I probably don’t need to tell you that YouTube is a MASSIVE untapped traffic source for most online businesses.
Unless you plan on your video going viral Justin Bieber-style, you’ll need to focus on ranking your videos in YouTube and Google to get views.
Fortunately, YouTube SEO isn’t rocket science. Just follow the steps in this checklist and you’ll notice your videos ranking higher in YouTube and in Google – meaning more traffic for you.
STEP1 - Find Video Keywords
Like with “regular” SEO, keyword research is THE most important part of YouTube SEO. Before you shoot a second of video, you need to find keywords that have YouTube results in Google. In other words, Video Keywords. Video Keywords tend to be:
How-to keywords (“how to shave a cat”)
Reviews (“Bluehost review”)
Tutorials (“Setting up WordPress”)
Once you’ve found a video keyword, use the Google Keyword Planner to make sure that keyword gets at least 300 searches per month. Find Video Keywords STEP1 Anything fitness or sports related (“Cardio kickboxing”) Funny videos (“Cute animals”)
STEP2 - Plan Your Video With YouTube User Experience In Mind
Unlike Google – which largely uses backlinks to measure content quality – YouTube has no such luxury.
What do they use instead?
User experience signals.
The better your user YouTube experience signals, the higher you’ll rank. In fact, you can outrank competitors with 10x more views if your video has better user experience signals:
As you script and film your video, keep these critical YouTube user experience signals in mind:
Audience retention:
The percentage of your video people tend to watch (the more, the better).
Comments:
If people comment, they probably enjoyed the video (or at least watched it).
Subscribes after watching:
If someone subscribes to your channel after watching your video that sends a HUGE signal that you have an amazing video.
Social shares:
How many people share your video on social media sites like Twitter and Google+.
Favorites:
The number of people that favorite your video or add it to their “Watch Later” playlist:
Thumbs up/Thumbs down:
Self explanatory
One more tip:
Make sure your video is at least 5-minutes long. I’ve done extensive testing and found that 5+ minute videos perform MUCH better than shorter videos.
STEP3 - Upload and Optimize Your Video
Now that you’ve found a Video Keyword and created a compelling, 5+ minute video around, it’s time to upload your video... with YouTube SEO in mind.
Here’s how:
Video Filename:
Should include your target keyword. But also include a word before or after so it doesn’t look like keyword-stuffing. For example, YouTube_SEO_Video.mp4.
Video Title:
Make sure your keyword is at the beginning of your title. If possible start your video title off with your target keyword. For example, if your keyword was “weight loss”, your video title should be something like: Weight Loss Tips: 5 Ways to Drop Extra Pounds.
Description:
When most people upload a video to YouTube, they mindlessly toss a few words into the description box. That’s a HUGE mistake. Remember that Google can’t watch or listen to your video content. Instead, they rely on your video’s text-based title and description to determine what your video is about. So give them enough information by writing a 200+-word description that includes your keyword 3-4 times.
Tags:
Just include your keyword as your first tag and a few related keywords as tags. Simple.
STEP4 - Get High-Retention Views
When it comes to YouTube views, quality and quantity are both important.
Here’s how to get lots of views that actually stick around and watch your video:
Mention Your Video on Quora and Other Q&A Sites:
Just search for a question on your video’s topic. And add a link to your video. Or better yet, embed it into your answer.
Link To Your Video In Your Email Signature:
People that email you (like your mom) generally like you. So when you add a link to your latest video in your email signature, that means you get high-retention views like they’re going out of style.
Embed Your Videos in Blog Posts:
Whenever you write a blog post (on your site or as a guest post for another site), think to yourself: “Where can I embed a YouTube video into this post?”
Social Media:
Share your video to your followers on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ (seems straightforward but I’m surprised how many people don’t do this!).
BONUS1 - Use Competitor’s Channel Name as a Tag
If you notice the same channel showing up in YouTube search again and again, you’re probably wondering: “how can I get a piece of that?”.
Well there’s a sneaky way to get listed as a “related video” for their videos.
Just use their channel name as a tag in one of your videos. For example, if you noticed "XYZ" channel dominating your niche:
You’d want to add a tag to your video called XYZ. This trick will cause your video to you show up more often in the “related videos” sidebar when people watch videos from that channel. That means more views for you.
BONUS2 - Use Suggested Video to Get More Views
YouTube has a powerful feature called “Featured Video”. And it’s a dead-simple ways to get more views to your high-priority videos.
What is it?
It’s a simple little graphic that shows up when people watch one of your videos. The graphic encourages people to watch a different video:
I don’t see ANYONE utilizing this feature. That’s probably because YouTube buries it
Here’s how to set it up.
First, head over to your YouTube Dashboard.
