YouTube SEO : NEW Strategies to Get YOUR VIDEOS to Rank #1

Summary

This video script offers a comprehensive guide to YouTube SEO, emphasizing the importance of keyword research and video optimization for increased visibility. Jamal from HubSpot introduces various tools like YouTube's auto-complete, Google Trends, and Google Keyword Planner to find the right keywords. He also discusses the use of SEO tools like TubeBuddy, VidIQ, and Ahrefs for deeper insights. The script concludes with general best practices for boosting video performance on YouTube, including creating compelling thumbnails and engaging content to extend viewer watch time.

Takeaways

• 📈 Optimizing videos for new customer discoverability is crucial due to the massive volume of content on YouTube.
• 🔍 Understanding keyword research and optimizing your video for YouTube is essential for ranking.
• 🎯 YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, making keyword research vital for success.
• 🛠️ Utilize YouTube's autocomplete feature and other SEO tools for effective keyword research.
• 📊 Google Trends helps understand the popularity of topics and provides insight into seasonal trends.
• 💡 Google Keyword Planner offers data on monthly search volumes and relevant keywords for better targeting.
• 🔧 TubeBuddy and VidIQ provide advanced features for keyword research and tag management.
• 📋 VidIQ's trending videos feature allows you to see top videos by view velocity and average views per hour.
• 📊 Ahrefs Keyword Explorer offers robust data mining capabilities, ideal for comprehensive SEO strategies.
• 📉 YouTube Channel Analytics helps identify top-performing videos, audience demographics, and engagement metrics.
• 📝 Include keywords in your file name, title, description, and tags to optimize video discoverability.
• 📸 Create custom, high-quality thumbnails to boost click-through rates.
• ⏰ Extend viewer watch time by creating engaging content to improve YouTube ranking.
• 📢 Cross-promote videos on other social media platforms to increase reach and views.
• 👍 Encourage viewers to like, comment, and subscribe to boost engagement and channel growth.

Q & A

What is the primary goal of posting on YouTube according to the video?

The primary goal of posting on YouTube is to get views, with the video emphasizing the importance of standing out among the millions of videos uploaded daily.

Why is optimizing content for YouTube's search engine crucial?

Optimizing content for YouTube's search engine is crucial because YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, and it has a separate set of best practices for video creators to learn and implement to determine how it will recommend videos and where they'll rank in search results.

What is the first step in finding the right keywords for video content according to the video?

The first step is to find a YouTube optimization tool that can help generate keyword ideas to get videos ranked and viewed.

How can YouTube's auto complete feature be used for keyword research?

YouTube's auto complete feature can be used for keyword research by providing quick and easy ideas around what people are searching for and how it relates to the topic, offering insight into popular search queries and competitors' strategies.

What role does Google Trends play in YouTube SEO?

Google Trends shows how popular a topic is relative to other topics on the web, providing trend data that can help identify currently popular channels and what people are searching for, which is useful for YouTube SEO.

How can Google Keyword Planner assist in video optimization efforts?

Google Keyword Planner can help discover relevant keywords that people are searching for on Google, providing data on monthly search volume and allowing for filtering by geographic location, language, and other parameters to further hone in on the target audience.

What are some popular SEO tools for YouTube video creators?

TubeBuddy and VidIQ are popular SEO tools that provide capabilities including keyword research, tag management, and analytics to assist YouTube video creators in optimizing their content.

What feature differentiates VidIQ from TubeBuddy for YouTube channels?

VidIQ has a 'trending videos' feature that allows users to see any competing channels' top videos by view velocity or average views per hour, which is particularly useful for identifying newly published videos that are gaining traction.

What is the significance of Ahrefs Keyword Explorer in SEO?

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer is known for having strong data mining capabilities, offering features for analyzing competitor's websites and optimizing one's own website, making it a premier program for comprehensive SEO.

How can a video's thumbnail impact its performance on YouTube?

A strong thumbnail using contrasting colors and high-quality images that accurately represent the video, title, and brand can help with high click-through rates and is a significant factor in YouTube's ranking algorithm.

What general best practices should be followed to improve the chances of ranking highly on YouTube?

