SEO for YouTube are strategies for optimizing channels and videos to improve positioning in search results. YouTube is the largest video platform on the internet and is also considered one of the biggest search engines. So it is important to know how to optimize your content over there.
Search Engine Optimization is the set of strategies for optimizing the user experience that aims to improve the positioning of a page on search engines.
It encompasses issues of programming, design, content production and relationships with other sites, so that search engines consider that page is the best result for what the user is looking for.
Of course, when it comes to SEO, what you want is to win the top positions of Google. After all, this internet giant dominates over 90% of searches worldwide. Bing, Yahoo! and Baidu are the other search engines that keep the rest of that share.
That said, let’s now understand what SEO for YouTube is.
Search engines exist in many other places on the internet. When you access a website, for example, there is usually a search there, which searches the internal content. On social networks , there is also an internal search engine.
This is also what happens on YouTube, which offers its own search system so that users can easily find the channels and videos they are looking for .
And the platform has a lot of weight among internet searchers: this 2017 study showed that YouTube had a higher number of searches than Yahoo! and Bing, for example.
So, let’s now see some techniques for YouTube to favor your channel and your videos in users’ search results.
1. Conduct keyword research
Keywords are essential in SEO for YouTube, as well as for Google. Through them, the platform identifies the video’s theme, indexes the content and associates it with users’ searches.
For this, they must be inserted in certain fields – title, tags and description, for example, as we will see below – when uploading the file, so that YouTube can collect this information and use it in the ranking.
Therefore, you need to know which keywords best identify your videos and, at the same time, have the potential to attract more viewers to your channel.
You can use basic tools such as the search bar autocomplete function on Youtube to find relevant keywords.
You can also try to find out what keywords your competitors are using. To do this, visit the channels that are authorities in your niche. If they have a good audience and a lot of views, they probably adopt good SEO practices for YouTube and know how to use keywords. Then, analyze what terms they use in their most popular videos.
Keywords Everywhere and Google trends are other tools that you can use to find trending keywords.
2. Use a good title
After doing a good keyword research, you already have a good selection of terms at hand. So, what to do with them?
One of the fields where the keyword needs to appear is the title. This is one of the most important factors for YouTube to index and rank the content. And, for the video to appear well positioned, the title must be as close as possible to the user’s search.
The main keyword should appear at the beginning of the title.
3. Insert Tags or Bookmarks
On YouTube, tags or bookmarks are essential for ranking a video. They are one of the factors that YouTube uses to identify the subjects of a video and index correctly, but also to recommend related videos. And those suggestions are also an important source of traffic for your videos.
In this field, YouTube allows you to use 120 characters. You can also use 6 to 8 words, so as not to confuse the algorithm with terms that are distant from its content.
4. Write Descriptions
The description is another important field that must be filled in when uploading the video. This text should provide information about what the video says, in the most descriptive way possible.
If the title needs to be concise, the description can be longer and more detailed. You have up to 5000 characters for this.
Description is essential for ranking for two reasons. It can pull visitors to your website, since the initial part of the description appears in the search results (so try to keep the main information at the beginning of the text). So, with an attractive description, you can increase your video engagement and earn points with YouTube.
The description also allows Youtube to better understand what the video is about.
5. Make Longer Videos
Longer videos tend to do better on Youtube. This is because Youtube also looks at the total time watched. If the video is engaging enough and long enough, it will be considered as a quality video.
Videos shorter than 2 minutes tend to be poorly positioned. The average duration of the first 5 positions is 11min44s.
Therefore, it is worthwhile to start investing in longer videos, which are about 10 minutes long. They probably meet the expectations of those looking for more complete and in-depth content . On the other hand, videos shorter than 2 minutes tend to be more superficial.
