Have you optimized your YouTube videos? If not, are you ready to get started? Well, YouTube is the second largest search engine just after Google.
Consequently, video is becoming a profitable marketing platform across the globe. With that in mind, it is important that you start optimizing your YouTube videos.
That way, you will be able to connect with millions of potential customers, increase your brand’s visibility, and improve your search presence.
How to Optimize Your YouTube Videos
- Pay attention to the file name
Before uploading or optimizing your video, it is important to ensure that the file name and title of the video are similar. Additionally, be sure to use a hypen to separate the words. Adding keywords is also a nice touch.
- Research your keywords
Doing keyword research is a great strategy for kickstarting your YouTube SEO.
- Add targeted keywords to video title and description
One of the key things you need to do before uploading your YouTube video is to ensure that it contains the targeted keyword on both the title and description.
Fortunately, YouTube gives you a lot of real estate in which to add a keyword rich description.
- Tags and Categories
When uploading your video, you will be able to upload it under your category of choice, or the category that is most relevant to your video.
Additionally, you will be able to tag your video using appropriate keywords, which helps to distinguish it from the different categories. Users will be able to find your video by putting keywords in the search box that correspond to keywords in your title, description, file name and tags.
- Video title should contain naturally placed keywords.
A video title should contain at least 50 characters. Additionally, placing keywords naturally is a great way of ensuring that your video’s title shows up in user’s search terms, and / or Google search results.
If you want to capture the interest of your audience, it is critical that you write detailed, persuasive, engaging and clear titles.
- Generate informative and SEO friendly video descriptions
It is critical that you write a well-optimized, well-worded description. A description, which can also be referred to as a meta-data, enables YouTube to comprehend the content of your video.
Be sure to include your target keywords at the beginning of your description, or in the first two sentences because they are the only ones that will be visible in search results. Additionally, it would be a good idea to include a link to both your website and landing page.
If your video is short, then including a transcript of what is being said will help YouTube understand what the video is about and rank it accordingly.
- Generate video thumbnails
Video thumbnails are the images that you see on search results. YouTube generates thumbnails automatically, but it is advisable that you create your own thumbnails so that you can make them unique and attractive. The pixels of your thumbnails should be 1280 x 720.
- Add snippets of your YouTube videos to your website and social media platforms
Snippets will not only capture the interest of your target audience, but also increase views for your YouTube videos. Additionally, adding snippets to your website and social platforms will help to ensure that your audience is up-to-date more so when you upload a new video.
Your subscribers will be able to watch your videos without having to go to your YouTube channel.
9. Call to action
Another great way of optimizing your YouTube videos and increasing their credibility is by encouraging people to take action such as asking them to subscribe to your YouTube channel.
Additionally, you can ask your subscribers to like or give your videos thumbs up.
- Create compelling and engaging videos
Are your videos engaging? Do your subscribers watch your videos to the end? Creating persuasive and engaging videos is a great way of ensuring that they rank highly on YouTube search results. Content is King, remember?
- Generate a playlist
A playlist is a group of all the videos you have uploaded on your YouTube channel. With that in mind, creating a playlist allows your viewers to access and watch your videos with ease.
Additionally, your subscribers will receive a notification every time you add a new video to the playlist. Playlists tend to appear repeatedly on YouTube search results because they are indexed separately.
Be sure to optimize your YouTube channel using the techniques listed above.
- Add social profiles to your YouTube page
In addition to your website, you can also place links to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social profiles on your YouTube page.
Want to kick-start your video page with our YouTube Accelerator Program? Give us a call!
