what the SEO Tutorial for YouTube? Since Google appeared so far, user behavior has been increasingly changing. Their search trend has also changed a lot. Now users do not just search in the usual way. Users can also search with Google photos or online videos. Therefore, SEOs also want their videos to appear on video search results pages of Google or Youtube.
Today, we will guide you on how to do SEO for your video in the most effective way
Video SEO keyword research – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
The keyword research when doing SEO for video is completely different than the keyword on an article when you research. So why is there a difference between video SEO and regular article SEO?
There are two main reasons that explain the difference between video SEO and article SEO.
The first reason:
The majority of your video views come from YouTube suggesting videos in front of users.
Yes, you need to optimize your videos for YouTube and search on Google. However, most people only receive about 15 to 25% of video traffic from search.
The rest came from suggested videos and “browsing features”.
Reason 2: Many people use Google and YouTube in completely different ways.
A keyword that receives 100k searches per month on Google (for example, the term “life insurance”) may only have 50 searches on YouTube.
In contrast, a keyword that has a large number of searches on YouTube (for example, the word “cute cats”) is much less popular on Google.
Therefore, to research keywords for video SEO is not simple. Here are 5 keyword research techniques for SEO videos we rewarded for using.
YouTube Suggest
Like Google Suggest, the mechanism of YouTube Suggest works similarly. When you enter a keyword in the search field on YouTube, you will get a list of suggestions.
This is a fairly simple technique, but it brings quite high efficiency. Because YouTube tells you quite exactly what keywords users are searching for.
Tip: Add an underscore (“_”) in front of your keywords. YouTube will show you keyword suggestions + keyword prefixes that you enter.
TubeBuddy Tags – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
TubeBuddy Tags is a free extension on Google Chrome. This gadget tells you exactly which keywords your competitors use for their videos.
First, install this extension on your Google Chrome browser:
Then, look to a competitor’s video. Click on the “tags” tag:
This will tell you the tags or the SEO keywords of that video:
When checking tags or keywords SEO competitors, you will see the blue numbers next to the keyword. This blue number tells you where the video is ranked for these keywords on YouTube search:
So, if you find a poorly optimized video ranking for that keyword, you should add that video to your list.
You can rank higher than that video by publishing a high quality, keyword-optimized video.
Tubular Labs video of competitor
Tubular Labs is a very powerful free basic service program. This tool allows you to analyze your channel of competitors. This is one of the ways to find keyword ideas and topic ideas for your videos.
Usage as follows:
- First, visit tubularlabs.com and register to use their YouTube Dashboard.
- Next, connect Tubular Labs to your YouTube channel.
- Once done, click on “Insights”.
- This will show you the videos that your potential customers watch when they are not viewing your content.
YT Cockpit – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
YTCockpit is one of the few keyword research tools designed specifically for SEO Tutorial for YouTube.
- To use this tool, enter a seed keyword into the tool:
- YTCockpit will show you lots of keyword suggestions … and important indicators for each keyword.
Like any keyword research tool that has its own power, YTCockpit shows you basic information for each keyword (e.g. search numbers and CPC).
(Note: “Monthly Searches” on the YTCockpit represents the number of searches on Google. And “Impressions Per Week” is a rough estimate of how many people watch your video on that topic on Google’s advertising network … including YouTube. Although it is not 100% accurate, these numbers give you a rough idea of how much users are interested in that topic on YouTube).
- However, the difference of this tool is that it helps increase the competitiveness on YouTube.
YTCockpit shows you the average video duration, the number of likes and the number of comments for each rated video for a given keyword:
- If you click on a keyword suggestion, the tool will show you details about YouTube SERP:
YouTube Analytics Stats – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
YouTube Analytics Stats is the best app you should use.
If your channel also has the ability to appeal to users, YouTube Analytics will be a great source of keywords that you have available.
Because YouTube Analytics will show you the keywords that you have ranked and users are searching for.
- First, navigate to your YouTube dashboard.
- Click on “Analytics” and “Traffic Sources”:
- Click on “YouTube Search”:
- You can see all the keywords you are ranking for
You can also do two things with the keywords you have found.
Number 1: Optimize an existing video around that keyword
If you have a video ranking for a keyword. However, it has not been optimized effectively for that specific keyword. Optimize your video for that keyword.
By implementing on-page video SEO techniques, you can get a high position on the search results page.
For example, this video of mine ranked No. 7 for the keyword “Google SEO”.
However, this video is not optimized effectively around that keyword.
So, what I need to do is add that keyword as a tag.
Add that keyword in the description of the video
Number 2: Create a new video for that keyword
Instead of optimizing an old video around a keyword, create a whole new video.
