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| Source: AdvancedWebRanking.com |
Before we get started – a little caveat.
As with all ranking factors in SEO, the collection I’ll be listing below
is based on observation, correlation and personal experiences. We
shouldn’t forget that Google always keeps its cards close to its chest.
The team behind the world’s largest
search engine have never revealed the exact ranking factors that are
used, nor are they ever likely to do so. Sure, we’ll see the occasional
blog post hinting at a ranking factor or two, but there is no “official”
list, as such.
This means we have no choice but to rely
on experience, intelligent guesswork and, occasionally, the odd bit of
good fortune. This has been the case for traditional SEO for many years
and things are no different when it comes to video.
OK, so you want to rank on YouTube for
some keywords. The first step – just as with any SEO campaign – is
deciding on what you want to rank for.
The constituent elements of SEO have
remained consistent for a long time, but they rely on some creativity
and focus on your part if they’re to prove successful. In particular,
you need to be strategic when it comes to deciding upon the keywords for
which you’d like to rank.
Think about the content of your video,
your niche and the target audience. How does the latter use search
engines? What kind of questions are they asking? What phrases and subtle
nuances are they likely to type into search bars to find what they
want?
Conduct your keyword research just as you
would any SEO campaign before you go anywhere near YouTube SEO. It’ll
be time well spent – trust me!
When you’re ready, read on!
YouTube Ranking Factors
Video Title
– similar to page titles on webpages, this is one of the most important
ranking factors. Be sure to include your keywords within the main
keyword at beginning. Make it descriptive and interesting and remember
that, for as important as ranking is, you still want people to feel
compelled enough to click on it.
Video Description
– this is similar to the body content of a webpage in SEO. Don’t be
lazy – aim for a minimum of three-hundred words and make sure that you
make good use of your keywords by including the most important within
the first paragraph. If the goal of your video is to drive traffic to
your website, then be sure to include a link at the very top of your
video description, too.
Video Filename – one of your easiest SEO tasks; treat it as you would image files on your website.
Video Tags – use relevant keywords as tags to help YouTube understand the content of your video. Add as many as you see fit but do not spam.
Video Length
– there is no golden rule when it comes to video length (the first ever
video uploaded to YouTube was just nineteen seconds long, setting
something of an admirable precedence) and let’s not forget that the
focus here is on ranking. That said, on average, longer videos often
seem to perform better.
This can, of course, vary from niche to
niche, so do your research and check out the length of the videos that
rank top for your keywords (just keep in mind that there are other
ranking factors involved as well).
Generally speaking, it’s best to follow
your nose; if a video feels like it’s the right length, go with it and
ignore industry norms.
Subtitles & Closed Captions.
Captions are “crawlable” which means – yes, you’ve guessed it – search
engine “spiders” or bots have an easy time digesting their contents.
Having subtitles and closed campions
present on your videos will also help with accessibility, enabling
people with hearing impairments as well as those from foreign countries
to enjoy your content unabated.
User Engagement
– this is something of a catch 22 situation as it’s rather difficult to
achieve high volumes of user engagement without focusing on ranking,
yet you need user engagement to help you rank. It’s a bit like that
first-ever job search when you’re constantly asked for experience you
haven’t had time to build.
There are ways around this, though, and
one of the methods you can use to get more views while increasing your
YouTube ranking is to embed video on your blog and encourage others to
embed and link to your video.
Share this type of content on your social
media channels and, if necessary, use paid promotion to give your video
that extra push. Equally, if you have an email list then you should
definitely consider including a link to your video within your next
newsletter.
Thumbnails
– although not a ranking factor, these can make a huge difference when
it comes to click-through rates. People often like to see what’s
contained within a video before deciding whether or not to view it, and
by offering thumbnails, you’re giving them the perfect mini preview of
your content.
This in turn will give you more views and
better rankings. YouTube will automatically generate a thumbnail for
your video, but avoid taking the easy route and instead create your own
hand-picked thumbnails, as these will almost certainly perform better.
Other important engagement factors are likes and comments.
You can influence both by having clear call-to-actions at the end of
your video. This is why you will so often hear YouTubers say at the end
of their pieces “please like, comment, share and subscribe if you
enjoyed this video”.
Your YouTube channel
– having a strong and well optimised channel will help with your video
rankings. Make sure you write a description for your channel’s “About”
section and use the channel keywords feature in YouTube’s advanced settings.Last but not least
It should probably go without saying, but
your videos should be high quality and focused on delivering value to
your viewers, be it in the form of actionable information or
entertainment. After all, the best SEO in the world will fall flat if it
doesn’t have good content to work with!
Note: The opinions expressed in this
article are the views of the author, and not necessarily the views of
Caphyon, its staff, or its partners.
Source: Youtube Ranking Factors And How To Rank Your Videos On YouTube