General best practices include creating a strong thumbnail, ensuring content quality and engagement to extend viewer watch time, cross-promoting videos on other social media platforms, and adding calls to action to encourage likes, comments, and subscriptions.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Mastering YouTube SEO for Maximum Visibility

This paragraph introduces the importance of YouTube SEO for increasing video views. It emphasizes the competitive nature of YouTube, with millions of videos uploaded daily, and the necessity of optimizing content for better discoverability. Jamal from HubSpot shares proven strategies that have been successful for their channel. The focus is on keyword research and video optimization using target keywords, as YouTube is the second largest search engine. The paragraph also explains the importance of understanding YouTube's unique best practices for video recommendations and search rankings. It suggests using YouTube's auto-complete feature and Google Trends for initial keyword research and trend analysis, and mentions the use of Google Keyword Planner for more detailed keyword insights, including search volumes and filtering options.

05:00

🛠️ Leveraging SEO Tools for YouTube Video Optimization

The second paragraph delves into the use of SEO tools to enhance YouTube video optimization. It highlights the benefits of TubeBuddy and VidIQ, which offer advanced features for keyword research, tag management, and competitive analysis. These tools provide insights into the YouTube algorithm, help in identifying effective tags, and track video and competitor rankings on YouTube and Google. The paragraph explains how to use TubeBuddy's Keyword Explorer and VidIQ's keyword analysis to find the best keywords for video optimization. It also mentions Ahrefs Keyword Explorer for comprehensive keyword and tag analysis, and the importance of considering channel analytics for understanding audience demographics and engagement metrics. The paragraph concludes with advice on optimizing video elements such as file names, titles, descriptions, and tags to improve searchability and viewership.

10:02

🎨 Boosting Video Performance with Best Practices and Tools

The final paragraph discusses general best practices for improving video performance on YouTube. It underscores the significance of creating custom thumbnails to increase click-through rates, as 90% of top-performing videos have them. The paragraph also stresses the importance of content quality and viewer engagement, suggesting that videos should be compelling enough to retain audience attention throughout. It advises checking audience retention analytics to identify areas of improvement. Additionally, it encourages cross-promotion on other social media platforms and the use of calls-to-action to boost viewer interaction. The paragraph ends with a playful nudge for viewers to like, subscribe, and comment, and mentions a free download offering customizable templates for channel art and a YouTube growth strategy to attract more subscribers.

Keywords

💡YouTube SEO

YouTube SEO refers to the practice of optimizing videos on YouTube to rank higher in search results, thereby increasing visibility and attracting more viewers. In the video's context, it is the primary strategy discussed for propelling a channel to success. The script mentions various tools and techniques for effective YouTube SEO, such as keyword research and video optimization.

💡Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of identifying which search terms people enter into search engines like YouTube when looking for content. It is crucial for understanding what potential viewers are searching for and tailoring video content to match those interests. The script emphasizes the importance of keyword research as the cornerstone of a successful YouTube channel.

💡Autocomplete Feature

The autocomplete feature on YouTube is a tool that suggests search queries as users begin typing, based on popular searches. In the script, it is recommended as a free keyword research tool to understand what people are searching for and to gain insight into competitors' strategies.

💡Google Trends

Google Trends is a tool that analyzes the popularity of search queries relative to other topics on the web over time. The video script describes using Google Trends to gauge the popularity of topics for YouTube videos and to identify trends that could inform content creation and promotional strategies.

💡Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool within Google Ads that helps in discovering relevant keywords with search volume data. In the context of the video, it is used to validate trend data from Google Trends and to identify keywords with high search volume for video optimization.

💡SEO Tools

SEO tools are software programs or applications designed to assist in optimizing content for search engines. The script mentions several SEO tools like TubeBuddy and VidIQ, which provide insights into the YouTube algorithm and help with keyword research, tag management, and video optimization.

💡Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis involves studying competitors to understand their strategies and how they are performing. In the video, the concept is applied to YouTube by analyzing what keywords successful competitors are using and how their videos are ranking to inform one's own SEO strategy.

💡Video Optimization

Video optimization refers to the process of enhancing a video's metadata (title, description, tags) and content to improve its ranking on YouTube. The script provides specific steps for video optimization, such as including keywords in the file name, title, description, and tags.

