How to Optimize YouTube Videos to Get More Traffic | 12 Simple Tricks

As we know, Google is the largest search engine present. But the fact of the matter is Google isn’t the only search engine present as YouTube is one which comes in mind when we talk about comparison. 

YouTube is a good platform for promoting small businesses as it’s still fresh and the fact that Google and Facebook are flooded with promotion ads which makes difficult to make a stand there.

Individuals with talent and skills can take up a challenge to make videos and share on this platform to get their talents recognized by others.

YouTube is the biggest video sharing platform and is growing day by day. And to maximize YouTube visibility you need to follow effective social media strategies & share your videos on every social platform. Well SEO has to play a major role here in ranking the videos.

Below we’ve mentioned some important points on how to optimize YouTube videos for SEO. 

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12 Best Ways To Optimize Youtube Videos

1. Keyword Research

Keyword Research is one of the important factors in the ranking of any YouTube video. Gone are the days where we uploaded any random video and it gets ranked. In this advanced era where internet data has become comparatively cheap and accessible by all, so almost anyone can make videos for YouTube. So making a stand amongst many is tough and so keyword research plays a major role here. 

As the ranking on YouTube and Google is different, so the process of keyword research is also different. The best way is by writing a word or two in the YouTube search box and then the other related words will appear on the screen.

Another way is to copy the keywords of the popular videos in your respective niche. It is one of the best methods for ranking the blog because the videos are already ranking on it, so chances are there that your video could rank too.

Google Keyword Planner or other keyword research tools that we use for SEO can also give you fair ideas about what people are looking for.

You can also use YouTube keyword research tools provided by Ahrefs, KeywordTool and others. You will find more accurate ideas about the keywords that you want to target.

I will recommend you to read this detailed Backlinko guide written by Brian Deal that will help you to find the best keywords to target your videos.

It is always recommended to choose a low competition keyword at the initial level. Ranking on a low competition keyword is comparatively easy and helps in increasing views and watch time. 

When you get good traffic on views on your videos then you can create more videos and target high competition keywords.

2. Video Title

Along with the keywords, Video title also plays a major role in optimizing YouTube videos for SEO. Keywords placed at the beginning of any video title seem to rank comparatively better. It generally gives a boost to SEO of the videos.

Just like the titles of the blog posts helps a post in better optimization, similarly, a video title with keywords also helps in better optimization of the video.

YouTube allows up to 100 characters in Title but tries to keep it under 70 because characters longer than 70 will be truncated in the search results.

Try to make your titles short, keyword-rich and appealing so that people get attracted to check your video.

3. Tags

Tags also play a major role in the better optimization of a YouTube video. It is a way to tell the search engine on which topic the video is all about. The first tag usually consists of keywords and the rest consist of the suggested keywords.

Suggested keywords are better to choose for tags as they are suggested by YouTube and secondly these are the keywords which people search for. 

Also, tracking the competitor’s keywords and implementing those in our videos is a good idea and has worked for years. Most people have been using this technique to help their ranking. 

You can use up to 400 characters in tags. Try to use 10 to 15 tags that are most suitable to your videos and channel.

If used properly, it can boost your ranking in search results.

Must Read: How to Search Youtube with YouTube Advanced Search filters?

4. Add Description

Just like tags, adding description also plays a major role in the better ranking of YouTube videos. Adding a good description is recommended as it would help viewers to explain on which topic the video is all about.

A good description consists of the keywords and also the main points which are included in the video. 

Although it is not recommended to over-use keywords in title and description as it’s not a good option.

Try to add a minimum of 150 words in your YouTube video description and add keywords when and where required.

Your description should also include any other information like your website name, your other social profiles or contact details. This will help you to get followers for your other social platforms or websites.

5. Engaging Thumbnail

Thumbnail is not directly related to optimizing your videos but it can affect your ranking in a major way.

Customizing the video with an engaging thumbnail plays a major role in ranking a video and acts as a positive factor in YouTube SEO. Just like the cover of any book tells a lot about the interior of the book, similarly, the thumbnail of any video tells a lot on which topic the video is all about.

Videos with engaging thumbnail have a higher percentage of being clicked. In most cases, the thumbnail is more important than the title. Thumbnail thus plays a major role in whether a person will click on it or not. 

Adding a custom thumbnail with the most appealing lines written can help to attract people to the video.

This has a positive effect on SEO, as the more click it receives (CTR), the more is the chance to rank higher in the searches.

