When it comes to SEO, internet marketers mainly focus on blogging, AdWords, Facebook Ads for driving traffic to their website.
But often forgotten search engine to optimize your videos is YouTube. According to the Global Traffic Rankings of Alexa, YouTube is the second biggest search engine after Google.
YouTube generates huge traffic on your website if you rank top when someone searches for a keyword related to your website.
How to optimize your videos for higher search engine ranking?
The answer is YouTube SEO.
In this article, we will walk you through the complete guide for optimizing your videos for video search rankings in 2019.
Let’s dive right in.
Optimizing Videos: 6 Expert YouTube SEO Ranking Factors
For Google, backlinks are the quality signals for the content created but for YouTube, the only way to analyze the quality of the videos is how the audience is interacting with the videos.
Below are some YouTube SEO ranking factors you must take into consideration for higher video search rankings in 2019.
1. YouTube Keyword Research
Keyword research is very important for search engine ranking of your website. The most favorite strategy used by the experts to find the keywords is the YouTube Search Suggest feature.
Best tools for Keyword research on YouTube
Keyword.io
Keyword.io is one of the best tools for YouTube Keyword research. You can use this tool with the following steps:
- Enter the keyword in the search box.
- Select YouTube.
- Filter the keyword list as per your needs.
Ahrefs YouTube Keyword research
It is the popular search engine tool for keyword research. Create an account here and start with the keyword research for your YouTube video.
Google Search results
To rank your video on YouTube, check out Google search results related to your video. Google usually show video results for keywords:
- How-to-keywords
- Tutorials
- Funny videos
- Reviews
2. Create an awesome video
After analyzing the right keywords for your YouTube video, create an awesome video to increase the number of viewers on your video.
The following parameters are needed to be considered before creating a video.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR)
It is the ratio of users’ clicks on a link to the total number of users viewing a page. If people are clicking on your video on YouTube, your video rank will increase.
Engagement
The engagement on your video will be maximum if you keep your user curious in your video. The engagement of the video depends on:
- How you present it.
- How much informative your video is.
Watch-Time
To increase your YouTube video rank, you need to increase the watch-time of the video. It is the time spent by the people in watching your video.
Video Length
The length of the video affects YouTube SEO. The longer the video, the better the search engine rankings.
3. YouTube Optimization
The followings are the foundation for the YouTube optimization of your videos.
Video Filename
When you upload a video on YouTube, use your keyword in the filename of the video.
Video Title
The title of the video is the first impression on the audience. According to Backlinko, the video title should be at least 5 words so that you can include your targeted keyword in the title.
Description of the Video
The video description helps the search engines and users to understand the content of your video. It increases the view time if your video.
The description of the video should include the title and relevant keywords.
- Try including the keyword in the first 25 words.
- Write a description of about 250 words.
Video tags
Video Tags helps YouTube and Google know what your video is about. Add up to 10-12 relevant tags in your video.
Video Thumbnails
To attract YouTube searcher, you must use an eye-catching thumbnail. These thumbnail works as a marketing poster or your videos and boosts the chances of more clicks on your video.
4. Create a blog targeting the same keyword
The videos combined with the blog post can rank your website on the first page of the Google search engine results. Blog + Video give complete information on the topic to the users.
Adding videos on your website or blog improves the engagement of the users and also the search engine ranking of your website. It helps in getting more likes, views, and shares to your videos.
5. Respond to the Comments
Comments are a powerful YouTube SEO ranking factor. When users comment on your video, you should respond to them. This will increase the engagement of the users on your videos.
When people comment on your video, it means they liked the video or at least they interacted with it. Try to stimulate the users to leave comments on your videos. One of the best ways is to ask your audience to leave a comment about the topic discussed in the video.
6. Promote Your Video
Without video promotion, your YouTube SEO is incomplete. But how to promote your videos? Check out the tips below.
Share on Various Social Media Platforms
Promoting your video on various social media networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter etc. increase the traffic and the viewers on your video.
Create Video playlist
If you have uploaded a few videos, you can create a video playlist to get more views. Through playlist, your videos will be automatically plays which lead to thousands of views on your video every month.
According to Cisco, about 80% of internet traffic will be generated through videos by 2019. So, create high-quality content and optimize with the YouTube SEO ranking factors to get high rank in the search results.
About Author:
George is corporate relationship manager at Inc Academy – Provide Digital Marketing Course in Dubai with professional certificate and he likes to share his knowledge on digital marketing topics.