Guide to SEO on YouTube

Why SEO on YouTube?

Optimizing your videos increases their visibility in search results and recommendations, can generate long term organic traffic to your videos, and if you monetize your channel, SEO can increase your revenue by generating more traffic and views on your videos. 

How to do SEO on YouTube? 

1. Keyword Research

Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, KeywordTool.io or TubeBuddy to find relevant and popular keywords in your niche.

Look for long tail keywords that have a high search volume without as much competition.

2. Title, Description and Tag Optimization

Choose an attractive and descriptive title that includes your main keyword.

Write a detailed description of the video that includes your target keywords and provides useful information about the content.

Use relevant tags that describe the topic of your video and the keywords you are targeting.

3. Attractive Thumbnails

Thumbnails on YouTube are the small images you see before clicking on a video. These are like cover pages that represent the content of the video.

Create eye-catching and engaging thumbnails that highlight your video in YouTube search results and recommendations.

Make sure the thumbnail accurately reflects the content of the video and is relevant to the title and description.

4. Transcripts and Captions

Provide full transcripts of your videos to improve accessibility and help YouTube understand your video content.

Add captions to your videos to reach a wider audience and improve viewer retention.

5. Audience Engagement and Retention

Create high-quality content that keeps viewers interested and engaged.

Ask viewers to subscribe, comment, share and “Like” your videos to increase interaction and engagement.

Monitor audience retention metrics and adjust your content accordingly to improve retention and engagement.

6. Promotion and Distribution

Share your videos on your social networks and other online channels to increase their visibility.

Collaborate with other content creators on YouTube to expand your reach and reach new audiences.

Participate in communities related to your niche and share your videos in a relevant and useful way.

2 important factors for youtube SEO

1. User Retention:

User retention refers to the ability to keep viewers watching your videos longer.

This is important because YouTube values videos that keep viewers engaged and ranks them higher in search results and recommendations.

To optimize user retention, create interesting and relevant content from the beginning, capturing the viewer’s attention in the first seconds of the video.

Maintain a dynamic pace and avoid excessive repetition to keep the viewer’s interest throughout the video.

Use interactive cards and end screens to direct viewers to other related videos on your channel, which can help increase retention and overall viewing time.

2. Increased Engagement:

Engagement refers to viewer interaction with your content, such as leaving comments, liking, sharing or subscribing to the channel.

A high level of engagement indicates that your content resonates with your audience and can lead to increased visibility and channel growth.

To increase engagement, encourage viewers to actively participate in your content. Ask viewers to comment, share or “Like” the video.

Respond to viewer comments actively and genuinely to encourage conversation and build a community around your channel.

Conduct polls, contests or challenges that invite viewers to participate and share their opinion.

Channel and Video SEO Optimization

Customize and organize your channel’s home page by sections, numbers, etc., to make it attractive and easy for viewers to navigate.

Keep a consistent schedule to keep your audience engaged and coming back for more, you can opt to upload videos on specific days. 

Choosing the right category for your video can improve its search visibility and optimize your SEO on YouTube.

Creating YouTube playlists is a great way to organize and present your content in a consistent and easily consumable way.

By focusing on user retention and increased engagement, and optimizing both channel and videos for these goals, content creators can build a loyal and engaged audience on YouTube.