Accordingly, your video target customers more effectively for that keyword. That means better rankings than a partially optimized video around that keyword.
Create great videos – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
If you want to rank on YouTube, you need great videos.
A “great” video for me might make you want to throw your laptop out the window again.
In the world of YouTube, the word “great” is measured in several key metrics like:
- Duration of the browsing session
- Watch time
- The time potential customers stay on the page
- The level of interaction
- CTR
And when you create videos with these YouTube ranking factors, you may find yourself getting high results on the search results page.
At this point, we need to introduce each ranking signal in detail and show you how to create videos that are optimized for each ranking signal.
Total Watch Time – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
Total time is considered YouTube’s No. 1 ranking factor.
What is total watch time? Total watch time (TWT) is the amount of watch time in minutes of your video.
You can see this metric in YouTube Analytics:
How do you optimize for TWT?
First, create long videos.
For example, you publish two videos: Video A is 12 minutes long. Video B is 4 minutes long.
And on average, people watch about 40% of each video.
Finally, video A has 3x more watch time than video B!
In fact, if you check the results for competitive keywords, you will notice that the video ranked highly is quite long:
Next, create videos that are optimized to keep users engaged.
Time potential customers stay on the page
Another important ranking signal on YouTube’s videos is the time potential customers stay on the page.
The amount of time a customer stays on the page is the amount of time (in percent) others see your video.
Obviously, the longer your users watch your video, the better you will get
Here is how to maximize the time potential customers stay on the page:
Focus on the first 15 seconds
The first 15 seconds of your video is very important with SEO Tutorial for YouTube.
In fact, YouTube recommends focusing on this extremely important part of the video.
Because their data shows that if you hook someone in the first 15 seconds, you will attract that person to buy.
And vice versa. If you lose someone in the first 15 seconds, they will not come back anymore.
Find the peak and off-peak intervals – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
Take a few minutes to check out potential lead time stays on your videos.
Tip: Switch to “Relative audience retention” to see the effect of your video compared to similar videos
Look for points where potential customers stay on the top of the page.
And potential customers stay on the lowest scoring page.
Then, with future videos, focus on the factors that work well. And remove elements of the video that make others leave the page.
SEO Tutorial for YouTube – Use “Pattern Interrupts”
Pattern interruptions are the moments on your video where you change everything.
And distributing one or two Pattern Interrupts on each video can make a big difference in how long potential customers stay on the page.
Session Watch Time
Session Watch Time is YouTube’s “uber metric” (really great metric).
This basically shows how long viewers are on YouTube after watching your videos.
When YouTube confirmed this ranking factor they said:
“For previous optimizations for our discovery features, this will benefit your channel if your video captures more watch time on YouTube.”
In other words: “We appreciate videos that attract users to stay on YouTube.”
Unfortunately, there is no way to directly measure Session Watch Time.
If you can’t measure Session Watch Time, how can you optimize?
- First, create playlists (playlists).
Accordingly, your Session Watch Time will automatically increase when someone watches your playlist.
- Next, add links to your other videos at the end of each video and a link to your channel:
This encourages your users to stay on YouTube instead of leaving the page.
User Engagement
User Engagement (user interaction) is another important video ranking signal.
YouTube does not want users to passively sit and watch your videos. Instead, they want to see that users are actively engaged with your video.
Specifically, they will measure how many people:
- Prefer
- Comment
- Registration
- Share
- Add your videos to a playlist
The more signals YouTube sees, the more they will know that your video is helping users interact on the platform.
Here are 3 tips to optimize user interaction signals.
# 1: Ask others to comment on your video
Users LIKE give their opinions. However, users HATE to think. So, increase the likelihood of users commenting on your videos, giving viewers something specific to comment on.
# 2: Add a CTA “Subscribe” button to your script
Do not be afraid to ask others to subscribe to your channel. In fact, we recommend adding an explicit call to action button at the end of each video like this:
# 3: Reply to comments
When you reply to a comment, you stimulate others to comment. Add comment = add interaction = rank higher.
Always make sure to reply to 100% of the comments that appear within the first 24 hours of your video live:
Video optimization
Like a blog post, there is more to video SEO than publishing a great piece of content.
You also need to optimize your videos around the keywords that others use on YouTube (and on Google).
How to optimize the video as follows:
Video title
You have two goals for the video title:
Goal # 1: Include your main keyword.
Goal # 2: Maximize your clickthrough rate (CTR).
All you need to do is put the main keyword into the title.
Video description
We recommend writing a description longer than 200 words for each video. Because the longer description helps YouTube better understand the subject of your video.
And thus, helping your video show more videos as a suggested video:
YouTube video tag
Tags are not nearly as important as they used to be. But YouTube still requires the use of tags. Therefore, we recommend using them. We only offer about 5 appropriate tags per video. And make sure that one of those tags is your main keyword.
Mention your main keyword in every video
Remember that YouTube can fully understand what you say in the video.
But from our experience, they understand exactly 90% of the words in a video. In addition, you can upload a transcript to make sure YouTube understands every word correctly. And when YouTube hears you mention the main keyword in your video, they will understand that your video is about that keyword.
That is why I always make sure I mention the keyword once or twice in every video:
Upload a transcript
A transcript helps YouTube understand what your entire video is about.
In my experience, this will help your video appear in more suggested videos.
Optimize videos for CTR
My experiments also showed that YouTube considers CTR to be an important ranking signal. If a lot of people search for a keyword on YouTube and click on your results, you will probably get a higher ranking.
The problem is:
How do you optimize videos for CTR?
CTR Booster # 1: Great titles.
Yes, you need to include your main keyword in the title of the video. However, the rest of the title must be set aside to attract more clicks.
Tip: Do not use clickbait titles. You will get more clicks in the long run. However, the number of times potential customers stay on the site will make YouTube reduce your video rankings.
CTR Booster # 2: Eye-catching thumbnails.
Professional YouTube users know that your thumbnail can bring success or failure to your video.
So, make sure you make your video thumbnails stand out
CTR Booster # 3: Description that attracts attention.
YouTube displays the first 125 characters in your description on search results.
The first 125 characters must be good, get someone to click on your video. So, you will have a video that attracts users to click on and has been optimized for your main keyword.
Channel credibility
The credibility of your channel plays a direct and indirect role in determining the effectiveness of YouTube videos.
In general, videos published on a highly reputable channel and a large community will have a higher rating than the same video on a new channel.
Here is how to quickly build your channel’s credibility.
Brand and message for your channel
This is the place for you to answer the question:
“How is your channel different from all other channels on YouTube?”
If your channel does not answer this question, new visitors will have to wonder why you exist. And you will miss potential subscribers.
However, when you broadcast a unified message, your potential viewers will immediately click the “subscribe” button. In this case, we know that potential customers want to get “higher rankings and get more traffic”.
So, I built the channel slogan: “higher rankings and more traffic”.
It is simple but effective.
And for the rest of this article, I’ll introduce you to some tips you can follow to strengthen your channel’s brand and reputation.
Your channel header
Make sure to put your channel tagline here.
Here is an example from my channel.
Animated logo
Your dynamic logo is very important to your channel brand.
In the early days when I was my channel, I just included the website logo:
Now I also include my channel tagline:
This helps reinforce my brand message with every video view.
Description About Page
Do not forget to include your tagline on the channel’s introduction page:
Tip: Also include some keywords in your channel description. This can help your channel show up in search results. Here is an example:
Playlist (Playlist)
Your playlist must show what your channel is about.
For example, my channel has a playlist called “Advanced SEO Strategies”:
Because my channel is aimed at professional marketers (not newbies), this playlist is visible to that group of marketers.
Tip: Optimize your playlist keywords for keywords with lots of characters. This can help rank your playlist for that keyword:
Number of subscribers
Do channels with more subscribers have built-in rankings?
Hard to confirm. After all, popular channels get more views each time when they publish a new video. Therefore, it is not possible to know if your subscriber number is a direct or indirect ranking factor. If you have more subscribers, your videos will be more effective on YouTube.
Here’s how to get more subscribers:
# 1: Trailer of the channel
Your trailer is the marketing of the channel.
In addition to the header, trailers are the first thing someone sees when they visit your channel:
You have about a minute to answer these questions from subscribers:
- Who are you?
- Why should I (the user) care?
- What makes your channel unique?
- Why should I (the user) subscribe?
However, if you can answer these questions, you can turn your viewers into loyal subscribers.
Here is an example of a great trailer.
What makes this trailer be so great:
- Short videos (more than 1 minute)
- Interesting trailer
- The trailer does NOT cause any doubt about the content of the channel
# 2: Ask others to subscribe at the end of the video
Ask viewers to subscribe to your channel … at the end of the video. If there are viewers from start to finish, they will definitely subscribe. Sometimes they already want to register but are still hesitant, so they only need a slight impact that they have already registered. The “subscribe to my channel” CTA button is the slight impact.
# 3: Link to your channel from your website
Add a YouTube link to your channel from the website.
Rank videos on Google
In this section we will learn how to rank videos on Google.
How does your video rank on Google?
This is the way to do it:
Google individually tags keywords for video results. This is “Video Keywords”.
And the way to rank your videos on Google is to target video keywords to potential customers.
In my experience, if you optimize a video around a keyword that does not already have a video on Google, it is difficult to rank for that keyword.
For example, “how to clean an iphone 6” (how to clean an iphone 6) is a video keyword:
How to find video keywords – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
The easiest way to find video keywords is to find your potential keyword on Google.
If you see at least one video result in the top 10, this is a great thing. If not, you may need to search for another keyword.
Tip: The top 3 on Google receives 55% of all clicks. Therefore, keep an eye out for keywords that have a video result in the top 3. Your video will almost not receive much traffic if ranked in positions from 4 to 10.
How to rate your YouTube videos on Google
You have already created a YouTube video around a video keyword, so how to display it on Google?
The way to do it is to create a good, engaging video and then optimize it.
In addition, all you need to do is get the link back to your video. Like any other site on the internet, the more quality backlinks you build, the higher you will rank.
Rate a video host on Google – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
What happens if you host videos on your website?
For example, suppose you post videos to your blog with a service like Wistia. Can you use these videos to rate? Technically … yes. However, it is much more difficult to rank a self-hosted video than a YouTube video.
In fact, 82% of all video results on Google come from YouTube. That means being able to rank self-hosted videos.
How to do the following:
# 1: Put videos on top of your page
This will tell Google that your video is the main body of the page. So, make sure to put your video on top of the page … or right after the brief introductory text:
# 2: Publish a transcript below your video
A complete transcript below your video will help search engines understand what your video is all about.
Tip: Optimize your speech for easy understanding. Most users just paste and paste a long old dialogue. Instead, make sure your lines are easy to read and skim to others. This will improve your stay on the page and reduce bounce rate – two important Google ranking factors.
# 3: Use Video Schema
Both Google and Bing support Video Schema markup.
This guide from Google will provide you with complete summary information.
Overall, here’s what you need to have:
- Video title containing keywords: Do not use generic titles like “video 5_version 3.4”. Instead, write a title that looks like: “5 Ways to Rank Videos in Google” (5 ways to rank videos on Google).
- Video description: This is a brief description of your video content. Make sure to use the main keyword once in this position.
- Video duration and upload date: No description needed
- Eye-catching thumbnails: This is what will appear in Google search results, so do it well.
You can install this schema code manually. But it will take a long time. Instead, I recommend hosting your videos with Wistia or using the Yoast WordPress plugin for videos.
Promote videos – SEO Tutorial for YouTube
Notify the list of new videos to your email
This is very simple but very effective. Whenever you publish a new video, notify subscribers by email:
Your subscribers get access to high quality video content. And your video generates a lot of high-quality views. This large amount of views can push your videos onto other people’s YouTube home pages.
Tip: YouTube suggests videos on your homepage that are similar to videos you recently watched. And this feature is now bigger than YouTube search and “Suggested Videos” combined. So, 1000% you need to optimize the videos for them to appear on the homepage.
You can easily tell if your video will show up on someone else’s homepage. Visit YouTube Analytics. Click on “Traffic Sources” -> “Browse Features” -> “Home”:
If your video is high quality and effectively optimized, it will appear on the homepage after a few days of promotion.
And if your video gets the desired effect, it will quickly get high rankings on YouTube search results.
Share your videos on social networks
This is not as effective as promoting your video to email lists. However, you can get buzz for your new video by sharing it on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest:
Tip: Ask your social followers to subscribe to your YouTube channel.
If they follow you on social networks they are VERY likely to press the subscribe button on your channel and without hesitation.
Embed the video in your blog post
Embedding your videos helps rank videos better for two reasons:
- Embed video is a YouTube ranking signal
- Embed video will create a backlink to your video
So, do not be afraid to embed your best videos in blog content.
These embedded components can make a HUGE change in video views (especially if you do not have many subscribers yet).
And this is a subtle way to let readers know that you have a great YouTube channel.
Promote other videos on the end of your video screen
I always add the word “Next Video” on the screen at the end of my video.
This small technique helps promote videos that require a little extra care (TLC). And it helps to increase watch time in your browsing session (Session Watch Time).
Set up a “Featured Video”
When you do this, YouTube will suggest your videos on your other videos.
Share videos on forums and Quora
First, keep an eye on a question your video can answer.
Then provide the complete text answer.
Finally, link to your video and see it as a way for others to find more information on that topic.
Source: backlinko.com
Translated by PersoTrans
Edited by vietmoz.edu.vn