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.

How Do I Market My Video On Social Media?

First off, I’m assuming you have a video. A video that is well thought out and properly shot and edited. If you do, then congratulations! You made a video - so now what? Before you ask all your friends and followers to share your video content, here are a few facts you should be aware of. The number one search engine in the world is Google, of course; everyone knows that. Number two is YouTube, which Google happens to own. Every 60 seconds, over 500 hours of video are uploaded to the site alone. Data shows the average American spends around six hours every day watching videos on the internet. What exactly will make any of them watch yours? How you market a video on social media and, more importantly, how you optimize your video’s searchability may be the difference between if it ever gets seen or not.

Market A Video On Social Media With Ads

Here’s the brutal truth: your video has about the same chance of going viral as you do of winning the lottery. For most businesses, marketing in general on social media has become a pay-to-play game. Although the option of paying to market a video on social media exists for every social site, I’ll just stick to YouTube for now. Here are a few possible video ad formats you could get started with.

Bumper Ads: These are the six-second videos that must be watched before you can watch the video you actually came for. Yes, six seconds is the maximum length, and it goes really quickly.

Skippable and Non-Skippable Video Ads: These ads can show up before, during, or after a video. The skippable ads can be skipped after five seconds, but for the non-skippable ones, you have to watch till the end before you can see the video you came for or happened to already watch.

The key to using these video ad options is always to be the context in which they appear. If you are watching a cat video and an ad for a first-person shooter pops up, it’s probably going to get skipped. The subjects, videos, or channels you use as your target audience will determine whether they are more likely to skip your video or watch to the end and take action. 

Market Your Video With Email 

If your business has an email list, consider adding video to your email marketing campaigns. By just adding the word “video” in your email subject line, you can, on average, boost open rates by up to 19% and click-through rates by 65%. 

Share In Social Media Groups 

If you’re a business or marketer for your organization, you should be actively engaging in online communities. When you produce video content, you should be prepared to share it when relevant. If you’re in a LinkedIn or Facebook group centered around the industry or cause, it would be a good idea to post your video content as long as it would be helpful to the members. Also, keep in mind that most groups discourage self-serving “marketing” of any kind as a condition of membership, so sharing something that is obviously promoting your business would probably be considered bad taste. Remember that context is everything, if you’re part of a group that is for car enthusiasts, you wouldn't share a video about how to upgrade your computer’s RAM. Some in the group may find it interesting, but most members aren’t there for that type of video content.

Maybe you have a dormant YouTube channel, or perhaps you’re unsure where to start. Don’t worry, content creation and marketing a video on social media doesn’t have to be a painful experience. Contact me today and schedule a free no-obligation consultation, and get started with video tomorrow.