💡Audience Retention

Audience retention is a metric that measures how long viewers watch a video. High retention rates indicate engaging content. The video script suggests analyzing audience retention to identify points where viewers drop off and improving content to keep viewers engaged until the end.

💡Custom Thumbnails

Custom thumbnails are unique, eye-catching images created for video previews to attract viewers. The script mentions that 90% of the best-performing videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails, which are important for high click-through rates and extending viewer watch time.

💡Cross-Promoting

Cross-promoting involves sharing content across multiple platforms to increase reach and attract more views. The video script suggests using cross-promotion on other social media platforms to improve the visibility of YouTube videos and grow the channel's audience.

Highlights

The goal of posting on YouTube is to get as many views as possible, which requires standing out among millions of videos.

Optimizing your video for YouTube's search engine is crucial for new customer discoverability.

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.

Keyword research and optimizing your video with target keywords are key to ranking on YouTube.

YouTube has a separate set of best practices for video creators to learn and implement.

YouTube keyword research is essential for the success of a YouTube channel.

YouTube's auto complete feature is a free keyword research tool.

Autocomplete can provide insights into popular search queries and competitor strategies.

Using an asterisk in keyword searches can reveal different search variations.

Competitive analysis using Google Trends can show the popularity of topics and trends.

Google Trends allows you to compare search interests and identify popular queries.

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool to discover relevant keywords and monthly search volumes.

Keyword research tools should be supplemented with other tools for a comprehensive view.

TubeBuddy and VidIQ are popular SEO tools for YouTube video creators.

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer is known for its strong data mining capabilities.

Analyzing channel analytics on YouTube can provide insights into top-performing videos and audience demographics.

Optimizing your video includes using keywords in the file name, title, description, and tags.

Creating a strong thumbnail with contrasting colors and high-quality images can improve click-through rates.

Viewer watch time and audience retention are important factors in YouTube's ranking algorithm.

Cross-promoting videos on other social media platforms can increase reach and attract more views.

Encouraging viewers to like, comment, and subscribe can improve engagement.

Transcripts

- If you're posting on YouTube,

the goal is to get views, and lots of 'em.

But it could be hard to stand out amongst the other

3.7 million videos that were uploaded today.

As content floods YouTube, optimizing yours

for new customer discoverability is crucial.

So in this video, I'm gonna reveal

proven YouTube SEO strategies

that propelled our channel to success.

What's up?

It's Jamal from HubSpot.

So how can you rank on YouTube?

It's important to understand two things:

keyword research and optimizing your video

for the platform using these target keywords.

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world.

That's why doing your research ahead of time

and identifying which keywords to use is so important,

as YouTube has a separate set of best practices

that video creators need to learn, adopt,

and implement to determine how it will recommend your videos

and where they'll rank in the search results.

I would dare say that YouTube keyword research

is so important that it's absolutely the cornerstone

of your success when creating a great YouTube channel.

So let's dive in.

The first step in finding the right keywords

for your video content is to find

a YouTube optimization tool that can help you generate

keyword ideas to get your videos ranked and viewed.

If you're new to YouTube

or not familiar with SEO tools,

YouTube's auto complete feature can be the best free

keyword research tool for YouTube

and is a great place to start.

Autocomplete is a quick and easy way

to get ideas around what people are searching for

and how it relates to your topic.

Not only will these suggestions provide

some insight around popular search queries,

but they'll also give you a quick overview

of what your competitors are doing,

which of these videos have a large amount of traffic,

and which keywords they're using.

Add an asterisk in front of your keyword,

and it will show different variations

of searches that contain those keywords.

Take note of the ones that make the most sense

for your content and target audience.

And speaking of competitors,

video marketing is a competitive game.

To win it, you need to know what you're up against.

That's where competitive analysis comes into play.

So let's move on to Google Trends.

Using Google Trends for YouTube

shows you how popular a topic is

relative to other topics on the web,

and trend data is typically available within hours

and sometimes even minutes.

To use Google Trends, click on the Explore tab,

then switch from the default

web search category to YouTube search.

Scroll down to related topics and queries

to find out what channels are currently popular

and what people are searching for.

You can also set the category to match

your channel theme in the category tab.

For this search, we'll choose Beauty & Fitness.

Start by looking at the overall trend of your keywords.

