Master YouTube SEO: Proven Best Practices to Boost Your Video Rankings

With the immense popularity of video content in today’s marketing era, ranking your videos at the top of the world’s largest video platform might seem difficult. YouTube isn’t just the most significant video platform and the second-largest search engine globally. With all the above data, it’s evident that investing in YouTube SEO is necessary to boost your online visibility.

Ranking your videos on YouTube is easier than it looks; instead, there are some key metrics that the YouTube algorithm favors while ranking the videos. This blog will share some proven YouTube SEO optimization practices to scale your YouTube channel to the next level. Let’s get started: 

What is YouTube SEO?

YouTube SEO is the process of optimizing your YouTube videos and channel so that they rank higher in YouTube search results. It involves strategies to attract organic traffic, such as optimizing video titles, descriptions, tags, etc., with keywords your target audience is searching for. You can also add hashtags, video categories, thumbnail images, etc., to your videos. 

Why is YouTube SEO Important 

Implementing the best YouTube SEO practices helps in YouTube rankings but will also help discover your content in search engines like Google, Bing, etc. Here are a few reasons why YouTube SEO optimization is essential:

a. More Visibility

Ranking on YouTube means more people will see and click on your video, enhancing your overall visibility on the platform. Optimizing your video content and metadata with appropriate keywords and proper SEO will help your video appear in search results, recommendations, and suggested videos. Creating valuable content that aligns with your audience is also essential, as it will make your video more discoverable among the audience. 

b. Drive Organic Website Traffic

Your videos turning on top means more traffic to your website. How? With improved click-through rates (CTRs)! 

Videos make finding content on search engines more accessible and will also improve your YouTube algorithm. The more you optimize your videos with relevant keywords and content, the more traffic you attract to your website. 

c. More Conversions

Rankings come with more views, engagement, and shares, leading to more subscribers and revenue at the same time. When people start loving your content, they will automatically become subscribers. Subscribers are essential for long-term success on YouTube, as they represent a dedicated and engaged audience that appreciates your new content.

d. Higher Rankings & Click-Through-Rates

Valuable YouTube videos with effective SEO will not only help increase your brand awareness and improve your click-through rates. When your video appears at the top, it entices users to click and watch.  

e. Improved User Engagement

When viewers like your content, they explore more of it on your channel, which contributes to your channel’s watch time. Proper YouTube SEO optimization targets the right audience interested in your content, thus improving your engagement and interaction. 

12+ Essential Strategies for YouTube SEO

Ranking on YouTube does not require any in-depth technical expertise. Here are some proven YouTube SEO practices for beginners that will help you improve your rankings and give you better results:

1. Conduct Keyword Research

Dig into the video topics that people are looking for. Once you have researched, look for keywords to help you reach your target audience. There are various tools available in the market that can help you conduct keyword research. One of them is Google’s keyword planner. Simply type the search terms in the search bar, and Google will display a long list of related keywords. 

Segregate the keywords into primary, secondary, and long-tail keywords. Choosing keywords with low competition and high search volume is also essential. To proceed, follow this YouTube SEO tip and conduct robust keyword research. 

2. Use Keyword in Video Title and File

Add your keywords to your video title and file. This YouTube SEO optimization strategy helps YouTube recognize what your video is about and will suggest it to others. Make sure your video title should be less than 70 characters and should capture the attention of the viewer. 

3. Add Hashtags to Your Videos

Add relevant hashtags to your video titles and descriptions, which will help your video gain exposure. When you add hashtags to your video, you’re giving YouTube more information about your video, which can help your video appear higher in search results. View counts will increase if you use relevant YouTube hashtags, and your subscriber count will follow next.

4. Optimize your Video Description

Optimizing your video description with proper keywords related to your content is essential for better results. It is advisable to include keywords in the first 25 words and four times total. 

The video description tells the entire story of your video, and you have 5000 characters to describe it. It encourages viewers to click on your video while helping the algorithm identify your content. Use them wisely! 

5. Create a Playlist

The best way to organize your video is in a keyword-optimised playlist. This YouTube SEO tip also makes it easier for users to discover your videos. The playlist also helps viewers click through all videos in a series, thus increasing your view count and views. 

6. Choose an Engaging Thumbnail

90% of the best-performing videos have custom thumbnails. Hence, an engaging video thumbnail is vital to catch viewers’ eye. YouTube recommends that thumbnails have a resolution of 1280×720 in image formats such as JPG, GIF, or PNG and be under 2MB for videos or 10MB for podcasts. 

