How to Optimize Your Video’s Searchability

As the number two search engine in the world, YouTube enjoys a spot second only to Google itself, which it conveniently happens to own. How you optimize your video’s searchability is the difference between if it ever gets seen or not. If you’re producing any video that will live there, it’s important to know how to set it up for success by covering the basics of YouTube SEO. Since Google owns YouTube, its results show up in 70% of the top 100 Google, often listed before a traditional blog post or website.

Video Searchability

The average American spends around six hours every day watching videos on the internet; what exactly will make any of them watch yours? Every second, people search for products or solutions to problems solved via Google; they do the same on YouTube. And with over 500 hours of videos uploaded every minute, the brutal truth is that your video has about the same chance of going viral as you do of winning the lottery.

Try it for yourself; look up any product or “how-to” on Google, and you’ll almost always get something from YouTube on the first page. But how do those video results get there?

Video SEO Basics

When people search for a product or subject, they want to know what your video is about from the get. Always remember that you’re creating content for people, not search engines, but you should always be mindful of YouTube SEO when you’re planning your videos. Here are some of the basics of optimizing your YouTube content:

Titles and Description: Include target keywords in your titles and descriptions, and make sure it’s engaging. You can use a tool like this to help you find keyword ideas. YouTube video titles should be somewhere between 40 and 70 characters.

Engagement: YouTube is technically a social media platform, so engagement (likes, comments, views) helps to determine a video’s ranking in search results. Be sure to “like” and respond to comments on videos. If you already have videos uploaded to YouTube, take a look at your analytics in the YouTube Studio. There you’ll get detailed info about your audience’s demographics, location, and watch time.

Categories: Categories like “Automotive,” “How to, and style” help YouTube get a better sense of who may want to watch your video.

Tags: You can also add tags to your videos to give YouTube extra context about your video content. They let you use a lot so add as many as you can think of; just make sure they’re relevant to the subject you’re covering.

Mention Keywords In Your Video: Believe it or not, just saying your target keywords in your video can also help YouTube understand what your video is about.

Thumbnails: Customize your video’s thumbnails. Be sure to use a font and style that is consistent with your brand. It should be easily recognizable to your audience and give them a compelling reason to watch your content.

Playlists: The more content you create, the harder it becomes for people to navigate your channel. Creating playlists helps to organize your videos and YouTube treats it as though you created another set of searchable content.

The ability to create videos has never been easier from both a financial and time-consuming perspective. Be sure you have a plan to optimize your video’s searchability once your content is posted online. If you need help navigating all this, or you’d like an audit of your YouTube channel, contact me, and let’s discuss what’s involved in taking your content to the next level.