Hello.
My name is Ben Lovegrove and in this video I'm going to provide you with some easy to
follow tips for improving your YouTube SEO.
I'm going to describe what changes you can and should be making to rank your YouTube
videos for maximum traffic, views, subscribers, and viewer interaction.
Follow the link to my blog for details and links to the products I mention in this video.
The blog also contains a link to a FREE YouTube SEO cheatsheet.
Download a copy and use it every time you upload a video.
What is YouTube SEO?
YouTube is the second biggest search engine after Google, and Google owns YouTube.
Video marketing is HUGE and is growing bigger but if you want your videos to be found among
the millions that exist they need to be optimised for searches.
Just as we have to fine tune our websites for SEO purposes we also have to ensure our
videos are checked and tweaked to exploit every chance of being found and viewed.
YouTube SEO then is simply the processes of optimising videos so that they have the best
possible chance of being found.
Found that is, not just in the search results but also in the list of suggested videos that
YouTube shows you when you've viewed another video.
Keyword Titles
There isn't room in this video go into an explanation of how to choose keywords and
phrases.
I'm going to assume you've found your chosen keyword.
For the purpose of this video let's assume you've made one about horse riding for beginners.
Perhaps you've chosen the title 'Horse Riding Tips For Beginners' because that's your target
keyword phrase.
You get the general idea.
So your keyword phrase should be used three times:
1.
It should be the name of your video filename before you upload to YouTube.
2.
It should be at the start of your video title in the editing area.
3.
It should be repeated at the start of your text description.
YouTube SEO - Video Description
So you've named your video by using your keyword first followed by other key terms to a maximum
of 100 characters.
Next, add the description.
You have 5,000 characters for this so use as much as you can.
Repeat the keyword title and then give a full and accurate description.
Treat this description with the same diligence and attention to detail as you would any blog
post or article.
Proofread it for any spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors.
Be sure to include any links to your author or business sites but don't over do the links.
Remember that Google looks for content that is relevant, useful, and original.
YouTube SEO - Video Tags
Once your description is complete add the relevant tags.
Don't be tempted to add tags that are not relevant to your content.
You aren't going to attract more traffic by adding irrelevant tags.
Also, by effectively spamming your tag area you risk having your account suspended if
you use this and other underhand techniques.
You have a total of 500 characters to fill up in the tag section so use it wisely.
YouTube SEO - End Screens and Cards
End Screens are often overlooked by those in a rush to simply upload their videos and
hope for the best.
End screens are those small hyperlinked images that appear near the end of a video, about
20 seconds from the end.
You can add several of these if you wish.
The options are:
1.
Video or playlist - yours, or someone elses 2.
Subscription link for your channel 3.
A link to another channel that you want to promote
4.
A link to an approved websites
An approved website is one that Google/YouTube have identified as belonging to you.
This might have been verified through Google Webmasters site.
If you need any help with that, post a comment below.
Cards are those little icons that appear throughout the video.
Look at the white circle containing an 'i' on this video
Click that and you'll see the cards I've added to this video.
There may be one or several linking to approved websites.
Like End Screens they could also link to playlists, videos, subscription links, or channels.
So, to summarise the tasks so far, you've added nice long title, a full description,
relevant tags, end screens, and cards.
How else can you improve YouTube SEO?
- Add the video to a playlist.
- Share it on social media - Encourage others to share it
- Respond promptly to comments - Encourgage interaction in the comments
- Be responsive and friendly, even to negative criticism
- Share your video in relevant forums, Facebook groups, Google+ communities
When sharing in forums etc, respect the rules and accept a deletion if it occurs.
Finally, if you want another handy way of working through all the YouTube SEO checks,
analysing the results, and keeping abreast of how your videos are performing, I recommend
VidIQ.
This is both a website dashboard that provides important data about how your channel, playlists,
and videos are performing and a browser extension that analyses whatever video you happen to
be looking at on YouTube.
So you can analyse your own videos and any others, including your competitors.
Lookout for the links to this and other useful tools on my blog at benlovegrove.com/youtube-seo/
Thanks for watching!
I hope you found this interesting and useful.
Please give the video a thumbs up, share it, and add a comment, gives some feedback, or
ask a question below.