Websites are not the only thing people are searching for these days. YouTube has become a major source for tutorials, education, and entertainment. For content creators, YouTube SEO is important to rank higher in search and appear in recommendation feeds. These are some key aspects of YouTube SEO.
Keyword Research
Similar to web SEO, keyword research is an important aspect of YouTube SEO. Tools such as VidIQ’s AI Keyword Generator can help you find keywords. Additionally, Google Trends has an option to show trends specifically for YouTube search.
Optimized Titles and Descriptions
Also similar to web SEO, optimized titles and descriptions are useful as well. You should include your keyword early in the title and titles should be kept between 50-60 characters. Descriptions should be concise, coming in around 125-200 characters, and should naturally include keywords while expanding on the video’s content.
Engagement Signals
Additionally, YouTube tracks engagement signals. Engagement signals tracked by YouTube are watch time, click-through rate, likes, comments, and shares. Having a strong hook early in the video and an engaging script can really help in this category.
Tags and Metadata
Tags play a minimal role in boosting SEO when compared to other metrics such as engagement and the overall quality of your content. Regardless, you should still take the time to add relevant tags on your videos to help with categorization.
Captions and Transcripts
YouTube uses AI to analyze audio and video content for categorization. Adding closed captions to your video and including keywords can help the algorithm understand your video’s context.
Thumbnails and CTR
YouTube statistics show that you’ll want to make a custom thumbnail for your video. According to YouTube, 90% of the best-performing videos have custom thumbnails. Custom thumbnails should be interesting to entice clicks, but should also match your video’s vibe. A high click-through rate tells YouTube that your content is relevant and valuable to viewers.
One Response
Very good intel on to the separate engine of youtube. Our class definitely targets more of the standard search engine (google specifically) but youtube is a little different, so it is good to see how to optimize a video there.