8 Tips That Will Help You Rank Your YouTube Videos

Sep 6

Did you know that over 500 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute? YouTube is one of the most significant search engines in the world, with 8 out of 10 video search results found within its virtual walls. They have different videos for different things: how-to videos, funny shorts, reviews, unboxing, cover songs, and ads. How do you get your video noticed with millions of videos over countless hours? Better yet, how do you get them ranked?

Top-ranking YouTubers use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies to keep their videos on top of the search results list. The YouTube SEO algorithm is set to organize search results in each search category. It also ranks the best videos for each search. So, for your videos to gain more views, you need to optimize them to be ranked near or at the top.

What is YouTube SEO?

YouTube SEO is a set of strategies that help you get your videos to appear higher in search results.

Why does having your videos at the top of the results list matter? Having your video there means it is more visible. More visibility means more people will click on your videos, and more clicks mean more traffic is routed to your video.

Because Google owns YouTube, it has a search engine that functions similarly to Google's. Knowing how to use the system's algorithm to your advantage will help you rank your videos higher on YouTube. People trust their platform because it has proven time and again to provide some of the most relevant searches on the internet. They regularly tweak their algorithm to work better so that they will match your search as best as possible. YouTube SEO ranks videos based on how well they relate to your search term, how high the video's Click Through Rate is, how long the average view duration is, and how much engagement the video gets. YouTube will also rank videos based on your previous searches and other app activities.

So how can you use YouTube SEO to help you get the views you want? Read on to find out.

Tools You Can Use

A great way to start ranking your videos is to pick the best target keywords before you even start filming. Creating content that your audience wants to see has never been easier. Because Google keeps track of all the target keywords people use when searching the web, you can discover the most popular keywords to build your video around. An excellent place to start is Google Trends. This platform will help you determine a given topic's popularity and let you know other relevant keywords you may want to explore. You can even compare keywords to each other to see if one video topic is more popular than the other.

TubeBuddy and VidIQ are two platforms that provide insights specifically for YouTube. Both platforms provide an in-depth overview of what video content is being searched on YouTube. They provide opportunities for increasing your YouTube SEO by suggesting related searches and common tags. They both have slightly different ways of reading YouTube's content which leads to different video SEO tips. That is why we recommend using both when trying to grow your YouTube channel.

TubeBuddy Sidebar Search Results — TubeBuddy Sidebar Results

VidIQ Sidebar Search Results — VidIQ Sidebar Results

Another great tool to have is Frase.io. This platform is designed to help you write better blog posts and has some excellent SEO tools. While Frase.io isn't explicitly designed for videos, it has a lot of tools that can be helpful when optimizing YouTube SEO. One tool we use a lot when finding the best topics for popular videos is that allows us to see how many searches happen for a specific keyword on Google each month. Knowing the most searched phrases helps us choose the best video title. Since Google owns YouTube, they will sometimes promote a well-optimized YouTube video as the top result when someone searches on Google. You can also use Frase.io to write strong video descriptions that will resonate with your target audience.

Frase.io Keyword Research and Outline Builder

Using a wide variety of tools when choosing your topic and video title can help you stand out on YouTube and help you rank your videos higher. We recommend starting with Google Trends, then checking Frase.io, and cross-reference that information with TubeBuddy and VidIQ to get a complete picture of what your YouTube SEO should look like.

Eight ways to help you rank your YouTube videos

1. Use keywords and do a keyword search

Keywords are helpful metadata that the system uses to be able to pull relevant videos for searches. This is why you must fill out all the appropriate fields like title, video description, and tags when you upload your videos. BONUS you can also use hashtags in the title or description as an additional keyword source. It is common to use 3-5 hashtags in your video description and/or one in the title. Without filling in all the SEO related fields, the system will bypass your videos and pick another over them. All of the tools we talked about above are incredibly helpful in helping you find the best keywords to base your video around.

Another free way to figure out which keywords to use for your video, plug your search term into YouTube's search bar and note what words autocomplete. Review the list of phrases and choose which are most relevant to your audience and the video you want to make.

2. Check out the competition

Yes, that's right. Look into the channels that rank high on YouTube and find out which terms, tags, and types of content rake in subscribers. This process is incredibly helpful in discovering trends and eliminating a long and arduous testing process for your channel. Starting with the most popular videos from the most popular channels, build a list of the keywords you find in the titles. What patterns start to emerge? Next, list the video titles you want to make using the same keywords. Repeat this process for tags as well, so you aren't guessing which tags are best when you upload your super, searchable videos.

3. Find a catchy title

Titles are incredibly important, not only for YouTube's algorithms but also for the humans you are hoping will watch your video. One of the first things viewers see is your title. So, writing titles that only have strong keywords isn't quite enough to get people to click. You will also need to make them clever. One of the best ways to approach writing titles is to think about how you can create a curiosity gap, more commonly referred to as "Clickbait." Derek Muller from the YouTube channel Veritasium talks about why people click on clickbait and how you can use this knowledge for good. He talks about creating a curiosity gap with your titles. If you deliver a satisfying resolution to that gap, people will watch your content longer, and you will be rewarded for that by YouTube. If you don't deliver on the title's promise, people will be unhappy and yell, "CLICKBAIT!!"

