Since starting my YouTube channel in 2006, I've always been struggling to get my videos
recommended by YouTube because my top traffic sources have always been YouTube and Google
search. Does that mean YouTube search or YouTube SEO is dead in 2022 and beyond?
In this video, you'll learn the pros and cons of creating videos with search-based titles
versus creating compelling videos your audience really cares about
that get recommended by YouTube. [music]
Let's look at the cons of search-based titles. Typically, the titles are boring and don't grab
the viewer's attention. For example, I could have titled this video, how to get more recommended
views from YouTube, which is somewhat boring compared to the title lot to use today, is
YouTube SEO dead, which immediately grabs viewers' attention. If you want to stand up from your
competitors and get more views, create compelling video titles that grab viewers' attention.
Another disadvantage of creating search-based titles is that you're attracting subscribers
but you're not getting many views on your videos. Typically, search-based content is one and done.
The viewer finds the information then moves on and doesn't return to watch more of your videos.
They subscribe because you gave them the information that they seek, but then they move on
and don't come back to watch more of your videos. Search-based titles often get a low clickthrough
rate and don't get recommended by YouTube. The videos get discovered under search engines,
but they don't appear on the YouTube home screen or on the suggested videos that appear
on the right side of the watch pages or the videos that come up next after the
viewer has just watched a particular video. Here are the pros of creating search-based
content. The pros of creating search-based titles is that they're easy to research
and easy to create. You simply type your main keyword into the YouTube search box,
then create videos based upon the suggestions that YouTube gives you. If you target the long
tail keyword phrases like how to train a German shepherd not to bite instead of how to train
a dog not to bite, then it'll be easy to rank for that particular long-tail keyword phrase.
Another benefit of a search-based strategy is that you're creating evergreen content.
You do the work once and reap the benefits month after month, year after year as long as the video
ranks on the first page of YouTube search or Google. If the content appeals to a wider
audience, it will also get recommended by YouTube. For example, this video initially attracted search
traffic when it was first uploaded, but because the content appealed to a wider audience,
it got recommended by YouTube. This resulted in a tremendous surge of traffic.
Hey, Herman, I've been struggling to grow my channel faster, how can I get YouTube to recommend
my videos? Did to know that 70% of all traffic from YouTube comes from recommended traffic?
These are videos that appear on the home screen at youtube.com or on the YouTube app and also
the videos that come up next from the videos that the viewers have just watched. Recommended
traffic sources appear in YouTube analytics on the browse features, suggested videos,
and channel pages. Your videos get recommended based upon a viewer's browsing behavior,
what they watched, what they didn't watch, how long they watched, when they watched, et cetera.
Herman, how can I know what my audience likes and how do I make videos that they want to watch?
You have to know how to identify your target audience. Here's an action exercise to create
your persona breakdown. Make a list of your persona's demographics, their age,
gender, geographical location, income range, and relationship status. You can find this information
under the audience tab in YouTube analytics. You'll also find videos growing your audience,
other channels your audience watches, other videos your audience watched,
and when your viewers are on YouTube. Number two, list your persona's
psychographics. You can get this information by reading the comments under your videos and
under your competitor's videos, doing polls, asking questions, et cetera. Number three,
list your viewers' persona online behavior. Make a list of the types of media that they consume,
the social media sites that they have, and the channels that they've subscribed to.
Number four, make a list of your persona's offline behavior. This can be their buying behavior, their
hobbies, and where they spend their time offline. A great way to get this information is to survey
your audience. If you have an email list, survey your list. If you have a community tab, add a poll
or ask a question. You can pin a question to the top of your comments or engage in conversations in
the comments. If you have a Facebook group, add a poll or post questions in the group.
Thanks for the research exercise. Is there any other type of research I can do to get more
videos recommended by YouTube? Absolutely. Make a list of the top 20 channels in your niche that
you're interested in. Click on my channels videos tab and then sort it by the most popular videos.
Watch the videos that attracted the most traffic in the past year, then do the same for the other
channels. Pay particular attention to the videos that are suggested on the right side of the watch
page of the video that you're watching. These are related videos that are being recommended to you.
Doing this exercise will give you a lot of ideas of future videos you can create for your channel.
Speaker 2: What you want to ask yourself while you're doing this exercise is,
can I make something better or different than what already exists to stand out.
Speaker 1: Instead of copying a competitor's video, try to approach a topic from your own
unique angle and make a better video. What you're trying to do is look for similar
patterns that appear across all the popular videos. Read the comments under these popular
videos to see if there are any recurring questions you can make your videos about.
A question asked by a viewer in the comments may be the same question that
thousands of people are asking. This is a great way to tap into the mind of your target audience
and make videos that your audience cares about. When you create videos that your
audience cares about, it's more likely that your videos will be recommended by YouTube.
Other communities where your target audience might be hanging out online include Reddit,
Facebook, Twitter, Medium, et cetera. Observe the titles and thumbnails on popular
videos that immediately grab your attention. When you watch a video, what motivates you to
watch a video all the way through? The main purpose of doing all this research
is to attract new viewers and to keep viewers coming back to watch more of your content.
When a large proportion of your viewers and subscribers return to watch more of your content,
YouTube will surface more of your content to other viewers. This will result in rapid
growth of YouTube channel, and you'll no longer be relying on search-based
content to get traffic to your channel. Hey, thanks for that valuable information,
but what does YouTube say about getting your videos recommended on YouTube? Watch this
video on the screen right now on how to get your YouTube videos recommended in 2022 and beyond.