YouTube SEO is a technique for improving channels and videos’ positions in search results. The largest online video platform is YouTube, which is also regarded as one of the top search engines. Therefore, understanding how to tailor your content for the platform is crucial. 

The platform is vital in making videos one of the primary content types, both for users and the digital marketing field. Today, anyone—or any brand—can publish and view a wide variety of audiovisual content online. 

Users should be able to quickly locate interesting videos on the platform for a positive user experience. To rank the best content for each search, the platform developed an algorithm. Anyone who wants more visibility for their youtube channel and videos must adapt techniques so that they show up in a higher position. 

In this blog, we have discussed the Top 10 Youtube SEO strategies for better optimization of your Youtube Video.

TOP 10 Youtube SEO Strategies:

1. Detailed Keyword Research

Keyword research is the foundation of any SEO strategy, and it is equally important to conduct keyword research before optimizing your Youtube video. The title, Tags, and Description of the video must include the keywords related to the content of the video. The platform uses keywords to identify content, crawl content, and correlate it with user queries, making it crucial for ranking the video on Youtube. 

Some of the tips for doing quality keyword research for Youtube are:

• Youtube Search Bar will show the most frequent searches on the platform and identify popular keyword ideas.
• Visit Competitors’ channels, go to the Videos tab, and select the option Sort By Most Popular Videos on the right side. This will help in analyzing the keywords used by your competitors on their most popular videos.
• Utilize free keyword research tools like Keywords Everywhere, Keyword Planner, UberSuggest, Google Trends, and many more.

2. Keywords in Title of the Video

The title of a Youtube Video must include the main keyword as this is a vital part on how YouTube indexes and ranks content. 

If the video content is about Digital Marketing then the main keyword of the video is “Digital Marketing” and it must appear at the beginning of the title. 

Because the video title is the user’s first point of contact with your content, it must not only define what viewers will watch, but also persuade them to click on your video.

3. Video Tags Optimization

Tagging is one of the important features offered by the Youtube platform. It allows you to add relevant keywords that can help your video gain more views. Optimizing and adding relevant tags, related to your video content, helps identify the content of a video, index it appropriately, and suggest similar videos.

However don’t overuse tags, 10 to 12 relevant tags are sufficient for ranking your video.

4. Proper Description for the Video

The description text should be clear and descriptive, and it should provide information about the video. You may boost video interaction with the viewers by including an appealing description.

The description also helps the platform’s algorithm recognize the video content. As a result, you must include keywords that indicate the video’s topic. As a result, your chances of ranking for such keywords improve.

In the description, you can include CTAs, timestamps if it is a long content, and hashtags, but not more than 15 hashtags.

5. Rename Your Raw File

The primary keyword of the content needs to be included in the file name so that it resembles your title or target keyword.

Rather than labeling the video VID_87088965.mp4, which is unclear to YouTube, use a specific title that includes the keyword (e.g., how-to-do-digital-marketing.mp4).

As a result, the platform can understand what the video is about through the file name.

6.Including Closed Captions 

Captions serve as an accessibility aid for those with hearing impairment and allow viewers to watch and understand the video. 

Adding closed captions also offers an SEO advantage to the video as search engines can crawl closed captions. Therefore, enabling closed captions will give your SEO a significant boost. 

Automatic captioning is supported by YouTube, however, it’s not accurate every time. It is advisable to edit and add your captions to ensure they are correct.

7. Attention-Grabbing Thumbnail

Although YouTube doesn’t utilize your video thumbnail directly in its ranking algorithm, it nevertheless has a significant influence on your SEO. Don’t overlook this stage as many viewers will watch videos only from the thumbnails. 

Create a compelling thumbnail that conveys the subject matter of your film. More clicks are generated by a strong thumbnail, which improves SEO. Great thumbnails significantly enhance your traffic and view times, which can boost your search rankings across all search engines, including YouTube. 

8. Create Engagement with the Audience

Encourage your audience to participate in your video in some form at all times by liking, commenting, subscribing to the channel, and sharing the video. All these elements have a significant impact on YouTube results since they show if your video fulfilled viewers’ expectations. 

Replying to comments is one of the finest methods to encourage them. Users feel appreciated and as a result and return more frequently to leave comments. 

Additionally, it’s crucial to implement ways to maintain the viewer’s interest throughout the entire video. Or else, viewers would rapidly stop watching the video, which would have a negative effect on the ranking. 

9. Embed Youtube Video 

Embedding video increases the audience who sees your video. If you have a blog page, then it is recommended to embed your video there for better user engagement and more views.

However, make sure that that video is related to the topic you are writing about and relevant which adds value to the users.

10. Focusing on Youtube Content

Last but not least your content is responsible for ensuring repeat visitors as no SEO trick can do that. The core of your YouTube SEO is ultimately your content, therefore make sure it is superior to that of your competitors. 

So there you have it—a few quick and simple SEO methods to help you rank your videos and get more views. Along with the above-mentioned tips, provide them valuable content and something unique to keep them coming back to your channel and rank your videos to the top.