SEO For YouTube
- Faith Bakewell (Deactivated)
How does SEO on YouTube work?
YouTube’s algorithm evaluates various SEO factors when ranking YouTube videos and channels. These include video titles, descriptions, metadata, tags, thumbnails, how long people watch the video, view count, and more.
The YouTube algorithm shows viewers the most relevant and useful YouTube videos.
YouTube videos can also rank in search engines like Google!
Why is YouTube SEO important?
More Views
showing up in top search results means more people will have the opportunity to click and view our videos and can also help solidify brand awareness.
More conversions
more shares and engagement with the potential of more subscriptions, account creations, and revenue later.
Boosts organic website traffic
having your YouTube videos show in search results on Google helps CTRs, build brand awareness, and drive organic traffic to our websites from YouTube.
Cost-effective
all you need is to invest a little extra time to optimizing YouTube videos.
YouTube SEO Strategy
Keyword Research (KWR)
KWR is an essential part of SEO. Keywords represent the words and phrases the audience will most likely use when searching for content like yours.
Use Ahrefs for Keyword Research by using the Keyword Explorer Tool and select ‘YouTube’ from the list of search engine options. Enter your list of keywords to get the average monthly number of searches for a keyword over the latest known 12 months of data.
If your video already exists on YouTube, you can plug that YouTube URL into Ahrefs using the Site Explorer Tool, and it will provide you with what keywords your YouTube video is already ranking for.
If you don’t have access to Ahrefs or need assistance with keyword research, submit a ticket to the SEO team, and we can help.
Use the YouTube search bar to find related search terms in addition to general Keyword Research from Ahrefs. Pretend you're searching for your video, what would you type into the search bar? Having those words in your YouTube video could help people find your content more easily. Once you have these keywords, plug them into Ahrefs to get the average monthly number of searches for each keyword.
Organize Your Keyword Research in an Excel sheet, you can use this format:
Keyword | Average Monthly Search Volume | Keyword Type (Primary, Secondary, Long Tail) |
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Once you have a list of keywords with the average monthly search volume, determine which you want to target for your video.
Keyword Types
Primary - have higher monthly search volume, but they tend to be more competitive and difficult to rank for.
Secondary - have lower search volume, but they have less competition, which makes them easier to rank for.
Long Tail - are longer and more niche phrases, generally related to your primary and secondary keywords.
Add Target Keywords Strategically to Your YouTube Videos
As with any SEO strategy, don’t keyword stuff. YouTube SEO is about making your content easier for your viewers to find, and for YouTube’s algorithm to understand. If you overuse your keywords, you risk confusing your audience. Or worse–getting penalized by YouTube and Google.
Google recommends using the target keyword as close to the beginning of the title, description, and tags as possible. Additionally, try to use a combination of long-tail keywords, synonyms, or related terms when writing descriptions and adding tags. Place your keywords in these areas:
Video Title
Insert your keyword naturally into the video title.
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/12340300?hl=en&sjid=21436646725091399-NA
Video Description
Optimize your video description with a target keyword and synonyms. Try adding a CTA. The official character limit for video descriptions is 1,000 characters. Try to make the description at least 250 characters but if you write a longer description, include the most important information in the first 100 characters that shows. Include relevant links to the website. Viewers will have to click “view more” to read the remaining information.
Tags
Tag your video with popular keywords that relate to the video topic. This helps informs not only viewers but YouTube itself to understand the content and context of the video. Add around 5-8 tags. This is helpful so YouTube can figure out how to associate your video with similar videos which can broaden your video's reach. Don’t spam by adding irrelevant tags to get more views, Google can penalize you for that.
Video Chapters/Timestamps
Video Transcription
Video File Name
Rename your video file using a target keyword. Use dashes or underscores between each word.
Use Captions
Captions are an essential part of social media accessibility. Not only do they benefit your viewers with hearing impairments, but they also add context and fill in any audio gaps that viewers might miss.
On top of improving accessibility and user experience, captions let you include important keywords that YouTube can easily pick up on.
Captions can be added manually by uploading a text transcript or a timed subtitles file. YouTube also offers the option to directly enter transcript text, allowing the subtitles and timings to be automatically synced with your video.
Add Timestamps to the Video
YouTube timestamps let YouTube know where the important parts of your video begin and end. This allows YouTube to understand the content of your video even better–and in turn, gives you a stronger YouTube SEO ranking signal.
In Google search results, timestamps are shown below video search results in a “key moments” section. If a user searches for a particular phrase and Google sees that this phrase is used as a timestamp, Google will direct the user to the exact part of your video where they can find the answer.
Other YouTube Video Best Practices to Implement:
Categorize Videos
Video categories help users find your video and help the YouTube algorithm understand what the video is about. Categories come into play on the YouTube home page, explore page, and sidebar menu.
Add a custom thumbnail image for video’s result link
You can use a variation of the keyword within the thumbnail image. The YouTube video channel must be verified to access custom thumbnail uploads.
Use relevant hashtags to increase reach
Hashtags are different from tags. They show up above your video title and help you increase reach and authority by further signaling what your video is about.
Add Cards and End Screens that tie into the topic of the video
Cards are equivalent to internal and external linking, and end screens allow you to engage viewers during those critical last few seconds when a viewer might be tempted to click to another piece of content.
Create Playlists for overarching topics
Finding a few related videos and putting them in a playlist will not only attract more viewers, but it will also help the YouTube algorithm understand how your video relates to others in your upload library.
Optimize your Channel Page
Optimize your channel page to help increase subscribers and improve rankings. Include keywords within the channel’s about section and include a link back to the homepage of the website.
YouTube Analytics
Check on the performance of your YouTube videos by using YouTube Analytics which is YouTube’s native keyword research panel. It provides insights on YouTube search terms and also flags content gaps.
This YouTube SEO tool shows you the searches YouTube viewers are making and how popular each keyword is relative to others. You can also see location data, device data, which cards were clicked, if subtitles were used, and more.
Essential Metrics:
Watch Time - The total overall number of minutes users spend with your content.
Impressions CTR - The rate at which people decide to check out your video after first seeing it on their homepage.
Card CTR - Similar to the above, but for YouTube cards included in your content.
Traffic Sources - How and from where users found their way to your content.
Unique Viewers - The estimated number of users who view your content over a specified period.
Subscriber Growth - How your subscriber count has changed as related to location, individual videos, time periods, and so forth.
Audience Retention - How well different moments of your video held viewers' attention.
YouTube SEO Dashboard Template: