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YOUTUBE SEO: HOW TO MAKE YOUR VIDEOS RANK
This may come as a surprise, but did you know that YouTube is currently the second biggest search engine in the world? What that means is that, while Google is still the primary destination for uncovering online information, YouTube isn’t far behind it—and as more and more consumers come to prefer their content in video form, YouTube’s prevalence as a search engine is only going to increase.
The implications for your business are obvious: In addition to doing search engine optimization for Google, you also need to optimize your videos for YouTube rankings. In this post, we’ll offer a few guidelines for making that happen.
How to Optimize Your YouTube Videos
Make sure you include keywords (in the right place)
You probably know that it’s important to include targeted keywords in the title of your video—but did you know that where you place those keywords can have a big impact on rankings? YouTube is more favorable to keywords that come at the beginning of your title. So, rather than titling a video Discover These YouTube SEO Tips, consider something like YouTube SEO Tips: Discover How to Make Videos Rank!
Write a strong video description
Video descriptions provide YouTube with information about how they can classify and categorize your content. Here, it’s good to be fairly thorough in the information you provide—going as high as 200 words, if possible. The trick is to include a basic outline of what your video is about without giving everything away; be substantive, not too specific. And, again, judicious keyword use is recommended.
Include tags
Tags are another opportunity to tell YouTube what your video content is about—but here, less is usually more. Consider this: If you provide 30 or 40 different tags, that doesn’t necessarily help YouTube’s algorithms determine how to categorize your video. It makes your topic feel muddled or overly complicated. It’s better to include a couple of highly specific tags, a few more general ones, and perhaps some alternates. For example, for a video about effective blog writing, your specific tag might be blog writing; general categories might be content marketing and digital marketing; and alternates might include blogging and writing a blog.
Include a call to action
We recommend ending each video with a specific call to action. The reason is simply this: Engagement is a key signal for your YouTube SEO—meaning the more likes, shares, subscriptions and especially comments you get, the better rankings you’ll achieve. The key here is a specific call to action. Saying leave a comment below is fine; saying leave a comment to let us know your favorite blogging platform is better.
Make your videos longer
A final note about YouTube SEO: The algorithms favor videos that keep people watching longer. (And that makes sense, when you think about it; YouTube’s goal is to get people to spend more time on YouTube.) The implication here is that, whenever possible, it’s good to make your videos a little longer—between eight and 15 minutes is the ideal.
Make YouTube the Crown Jewel of Your Marketing Strategy
YouTube’s importance can’t be diminished—so marketers might as well start using it for all it’s worth. We can help. Driven2020 helps its clients develop holistic marketing plans that drive website traffic and increase conversions—and YouTube can be a big part of that.
It all starts with a marketing consultation. We invite you to contact us today and learn more about how YouTube can become a major marketing asset for your company. Contact Driven2020 now!