Click on Channel Settings In-Video Programming From The Left hand Sidebar:
Under “Featured Video,” choose a video, the start time and hit “update”
Unless you plan on your video going viral Justin Bieber-style, you’ll need to focus on ranking your videos in YouTube and Google to get views.
Fortunately, YouTube SEO isn’t rocket science. Just follow the steps in this checklist and you’ll notice your videos ranking higher in YouTube and in Google – meaning more traffic for you.
STEP1 - Find Video Keywords
Like with “regular” SEO, keyword research is THE most important part of YouTube SEO. Before you shoot a second of video, you need to find keywords that have YouTube results in Google. In other words, Video Keywords. Video Keywords tend to be:
How-to keywords (“how to shave a cat”)
Reviews (“Bluehost review”)
Tutorials (“Setting up WordPress”)
Once you’ve found a video keyword, use the Google Keyword Planner to make sure that keyword gets at least 300 searches per month. Find Video Keywords STEP1 Anything fitness or sports related (“Cardio kickboxing”) Funny videos (“Cute animals”)
STEP2 - Plan Your Video With YouTube User Experience In Mind
Unlike Google – which largely uses backlinks to measure content quality – YouTube has no such luxury.
What do they use instead?
User experience signals.
The better your user YouTube experience signals, the higher you’ll rank. In fact, you can outrank competitors with 10x more views if your video has better user experience signals:
As you script and film your video, keep these critical YouTube user experience signals in mind:
Audience retention:
The percentage of your video people tend to watch (the more, the better).
Comments:
If people comment, they probably enjoyed the video (or at least watched it).
Subscribes after watching:
If someone subscribes to your channel after watching your video that sends a HUGE signal that you have an amazing video.
Social shares:
How many people share your video on social media sites like Twitter and Google+.
Favorites:
The number of people that favorite your video or add it to their “Watch Later” playlist:
Thumbs up/Thumbs down:
Self explanatory
One more tip:
Make sure your video is at least 5-minutes long. I’ve done extensive testing and found that 5+ minute videos perform MUCH better than shorter videos.
STEP3 - Upload and Optimize Your Video
Now that you’ve found a Video Keyword and created a compelling, 5+ minute video around, it’s time to upload your video... with YouTube SEO in mind.
Here’s how:
Video Filename:
Should include your target keyword. But also include a word before or after so it doesn’t look like keyword-stuffing. For example, YouTube_SEO_Video.mp4.
Video Title:
Make sure your keyword is at the beginning of your title. If possible start your video title off with your target keyword. For example, if your keyword was “weight loss”, your video title should be something like: Weight Loss Tips: 5 Ways to Drop Extra Pounds.
Description:
When most people upload a video to YouTube, they mindlessly toss a few words into the description box. That’s a HUGE mistake. Remember that Google can’t watch or listen to your video content. Instead, they rely on your video’s text-based title and description to determine what your video is about. So give them enough information by writing a 200+-word description that includes your keyword 3-4 times.
Tags:
Just include your keyword as your first tag and a few related keywords as tags. Simple.
STEP4 - Get High-Retention Views
When it comes to YouTube views, quality and quantity are both important.
Here’s how to get lots of views that actually stick around and watch your video:
Mention Your Video on Quora and Other Q&A Sites:
Just search for a question on your video’s topic. And add a link to your video. Or better yet, embed it into your answer.
Link To Your Video In Your Email Signature:
People that email you (like your mom) generally like you. So when you add a link to your latest video in your email signature, that means you get high-retention views like they’re going out of style.
Embed Your Videos in Blog Posts:
Whenever you write a blog post (on your site or as a guest post for another site), think to yourself: “Where can I embed a YouTube video into this post?”
Social Media:
Share your video to your followers on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ (seems straightforward but I’m surprised how many people don’t do this!).
BONUS1 - Use Competitor’s Channel Name as a Tag
If you notice the same channel showing up in YouTube search again and again, you’re probably wondering: “how can I get a piece of that?”.
Well there’s a sneaky way to get listed as a “related video” for their videos.
Just use their channel name as a tag in one of your videos. For example, if you noticed "XYZ" channel dominating your niche:
You’d want to add a tag to your video called XYZ. This trick will cause your video to you show up more often in the “related videos” sidebar when people watch videos from that channel. That means more views for you.
BONUS2 - Use Suggested Video to Get More Views
YouTube has a powerful feature called “Featured Video”. And it’s a dead-simple ways to get more views to your high-priority videos.
What is it?
It’s a simple little graphic that shows up when people watch one of your videos. The graphic encourages people to watch a different video:
I don’t see ANYONE utilizing this feature. That’s probably because YouTube buries it
Here’s how to set it up.
First, head over to your YouTube Dashboard.
Click on Channel Settings In-Video Programming From The Left hand Sidebar:
Under “Featured Video,” choose a video, the start time and hit “update”
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