YouTube Video Optimization: A Step-By-Step Guide for SEO (2024)
We’re at the end of 2023. And 2024 is coming in HOT! Okay, well maybe not hot, but it’s coming on with big shifts in behavior.
In the last 12 months, I’ve been watching the data on client sites shift from desktop to mobile by 10-20%. A site that once had 60% of its usage come from desktop now sees 60% of its usage come from mobile. In that, I’ve seen those same users shift their content consumption as well. With an overabundance of content, users of just about any product or service are watching more video and listening to more audio.
While podcast listenership is on the rise, video content consumption reigns supreme, and Youtube is the Channel - the Queen is broadcasting on from her castle! As the second largest search engine globally, just look at few of badass stats (thanks, Demand Sage!) :
YouTube has more than 2.70 billion active users as of 2023.
Youtube Premium has 80 million active users worldwide in 2023.
YouTube has generated $14.358 billion via advertising so far in 2023.
720,000 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every day.
YouTube Shorts surpassed 50 billion daily views in February 2023.
53.9% of YouTube users are Males, and Females make up around 46.1% of the user base.
Users consume 1 billion hours of videos on YouTube every day.
The majority of YouTube users are between the ages of 25-34.
I could write an entire playbook on how to create a YouTube video strategy (maybe later), but the bigger question I wanted to tactically answer relates to using the second largest search engine in the world to get your content discovered.
Do you want your content to be found on YouTube?
Both in the platform and in external Google search results?
The answer lies in mastering YouTube video optimization. Regardless of any of the types of content you're producing, here’s what you need to understand.
What is YouTube Video Optimization?
YouTube video optimization is the process of fine-tuning your YouTube videos to be easily discoverable and engaging. It's akin to SEO for written content, but instead of optimizing web pages or blog posts for search engines like Google, you're optimizing videos for YouTube's internal search engine. It's a crucial aspect of YouTube Video SEO, ensuring your videos are found, watched, and shared by your intended audience.
Why Does YouTube Video Optimization Matter?
YouTube, with its 2.7 billion monthly active users, operates on an intelligent algorithm that factors in various elements to rank videos. This algorithm is designed to serve users the most relevant and engaging content based on their search queries and viewing behavior. Hence, optimizing your YouTube videos is essential for several reasons:
Reach a wider audience: YouTube video optimization increases the visibility of your content, allowing you to reach a broader audience.
Increase viewer engagement: Well-optimized videos are more likely to engage viewers, resulting in longer watch times, higher click-through rates (CTR), and more interactions.
Improve searchability: YouTube, like any search engine, relies on metadata (video title, description, tags) to index videos. Properly optimized metadata improves your video's visibility in relevant search results.
Boost channel growth: An optimized YouTube channel with consistent, high-quality content can attract more subscribers, creating a loyal fan base.
Understanding the YouTube Algorithm
Before delving into the tactics that are a part of YouTube video optimization, it's crucial to understand how the YouTube algorithm works. Like any search engine, YouTube employs complex algorithms to rank videos and deliver relevant content to its users. This AI-powered system is designed to recommend the most relevant and engaging videos to users based on their viewing behavior and preferences.
YouTube's algorithm evaluates various factors when ranking videos. Key among these are:
Relevance: How closely a video matches a user's search query, based on the video's metadata.
Engagement: This includes likes, shares, comments, and most importantly, watch time. Videos that keep viewers watching for longer are seen as more engaging and are ranked higher.
Quality: The algorithm assesses the overall quality of your videos, considering factors like video resolution, thumbnail quality, user feedback, and more.
Oftentimes, relevance, engagement and quality are synonymous with storytelling and evoking emotional response. It’s why videos go viral. Virality drives the algorithm, so when you title and optimize videos, you want to keep narrative, story and human voice at the forefront of your SEO.
Understanding the YouTube Algorithm and SEO
The key to mastering YouTube video SEO lies in comprehending these algorithms and learning to make them work in your favor. YouTube’s algorithms take into account several factors when ranking videos. These include:
Video Title: Your video's title should be enticing and accurately represent the content.
Video Description: This is a brief summary of your video content. It should include relevant keywords and phrases.
Metadata: This includes tags and categories that help YouTube understand and index your video.
Engagement Metrics: These include the number of views, likes, comments, and the duration for which the video is watched, also known as "watch time".
User History: YouTube also considers a user's past activity to personalize search results.
Understanding these factors can help you tailor your content and metadata to maximize your video's visibility on YouTube.
Crafting Compelling Titles
Your video title is your first chance to catch the viewer's attention. It should be compelling, concise, and accurately represent the content of your video. Including your primary keyword in the title can improve its visibility in search results. However, avoid keyword stuffing as it can make the title seem spammy and unappealing. Aim to keep your title under 60 characters to prevent it from being cut-off in search results.
Writing Effective YouTube Video Descriptions
YouTube video descriptions serve a dual purpose – they provide viewers with information about the video and help YouTube's algorithms understand and index your video. Here's how to write effective video descriptions:
Prioritize the First Few Lines
The first two to three lines of your description, about 200 characters, are the most important. They appear in search results and "above the fold" on the video page. Hence, they should be compelling and include your primary keyword.
Be Detailed and Descriptive
After the first few lines, use the rest of your description to provide more information about your video, your channel, and any related content. You have up to 5000 characters for your description, so use this space wisely. If you’re uploading long videos such as interviews, this is where you want to add time stamps, which is an outline of key conversation points in the video.
