- Making content around video games on YouTube has
to be some of the most fun you can have on the platform,
but getting discovered, maybe not so much.
It's not going to be as easy as hitting record
on your next Minecraft building session or wiping the floor
with everybody in Fortnite.
So the purpose of this video is to help you get discovered
on YouTube playing games in 2020, but even if you don't
have a gaming channel, don't fret because a lot
of this advice I think can be applied to several
different genres of video on YouTube, so stick around.
(techno music)
- [Narrator] VidIQ.
- [Woman] VidIQ.
- [Narrator] Vidiq.com
- Let's first discuss the types of gaming content
getting discovered in gaming in 2020.
In order to figure that out, we have to ask ourselves,
well, what is YouTube?
Ultimately, YouTube is a search engine.
Now, that may seem obvious, but have you ever made a video
titled Bob plays Minecraft episode 12?
That's what I'm talking about.
Nobody is going to search for the words
Bob plays Minecraft episode 12, and the next thing we have
to ask ourselves is, well, what are we doing
with search engines?
And the answer is answering questions.
Whenever we think of something we need to know,
we type it in onto YouTube and try and find a video
that's going to answer that question or cover that need.
Perhaps it's just to find something funny
to get you through your lunch break.
With that in mind, the types of content that I want you
to be focused on when trying to get discovered in gaming
on YouTube would be tips and tricks, reviews, tutorials.
Cover a glitch that you found in a game
or an Easter egg that you found.
Maybe nobody else has found it.
The next time the game you're playing has some DLC
that drops, pick it up right away, review it,
and let people know if they should spend their money on it.
Maybe you bought it and it was a terrible mistake,
but that's a great video right there.
(beeping)
- Hey everyone, sorry, Dan, for gatecrashing your video,
but I have a burning question that I want
to ask the gaming community here.
Zelda Breath of the Wild on a Switch.
I just don't get it, it is absolute sh--
(beeping)
- If you're struggling to come up with ideas
on what you could be covering around your game,
check out VidIQ's most viewed tool.
Type a search in for the game you're playing,
and see what people are watching in real time.
What videos are getting the most views right now?
Not only will this help you figure out
what your competition's doing, but it'll also help you
figure out what questions people may be asking
about your game which brings me
to the second topic we need to cover,
and that is focusing your channel on just one game.
The best thing you can do for your channel
is become an authority on the game you're playing.
If you like to play Call of Duty, then you need
to be making Call of Duty videos so YouTube views you
as the Call of Duty authority.
The more videos you make on one game,
the more data YouTube has to focus on when it's trying
to figure out what videos to recommend to people
when they type in Call of Duty.
(beeping)
First of all, it is the most boring Zelda game
I have ever played.
Randomly wandering around a huge area when you have no idea
where to go, and then all of a sudden hitting one enemy
that kills me in one shot.
That really does bug me.
(beeping)
- Now, for a lot of gaming channels, that's a huge ask.
Hey, one game per channel, that's it.
If you don't want to make a new channel every time
you play a new game, look, I get it.
I totally understand, and there are plenty of examples
of people who didn't have to make a new channel
whenever they played a game that they don't normally play,
however, I want to stress two things.
For one, play a game through and through.
Make sure that game is the primary game on your channel
at least for a time, and secondly, when you do finally pivot
be sure that the next game you're playing is
at least similar to what you were playing before.
If you're a Minecraft channel, it'd probably be best
if you played another survival, building, crafting game.
If you're a Call of Duty channel, it'd be best
if you played another first-person shooter.
These changes will help you keep your current audience
from going and finding somebody else
because they already like games similar
to the one you're playing.
(beeping)
- Item management, why does everything I use break?
And look at this, look at how much food I've got.
Why do I need to freaking cook everything?
(beeping)
- If you're playing a game that's relatively popular
and you're just having some trouble coming up with ideas,
maybe check out the competitors tool.
Type in specific channels and see how other people
are covering the games that you're covering.
Based on how your competitors' videos are doing,
you're probably gonna get some good insights
into what you should be doing next.
The next thing we need to address is upload frequency.
It is tempting, especially in gaming, to record hours on end
of content and break it up into several videos
so you have something every single day,
and I understand that temptation, however, don't do that.
Since we already have you thinking about making tutorials
and reviews, those videos are going to take time,
and I would highly recommend spending that time
crafting each video to perfection.
Make sure your thumbnail's nice, make sure your titles
are researched and your tags and your description.
Do the work because that's going to pay off.
Every new video that you post is going
to be a new opportunity for somebody new to discover you,
so make sure every video is helpful to that end.
If you would like to play a game through,
make a long-term let's play series, that's okay,
but I want you to do that knowing that what you're doing
is helping your current audience stay engaged,
which there's nothing wrong with doing that,
but it does take time away
from crafting those more discoverable, searchable videos.
(beeping)
- Don't get me wrong, I love Zelda.
I've been playing the Zelda games for 30 years.
I've even got all of the toys.
(beeping)
- I've told you to stick to one game.
Do tutorials, do reviews, and try not to upload let's plays
everyday, but how do we expand and how do we discover
different types of content we can make
to not only keep our audience engaged,
but keep us engaged with the game as well?
And that's where the community comes in around a game.
When covering games on YouTube, try to immerse yourself
in the community around it.
If the game has a modding community, that's great.
You can make a video that just kind
of showcases different mods every week.
If it's a building game like Minecraft,
try and find servers that feature amazing builds.
Tour them, show people new things they've never seen before.
You'll find once you're discovering different communities
within a game that people are creating challenges
and playing the game in ways that no one ever imagined.
Try to do one of those challenges on your channel
or better yet, come up with a way to play your game
that no one's thought of before and you make the challenge
for someone else to do.
(beeping)
- You know what?
Maybe that's where I'm going wrong.
Maybe I should just go back to the classics,
and I do because that is one of the best games
I have ever played, and I come back
to it every single decade, and that's my recommendation
for gaming.
(beeping)
- Of course, whenever you're looking
to research these ideas, I would highly recommend
using the vidIQ search panel.
Go into that panel and start testing out different things
because you're gonna find that sometimes
there's a search term that a lot of people are looking for
and there's not a lot of competition
for the videos available to them.
The easiest way to grow any channel
on YouTube is to provide value.
Although it's tempting to record four hours
of gameplay footage and break it up
into eight 30-minute videos, that's not going
to get you discovered.
Become an expert in your game and answer the questions
that people are searching for around it.
Thanks for watching, until next time.
(beeping)
- Should I do a livestream walkthrough?