YouTube was founded in the year 2005 on February 14 and is an online video sharing and social media platform. The social sharing platform is the brainchild of Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim. Later this social platform was acquired by Google in 2006 for 1.65 Billion USD.
The social media platform offers its user a ton load of content like movies, and educational content, and also offers a premium membership program. The popularity of YouTube is so big that it gathers the second largest online traffic after Google.
As for its revenue model YouTube generates it via Google Adsense in which YouTube SEO plays a major role. According to stats published on Statista, the advertisement revenue collected by YouTube in the first quarter of 2022 alone accounts for 6.9 Billion USD.
Looking at these numbers it makes sense that YouTube had over 113.9 Million channels as of March 2022. But such a large number means cut-throat competition among channels to reach their target audience. So how do the channels rank themselves higher in YouTube ranking?
They do so with the help of search engine optimization and to speak precisely they make use of YouTube SEO and YouTube optimization. But what impact does YouTube video SEO have on your channel?
Impact of SEO On Your YouTube Channel
With SEO marketing methods becoming more imaginative by the day, it’s no wonder that search engine optimization impacts YouTube as well. YouTube hosts about 2 Billion monthly users and as per Statista India has the largest YouTube audience by far with a staggering number of 467 Million.
With such a large audience, it’s extremely challenging to rank your channel and that’s where YouTube SEO plays a crucial role. SEO analyzes and optimizes your content so that it appears at the top of search results when someone searches for it. Also, it allows you to attract a larger audience and expand organically on YouTube, enhancing video engagement metrics.
YouTube optimization also impacts your page ranking since an audiovisual impact is stronger and more effective than just visual ones.
Although implementing SEO tactics to your YouTube channel is entirely up to you. But, keep in mind that YouTube SEO is a time-consuming process that requires effort to attract much-needed traffic to your channel.
But by sticking to the video SEO fundamentals, you can steadily expand your channel without relying on paid methods. Before we talk about how you can rank your videos on YouTube, let us first discuss the importance of SEO for YouTube.
How Important Is YouTube SEO
YouTube SEO plays a major role in making your channel popular and known amongst the people. Apart from this video SEO is important because
1. It helps save time and money
While most marketing tactics and technologies are expensive and time-consuming, SEO is not! Instead, SEO is one of the simplest and least expensive ways to grow your YouTube channel.
To get started with your SEO optimization all you have to do is register your channel and start optimizing it for SEO. To do so you have to find top YouTube keywords and use them in video descriptions to rank higher in search results.
All this will help your channel to rank higher much faster and save both your time and energy.
2. It helps in quick growth
YouTube SEO is one of the most effective and fastest ways to grow your channel. SEO draws people to your channel, giving you a fantastic start.
So when someone searches, the channels that have strong material that resembles the search query that channel will appear at the top. Although other things impact the result such as video title, thumbnail, and the keywords used.
But if you implement the SEO tactics precisely then your channel will grow in no time.
- It helps generate more traffic
When you make use of top YouTube keywords and other SEO guidelines the chances of your channel attracting more traffic increase significantly. This is the most important feature that search engine optimization has to offer.
After all, all the channels present on the platform are looking for more traffic on their videos. So when you make use of good video SEO tactics you make your channel more presentable to the Google algorithm.
Now that you know the impact and importance of YouTube SEO, it’s time to learn how you can rank your videos higher and reach a larger audience.
YouTube SEO: How to Rank Videos
Ranking their video at the top is a priority for any channel. But to rank your video higher is a challenging task but this can be done if you follow these tips.
1. Choose the right keywords
YouTube is the second most used website after Google. Although it is a video sharing/social media platform the majority of people use it as a search engine. That’s why you must use the right keywords in your YouTube description, title, or any other place where content is required.
To find the top YouTube keywords you can search keywords for YouTube with help of keyword tools. By utilizing the right keywords, you increase the chances of your video appearing in the search results. And as a consequence, you’ll know what your target audience is looking for.
