What is SEO for YouTube?

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a set of techniques that optimise a page so that it is more easily found on a search engine such as Google.

This optimisation can be made with regard to the page’s internal content (on-page SEO), and through external targeting with links placed on other pages (off-page SEO). With SEO for YouTube, something similar happens: each video can be treated as a page, and the optimisation process follows the same rules as Google.

Therefore, it is possible to create engagement with YouTube as long as you know how to work with it, and especially how to position your videos on the platform so they are easily found, thus optimising the ranking.

This is not a very easy strategy and there are no guaranteed results. Perhaps precisely because of that, it is so important to know the techniques really well. There is an art behind ranking and SEO for YouTube techniques that you must know to increase the views of your videos on the platform and position them in the top search positions.

How is all this possible? That is what we will show you in the following tips. Check them out!

Find the right keywords

Analysing the keywords most closely related to your universe and to the objectives you want to achieve is a great starting point to establish an efficient SEO strategy.

For that, you can use the several tools available to explore the searches made by the users that draw your attention. But firstly, we recommend that you look at the suggestions made by the YouTube search bar, which has the same characteristics as Google, and tells you what the people are searching for about the keyword you entered.

To complete the work, you can use resources such as Keyword.io, Ubersuggest and Hypersuggest, which have specific filters that determine the most searched terms on YouTube.

When you find the keywords that interest you, you are able to create a good mind map to organize the content and an editorial schedule to define the dates of the posts.

Focus on your video tag title

The title tag is the most important element for good SEO optimisation on search pages and that logic can also be applied to YouTube when we think about tactics to improve your video ranking.

And so that the search engine can better identify the main topic of your content, it is important to enter the most important keywords at the beginning of the string (a string represents a word or text in the programming).

Use keywords in the description of the video

The description of the video that you want to rank on YouTube must make use of SEO copywriting best practices: writing for people, not for search engines. After all, what pleases the audience is also well regarded by Google.

The secret is to understand what your audience is searching for and create a text that is useful in describing your video, objectively presenting the content and making use of keywords that stimulate interest and help to get better rakings on the platform.

Encourage visits, engagement and shares

The video preview is crucial to attracting your audience, but not everybody knows that there are several factors related to content display on YouTube that directly affect the audience behaviour.

Backlinko posted a survey that included the top ranking elements of videos on YouTube and highlighted the importance of the audience behaviour through comments, shares, likes and the time the video remains online.

That is why it is important to do whatever possible to lead people to your video and “put pressure on them” to engage in an actual and virtuous way through tactics such as:

create a captivating cover image;
insert a musical theme;
make a short summary to anticipate the topics covered in the content;
facilitate the insertion of videos in contextualized WebPages;
or cross the editorial plan of other media with YouTube posts.

Use YouTube video tags to obtain better results

Another aspect that we must take into account about SEO for YouTube is how the well-defined use of video tags can have advantages in optimising the video.

You can use up to 500 characters to create tags that will help YouTube search engine understand your content and in order to define them you just have to follow the guidelines below:

define generic and specific tags carefully;
create separate lists and enrich them with keyword search operations.

You can still obtain a good extra result with VidIQ, an extension of Google Chrome to identify the tags (and other information) of viral videos, that is, the ones that are the most successful.

Optimise your video file before uploading it to YouTube

A bad video, which no one likes, is not shared and does not make the audience incorporate it. That is why, in addition to creating a file that suits your needs, you should search for a key element: quality.

At this point, it is important to remember that the focus of the SEO for YouTube is mainly people’s satisfaction, but you can still do something more.

Before uploading your video, try creating an optimised filename that describes the content you are about to send, preferably using the keyword and avoiding disconnected combinations of numbers and letters.

Use your experience when it comes to SEO for YouTube

What is your experience on YouTube? Did you get a good optimisation to position the videos? Did you increase your views thanks to your on-page SEO activity?

Not everything depends on what you do on your YouTube account. It is often the users’ behaviour that creates the conditions for a good ranking.

With this regard, your ability to understand what to create and how to deliver content is also involved. After all, the work of content marketing is always on the move and with different subtleties.

Carrying out SEO for YouTube actions is only a part of the strategy. There is a lot to understand and put into practice, and therefore, we recommend you also read this article on how to win real followers. Enjoy your reading!

What is SEO for YouTube?