A Complete Guide to YouTube SEO

YouTube is the second biggest Search Engine, but most of the marketers focus on platforms like Facebook, Instagram , SEO etc  and forget to capitalize on YouTube. If utilized in the right way, YouTube can not only reward you with benefits of video marketing but also high search engine rankings. This will ultimately help you with creating brand awareness. 73% of B2B Companies that use video marketing get significant ROI from it.

Now, let us know the steps for an effective YouTube SEO

Step 1: YouTube Keyword Research

Finding the right set of keywords for your video is of prime importance. First generate a list of keyword ideas. We personally prefer “Youtube’s Search Suggest Feature”.  You just need to head over to the youtube search and type a word or phrase related to your video as shown below

It is ideal to start from these search terms, because these are the terms that people are actually searching for in YouTube. Also, look out for videos that are created in the same genre, explore the most popular section under their channel and take ideas for the title, description and video tags.

Important Tip: Also search for keywords on Google, since Google also includes videos in the search results for certain keywords

In general, Google tends to use video results for these types of keywords:

• How-to keywords (“how to shave a cat”)
• Reviews (“Product reviews – Cosmetic Reviews”)
• Tutorials (“Setting up WordPress”)
• Fitness or sports related (“Push ups and Kickboxing ”)
• Funny videos (“Cute Babies”)

Further use the Google Adwords tool to finalize the keywords based on their Search volumes and Bang on your keyword list is finalized.

Step 2: Video Publishing

It is an open secret that Audience retention is the key when it comes to YouTube videos.  And YouTube has gone on the record saying: “Audience Retention” is a HUGE ranking factor. If your video keeps people on YouTube, YouTube will rank your video higher in the search results. Following are the important YouTube ranking factors:

Video comments:If someone leaves a comment, it sends a strong message to YouTube that they probably enjoyed the video (or at least engaged with it).

Subscribers: If someone subscribes after watching your video, that is a plus point

Shares: Social sharing is important. And remember people don’t share stinky videos

Click through rate (CTR): When people search for a keyword on YouTube and click on your video and not anybody else. If YouTube notices that lots of people are clicking on your result, they think: “We need to give this video a boost!”

Thumbnails: Thumps up to compelling Thumbnails and titles

Video Length: Longer videos rank better.

Step 3: YouTube Video Optimization

It is necessary to optimize a video for keywords. Following tips should be considered.

Video Title:The title of your video should be at least 5 words long. That way, you can include your full keyword without keyword-stuffing.

Video Description: The Description of your video helps YouTube and Google understand the context of your video. And the better they understand your video, the higher you’ll rank (and the more often you’ll show up in the Suggested Video sidebar).

Here are the basic guidelines for the description:

• Include your keyword in the first 25 words
• Make the description at least 250 words
• Include your keyword 2-4 times

This SEO-optimized description helps tell Google and YouTube what your video is about without being spammy.

Tags:Targeted tags not only help you rank for your target keyword. Following poits should be considered while devising your tags.

• Your first tag is the exact target keyword (Ex: Google SEO)
• Include a few variations of that word or phrase (Example: “Google search engine optimization”)
• Finally,  make a few tags related to other topics that the video covers (Example: “Link building”, “Content marketing”)

Step 4: Video Promotion

Getting views on the video is also important. Here, video promotion comes into picture:

• Mention your video on Quora and other related sites
• Link to your video in the email signature
• Embed your video in blog posts
• Use Playlists
• Optimize your channel page

That’s all Folks! We hope you got a fair understanding of YouTube SEO. For any further assistance or queries, you may reach us – TranzDigi – A leading Digital Marketing Agency in Mumbai.