If you’ve ever considered starting a YouTube channel, whether your own personal account or for your company, then this article is for you! With over six years’ experience on the platform, I might have a tip or two regarding search engine optimization, or SEO, for anyone reading this.
YouTube offers individuals an attractive platform to showcase their passions and visually express their creativity. Companies should consider pursuing a presence on the site to highlight a behind the scenes look into their business ventures, allowing consumers the opportunity to better see a brand personality alongside the company. Moreover, businesses that are more product-focused especially should utilize the platform for tutorial videos or ways to use their products in a new or different way.
1. Keyword Rich Titles, Tags, & Descriptions
With a seemingly overabundant number of users on the platform, YouTube’s algorithm might not seem like an easy one to figure out. However, for smaller channels to even have a chance at standing out on the platform, optimizing content to show up early in search rankings is a surefire way to attract more views.
Google provides tools such as Google Trends and Keyword Planner which should be used to discover what content is popular on the platform currently and how users are searching for certain topics. TubeBuddy is also a great extension to use when optimizing keywords for videos (shown on the right hand side of the photo below). Knowing which keywords to use and making sure they remain consistent among your videos’ tags, titles, and descriptions is important for all channels to remember. Moreover, channels competing in a niche category have less competition to rank ahead of.
I love learning more YouTube SEO tips and tricks from Cathrin’s channel TheContentBug which I’ll have linked here. Her channel has grown substantially over the past year as she’s learned more about using the algorithm to her advantage.
2. Deliver Valuable Content
Great! Someone took the chance on your video and started watching. Now what? Audience retention plays one of the most important roles in ranking on YouTube. It’s crucial that you provide valuable content in your video to keep viewers watching. What can viewers take away from your video and how is it different from what competitors have to offer?
3. Clickable Thumbnails
Here’s the harsh reality of this visual platform. You can create professional content full of value for your channel. However, if your thumbnails aren’t enticing enough to catch viewers’ attentions, your content will easily get lost in a sea of other videos, even with highly searchable tags, titles, and descriptions. This isn’t always as easy as it sounds, as YouTube’s click through rate on video impressions averages between 2-10%.
4. Include Captions
Allowing for the option of captions to be displayed during your video can further promote SEO, especially when keywords are included in your audio. YouTube will generate automatic captions for your videos, but it’s always best to review these captions before posting your video. You can even hire someone to transcribe captions for your video if resources permit.
5. Cross Promote
Cross promoting is beneficial on any social platform, YouTube included. Don’t hesitate to include the handles to other social accounts on screen during the video and linked in the description. Moreover, make sure to promote your YouTube channel from any other social sites you’re active on!
Thank you for reading to the end of this article! I hope you learned some valuable information you can use to either start your own channel or continue to promote your brand through video production. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any further questions you may have. Don’t forget to give this post a like and let me if you or your company run a YouTube channel. Follow my blog for future uploads regarding social media marketing!
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