Gaining a following on YouTube helps you reach new leads and may even bring in a revenue stream if you monetise your videos. How do you grab attention with millions upon millions of competing videos? Search engine optimisation (SEO) ensures you turn up at the top of the search results on YouTube and other search engines.
According to YouTube, they have more than 2 billion users who log in monthly. Every minute, about 500 hours of content gets uploaded. It is the most popular video platform in the world. If you don’t have videos on YouTube yet, you may be missing one of the most powerful social media promotional opportunities available.
Perhaps you are getting ready to upload your first attempt or you already have videos up and they aren’t performing well. There are some SEO factors to leverage to increase the reach of your content. Here are seven things you can do to help your videos get more views.
1. Complete Keyword Research
Before you choose a title or outline the content of your video, do a bit of keyword research. Start with sites such as Google to analyse what people search for in a topic area.
You can also look at YouTube’s trending topics to see what things people search for most frequently at any given time.
Once you decide on a topic, search for it and see what the competition is like. What keywords do they use in the title and description? View the video and pick out words you think relate closely to the subject.
2. Improve Sound Quality
One mistake a lot of novice video filmmakers make is having poor sound quality. Have you ever watched a YouTube video where you couldn’t hear the presenter or the audio kept cutting out? Other issues include poorly synced sound, where the person’s lips move at a different time than you hear the words.
If you aren’t sure what phrases people may use, do a quick Google query and look at the “People Also Ask” section.
If you want your videos to look professional, you must edit them. EQ can help you become a full-fledged mixing engineer, but there are some common sound mixing errors, like only relying on your ear to identify frequencies, you should pay attention to.
3. Add Keywords to Your Title and Description
Ideally, you’ll have a primary keyword and some secondary ones related to your topic. Make sure your title includes your primary keyword and use that and your secondary ones in the description.
Your title must make clear what the video is about, but you don’t want to be spammy, either. For your description, try to make the flow of the language sound natural while still using the keywords.
Think about how someone might search for the video. What language would they most likely use?
4. Use Buzzwords in the Videos
When you’re presenting in the video, you should also include keywords within the audio. People often preview videos or watch just the first few seconds. You need to let them know what you’ll cover as quickly as possible and use buzzwords to highlight the main points in the piece.
Speak naturally, but use phrases related to the topic. This may not help directly with SEO, but as people see the footage covers what they want to discuss, they’ll share and send others your way.
5. Perfect Your Thumbnail
Your thumbnail is what people see when they pull up video search results on a search engine. They also see your thumbnail as they run down choices to view on the social media video platform.
Make sure the image you use highlights the main keyword you’d like to promote. Add text over the image and choose a relevant shot.
When a viewer walks away from your video, they should feel they spent their time well. Keep your customers happy and they’ll subscribe to your channel. This puts your videos in their feed whenever they log in to YouTube in the future. YouTube notifies them when you post new content.
6. Answer Pain Points
Think about the problem you’re offering a solution to. If you know your target audience well, then you have an idea of the issues they face. Your video topics must answer those pain points and provide a solution.
You may want to touch on the pain points in your description and previews of your video. Explain that you have a way to solve the problem. This makes people want to view the rest of what you have to say.
7. Use Related Tag Phrases
Figuring out what your primary keyword phrase might be is a vital part of your SEO journey with YouTube. However, you should also think about related tag phrases. How else might someone search for the same topic?
If you aren’t sure what phrases they might use, do a quick Google query and look at the “People Also Ask” section. This keys you into what questions browsers ask when looking for that particular phrase. Also, at the bottom of the page will be related searches. You may be able to incorporate some of those into your description and tags.
Share Your Videos
Take into account the seven factors listed above to help increase the odds of your videos turning up at the top of search results. However, don’t underestimate the power of sharing your own videos and doing a bit of promotion. The more people who view them, the more likes and shares you get. Their popularity will also enhance the results.
