YouTube SEO: Strategies to Rank Your Videos on Top

So, when you experiment with YouTube SEO, consider how you may include words and phrases that your intended audience uses.

You should also consider YouTube metrics and engagement. YouTube considers “watch time”. Or, more simply, how long viewers remain on your video — when ranking videos. Short watch times mean your content is probably not going to rank while long watch times mean your content is worthwhile.

Don’t worry if you’re feeling lost. To successfully optimize your content for YouTube searches, we’ve included the most crucial YouTube SEO guidelines below.

1. Use a target keyword in the renaming of your video file

You’ll use an SEO tool, just like you would when optimizing textual content. First choose the keywords you want to emphasize in your video. You may browse popular YouTube SEO tools below these suggestions, or just click the link earlier in this article.

Before even uploading your video to YouTube, you should add your chosen keyword in the first location possible in your video file. Why? As you will see in the procedures below, there are a limited number of places on your video’s watching page where you can safely insert this phrase after it has been published. Additionally, YouTube cannot truly “watch” your video to assess how relevant it is to your target keyword. However, YouTube can read the file name of your video and all accompanying code.

2. In the video title, organically incorporate your keyword

When looking for videos online, the title is one of the first things that catch our attention. Since the title is typically what makes the customer click to watch your movie, it needs to be both intriguing and brief.

Even if the title of your video heavily incorporates your keyword, it also helps if it closely matches what the audience is looking for. Videos with exact keyword matches in the title perform only marginally better than those without. 

3. Optimize your video description

Priorities First The official character restriction for YouTube video descriptions is 1,000 characters, according to Google. Although it’s acceptable to occupy all of that space, keep in mind that your audience most likely came to this page to watch a video rather than read an essay.

If you choose to construct a longer description, keep in mind that YouTube only displays the first two or three lines of text or around 100 characters. After that, viewers must click “show more” to see the complete explanation. The most pertinent information, such as CTAs or significant links, should be placed toward the front of the description.

Regarding the video’s optimization, adding a transcript wouldn’t harm it. It is especially for viewers who have to watch it without sound. However, there is no correlation between a term’s rankings and its optimized descriptions.

4. Add well-known keywords to your video that are relevant to your subject

YouTube recommends using tags so that viewers may more easily grasp what your video is about. However, you’re not only educating your audience; you’re also educating YouTube. Tags are used by the platform “to understand the content and context of your video.”

In this way, YouTube gains the knowledge necessary to connect your video to similar content, broadening the audience for your work. However, pick your tags carefully, and employ relevant tags. If you employ irrelevant tags in the hopes of increasing views, Google may penalize you. Similar to your description, start your page’s heading with the most crucial keywords, a decent mix of which are long-tail. That is, those that address questions like “How do I?”.

5. Categorize your video

A video can be categorized after it uploads under “Advanced settings.” On YouTube, selecting a category is another approach to organizing your video with related content. So that it shows up in several playlists and more people in your target demographic see it.

• It might not be as simple as it appears. It’s critical to follow a thorough procedure when deciding which category each video fits in. Provide information about, for example: Who are the top creators in the category? What are they renowned for and what do they excel at?
• Do viewers of comparable channels in a given category exhibit any trends?
• Are there any commonalities among the videos in a category, such as in terms of format, length, or production value?

6. Upload a custom thumbnail image for your video’s result link

The thumbnail for your video is the main image that users see when scrolling through a list of video results. The thumbnail and title convey the subject matter of video, which may have an impact on how many clicks and views your video receives.

Even though YouTube usually offers alternatives for automatically generated thumbnails, we strongly suggest making your own. According to YouTube, images with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 1280×720 pixels should be utilized. JPEG, GIF, BMP, or PNG files of 2MB or less should be used to save these photos. By adhering to those rules, you can ensure that your thumbnail appears in the same excellent quality across different viewing platforms.

7. Use an SRT file to add subtitles & closed captions

Closed captions and subtitles, like most of the other content we’ve addressed here, can improve YouTube search performance by emphasizing relevant phrases.

You must provide a valid text transcript or a file with timed subtitles if you want to add closed captions or subtitles to your video. In the first scenario, you may simply insert transcript text for a video, and it will play in sync with the video.

Use similar procedures to add subtitles, but you have control over how much text you want to show. Select “Videos” from the list of options in your video manager by going there. When you have located the video to which you wish to add closed captions or subtitles, click the drop-down arrow next to the edit button. Then choose “Subtitles/CC.” 

8. To boost the number of viewers on your YouTube channel, add cards and end screens

Have you ever been viewing a video when a tiny white circle with an “i” in the center or a transparent bar of text inviting you to subscribe appears in the corner? Cards, as defined by YouTube, are “preformatted notifications that appear on desktop and mobile and which you can set up to promote your brand and other videos on your channel.”

There are six different varieties of cards, and each movie can have up to five of them.

• Viewers to another channel using channel cards.
• Donation cards that encourage fundraising for American charitable organizations.
• Asking your audience to contribute to the creation of your video content through fan finance.

Follow these official Google instructions to add a card to your movie in detail, or watch the video below.

End Screens

End screens display similar information as it is on cards, however as you might have predicted. End screens are more aesthetically pleasing and only appear when a video has finished playing. An excellent illustration is an overlay with a book image and a visible link to watch the video below in more detail:

There are multiple detailed instructions for adding end screens, depending on the type of platform you wish to design end screens for and the various types of content that YouTube authorizes for them. Here, Google offers detailed guidelines on how to tailor your website for each of those elements.

You should be aware that YouTube frequently tests end screens to improve the viewing experience, so occasionally “your end screen, as designated by you, may not appear.” Consider these factors when selecting whether to utilize cards or end displays.

These components might seem a little time-consuming and complex, but bear in mind that people now spend a lot more time viewing YouTube on their TVs than they did a year ago. There is an audience there waiting to be discovered, and your chances increase if you optimize for YouTube.