Today, many users prefer watching videos to reading long text blocks. That explains why YouTube videos have quickly gained popularity as an effective form of digital marketing. But how do you ensure your YouTube videos are visible to your target audience? That is where YouTube SEO comes in. YouTube SEO can boost your watch time and brand awareness and bring more leads and sales.

The good news is that YouTube uses algorithms similar to Google in video ranking. The goal is to satisfy the search intent with the best relevant result and simplify the way users search. Here are the steps to take to optimize your YouTube channel for search.

Pick the right keywords.

With YouTube marketing rising in popularity every day, SERPs (search engine results pages) are also getting competitive. Every business, whether selling products or services, aims to achieve the top spot on relevant search results. The first step for optimizing your YouTube for search is conducting keyword research and choosing yours wisely. If possible, select keywords that can get you more watch volume but are less competitive. Video rank tracking is also critical for evaluating your channel’s performance among competitors.

Insert keywords naturally in the video title

You must understand the search intent when using videos to market your business. In most cases, the search intent can be informational, commercial, navigational, or transactional. Therefore you must align your YouTube videos with the search intent for them to be visible in search results. Viewers first see the title before they click on the video, so it should be concise and compelling.

First, understand why you wish to create the YouTube video and your target audience to make things easier. For instance, if you want to post a tutorial for a particular product, include the product name in the video title and description. That way, your video will show up on relevant searches.

Use the keyword in the video file.

Your YouTube video has a higher chance of ranking and getting a higher watch volume if you include the target keyword in the video file. YouTube can’t watch your video to see what it entails, but it is likely to use the file name as one of the ranking factors for showing your video on relevant search results. For instance, if your keyword is ‘bob mattress review,’ use that as the file name for your YouTube video.

Optimize the video description

The official character limit for a YouTube video description is 1000characters. But do you have to use all this space? First, you have to remember that your viewer came to watch a video, not read a long text. Besides, YouTube only displays the first two or three lines of text, after which the user has to click on ‘show more’ to see the rest of the description. Therefore it is crucial to frontload your video description with critical links and CTAs. You also need to make the video description helpful to the user. Otherwise, there is no need to have it.

Identify your video category.

If someone is searching for a specific video, they can filter the search by the video category. That is why it is crucial to categorize your video under ‘advanced settings. It is best to group your video with similar content on YouTube to reach more viewers who relate with your audience. However, categorizing your YouTube video is not easy since many categories exist, including education, film, animation, comedy, gaming, event, sport, entertainment, etc. So what do you do? Evaluate the following to categorize your video correctly:

• Who are the top creators in this category, and what are they known for?
• Do other videos in the category share the same characteristics?
• Are there any trends among audiences of similar channels?

Utilize video hashtags

YouTube recommends using hash tags to notify viewers of what your video is about and YouTube algorithms as well. in other words, it helps one understand the content and context of your video. You can include hash tags in your YouTube video title and description, so that prospective viewers locate it whenever they search for a specific hash tag.

For instance, when you include a tag in the video description, it displays above the video title and becomes hyperlinked. Another good thing about using tags is that they make key trends visible. A YouTube rank tracker helps monitor how well your video is doing.

Incorporate subtitles and closed captions

Last but not least, use subtitles and closed captions on your YouTube videos. Closed captions help viewers who cannot hear the audio, for example, the deaf and those watching without volume. On the other hand, subtitles communicate the video dialogue to viewers who cannot understand the spoken language. Furthermore, transcribing your YouTube video increases the likelihood of search engines choosing it over others.

The takeaway

The more relevant your YouTube content is to your audience, the more the search volume and the higher the ranking.