YouTube is a mega-popular platform, although it is not only a source of entertainment but also the second largest search engine after Google!
3 billion searches per month – that’s how much people use YouTube! Therefore, using this video platform optimally, you can promote your brand or channel much more effectively.
Here are the top 6 tips to improve your YouTube SEO that may help your video content get more views!
Video title
The Title of your video tells the YouTube community what your video is about so viewers have a clear idea what they will be going to watch.
Therefore, the Title must contain a keyword or a clear keyword phrase that is relevant to the content of the video, which will significantly help your video advance in organic search on the Youtube platform.
It is important to do keyword research to find the best match for your video title. To find keywords, you can use the following tools:
- AdsGoogle
- KeywordTool
- YouTube Autocomplete
You should try to come up with names of up to 70 characters. Although YouTube allows titles up to 100 characters. You should strive to keep your titles short, especially in order to appear on Google SERPs.
P.S. The question form of a title implies that the video will answer a question for the viewer that they may be searching for.
*Find more tips on “How to choose the right YouTube channel name for your vlog“
Thumbnail
Thumbnails can grab attention and get viewers to watch your video to get more YouTube views, so provide clear high quality images so the viewer can tell what the video is about even without looking at the title.
The Thumbnail is the first thing that a potential viewer sees when searching for video content. Therefore, your goal is that the thumbnail should be captivating and representative of your video to help get more YouTube views.
Some tips below how to create a quality thumbnail:
- Preview your video and choose the most beautiful segment.
- Make sure this snippet is relevant to the title of your video.
- Make sure your thumbnail has one central focal point and color palette that doesn’t annoy viewers.
- Take a screenshot of this video clip. Make sure your image complies with YouTube guidelines:
- 1280 x 720 pixels, 16: 9 ratio
- Up to 2 MB
- The formats used are jpg, gif, BMP, and png
You can experiment with overlaying text or symbols on your image. Use the overlay carefully so as not to spoil the overall picture and the meaning of the thumbnail.
If you are not so technical or handy at graphic design you can head over to fiverr where you can have a graphic designer create your thumbnail for as low as $5.
Description
Video descriptions are similar to web page meta descriptions and they also provide additional information about the content of the video.
While users can only see the full description after they navigate to the video page, the first 125 characters are what viewers will see as a meta description in Google and YouTube search results.
Anything after the first few lines is for the viewer only!
This is how you should create your video descriptions.
Blue zone
Write a short description of your video. Be sure to use the main keywords in this area and expand what the viewer can see in this video.
Green Zone
As YouTube says, this section of the description is intended solely for viewers, it should provide enhanced information and improve the overall experience of your channel viewer.
- You can include Links to any related products, articles, or companies
- Calls to action (CTA) for viewers (questions, requests, polls)
- Motivate the viewer to like the video and subscribe to your channel
- Encourage your subscribers to an RSVP event or provide a reason for free
- Signature for your channel
You need a signature for every YouTube video you upload. The signature must contain:
- Your social profiles
- Related links (video, blog post, product page, etc.).
- Website (if any)
Tags
Tags are essentially additional keywords that you can associate with your video and help users find your video and add an additional description of what it contains.
Consider the following rules for using tags:
- Choose tags that describe your video in more detail, do some keyword research (research tools mentioned above).
- Don’t use trending tags that are not relevant to your video, although they may be popular.
Video postcards
Video postcards are a good way to engage viewers while they watch the video. They can be configured to appear at a specific time in the video and be located under the “i” button in the upper right corner of the video. You can add up to five different video cards throughout the video.
For video cards, you can use:
- Offer the viewer a video or playlist
- Promote another channel
- Donates
- Survey
- Links to the site
A good technique for video cards can be mentioning previous videos in the current video.
Video postcards can be quickly set up:
- Go to Creator Studio and click “Video Manager”.
- Click “Edit” on the video where you want to add cards, then click “Cards” in the top menu.
- Click Add Postcard and select the type you want. Then you can click and drag the card onto the progress bar.
End screens
End screens are a great way to communicate with your viewers at the end of your video. It can play an important role in motivating viewers to click on another video and increase YouTube views of your other videos.
There are four types of end screens:
- Video / Playlist: Promote a video or playlist.
- Subscribe Button: Create a button so viewers can subscribe to your channel faster.
- Channel button: Create a button to promote another channel.
End screen templates
There are tons of destination screen templates on YouTube to help you create them faster. The choice of a template depends on what your type of your channel is and what goals you are pursuing.
Photo by Hello I’m Nik
