YouTube SEO: 13 Ways to Get Your Videos Ranked on YouTube

In the growing digital world, YouTube stands out as a platform for video content. The platform has come a long way with more than 2.49 billion monthly active users. In fact, 47% of the world's Internet users visit YouTube every month. 

For creators and businesses looking to leverage this massive audience, you might want to learn YouTube SEO. YouTube Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a strategy to optimize your videos and channel to rank higher in YouTube's search results. 

Take a look at this guide to understand more about this strategy and achieve better rankings as well as better audience interaction.

What Is YouTube SEO?

YouTube SEO is the key to getting your videos noticed in the crowded YouTube space. Similar to how traditional SEO helps websites rank on Google, YouTube SEO focuses on optimizing your video content to rank higher in search results on the platform. 

By optimizing elements like the title, description, tags, and file name, you increase the chances of your video being viewed, clicked, shared, and reached your target audience.

How Does a Video Rank on YouTube?

YouTube's algorithm ranks videos based on several factors, including relevance to search queries, engagement metrics (views, likes, shares, comments), and the use of keywords in titles, descriptions, and tags. 

Therefore, basically, the better you get these elements aligned with YouTube’s criteria, the higher your video will rank.

Is It Worth to Optimize Your Videos on YouTube?

Yes, definitely! With billions of users visiting YouTube monthly, optimizing your videos is crucial. 

With a suitable SEO strategy and best practices, you can increase the visibility of your videos, leading to higher engagement, more subscribers, and better success for your channel. 

Whether you're a business, content creator, or just passionate about sharing knowledge, SEO can expand your reach better.

How Does SEO for YouTube Work?

YouTube SEO involves the process of optimizing various aspects of your videos and channel. It starts with keyword research and includes these keywords in your video’s file name, title, description, and tags. 

Not only that, YouTube also values user engagement metrics, such as watch time and interaction, which influence your video’s ranking. Therefore, high-quality content, clickable thumbnails, and captions can further boost your visibility.

YouTube SEO Strategies

Here are some basic YouTube SEO strategies that are easy for beginners. You can apply the following YouTube SEO tips for your upcoming videos:

1. Rename Your Video File Using a Target Keyword

Your YouTube SEO even begins before you upload your videos. The idea is to make your video rank not just on YouTube but on Google too.

Search engines can’t directly crawl the video’s content but can analyze the source code, including the file name. Therefore, by embedding your target keyword in the file name, YouTube’s algorithm can easily identify it once it’s uploaded.

For instance, rename it to match your target keyword, like “spaghetti-cooking-guide.mov” rather than “file1.mov”. Moreover, you need to consider adding a modifier like “best,” “how-to,” or “guide” to enhance the keyword.

2. Insert Keywords Naturally in the Video Title

The title is the first thing viewers notice, making it a crucial element in video indexing and ranking. If you’ve done your keyword research, you’ve likely gathered several high-traffic and relevant keywords.

To maximize visibility, include the exact keyword or a broad match at the start of your title. The title should represent the video content. It is also better to keep your title short, around 50-60 characters, as longer titles tend to perform worse.

3. Optimize Your Video Description

You have 5,000 characters to elaborate on what your video is about. The description has to be unique so it can attract viewers and help the algorithm identify your content through keywords.

Only the first 120 characters will show up in searches, so make sure your description is compelling. Then, you can use the rest of the space to combine exact keywords with broader matches and phrases. You can also insert a call-to-action (CTA) within the description.

4. Tag Your Video with Popular Keywords Related to Your Topic

Tags aren't just for telling viewers about your video; they also help YouTube understand what you're trying to say. Proper tags allow YouTube to associate your video with similar videos, which can expand your reach.

YouTube tags are different from hashtags, which are used for content identification rather than relevance. To maximize this feature, use tags that are popular with your competitors and avoid irrelevant tags.

5. Upload a Custom Thumbnail Image

Your video thumbnail is the first image viewers see when searching. While it does not directly affect SEO, it has a direct impact on click-through rates (CTR), which can signal to YouTube whether your video is engaging.

Custom thumbnails featuring your logo or presenter's face are more memorable and can increase clicks over auto-generated thumbnails.

6. Add Subtitles and Closed Captions

Subtitles and closed captions can boost your video’s SEO by highlighting key keywords since YouTube’s algorithm can read the text in the source code. They also enhance engagement, with videos featuring captions seeing a 12% increase in watch time.

Closed captions are like a written transcript of the audio, including sounds, while subtitles are a different way of translating audio into different languages. It also makes your video accessible to a wider audience.

7. Add Cards and End Screens

Both tools are subtle yet helpful to keep viewers engaged and lead them to additional content:

• Cards: Small notifications that appear during a video to promote your channel's content. You can add up to five cards per video, including channel links, donation pages, polls, or playlists.
• End Screens: Appear at the end of a video to promote other videos, encourage people to subscribe, or link to external sites.

8. Add Hashtags for Better Reach

Hashtags on YouTube work similarly on platforms like Instagram or LinkedIn. Hashtags appear above your video title which makes it easier for viewers to discover your content. However, you need to use hashtags moderately, two to three relevant hashtags are ideal.

9. Experiment with Video Length

Longer videos tend to perform better, as they increase watch time, a key factor in YouTube’s ranking algorithm. 

However, the optimal length may vary depending on your audience. For example, MrBeast’s videos typically range from 13 to 20 minutes, which is ideal for his content and audience.

Therefore, you can always experiment with different video lengths and analyze the watch time, average view duration, and audience retention to find what works best.

10. Use YouTube’s Autocomplete Feature

YouTube’s autocomplete feature is a great way to find popular search terms for your video topic. You can just start typing a keyword, and the suggestions will give you ideas for additional keywords to include in your title, description, and tags.

11. Try Timestamps

Timestamps mark different sections of your video, making it easier for viewers to find the specific content or topic they’re looking for. They also improve SEO by helping YouTube’s algorithm understand your video’s content.

For example, a video about baking a cake might have sections on baking equipment, cake trends, and different cake styles.

12. Add a Call-to-Action in Your Video and Description

CTAs can encourage likes, shares, and subscriptions, which boost your video’s visibility. There are variations of CTAs to keep them fresh. You can use verbal CTAs in some videos and text-based ones in others.

13. Review YouTube Search Analytics

Analytics are essential for tracking progress, but they can also provide insights to improve your SEO strategies. For example, if one of your videos suddenly gains traffic, you can analyze the data to understand why and apply similar tactics to other videos. 

Moreover, you need to pay attention to metrics like watch time, average watch duration, and subscriber growth to measure the success of your SEO efforts.

Conclusion 

Understanding YouTube SEO is crucial for any creator or business looking to maximize their online presence through video content. Learning how to optimize your videos can help you climb the ranks of YouTube's search results and attract more viewers.

However, SEO practice can be difficult and time-consuming if conducted independently. In this case, you can work with SEO Services by cmlabs. 

By teaming up with cmlabs, you can get tailored SEO solutions for your YouTube video content. You'll get the best practices, a strong online reputation, and more traffic to your business. 

So, find out what SEO Services by cmlabs can do for your accounting firms by reaching out to our marketing team immediately!