2. Optimize the video description
Create a description for your video clip. The initial few sentences have a significant impact on your video’s search engine rating. While your title’s main purpose is to attract the attention of potential visitors, your description can be a little more detailed.
To write the best possible description you should adhere to the video SEO guidelines. Also, remember to use keywords in your description as YouTube also suggests that you start your description with the most crucial keywords.
3. Use the right thumbnails
Just as the saying goes that “first impression is the last impression”, just like in real life the same goes on YouTube. Whenever people come to your channel the first thing that they see even before playing the video is the thumbnail.
That’s why you must use the right thumbnail. Make sure that your video thumbnail sparks curiosity in the viewer’s mind so that he/she may click on the video.
4. Choose a category
Imagine yourself in a situation where you search for an automobile or a mobile-related video, but instead, you see videos related to other topics. So will you look at the other video? No, because that’s not what you were looking for.
To save yourself from such a situation, categorize your videos according to the type of content. YouTube has a wide range of category possibilities, so you should be able to choose one that fits your YouTube videos.
5. Make use of social media
This is the most important thing to do if you want to rank your YouTube videos. Imagine you followed all the YouTube SEO guidelines, used the right keywords, and even optimized it; but do you think that it will attract traffic/viewers?
No, because people don’t know about your video. That’s why you need to market your video and to do this you can make use of social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, etc. This will help you put your video in front of a large audience which will help spread the word about your awesome video.
Now that you have learned how you can rank your YouTube videos, it’s time to learn about things to avoid. After all, it’s inevitable not to make mistakes, but for sure these mistakes can be avoided if you know about them prior.
10 Common YouTube SEO Mistakes and How To Overcome Them
When you start working on your video SEO, chances are that you might make some mistakes. So to help you avoid these mistakes we have pointed out 10 common YouTube SEO mistakes.
1. Not knowing your audience
According to SEO experts, not understanding your target audience is like shooting in the dark. As a result, you don’t know what kind of video your audience likes which in turn leads to a loss of viewers and that’s a bad thing.
But this can be avoided and all you have to do is to know your audience. You can make use of analytics tools and see what kind of audience is engaging with your content the most. These tools can also provide you with their demographics, age, gender, and even the OS they are using. All this will help you make content that your audience will like to see.
2. No SEO roadmap
Imagine yourself going on a journey, you are all packed and have all the necessary items required but don’t have any road map. What do you think will happen? You’ll get lost. The same goes for video SEO because without an SEO roadmap you’re as good as lost.
So before you even start working on your YouTube SEO, make sure you have a roadmap. With a clear road map, you’ll have a clear idea about your goals and how you are going to achieve them.
3. Not finalizing your niche
There are millions of channels and categories on YouTube to choose from, but if you don’t finalize your niche then it’s a big red flag. Because without a pepper niche YouTube’s SEO algorithm won’t be able to rank your videos.
But this can be avoided by choosing a proper niche. When you finalize your niche and produce content in it the algorithm can rank your video in the respective niche based on the engagement. Another thing to remember when finalizing your niche is to make sure that you love the niche you pick because YouTube is a long game.
4. Using wrong keywords
If you want to go to a city named “A” and if someone gives the direction of city “B”, will you be able to reach your destination? No, because you have the wrong directions. The same goes for YouTube SEO when you use the wrong keywords.
So, if you want to rank your videos in the right categories, make sure to use the right keywords. For this, you can make use of keyword tools that will help you select the right keywords leading to a good ranking on YouTube.
5. Using too many keywords
Most people usually think that stuffing their video description with keywords is good for their video SEO. But, it’s not instead it harms your YouTube SEO. It’s because the algorithm keeps tabs on multiple factors to rank your videos and keywords are one of them.
To avoid any overstuffing of keywords, you should read all the YouTube SEO and Google SEO guidelines. Reading them will tell you how much usage of keywords is good for YouTube optimization.
6. Low-quality video
No one likes to see low-quality videos anymore. Because now people have devices with high-end resolution and high-speed internet. And if you produce low-quality videos for your channel, then there is a high priority that you won’t get much traffic.