Minimum width of the thumbnail is 640 but an ideal size to optimize your video is 1280 pixels by 720 pixels. You can use tools like Photoshop or Canva to create excellent thumbnails.

6. Subscribers, Like, Comment, Share

You should not hesitate to ask your audience to subscribe to your channel. You should ask them to like your videos, comment and share.

You can include images or icons of subscribe and like button in your videos so that people will take the action. This way, there can be a 50% boost in your subscribers and likes.

Your major focus should be on getting lots of subscribers. More and more subscribers you receive, Google consider your videos as quality & useful videos.

More likes, comments, and share mean more engaging and useful videos for the audience.

You can ask some questions in your videos like “on what topic, your subscribers want you to create videos” or you can keep give some free gifts to your subscribers or other things that will give your audience a reason to comment on your videos.

Google push your video rankings in search results with all these engagement activities.

7. Renaming Video Filename

Renaming the video filename is a good option to optimize the videos in a better way. Well, this does not dramatically affect SEO but is a good option to go with. 

Renaming filename means, that the raw file is renamed and the keyword is typed instead of it.

For example, our file name is saved and uploaded as “2637478.mp4” which is not that appropriate.

So instead of it, if we save the file as, for example, “comedyvideo.mp4”, then it will look attractive and also at the same time tells YouTube what the video is all about.

Thus renaming our video with keywords can help optimize our YouTube video in a better way.

8. Video Length

The duration of the YouTube video plays an important role in how to optimize YouTube videos for SEO. Usually, people think that making long videos will help them rank better, but that’s not the case. Keeping people engaged with valuable information is more important. 

The average video length of popular videos is found out to be 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Well, that’s not the exact length to go with, but opting for video length around that average is always better. 

For example, for videos such as interviews or in-depth explanation on a particular topic, small duration video is not a good idea. 

So it’s better to keep the video to the point and to a minimal length possible.

9. Video Publishing Frequency

Your videos are going to rank higher if you publish more videos related to your niche compared to your competitor channels.

Try to publish 2-3 videos a week so that you will get better engagement with your audience and also ranking in search results.

It will also help you to make more money in case you want to monetize your videos.

9. Quality Content

People don’t usually like the same usual thing over and over again. Quality and fresh content are always in demand. Quality and unique content help in the SEO of a YouTube video. 

SEO is a good hack to rank videos, but the power of content is above all. If the videos are engaging, it will thus result in the engagement of people.

You need to do lots of research so that you can bring videos with some fresh and original ideas. Your videos should help your viewers in some way or others.

10. Increase CTR

CTR usually refers to “click-through-rate” which thus means the percentage of clicks a video receives from the search results. YouTube, on the whole, keeps a close look at the behavior of the people on which videos they are more interested and receives more click. 

The higher the CTR, the better is the chance to rank up in the searches. 

The perfect way to increase CTR is by adding a good title and an engaging thumbnail. Also, quality content will help to a great extent.

11. Add Suspense

Adding suspense is also a hack for better optimization of a YouTube video. As you have seen in movies or in some popular videos, adding suspense usually helps in getting ranked as it keeps the viewers engaged for the maximum time and also helps increasing the video watch time. 

A popular way of creating suspense is to ask a question related to the video and continue providing information in the regular fashion and then answer that question at the end of the video. This helps to a great extent in better optimization of a video.

12. Choosing a category

You can target your YouTube audience if you choose the proper category. Suppose, you can create videos related to education, then you can take the education category.

If your video is related to music, dance or any type of entertainment then you can choose to entertain

Choosing a category to work on is very necessary because of the interest in matters the most here. A person not determined can go long in popular niches even. Just like choosing a niche or category is important in blogging, similarly, the case here is exactly the same.

The optimization of the video comes only when the video is made, and without dedication or passion, it won’t be possible. 

Talking about popular niches then funny videos is a good option to choose as the audience can engage it. In this busy world, funny videos are a good way to release stress. People can then eventually switch to their custom niche later after gaining a good amount of subscribers.

Tutorial niches such as cooking, teaching, reviewing are also among the trends and can help to grow channel real quick. People interested in traveling can create a vlogging channel and share the experiences and videos there.

Conclusion: Optimize Youtube Video

YouTube is not just for the popular people. Any individual with passion and determination can enter this field and do wonders. 

The only way to stand out here is to create unique videos which give value to the people and will eventually result in making an ample amount of money here.

Above mentioned are some points on how to optimize YouTube videos for SEO. Following the above-mentioned points will really help in giving a boost to your YouTube career.