Want to expand your brand’s reach with innovative content? YouTube might be your answer. And it’s definitely worth exploring. In fact, the Content Marketing Institute discovered that YouTube is a powerful marketing tool for 86% of B2C brands. For 22% of B2B brands, it’s the top-performing channel. But creating engaging video content takes time and sometimes money, so you want to maximize your investment. That’s where a solid YouTube SEO strategy from the get-go comes in. Let’s dive into how to get started.
Contents
YouTube SEO: Reach more viewers
YouTube is a video platform, but it’s also a search engine. Some argue, (like in The New York Times) that it’s even better than Google! Here’s how to approach your YouTube content creation with SEO in mind:
1. Keyword Research is Key
Whether it’s the core of your content plan or part of brainstorming, keyword research is crucial. This applies to blog posts and guides you want ranking high on Google. It’s also true for YouTube. Your videos can appear on Google’s search results, and you want them showing up in YouTube’s search results, too. Because, remember, YouTube is a search engine. When creating YouTube videos, look for keyword opportunities. Start by checking out trending videos on your account’s homepage. Familiar SEO tools like Semrush and Ahrefs offer the option to focus keyword research on YouTube specifically. Explore features like keyword term matches, related long-tail keywords, and competition levels. Google Trends also lets you see trending topics by selecting “YouTube Search” in the drop-down menu. This is another option for exploring keywords, particularly if you don’t have a paid tool like Ahrefs or Semrush. While the features aren’t as comprehensive, you can still gauge interest in certain areas and gather related keyword ideas.
Don’t forget about optimizing past content! If you have an active channel, review your existing videos and see if you can improve their titles or descriptions with targeted keywords—which leads us to our next tip.
Need help finding the right keywords? Try our Free Keyword Tool!
2. Optimize Your Titles and Descriptions
With your keywords ready, ensure your video title and description are SEO-friendly. Here’s how:
- Incorporate Target Keywords: Include your target keyword in your title, preferably at the beginning. Make sure they appear in your description as well.
- Keep it Concise: Aim for a title between 50 and 60 characters and a description between 125 and 200 characters.
- Be Clear and Specific: Titles and descriptions should accurately reflect the video content. Keyword intent matters on YouTube, too!
The top organic result is an exact match for the search term.
3. Use Relevant Tags
Tags are like keywords for your video’s metadata. YouTube hasn’t clarified how effective tags are for attracting new viewers. Their official response on YouTube Help says tags help viewers find content but “play a minimal role in your video’s discovery.” However, adding tags when uploading takes seconds. Do it anyway, “minimal” impact or not. After adding your title and description, scroll down in the video upload screen’s details section and click “show more.”
Once the tags section appears, add a few words and phrases describing your video. For example, a cake baking video could have tags like: “how to bake a cake,” “baking a birthday cake,” “pineapple upside down cake,” etc.
Pro tip: If it’s a tutorial about your product or service, tag your brand name!
Free guide download » The 36 Best Call to Action Phrases Ever (& Why They Work)
4. Choose a Category
You can select a category for your YouTube video below the tags section. The impact of categories is debatable, with some claiming it can help or hurt performance and others questioning its relevance altogether. But it only takes a second, so why not? If it boosts your ranking potential, you don’t want to miss out.
YouTube offers these categories:
- Autos & Vehicles
- Comedy
- Education
- Entertainment
- Film & Animation
- Gaming
- How to & Style
- Music
- News & Politics
- Nonprofits & Activism
- People & Blogs
- Pets & Animals
- Science & Technology
- Sports
- Travel & Events Don’t overthink it. Pick the most suitable category and move on to more crucial aspects of YouTube SEO.
5. Design a Custom Thumbnail
YouTube automatically picks a still frame from your video as the thumbnail. Don’t settle for this. Create your own! According to YouTube, 90% of top-performing videos use custom thumbnails. People are drawn to visually appealing content, and a blurry still frame won’t cut it. Designing your YouTube thumbnail can be a task for a designer, or you can easily create one in Canva or even Google Slides with a screengrab and a title overlay. Check out the thumbnails for budgeting videos – they’re diverse but have simple designs. Most use still images with titles, screenshots, or logos.
When crafting your thumbnail, remember these specifications:
- Minimum resolution: 1280×720
- Minimum width: 640 pixels
- File types: JPG, GIF, or PNG
- Maximum file size: 2MB for videos, 10MB for podcasts
- Required aspect ratio: 16:9 Don’t forget to add your logo as a watermark!
