YouTube SEO is much like or any other search engine and about choosing the right keywords, but added to that are factors like how many people click on your video and how long they watch, then if they continue to watch your videos or other videos on YouTube. If you get your strategy right, you’re also going to appear in Google search, so that is also something you need to consider with the keywords you choose.
YouTube video SEO combines sevral areas of marketing, making it one of the most interesting and challenging social media platforms in recent times. it’s all about effective use of keywords, getting clicks, improving view time and of course, curating a targeted audience that loves your output.
Keywords
For keywords, make them unique between your videos and for the topics people are searching, placing them near the beginning of your title. Also following that up with a good description that repeats your keywords but in a slightly different way. You should be able to use Google Adwords for keyword research, but I’ve used third party keyword tracking tools that include auto complete results in the past.
Getting Clicks
Factors like clicks and views can be influenced by your title and also the thumbnail. You need an interesting picture and one or two ‘keywords’ that emphasise your points or maybe are contrary to the title or the point of your video. We can only give suggestions knowing titles/themes etc of individual videos, but you might find your own formula. Look at videos like the ones you want to make and see what the top ones are doing for some ideas.
View Time
How long people view your video is also important. I think nowadays 10 minute videos are the in-thing, but you need people to actually watch your videos and get a significant way through them, then watching other videos when they’ve finished yours. This is something you’ll see in your video analytics. You can see when people stop watching and once you have maybe ten videos, you might be able to see patterns of where people drop off. To judge this accurately, having a video format like: teaser>intro>content for example that you use in every video might be helpful to find patterns.
YouTube Algorithm Video
This video about the YouTube algorithm explains things really well and has great keywords in the title, description and even breaks up the video into sections.
This video by TubeBuddy is actually a great demonstration of best practice, so pay close attention to how they have written the description and split the video into sections. They develop browser extensions that help manage and optimise YouTube channels, so you’d think they know what they’re doing and we can learn from their videos.
Combined with my other marketing services, YouTube can be a great way to get eyeballs on your business.