Instead, you should produce videos of high quality that are free from any unnecessary noise and frame fluctuation. With good quality, you’ll attract more traffic to your channel which in turn will lead to a higher ranking on YouTube.
7. Not optimizing your videos
As we said earlier the YouTube SEO algorithm takes multiple factors into account to rank your videos, and YouTube optimization is one of them. Optimization includes multiple things like video description, title, and even thumbnails. And if you don’t optimize these things it will lead to bad SEO ranking.
So make sure that video description, title, and thumbnails are fully optimized as per YouTube SEO guide All this will help improve the rank of your videos and gather a large amount of traffic.
8. Publishing plagiarized content
Most people don’t see a video twice unless it’s very interesting, and even if they do they’re likely to see it from the same channel. So when you copy someone’s content, you might think that it will get you more traffic but that’s not true. Instead, people will avoid it because they have already seen it from the source.
Instead what you should do is understand your audience which will help you choose content that they will like. So when you publish content that your audience likes it will lead to more views meaning more engagement and that means a higher ranking on YouTube.
9. Not engaging with your audience
Just like optimization and keywords, engaging with your customers via comments on the video is a parameter for ranking your videos. And if you are missing out on this then you are missing out on ranking higher. So make sure you engage with your audience.
We also understand that it’s difficult to interact with all of them. So what you can do is make a schedule and reply to the comments of your viewers. But make sure you avoid any spam or illegal methods to obtain comments because YouTube is very strict about such cases.
10. Not posting consistently
This parameter is not only important for YouTube SEO instead it’s very crucial for your overall success. So if you don’t publish with a schedule then YouTube doesn’t showcase your video even if you use the right keywords.
To avoid such a scenario, make sure to have a publishing schedule and stick with it. You can also make use of a third-party tool that will upload the video on a pre-decided date and time. This will help you in posting regularly and improve your channels over YouTube SEO ranking.
Tips for Best YouTube SEO Practices
If you want to rank your video higher and reach a much larger audience than your competitors, there are a few tips that you should follow.
- Conduct thorough keyword research
- Keep an engaging title
- Make proper use of video tags
- Choose the right video category
- Make high-quality video
- Ask viewers to subscribe
- Create a playlist on your channel
- Promote your channel on social media
Conclusion
We hope this article helped you understand the importance of YouTube SEO Guide and how to rank your videos along with other important concepts. Although you need to remember that video SEO guidelines keep on changing so you need to keep tabs on the same.
But if you use YouTube correctly it has tremendous potential as it is a great marketing tool. Although video marketing is still in its infancy and will only grow in importance as time goes on. That’s why you should start on this track early and be a step ahead of your competition.
Remember to get your information in front of the right people at the right time. Make sure to follow all the tips and learnings mentioned above, and in return, your videos will begin to rank higher and reach a larger audience.
FAQ
- What impact do YouTube video views have on ranking?
The number of views alone on your channel/videos does not have any significant effect on your YouTube ranking. Although earlier they used to be the main criteria where more views equal popular video, later YouTube made changes in its algorithm. Now retention time clubbed with no of view is a viable metric to rank your videos.
2. What YouTube metrics are most important?
There are several metrics to look out for when ranking your video but the most important ones are
- Number of views and impressions
- Total watch time
- Repeat and unique viewers
- No of subscribers
- Demographics and revenue stats
3. What is the best SEO tool for YouTube?
-YouTube analytics
-YouTube autosuggest
-Google keyword planner
-Google trends
-VidIQ
-Truebuddy
4. What is considered viral on YouTube?
There is no specific metric or number to describe a viral video because any video can become viral depending on its content. It can be a funny video, stunt video, or video of any genre. All that a video needs to go viral is a large number of views in a short time clubbed with many social mentions.
5. Is YouTube SEO the same as Google SEO?
No, both Google and YouTube SEO is different and work on different parameters. Google SEO takes backlinks as major governing criteria wherein YouTube SEO takes impression and engagement as the main criteria.
