What is SEO for YouTube?

The Role of YouTube in Search MarketingWhat is SEO for YouTube?

SEO for YouTube is optimizing videos to rank better for your content on search engines and increase your organic traffic. YouTube is a powerful tool for boosting your brand awareness and your thought-leadership. The platform has a user base of an estimated 1 billion people, which provides ample opportunity for reaching an audience of your intended buyer personas.

Videos are also increasingly becoming a preferred means of communication. An estimated 78 percent of people watch at least one video a week and they have been found to help customers feel more confident in their purchases.

How do you get more search on YouTube?

When people visit YouTube, they are generally looking to be entertained or learn something new from their chosen videos. For your videos to be a success, they must acknowledge and address this need. People do not visit YouTube because they want to hear a sales pitch-- save that for videos you post on your own website. Focus on using YouTube as a way to demonstrate why you are an industry leader and start to build that initial relationship of trust that will eventually lead to the customer converting.

The videos you post on YouTube should be designed for a broad audience. You should focus on primarily creating videos that people can understand and appreciate, even if they have no previous exposure to your brand. Great video topics might be:

  • helping people understand a complicated topic related to your industry
  • how to’s
  • news or thought-leadership videos that introduce people to new ideas, and cast you as the leading brand that first explained it to them.

How to create a video for SEO?

  1. Analyze your buyer personas and your buyer journey and look at the topics that fall towards the beginning of the cycle - the ideas that fit into the early awareness and consideration stages
  2. Develop a video idea based on what you can realistically communicate in less than three minutes
  3. Create a video script and determine your cast with the goal of engaging the audience and inviting them into a relationship with you in mind.
  4. Shoot the video using professional grade equipment when possible to ensure that the quality of the video will be to the highest standard.

YouTube is a powerful tool for marketers because it helps them reach customers and engage them, typically early on in the buyer's journey. By creating high-quality videos, you increase your chances of expanding your base and achieving your long-term goals.

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