For example, "I got kicked out of Ikea for doing this," is an excellent clickable title. If you tell the story of getting kicked out, great. If you have video evidence of getting kicked out, even better. But, if you end the video by saying, "That's how we almost got kicked out of Ikea," you will not have followed through on your promise from the title and will have created clickbait. (Please don't try and get kicked out of Ikea, it's really not worth the possible views.)

4. Thumbnails

Though they are not strictly part of YouTube's criteria for ranking videos, custom thumbnails are an attention-grabbing feature that will help you garner views. Veritasium talks about how important the video thumbnails you choose are. Mr. Beast, along with many other YouTubers, have said they spend just as much, if not more, time on their thumbnails as they do on the video itself. This makes sense considering no one is going to watch unless they feel compelled to click on the video. Make eye-catching thumbnails that invite curiosity while ensuring they are relevant to your content.

5. Leverage the platform tools

YouTube has always placed an emphasis on building community. This emphasis has yielded several features on the platform that allow you to connect on a deeper level with your audience. Plus, YouTube rewards creators who use these tools. The tool that YouTube is rewarding the most right now (2022) is YouTube Shorts. This is their response to TikTok, and it is an amazing way to grow your channel. Post a video shorter than 60 seconds, and it will be placed in the feed of the audience most relevant to your channel's content. We've seen our clients grow their views by over 500% in a month by posting Shorts.

Another feature is your Community Tab. This acts a little bit like a Facebook wall, where you can post updates, photos, links to videos, and polls. It is a great way to engage with your audience on days you aren't posting videos. Creating playlists is another way to elevate the user experience on your channel. This YouTube marketing strategy allows you to group similar videos together, making it easier for your audience to binge your content.

Lastly, upload video transcripts for your videos. This feature provides the deaf and hard of hearing communities with a much better user experience and the ability to enjoy your content. Additionally, this is another way that you can provide keywords to Google. Because Google searches are based on words, providing a transcript gives Google a very clear picture of what the content of your video is about.

6. Use descriptive filenames

Before your video even lands on your page, you already need to optimize it for ranking. One of the best ways to do it is to use descriptive filenames that contain your desired keywords. Don't settle for the generic title that auto-populates when taking and saving videos. This way, the system catches the keywords right on the video file.

7. Clickable YouTube cards and end screens

Do you know those little ticker-tape text boxes in the upper right corner of YouTube videos? Those are YouTube cards. Another feature is the end screen. These features give you an interactive way of encouraging people to subscribe to your channel and explore your other videos. As we talked about earlier, the more hours of video people watch from your channel, the more YouTube wants to promote your videos. This helps encourage people to watch multiple videos on your channel rather than one individual video. Plus, using cards and end screens gives you more points of contact for user engagement.

8. Create good quality and exciting content

Audience retention is incredibly important to growing your YouTube channel. Audience retention is measured by how long someone watches your video before clicking out of it. The longer they watch, the better your audience retention. Average audience retention on YouTube is between 50-60%, but the top channels are crossing that threshold and achieving upwards of 70% retention rate. This metric, YouTube has confirmed, is one of two crucial ranking factors.

The second thing YouTube looks at is Click Through Rate. This number is found by dividing the total number of impressions by the number of people who clicked on your video. At Red 11 Media, we argue that this slightly beats out watch time in the order of importance because if they don't click on your video, you get zero watch time. The average Click Through Rate on YouTube tends to hover somewhere around 4-5%, while the top performing videos have Click Through Rates over 10%.

If you can have a video reach over 10% and stay there, that typically results in a viral video. If you post a video and the Click Through Rate spikes right away above 10%, then starts to come back down to 4-5%, that is normal. For most videos, especially those posted on channels with a following, there is an initial response to the video, and then it fades away. This is most likely due to a low watch time and lack of engagement. That is why having a good call to action and quality content is crucial to growing your channel.

Creating quality videos that present and close a curiosity gap is important to achieving high Click Through Rates and watch time. Also, keeping your video as short as possible helps with increased watch time. Too often, content creators try and make longer videos when a shorter video would do the trick. Get in and out as quickly as possible, and your watch times will go up.

Takeaways

To get your video ranked on YouTube, you will need a strong YouTube SEO strategy. Using relevant keywords, great thumbnails, and engaging videos will help you reach a wider audience and grow quickly on YouTube. Keep making good quality videos while keeping these tips in your mind.

If you're looking to take your YouTube channel to the next level, Red 11 Media can help. We offer video editing and channel management services. Reach out today for a free discovery call to see if we would be a good fit for your channel.

Sophia Young

Sophia Young recently quit a non-writing job to finally be able to tell stories and paint the world through her words. She loves talking about fashion and weddings and travel, but she can also easily kick ass with a thousand-word article about the latest marketing and business trends, and finance-related topics, and can probably even whip up a nice heart-warming article about family life. She can totally go from fashion guru to your friendly neighborhood cat lady with mean budgeting skills and home tips real quick.