YouTube is a powerful marketing platform that your company should use, with over 6 billion hours of video viewed each month.
This should not surprise you. We are willing to bet you have an account and have probably used multiple video marketing approaches to promote your business. We’re also willing to bet that those video marketing techniques and a YouTube SEO strategy went ignored, and you gave up on your efforts.
This is a common YouTube theme. We’ve seen far too many clients spend thousands of dollars curating great content that never gets viewed, causing them to abandon their efforts entirely. The key to YouTube SEO is to have your videos appear in Google and YouTube searches. This results in an automated flow of people discovering your videos.
Youtube Search Bar
Okay, let’s embark on an epic keyword journey with your best friend, the YouTube search bar. Even if you enter a simple keyword like “how-to,” which is almost an auxiliary keyword for many phrases, YouTube will begin to make suggestions, hence your YouTube SEO strategy succeeds.
However, “how-to” is a very broad keyword. So, how do we narrow it down? Let’s add a verb, like install. We are now entering a more technical landscape, which is all about construction or building something. We’re in the instructional, or tutorial, a section of YouTube. However, your channel and topic of interest will be very specific to one of these keywords.
So, to dip your toes into the YouTube SEO bathtub, start with the search bar and see what auto-complete suggestions are pushing your way for your topic of interest.
Manipulate The Alphabets In The Search Bar
Another option is to play the YouTube search keyword alphabet game. Once you’ve settled on a keyword, simply add one character to it and work your way through the alphabet. So it’s either “how to make slime A” or “how to make slime B.” And YouTube will provide you with a plethora of interesting suggestions based on what people are looking for.
Video Length
Views were used as part of the algorithm when YouTube first launched. The more people who watched your video, the higher it ranked. YouTube’s policy was changed about two years ago. While they continue to count aggregate views, they do so in tandem with engagement metrics:
- The number of seconds spent watching
- Likes and comments
- Social responsibilities
- These additional metrics aid in the reduction of click farms, which were generating millions of false clicks. Previously, it was preferable to produce a large number of videos with little regard for content. It is now preferable to create content-rich videos that increase user engagement.
The longer you can keep a user watching your video, the higher it will rank, and your video marketing will be more effective. As a result, longer videos will add more seconds to your total.
Anything less is considered spam by YouTube. The more content you have in your video, the better the YouTube SEO of your video (i.e. better user experience).
Video Description
To begin, include a link to your website just like Simply Explainer does. Many people fail to link to their website or landing page during video marketing strategies, which ultimately tarnishes their YouTube SEO strategy.
While video views are great, YouTube is only a means to an end. Your video marketing approach should compel viewers to take action. This action should result in clicks to your website, where you can complete the marketing process (i.e. lead capture, purchases, etc). So, please, include links! Aside from links, you should optimize the rest of your video description.
Custom Thumbnails
You can influence a user’s first impression by including a custom thumbnail. Including a thumbnail that describes your video and why the user should click on it is highly recommended. This will significantly increase the Click-Through Rates (CTRs) of your videos. Eventually, your YouTube SEO strategy will be more effective.
Closing
When used correctly, YouTube is a powerful platform. Video marketing is still in its infancy and will only grow in importance as time goes on. It is critical for success to get your content in front of the right people at the right time. If you follow the steps outlined above, your videos will begin to rank in both YouTube and Google search engines.
