Check the competition.
You’ve spent time planning, shooting and editing your video; it’s been uploaded to YouTube and is looking great on your channel! Now – it’s time to sit back and watch the viewers flock to view it, right?
Not quite so fast! Video optimization is a key component of video marketing as you need to give your creations the maximum chance of appearing in YouTube search results.
Remember that YouTube is a “vertical” search engine, meaning a search engine that delivers results for one type of medium only– online video.
Therefore many of the rules of optimizing video are similar to the rules of on-page SEO for your website – much of the emphasis is on using the right keywords in the right places.
Here are five of the main guidelines to get your video ranking:
Select Keywords
Your keyword phrases may be the same as you have used for the on-page SEO of your website or they may have slight variations.
You need to consider what you are hoping people will search for when they find your video. Often on YouTube people are looking for educational or instructional videos that answer questions or solve problems and show people how to do something.
Title
Choose your title carefully – include a main keyword phrase in it but make sure that it does actually reflect the content of the video or people will just get frustrated and click away from your channel.
Description
In the description you expand on what the subject matter of the video is – not many people read the description because only the first line or two is shown and the rest is hidden until you reveal it.
Include your URL at the front of the description and at the end – there are few places on YouTube where you can include a clickable link so make sure you take the opportunity here.
Tags Section
In this section you want to consider again what people will be searching for when they find your video; these may be the same as your keyword phrases. If you tag your videos well you may appear in the “related” or “suggested” videos that YouTube displays to their users once a video has finished playing.
Check On The Competition
Understanding what the level of competition is, in your area of expertise, on your YouTube channel will tell you what you have to do to optimise it. In a non-competitive area following the above four guidelines may be enough to have you ranking well – because most people don’t optimise their videos; in a more competitive area, other strategies will be unnecessary.
We will take a look at some strategies for video optimization in a more competitive market in a separate blog post. In the meantime why not head over and take a look at our free Competition Crusher workshop by clicking here. You’ll find plenty more great tips like those above.