7. Use Call to Actions

CTAs for YouTube are small statements that appear on the screen asking you to subscribe to a channel, watch a particular video or a playlist, or like, share, and comment on the video. A well-crafted call to action can convert your viewer into a subscriber. If used strategically, CTAs have great potential to drive engagement to your channel.

8. Add Subtitles and Captions

Subtitles and closed captions on your YouTube video make it more accessible, searchable, and watchable even without hearing audio. This is important from the SEO perspective and will make your video accessible to everyone. The more accessible your content is, the more engagement it creates.  

9. Add Tags to your Videos

YouTube tags are keywords that you add to your YouTube videos. Adding tags to your YouTube videos will help the algorithm understand what your videos are about, helping your videos reach new audiences. It will also help search engines quickly find and index your videos, improving organic search results. 

10. Use Cards and End Screens

Using cards and end screens in your YouTube video is excellent for displaying CTAs and other videos while your video is still playing. End screens are great for promoting related videos after the viewer has finished watching the ongoing video, whereas cards directly prompt the viewer to watch another related video. Using cards and end screens lets you drive traffic to other videos on your channel and increases your user engagement.

11. Add Timestamps

Timestamps are great for breaking your long videos into small segments. They are also a great YouTube SEO tip to enhance user experience and make it easier for the viewer to find specific parts of the video. Because timestamps are readable by search engines such as Google, they are essential in improving your YouTube SEO strategy. 

12. Promote on Social Media Platforms

Promote your YouTube videos on various social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. This YouTube SEO optimization practice helps your video be more visible and shareable with your audience, increasing your reach. More clicks, views, and subscriptions to your channel are all calls to the YouTube algorithm that can improve your overall visibility and should be a goal of your video SEO strategy.

13. Edit the File Name

Including the content’s primary keyword in the file name is essential, as this also helps improve your SEO. Don’t upload videos with codes and numbers; use a descriptive name with the main keyword. This way, YouTube can identify what the video is about right in the file name.  

14. Select a Category

You can select the category below the section to add tags to YouTube’s uploading process. Some research says it helps improve performance, but it’s still unclear. But why miss this opportunity? Make it a habit to add categories, as it may help you give better results. 

15. Embed Videos in your Blog

Just like social media platforms, cross-promotion also matters on your website. Embed YouTube shorts in your blog to keep your audience updated. YouTube experts found that embedding a YouTube channel in relevant blog posts can improve SEO for both your YouTube channel and the blog. Various tools are available in the market, like Tagbox, which helps you embed YouTube widgets for website (page) easily. Give it a try!

16. Optimize your Old Videos

Optimizing your old videos according to the trend and posting content regularly helps the YouTube algorithm recognize that you are an active user. If you have old videos without many views, consider updating the title, description, tags, or thumbnail image to help YouTube’s algorithm find it again.

YouTube SEO Tools

Various tools are available to improve SEO for your YouTube channel. Let’s look at some of them:

YouTube Analytics

YouTube analytics give you insights into how your content is being watched. With key metrics and reports in YouTube Studio, you can use analytics to understand your channel and individual video performance better. You can easily monitor views, impressions, subscribers, traffic sources, audience retention, and revenue.

Ahrefs YouTube Keyword Tool

Ahrefs YouTube Keyword tool helps you to optimize your videos for better visibility and engagement on YouTube. It provides insights into the monthly search volume for each keyword, displaying how many times the keyword is searched on YouTube. This data helps you understand the potential reach of your videos based on the selected keywords.

VidIQ

VidIQ analytics tool recommends the best keyword to reach your target audience. It also helps you acquire the tools and knowledge needed to grow your audience faster on YouTube. VidIQ is a powerful, all-in-one YouTube growth tool designed to help creators optimize their content, reach a larger audience, and grow their channels.

Conclusion

SEO for your YouTube channel doesn’t have to be rocket science. You can quickly boost your YouTube game with simple practices and valuable content. No matter what tool you use or practice you follow, ensure you have something relevant and valuable for your audience. Embedding YouTube channel on your website is also a good practice as it enhances your channel’s visibility. Various tools available in the market, like Tagbox, help you with easy embedding. We hope this blog has served you with the best practices and tools that will help you boost SEO for your YouTube channel. 

All the above practices aim to improve user experiences and boost your SEO. When you aim for a better user experience, the algorithm knows how to optimize your efforts by making your content reach a wider audience. Take advantage of these practices and watch your YouTube grow.