7 SEO tips for YouTube

In other words, a well-chosen title makes a big difference in the number of people who see your video. 

How do you determine the title of your YouTube video?

Before you choose a title for your YouTube video, you should determine your keywords. Your keyword must be:

• Relevant to your content.
• Have a sufficient search volume.
• And low competition.

Also, make your title as descriptive as possible. A title that clearly describes the content of your video is more likely to catch someone’s attention than a generic title. 

Take a look at:

• Title 1: Making banana bread.
• Title 2: How to: low-carbohydrate banana bread baking.

The second title gives you much more information, don’t you think? It also contains the keyword low-carbohydrate banana bread baking’. This has a search volume of ‘880’ and is super relevant to your content. 

So the next time you upload a video to YouTube, think carefully about your title. It can make all the difference to how many people view your content.

2. Description

The title and description of your video go hand in hand. As well as with titles, write a description that reflects your video well and includes your keywords.

Take the time to write a good description. YouTube uses the description when determining search results. The better your description matches the search query, the higher you appear in the ranking. And the higher you appear in the ranking, the more views you will get.

A good description meets the following conditions:

• Describes your video.

• Contains relevant keywords.

• Is between 100 and 250 characters long.

• Contains links to other videos or external sites.

Keep to the 250-character maximum as much as possible. Because we know, writing is deleting. So if you really want to improve your YouTube channel, you should put time and effort into writing catchy, keyword-rich descriptions for all your videos.

3. Tags

What are tags on YouTube?

First of all; what are tags? Tags are descriptive keywords that you add to your videos. They help people find your videos and are one of the most important ranking factors for YouTube SEO. By adding tags to your YouTube videos, you can ensure that people searching for similar videos can find your content more easily. 

Adding tags to YouTube videos

The good news is that it’s not difficult to add tags to your videos. Remember to focus on keywords that are relevant to your video content and that you know people are searching for. You can check this by looking up search volume through various tools such as SE Ranking or Keyword Planner. And don’t forget to include a mix of both broad and niche keywords! 

4. Quality

Perhaps a no-brainer, but create high-quality content. Think about who your target audience is and what value you want to bring with the video. Do you want to inform, inspire or perhaps something else?

Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Make sure that the content in your videos is based on reliable sources and give the viewer information that is of real use to them. If you provide useful tips or tutorials, make sure your information is accurate and up-to-date.
2. Be engaging and/or entertaining! Viewers should enjoy watching your videos, even if they don’t learn anything from them.
3. Edit your videos carefully. No one wants to watch a video that is full of mistakes or feels disorganized. Take the time to edit your videos and filter out all the “ehs” and “ahs” so they come across as professional and are enjoyable to watch.
4. Engage with your viewers. Motivate your viewers to ask questions and respond to their responses. This is another important factor in SEO for YouTube. In the next tip, we will discuss this in more detail.

5. Increase viewing time

As mentioned, interaction is important to create value for your followers and make your account stand out within YouTube’s algorithm. In addition, you can use interaction to increase viewing time. And you guessed it: the longer people watch your videos, the more engaging your content apparently is and the higher YouTube ranks you. 

Extra tip: promise your viewers an extra bonus at the end of the video. That way, you’ll gain a good amount of viewing time!

6. Use playlists

Use playlists to organize your videos. This makes it easier for viewers to find what they are looking for as well as getting them to spend more time on your channel. 

How do playlists work in YouTube?

When you watch a video from a channel that is in a playlist, the next video in the list automatically starts playing. Since this video is related to the previous video, chances are that the user will keep watching. So this automatically gets the user to stay on your page!

But playlists not only provide a way to organize your content; they also help you rank higher in YouTube’s search algorithm. In fact, YouTube prefers videos that are part of a playlist. So if you want your videos to reach a larger audience, start creating playlists today! 

7. Share organically

The more visitors your channel has, the higher your ranking. If you hope to rank higher on YouTube, one of the best things you can do is share your videos organically on websites and social media. This is an approachable and free way to generate more exposure.

It will give you more viewers as well as a chance to connect with your audience on a deeper level. After all, in a video people see who you are, how you talk and what excites you. You can also use social media to promote new videos or channels you are working on. With this cross-channel communication, you keep your followers more engaged with you and your content.

Ready to rank higher? 

So, to recap. Here are all the SEO tips for YouTube in a row!

• Use strong titles.

• Write extensive descriptions.

• Apply tags.

• Keep quality high.

• Create interaction.

• Building playlists.

• Apply cross-channel communication.

Apply these seven tips right away and soon your videos will rank a lot higher in YouTube search results. Good luck with higher ranking in YouTube!