouTube has its own internal algorithm that determines the rank that the video search results appear. Getting your video to rank highly on this algorithm can help increase your campaign’s success in a variety of ways. The next step following video creation is to optimize YouTube videos.
- It will be easier for potential viewers to find your content and watch it
- Greater traffic rates will mean larger brand reach and more conversions
- You will increase the odds of having your videos rank in standard Google SERPs as well
Although YouTube’s exact algorithm remains a secret, like Google’s, there are a number of factors that marketers can use to build the rank of their videos so that they can reach their desired audience.
How are YouTube videos ranked?
There are a few criteria that brands should focus on when building the rank of their videos.
- Keywords. YouTube uses keywords to understand the topics of videos as well as queries that users type when looking for a new video. Your keywords should be used in the title and description of the video as well as the video tags.
- Description. Creating a thorough video description makes it easier for YouTube to know what your video is about and who will be the most interested in seeing it.
- Watch time. YouTube measures how long people spend watching particular videos, assuming that the videos which are regularly watched all the way through are more engaging than those that are regularly clicked off after just a few seconds. By creating short videos, you're more likely to keep your audience engaged. It'll also be easier for you to post often as you'll have plenty of content to do so.
- Number of subscribers. The more people you have subscribing to your channel, the more authoritative YouTube views your videos.
- Reactions. YouTube also looks at how many people like, dislike and comment on your videos and factors these in as measurements of how well your video understands its target audience.
How do I get my YouTube video to come up first?
- Utilize your buyer's journey
- Create content that's easy to understand
- Promote your video
- Add new content often
- Repeat the process
- Utilize your buyer's journey. By using the buyer's journey and buyer personas to uncover what people are looking to view through video content in the early stages of their journey. Use these topics and keywords to create videos that are either emotional or educational. Emotional videos would be funny videos, like the popular Old Spice videos, while educational videos might help people understand a new software. The more engaging your video is, the more you will increase your critical watch time factor.
- Create content that's easy to understand. Make it easy for YouTube and Google to understand your content. Use keywords throughout your video markup, including the title, tags and description. Use a full description so that the algorithms understand as much as possible about your videos.
- Promote your video. YouTube videos can be easily embedded on other social media platforms, so take advantage of that and let your entire audience know about your great video to drive up your traffic and customer responses.
- Add new content often. Whether it's every day, a few times a week, or once a week, if you want your YouTube to both rank and gain traffic, you need to upload new content for your audience at least once a week.
- Repeat the process. Continue to repeat these steps to build a strong channel. When you make the jump from developing just one awesome video and instead create several well-regarded videos, you will develop a strong channel with numerous subscribers, boosting your rankings and your authority.
YouTube is a fantastic tool for marketers because it lets you reach a wide audience of interested viewers. Get your voice heard above the crowd by optimizing the YouTube videos you create and let people know why your brand should be their trusted choice in the industry.