It looks like interest in working out routines

is holding steady, with seasonal spikes

around the start of the summer and the new year.

This data is particularly helpful

if you work in an industry where seasonality is a factor.

For example, the New Year's approaching.

You wanna know which of your products

or services to prioritize promoting online.

By using the comparison feature in Google Trends,

you can compare search interests for your topics

to learn about which query is more popular with users.

To do so, after you've added one topic,

simply click +Compare and type in your second topic.

By comparing keywords for products or services you offer,

you can get a quick and helpful picture

of which offerings are in greater demand

and likely to have an effect

on your sales volume in the short term.

This would be a good time

to search the related topics and queries on YouTube

to brainstorm ideas for your videos

and do additional research to see what kinds of videos

these popular channels end up posting.

Just remember, similar to YouTube's auto complete feature,

Google Trends measures keyword popularity

rather than keyword search volume.

Therefore, it's best to validate trend data

With keyword research tools,

like Google Keyword Planner.

All you need is a Google Ads account to use it.

This free tool can help you discover relevant keywords

that people are searching for on Google

and get ideas for the keywords that you should target

in your video optimization efforts.

It provides data in the monthly search volume

of specific keywords which can help you prioritize

the most popular and relevant keywords to target.

It also allows you to filter your keyword results

by geographic location, language, and other parameters,

so you can further hone in on your audience.

Go to ads.google.com, click Start Now,

and sign in with your Google account.

Next, click the Switch to Expert Mode link down here.

Now, create an account without a campaign

and confirm your info.

To open Google Keyword Planner,

click Tools & Settings in the top right corner,

and then from the dropdown menu,

select Keyword Planner listed under Planning.

There are two ways to create your keyword plan.

If you wanna see search volumes

and metrics for an existing list of keywords,

click Get Search Volume and Forecast.

Otherwise, click Discover New Keywords

to find new keyword ideas.

Enter up to 10 words or phrases related

to your products or services, or start with a website.

Click Get Results.

You'll see a list of keywords related to what you enter.

You can now edit your list with filters and categories

to help you find those that make the most sense

for your SEO strategy.

Now, Google Keyword Planner is a helpful tool

for SEO research, but no single option

is gonna be the be-all, end-all of content planning.

You want to supplement your efforts

with other research tools that capture additional data

to get a well-rounded view

of the keywords you should target for your videos.

Luckily, there are some good ones out there.

TubeBuddy and VidIQ are popular SEO tools

that give YouTube video creators access

to a number of capabilities, including keyword research.

They provide far greater insight into the YouTube algorithm

than the basic YouTube Studio program.

Both TubeBuddy and VidIQ provide a multitude of features

that assist with keyword research and tag management,

including recommending and ranking tags for you to use

when you upload a video.

Identifying the tags used on public videos,

so you can see which tags work

for other successful creators,

showing you where a video ranks for all its tags,

tracking for all your videos and your competitors,

and their ranking across both YouTube and Google searches.

Here's how they work, starting with TubeBuddy.

TubeBuddy helps you easily optimize your YouTube videos

by providing key analytics on tags and titles,

so you can improve the searchability of your content.

After you've installed their Chrome extension,

click on the TB menu icon, then Keyword Explorer.

Next, search for seed keywords.

These are words or phrases that your customers

might use to search what you have to offer.

Your overall score here is split up into unweighted,

the overall score for every single YouTube channel,

and weighted, specific to your channel.

Let's stick with weighted.

As the closer your weighted score is to the green,

the greater the chance you have

of ranking high for that keyword and getting views.

Here, under the Score Analysis section

you'll find a breakdown of your search volume, competition,

and optimization strength for your keyword search.

Search volume shows you if your keyword

has way too much competition and if you shouldn't target it,

or if you've got a good chance of competing

against other videos currently ranked in search,

and if you can get your video ranked high

in search for that keyword.

The competition metric lets you know

if there's already a lot of content out there

that your video is competing against

and how high your chances are of competing

against that content.

And optimization strength tells you

if all other videos currently ranked in search

are well-optimized for your keywords.

If the videos are not well-optimized for search,

here's the opportunity you have

to break in and rank for keyword

by properly optimizing your videos.

This is done by having a searchable and compelling title

and having relevant keywords in your title,

description and tags, but more on that in just a bit.

