YouTube videos are increasingly becoming an important feature of Google SERP. Focus on YouTube SEO is therefore required to get the maximum advantage of your video marketing efforts.
YouTube Ranking Factors
These 7 most critical ranking factors that determine how your videos would rank on YouTube-
- Subscribers – The number of subscribers to your YouTube Channel.
- Watch Duration – The average time duration users watch your videos.
- YouTube CTR – Click-through rate of videos. The number of clicks your video receives when it appears on the YouTube list.
- Comments – Number of comments on the YouTube video
- Retention – Number of repeat users who regularly visit your channel.
- Fresh Content Frequency – Schedule to post fresh content on YouTube.
- Backlinks/Social Signals – How often the video is shared on multiple websites and social channels.
Here are the main components of YouTube SEO.
1) Categorization and Local SEO
Go to YouTube Studio. Under Video Settings, you can categorize your videos and choose the video location.
Look at the videos similar to yours and choose the appropriate category for the video. There are various categories such as ‘science and technology’, ‘How to & Style’, ‘Entertainment’ etc. Choose categories appropriate for your video content.
Video Location- You can use this option to reach the target demographic audience. It would enhance local SEO. This feature highlights business location for people searching for related queries in nearby areas.
2) Social Signals and Sharing
Ensure that all videos, especially your popular videos and important videos about your products or services, are regularly shared on all social channels. Better the social signals higher your videos will rank on YouTube and search engine results.
3) Hashtags
You can add either one hashtag in the Video Title or a maximum of three hashtags in the video description. Hashtags make your video title and description attractive, which increases the CTR.
You can find the Youtube Hashtag policy here.
4) Keywords and Meta tags
Search the main keyword on the YouTube search bar for keyword research and note all the keyword suggestions. It would help if you also googled the main keyword and listed all the keyword suggestions given by Google Autocomplete.
If you want to rank on competitors’ keywords, you can go to their video and left-click the mouse to see the page source of videos. There you can see keywords used by competitors. You can use these keywords so that our video appears on the same search queries.
MozBar Chrome Extension and vidIQ Chrome Extension are good tools for YouTube keyword research. Ensure the targeted keyword is well distributed across Video Title, description, and Tags.
Tags are most important. Avoid single word tags, ie. “Health,” “Travelling,” “SEO,” etc. Include a few Long tail keyword tags, i.e., “benefits of traveling solo.”
***Pro Tip- Make video Titles in questions format
Example- “How to” keyword titles and videos. This would increase the chances of videos appearing in voice search results and question-based queries in Google SERP.***
5) Write a Long Description with Keywords, Timestamps, and Links
Video description should have keywords in titles, subtitles and should be at least 200 words long.
Add a few helpful links to your products, services, and related articles. Product links are a must if it is a product video. Give a minimum of 2 links to your website product and services and 1 article link in each video description.
It is also good to list all your social media channels in a video description and request visitors to follow you on other social channels.
Timestamps – For longer videos, it lets viewers jump to sections of the video to find what they’re looking for, which also improves engagement with the video.
Example of YouTube Video Time Stamp
Introduction 0:21
Product description 1:21
Size charts 2:21
How to use 3:30
6) Comment response rate
All the comments must be responded to. Videos with greater engagement via comments, likes, and shares rank higher.
7) Language and captions
Set your preferred video language. Use and edit Captions to see if they are displaying properly.
8) YouTube Cards- Poll
YouTube poll cards can have a commercial question.
Ie. Would you like to buy headphones from xyz.com?
Would you like to try SEO services from SEO.com?
9) End Screens
EndScreen reminds the viewers to subscribe to your YoutTube channel. Video Endscreen can be of your related product or services.
10) Thumbnails
Video Title and Thumbnail is the first piece of information users see when the video is listed on YouTube. Create compelling thumbnails of the video to increase the clicks. Add an element of surprise, excitement, or curiosity to the thumbnail. An appealing thumbnail has the potential to make your video stand out from other videos.
YouTube Analytics-
YouTube Analytics provides a gold mine of information about user engagement, demographics, and the reach of your videos. Use the data to optimize your videos, get ideas for your next video topics and make your videos more engaging to your target demographics.