6. Curate Playlists
YouTube allows you to group multiple videos into playlists. Once you have a few related videos, make a playlist! By grouping related videos, you keep viewers engaged longer. This could be multiple videos on one topic, like the gardening or cake baking examples. You can also target playlists to specific audiences, like marketing tips for SMBs or yoga for teachers.
7. Don’t Forget Your File Name
We’re all guilty of downloading files and never renaming them. It’s frustrating ending up with 16 files named “screenshot.” But it’s also a missed optimization opportunity. Take the time to rename your YouTube video files with your keyword or even the full title including “how to.” This helps YouTube’s search engine understand your video content through its metadata.
8. Analyze & Adapt
Optimizing your video’s visibility is crucial, but tracking performance is equally important. Go to the Analytics section on your YouTube Studio sidebar.
Here, you can see your overall views, watch time, and subscriber count. You can also delve into individual video performance and audience demographics, including new versus returning viewers. This data helps you create new content or optimize existing videos with fresh keywords based on what resonates with your audience. Plus, it helps you identify what’s not working.
After all, YouTube has over 2.7 billion users. And its users spend an average of 48 minutes each day on the platform. Your audience is out there; you just need to create content they’re interested in and get it in front of them!
YouTube SEO helps your videos reach the right viewers on YouTube and Google, so it’s worth the effort. But it’s not the only way to get noticed, so here are some extra tactics to boost your YouTube channel’s growth.
Worried you’re wasting spend in Google Ads? Find out with a free, instant audit » Google Ads Performance Grader
More Ways to Get Discovered on YouTube
SEO is vital for reaching more people on YouTube, but other strategies can amplify your channel and content.
9. Create a Channel Trailer
I love this tip because more YouTube channels need trailers! These short videos:
- Introduce your audience to you and your brand
- Outline the type of content you publish
- Preview your videos’ style That last point is especially helpful. If you mainly post podcast interviews, how-to videos, or chatty, vlog-style content, your audience should know upfront. The best part? You don’t need to create entirely new content. Highlighting snippets from existing videos works perfectly!
10. Cross-Promote on Other Channels
SEO is great for finding new viewers, but if your business has a following elsewhere, chances are some of them are already on YouTube. They just need to know you’re there! Promote your YouTube content across your other platforms. Embed relevant videos in your blog posts. Dedicate a section in your newsletter to your YouTube channel and link to new videos. If you’re on LinkedIn or Instagram, announce new videos and include CTAs to subscribe to your channel.
YouTuber Zoe Sugg promoting her videos on her Instagram Stories.
Free guide download » The 42 Best Call to Action Phrases Ever (& Why They Work)
11. Create a Series
Consistent content keeps your audience engaged and attracts newcomers. Your series could be long-term, like product updates or video recordings of your brand’s podcast. Experiment with limited-time series too. For instance, create summer-themed content like lawn care tips throughout June or weekly reviews of ice cream shops in your area. (Who doesn’t love good cookie dough ice cream?) Always add series videos to a playlist for easy navigation.
Yoga With Adriene has offered 30 days of yoga series for years, amassing tons of playlists for new viewers.
12. Leverage YouTube Shorts
YouTube’s short-form video content, called YouTube Shorts, has a massive audience. In the US alone, 152 million monthly users engage with YouTube Shorts. This number is only expected to grow.
Source
YouTube Shorts are designed for vertical viewing (and scrolling) on smartphones. These videos vary in length but are capped at 60 seconds. Your shorts will be featured on your channel and included in YouTube’s search results alongside regular videos.
YouTube Shorts are also becoming a major advertising platform. Last year, 43% of ad buyers reported that their clients were advertising on YouTube Shorts, alongside TikTok and Instagram Reels. Keep this in mind if you’re running ads on YouTube. And that brings us to our final tip.
13. Explore Paid Promotion
Running ads on YouTube ensures your videos are seen by the right people. YouTube offers various ad formats like short bumper ads, skippable and non-skippable instream ads, infeed ads, and more. Make sure your ads have a clear CTA and consider using snippets from existing videos.
Get More Views with Powerful YouTube SEO
YouTube presents a huge marketing opportunity for everyone from individuals and small businesses to large corporations. The key is finding your audience, and a robust YouTube SEO strategy paves the way. Here’s a recap of our essential YouTube SEO tips, plus bonus strategies:
- Prioritize keyword research
- Optimize titles and descriptions
- Use relevant tags
- Categorize your videos
- Create custom thumbnails
- Build playlists
- Don’t neglect file names
- Analyze and adapt your strategy
- Create a channel trailer
- Cross-promote on other channels
- Develop video series
- Embrace YouTube Shorts
- Consider paid promotion Now go get those views!