10 Steps to Rank number One on Youtube
10 Steps to rank number One on Youtube
How does Youtube SEO work?
Youtube SEO is different from search engine SEO in many aspects, so it is different in Youtube ranking. It doesn’t have a clear indicator to evaluate like Google uses backlink domain keywords and other aspects. In Youtube SEO these indicators are absent; instead, it uses video description playlists, metadata, and high-quality content to evaluate.
Here are 10 Steps to Rank Number one on Youtube
- Youtube Keyword: Keywords are essential in Youtube SEO and ranking your video higher. Choosing the right keyword can level up your game. Like Google suggests, Youtube also has its own Youtube suggestions where one can find trending and most searched words in every domain. You can use the popular videos in your niche and copy the optimized keywords. There are several popular research keyword tools available, like AHrefs, Semrush, Keywords everywhere, and keywordtool.io. These tools provide the popular keywords and the number of traffic they generate, and some tools also suggest the ways they are used to optimize.
- Optimize Video Title: Optimizing your keyword in the video would help in Youtube ranking. Keywords can also be used in the video title. Adding the searched keyword in the Youtube title and description would not help its rank. You have to make the title more appealing and clickable. The title has only 100 characters available and is shortened to 70 characters in the search result which should include a keyword. Helping viewers solve their queries is one of the best titles and falls in catchy videos.
- Optimizing Video Description: After title optimization comes the video description optimization. Youtube allows a lot of character descriptions. Up to 5000 characters are allowed. The first few lines( 125 characters) will appear in the Youtube search engine result. Putting the most important keyword at the beginning is recommended and viewer-friendly content.
- Including Tags: After the title and description come tags, all part of Youtube SEO. Tags aren’t disclosed to the viewers. There is a debate about whether tags are useful or not, but it doesn’t take much time, so putting tags won’t be a problem. Tag as many keywords as you like according to your content. Chrome Extension, Tube Buddy helps find search ranking for different tags best for Youtube SEO. VidIQ helps to see which tags your competitors are using. It will help your ranking according to them.
- Making Longer Videos: Search anything on Youtube; the longer videos come first. In spite of popular belief, longer videos are generally higher in Youtube ranking. Youtube uses total view duration as a ranking factor. The longer your videos are watched the higher the chance of your video ranking. Youtube favors higher and longer retention videos as it will help viewers to stay on the much longer, while youtube could push up ads. Simply making longer videos won’t help; they have to be engaging, so the viewers would keep watching and further it would get recommended.
- Encouraging Engagement: Engagement is essential as it gives information to Youtube that the video is popular among viewers. This is the reason every Youtuber or video ends with a request to like, comment and subscribe and share. These are the key engagement methods available on youtube. Subscribing and sharing are far superior to comments and likes. In subscribing, the viewer is enjoying your content and agrees to watch more content further indicating YouTube of your authenticity. And sharing the video to other platforms shows Youtube your popularity.
- Creating Interesting Thumbnails: There are only two things a viewer sees before clicking on your video, the video title and the video description. As we know, visuals are more effective in grabbing attention than text. Making an eye-catching, clickable, and interesting thumbnail helps. The thumbnail is everything about high-quality images, illustrated elements, contrasting colors, text, etc. anything that helps in grabbing viewers’ attention. Many times people use clickbait in their thumbnails. The emphasis on thumbnails encourages viewers to click on the video generating a high click-through rate. It indicates on youtube that the content present is more enticing in that particular topic.
- Creating a Playlist: As we know watch time helps in Youtube SEO. Playlists are the best thing to get views on your videos and increase watch time as they play videos automatically. Making a playlist of 4-5 videos on the same theme or topic helps to get noticed. It also helps viewers who look for the same content as they are easily available and more clickable. It also helps to get in touch with the people who create the same content. Mixing all the videos and creating a playlist help other channel viewers notice you.
- Adding Closed Captions: Also called subtitles. It is common and used to benefit people with hearing disabilities. These are crawled by Google and Youtube, which benefit you by boosting your Youtube SEO. Youtube automatically captions your videos, but many times it is filled with errors. To make the closed caption Youtube SEO friendly, you need to go the extra step and edit the captions. Youtube has the facility to transcribe your video files and upload them.
- Creating an Engaging Script: Many people don’t believe it, but videos are a bit scripted. As the script seems unnatural and not spontaneous it comes out awkward. Having a script can reduce errors and retakes and helps to omit the sounds we make on camera and long pauses. It makes a video natural and helps in sustaining the audience and keep them engaged, as we know how to watch time helps. The script also helps in being prepared and appearing confident. A study said that the first 10 seconds of the video are enough to capture and engage the audience. And by the first 30 seconds if your audience isn’t engaged you lose 30% of your audience. So making the script short and engaging is beneficial.
Youtube has become very competitive as everyone wants to rank higher. Also, there is an increase in the user rate. Even if your Youtube SEO is highly optimized and you create low-quality content you won’t see a visible ranking. Remember to add your video link and Youtube username at the end of the description. And possibly like and reply to the comments in your video to increase the engagement rate.