How to SEO for YouTube and increase the visibility of your videos
1. Search for the right keywords
2. Edit filename before uploading the video
3. Produce objective and optimized titles
4. Make a full description
5. Add subtitles to videos
6. Tag your videos
7. Create attractive thumbnails
8. Encourage user interaction
9. Keep an eye on the metrics
With over one billion users and one billion hours watched per day, YouTube is today one of the most prominent media in producing content for the internet.
No wonder digital influencers and companies have been banking on the world’s most famous video platform to bring information to the public, build closer relationships, and advertise their business. But, as it is with Google, the competition for top YouTube rankings is fierce and requires far more than producing good content.
Therefore, to stand out, you also need to pay special attention to technical issues and SEO best practices for YouTube.
If you don’t know how to optimize your videos yet or are just starting, we’ve listed nine essential tips for increasing viewership, improving YouTube search performance, and leveraging your channel on the platform. Continue reading to check it out!
1. Search for the right keywords
Just like a blog content production strategy, YouTube also needs the right keywords to rank your videos better. So our first SEO tip for YouTube is to do a thorough search of keywords that represent your content.
You can start your search through the platform’s search bar, which automatically offers additions to the terms you enter and thus shows which ones are most searched by users. To validate these keywords, it is worth exploring Google Trends (using the “YouTube Search” filter) and Keyword Planner if your goal is to rank first in the Google ranking as well.
2. Edit filename before uploading the video
This tip may seem silly at first, but it makes all the difference to performing well on YouTube ranking. If you often use names like “notitle.mp4” or “video1.mp4”, it’s time to change your strategy and focus on the keyword that represents your content. A video featuring a chocolate cake recipe, for example, might be named “how_to_make_a_chocolate_cake.mp4″.
Therefore, before uploading the video to the platform, always rename the file to something that reflects the theme covered and contains the keyword. This will help the search engine understand what subject you are talking about.
3. Produce objective and optimized titles
The title is as much a point of attraction for the user as a way of informing searchers what the topic covered in its content is. Therefore, you must always insert the keyword (at the beginning, preferably) and create titles that answer your audience’s questions.
Another important tip is to pay attention to the size of your title so that it does not display incompletely by YouTube. Ideally, it has had a maximum of 70 characters.
4. Make a full description
Video description is one of the most influential factors in search engine ranking and is, therefore, an important tip for those who want to do SEO for YouTube. Since search engines are not able to identify the subject of your content by video alone, they rely on the textual information contained in the title, file name, and description.
So ideally, you always fill the description space with content that is relevant not only to searchers but also to users who come to your channel. In addition to inserting the keyword throughout the text and making it clear what the subject matter is, you can add links that lead to related videos, your website, blog, or social networks.
5. Add subtitles to videos
Another factor that makes the difference in SEO for YouTube is the use of subtitles in videos. Like the description, this feature is also tracked by search engines and can significantly impact their performance.
Although the platform offers automatic subtitles, it is ideal for transcribing the video manually and uploading/syncing the text later. This practice is best suited to avoid errors and ensure the best experience for users who have a hearing impairment.
In addition to using the transcript in the subtitle, you can also use it in your video description.
6. Tag your videos
Tags are a feature that makes it easy for both SEO for YouTube and the display of your videos to people looking for topics related to your content.
As such, you can bet on the keywords that define your video to choose which tags will be used to leverage its performance.
Also, you can do a little competitor research to see which tags are used by videos that rank well and keep an eye on the suggestions that YouTube itself makes available.
7. Create attractive thumbnails
Thumbnails (those miniatures that makeup video covers) are essential elements in attracting users to your videos and, consequently, increasing the number of views.
A prominent thumbnail is one that can reveal the concept of the video and influence a person to open it just by looking at the image.
While not directly interfering with SEO for YouTube, these thumbnails can generate more clicks and significantly improve your performance through this increase.
8. Encourage user interaction
When users interact with a video, YouTube understands that it has good content, and it helps to position it better in the search engine.
To encourage engagement with your audience, you should enter call-to-action (CTAs) that invite them to do essential things like subscribing to the channel, share content, leave a comment or like, watch a related video, or click in a link that leads to your website.
In addition to inserting these CTAs into the script itself, you can take advantage of some YouTube features that make this interaction easier, such as using cards in videos and adding links in the description.
9. Keep an eye on the metrics
The success of a content strategy depends not only on producing and publishing on a channel but also on metric analysis that helps you understand where your actions are heading.
Therefore, you must keep an eye on the results generated by your videos and especially the behavior of your audience. This will help you map how users interact with your content, and make adjustments to their length and format so that they are more attractive and retain the audience.
With Reportei, you can generate reports on crucial YouTube metrics and closely monitor which improvements need to be made to increase the visibility of your videos.
This makes it easier to tailor your content to what piques audience interest and apply SEO tips to leverage your channel further.
Did you like our SEO tips for YouTube? Then check out our article with 7 SEO tools that can not miss in the day to day of your work!