You can also click on the Video Topics tab

to come up with additional keyword ideas.

VidIQ has a similar set of features that assist

with creating SEO friendly titles, descriptions, and tags.

Log into your VidIQ account,

then click on Keywords in the menu.

Like before, you'll type in a seed keyword

and run the search.

Here, you'll see their automated analysis

of scoring metrics, including search volume estimations,

related terms, your VidIQ keyword scores,

related YouTube videos, and general interest over time,

which should be really useful for identifying

whether a keyword or keyword phrase is still trending.

This trending videos feature is a small

but significant difference between TubeBuddy and VidIQ,

specifically for YouTube channels.

What this allows you to do

is see any competing channels top videos

by view velocity or average views per hour.

This information is valuable,

because newly published videos tend to get

the most of their traction in the first 48 hours,

which is when YouTube promotes the video to subscribers.

All in all, most of the functionality between VidIQ

and TubeBuddy is still somewhere

that it mostly comes down to personal preference,

but they cost money if you wanna get

the full use of their features.

Another widely used tool worth mentioning here

is Ahrefs Keyword Explorer.

Ahrefs has the same features

for keywords and tags as other tools we've covered,

but is considered to have the strongest data mining

out of all of them.

It's not a free service, but comes with a robust set

of features to analyze competitor's websites,

on and optimize your own website,

and jump on marketing trends.

If your goal is only YouTube SEO,

the other tools may be better valued.

If the full suite of Ahrefs is useful for your brand,

it's the premier program for SEO.

Now that you've got the relevant terms

and phrases needed to rank your videos on YouTube,

you'll also want to consider your channel's analytics.

Through YouTube's Channel Analytics page,

you can identify top performing videos,

understand audience demographics, analyze traffic sources,

and the keywords people are searching for

to find your content, and monitor engagement metrics

like audience retention and watch time.

Log into your YouTube account

and click on your profile icon in the top right corner.

Select YouTube Studio,

then click on the Analytics icon on the menu.

You could access an overview of your analytics here

or dive into areas like content, audience, and research.

Select Advanced Mode in the upper right corner

if you'd like to see a detailed breakdown

of your channel metrics,

metrics for individual videos, and other analytics.

Whew, okay, so heavy lifting is behind you,

but there's still another crucial step

before checking this off your to-do list,

optimizing your video.

This means including your keywords

in your file name, title, description, and tag.

This title needs to be concise, descriptive,

and attention grabbing, like a headline.

For example, make sure your file name

and video title are the same.

Include keywords from your title

in the first two lines of your description,

and add these keywords in your tags.

YouTube will have a much better understanding of your topic

and will be better able to serve your video

in its search results if you follow these steps.

In addition to keyword research and video optimization,

there are some general best practices you should follow

to improve your chances of ranking highly on YouTube.

These include creating a strong thumbnail,

using contrasting colors and high quality images

that accurately represents your video, title and brand,

and helps with high click-through rates.

According to YouTube, 90% of the best performing videos

have custom thumbnails, like this.

Extending viewer watch time is also an important factor

in YouTube's ranking algorithm.

This boils down to the quality of your content.

Is it engaging enough to capture the viewer's attention

and keep them watching through to the end?

Take a look into your audience retention analytics

in YouTube Studio to see where viewers are dropping off.

Cross-promoting your videos on other social media platforms

to increase your reach and attract more views,

and adding CTAs to encourage viewers

to like, comment, and subscribe to your channel.

On that note, you made it this far into the video.

Might as well hit that Like button

and subscribe to the channel and drop a comment,

letting us know what other topics you want us to cover.

And while you're down there, check out our free download

to discover customizable templates

to create your own YouTube channel art,

like thumbnails and banner images.

We've also included SEO necessities

and a YouTube channel growth strategy

to help you gain more subscribers.

Basically, the better you can target

and tailor your videos for your intended audience,

the more likely your videos will show up

in their YouTube searches,

so you'd better start training your SEO muscle

if you wanna get your share of views and engagement.

Now, if you'll excuse me,

these muscles aren't gonna build themselves.

You know what I'm saying?

Got some heavy lifting in my own too.

Until then, I'll see you next time.

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so it shares its data across every application.

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