When it comes to descriptions though, you must keep in mind that you have two types of descriptions. You have:
Channel Descriptions: Channel descriptions summarize what the subscriber or viewer should expect from the channel. A channel name is repeated a few times, along with a few keywords that should be associated with the channel.
Video Descriptions: Video descriptions provide more detail on what to expect from the video, can include related links and will also use repeating keywords. You have a lot more room to be descriptive for videos and those first few lines are important to viewers.
You want to take both of these into account (this guide is written for videos specifically though).
Think with Google also provides additional insights on more advanced strategies.
Strategically Leveraging Keywords
Keywords and tags play a vital role in YouTube SEO. They help YouTube understand what your video is about and index it accordingly. Use keyword research tools like Google Search Trends, Keyword Tool, Neil Patel’s AnswerThePublic, look at trending videos on YouTube, or SEMRush to identify relevant keywords that your target audience is searching for. You want to aim for a mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords related to your video content. One you’ve identified what keywords you want to rank for, you want to sprinkle them throughout your video description.
Create Video Chapters with Timestamps
In your descriptions, I highly recommend making sure you have timestamps to create video chapters. As Google so lovingly writes: Video Chapters break up a video into sections, each with an individual preview. Video chapters add info and context to each portion of the video and let you easily rewatch different parts of the video. Creators can add their own video chapters for each uploaded video or rely on automatic video chapters.
You can edit these and as well as opt out of them if you like, but some fan of yours is going to use AI to create a summary in the comments, so maybe just provide it.
How to Tag Your Videos
Tags are descriptive keywords that help people find your videos. YouTube recommends that you create a set of standard tags for your channel that can be applied to any video you publish (e.g. filmmaking, animation, comedy, "Funny Videos," "Pet Videos," etc).
Include a mix of both general and specific tags.
Use enough tags to thoroughly and accurately describe the video.
Update catalog videos' tags when new search trends emerge.
Properly format tags to ensure proper indexing of your video.
Include keywords from your title in your video's tags.
List them in order of relevance to the video and try to use the whole 270-character limit.
Add 10 (buy you can add up to 20) relevant tags to your video, including your primary keyword and any other related keywords. My recommendation is LESS is MORE.
Include Calls to Action and Links
Encourage viewers to engage with your video or visit your website by including relevant calls to action in your description. This includes any products, events, services or guest links you mention in the episode. You can also add links to your social media profiles, related videos, or playlists.
For Example:
Discover more on demand content by subscribing to my channel
Follow Us On LinkedIn:
Subscribe to the Podcast:
Enroll in Our Course:
Register For an Event:
Buy [ITEM NAME]:
Want me to show up in your inbox? Subscribe to my bi-monthly newsletter:
And make sure you label affiliate links.
Also, any links you use need to have the full URL: https://NAMEOFWEBSITE.com
PRO TIP: TAG YOUR TRAFFIC
If you’re linking to your products, services, master classes, group programs, or anything that bring a YouTube viewer into an owned property, you need to make sure that the links in your descriptions have Google UTMS.
May of the top YouTubers (those with 20,000 to 2 million plus subscribers don’t have UTM and/or use them correctly. You can use my guide to creating UTMS to creating your UTM tag hierarchy.
Making the Most of Hashtags
Hashtags are another tool to enhance your video's discoverability. They appear above your video title and can be added anywhere in the description. Stick to a few important hashtags (usually five to ten) to avoid overwhelming your viewers.
Creator Hack: Create Instant Descriptions Using AI
While I’ve just taught you how to optimize your videos for in-platform and external search, you can also speed up the transcript and timestamp generation (foregoing REV and Descript). In the last few months, there are several instant video transcript AI tools that have come to market with free and paid versions. You can use:
Enhancing Your Channel Experience
Your YouTube channel is the face of your brand on the platform. It's where you can organize and showcase all your videos. Customize your channel to enhance the viewer experience and make your brand more discoverable.
Building Engaging Playlists
Playlists are a great way to group related videos together. They can increase watch time and help your viewers find more of your content. Organize your videos into playlists based on themes or topics. They also help YouTube's algorithm understand the context of your videos, boosting your visibility in search results.
Optimize Your Channel Name and Icon
Choose a short, memorable channel name that aligns with your brand identity. Also, upload a high-resolution, square image to serve as your channel's icon.
Design Attractive Channel Art
Your channel art is a key branding element that appears across all devices. Design eye-catching channel art that represents your brand and looks good at any size.
Utilize YouTube Cards
YouTube cards are interactive elements that you can add to your videos to drive viewer engagement. Use them to promote related videos, direct viewers to your website, or encourage subscriptions. add cards and end screens to increase your YouTube channel's viewership.
Add Video Transcripts
Transcripts make your videos accessible to a wider audience and provide additional metadata that YouTube's algorithm can use to understand your video content. Consider adding a transcript, especially if your video includes important keywords in the dialogue.
Engage with Your Audience
Engagement signals, including comments, likes, and shares, play a significant role in YouTube's algorithm. Encourage your viewers to engage with your videos by asking questions, prompting discussions, and responding to comments.
Stay Consistent
Keep the tone and style of your descriptions consistent across all your videos. This helps reinforce your brand identity and makes your content more recognizable to your viewers.
Be Honest
Remember that it is a violation of YouTube Terms of Service to use misleading metadata on your videos. Your videos can be taken down and your channel canceled.
Consistently Monitor and Adjust
The YouTube algorithm is continually changing, so make sure you regularly monitor your video performance and make necessary adjustments. Pay attention to viewer feedback, engagement rates, and SEO metrics to identify areas for improvement.