YouTube is a great way to expand your business, and many people are making a lot of money off of filming YouTube videos. What not everyone is as aware of is that, as with your website, there are some tips that you can apply to your YouTube videos that will boost your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and get you more views and a higher click-through-rate.
a) Preview what the video is all about. A great way to do this is to go with a short intro that hooks watchers by telling them exactly what to expect in the first 10 seconds.
b) Proof. Tell viewers why they should listen to you. People like to quickly know what they are going to get out of what you are offering. Provide reasons as to why they should continue watching your movie; including accomplishments, experience, and showing proof that you've done your research.
c) Preview-again. Repeat what you are going to cover in your video, but be more specific. Refer to something that you are going to cover later on in the film. This will pique their curiosity and encourage the viewer to continue watching.
Put the keyword in the title, but do not stuff and use it only once, at the beginning. Next, say the keyword in the video. YouTube's algorithm has become super smart and can listen to your words in the video!
To increase user interaction signals, use simple annotations in-video asking people to subscribe, like, and comment. This gets you some feedback, but also keeps your viewers engaged.
In the YouTube video search engine results page, use a custom video thumbnail that includes the current year and stands out from the competition. For the description, have attention-grabbing user copy that appeals to potential watchers. You need to know who you are targeting and make sure that the potential watcher can see the title clearly.
This is one of the ranking signals that YouTube uses. Yes, believe it or not, YouTube is intuitive enough to consider audience-retention, and the longer your video keeps people on YouTube, the higher search ranking you will get!
YouTube is only gaining in popularity and use. In fact, according to the 2018 State of Inbound report, 45% of marketers planned on investing more in YouTube over the course of this year. It is also the #2 search engine in the world, with more than 3 billion searches a month in 2017- amounting to more search volume than Bing, Yahoo!, Ask, and AOL combined, according to Forbes.
Your goal should be to get your video to rank high in Google (meaning preferably on the first page, near the top) so that it gets more traffic and views. The way to do that is to apply the above tips and watch your views rise! Remember, it’s not only about the views; you want to have people subscribe to your channel, so remember tip #4 and don’t forget to ask your watchers to subscribe while they are watching the video! In addition, you can explore the Key Video to improve your video marketing.
Ali Jaffar has been building dazzling websites and creating amazing online experiences for over a decade. His mastery of the latest innovations in web development results in world-class website experiences set apart by show-stopping style and seamless functionality. A Google Mobile Sites and Google Analytics qualified individual and award-winning web development guru, Ali lends his talents to build and bolster digital experiences for a wide array of clients. When Ali’s not helping his clients grow, you can find him doing yoga, walking his dog, and enjoying a nice bike ride around Philly.
Pro Tip: the more love your website needs to be optimized, the more you should consider investing in a website redesign or a whole new website built with SEO in mind from the start. Key Medium can conduct a thorough technical website and SEO audit and walk you through recommendations to develop an action plan customized to your business goals, needs, and budget.
