Proven YouTube SEO Strategies to Grow Your Channel
You just discovered YouTube SEO, and now you wonder how it can actually rank your videos. If that’s you, well then you’re in the right place. YouTube happens to be the world’s second largest search engine. A lot of potential resides in getting your content in front of the right audience. But how do you make sure your videos are seen? The key lies in understanding how YouTube ranks videos and optimizes your content accordingly. In this guide, you will learn the very essentials step by step to see how you can really start getting better video rankings and grow your YouTube channel. What is YouTube SEO? YouTube SEO is actually a state of video optimization with which you will optimize video contents to rank in more considerable numbers on the search page and the suggestion box in YouTube. Video content made optimized with YouTube SEO results in the possibility of YouTube algorithm matching yours when, for example, there’s a consideration based on such factors as title description and watch time. Other additional factors include tags and more factors that increase videos being able to reach and garnering more views with optimization elements. How does YouTube SEO work? YouTube’s algorithm works on various factors, like how well a video engages viewers, how relevant your content is to their search, and the level of interaction. For instance, let’s say someone searches for “best home workout routine” and your video is titled “Best home workout routine for beginners,” along with a description that mentions ‘effective home exercises,’ and tags related to workouts, it signals to YouTube that your content matches what the user is looking for. However, YouTube also analyses other factors: If viewers stay until the end, YouTube assumes the content is valuable and ranks it higher. This is called watch time and retention. Videos that get more likes, comments, and shares. Click-through rate. This depends on your video’s thumbnail and title. Video description, title, and tags. Should you optimise your YouTube videos? SEO was hardly taken into consideration in the early days of YouTube. People were just uploading their videos, and a good title might have got them good views, but it wasn’t that hard back then and competition was less aggressive.But as YouTube grew into the massive platform it is today—with millions of videos uploaded daily— competition reached peaks. This is why SEO became essential for making your videos stand out. With over 500 hours of video being uploaded each minute, it’s not sufficient to just make great content to make you discoverable. YouTube SEO aligns your content with what the viewers are looking for; therefore, it makes it more likely that the algorithm will recommend your video. YouTube SEO now plays a key role because: It increases your channel’s visibility on YouTube’s search results and suggested video lists. It targets specific audiences by using relevant keywords. Increased watch time. You can grow your subscribers and engagement over time as more people explore your channel. Even the biggest YouTubers rely on SEO to stay relevant, like PewDiePie, Ali Abdaal, MrBeast, etc. YouTube SEO maintains their high rankings and grows their channels. These creators know that even if they have a huge following, they need to remain visible in search results to attract new audiences. Remember, YouTube SEO isn’t difficult once you understand the basics, which we’ll help you with. It doesn’t require any complex coding or a professional, but it does take some time to learn and apply effectively. YouTube SEO guidelines you should be aware of Before we move on to YouTube SEO strategies, let’s briefly understand YouTube SEO guidelines that focus on what you should be aware of when optimizing your videos. 1) Your content has to be compliant with YouTube’s Community Guidelines. Avoid inappropriate content, copyright violations, misleading information, and spammy practices. 2) Focus on creating valuable, informative, or entertaining content that keeps viewers engaged. Ensure your video answers the query or problem your audience are looking for. 3) Avoid overstuffing your video title, description, or tags with keywords. YouTube favours natural-sounding language and content that flows. 4) Always use royalty-free music, licensed footage, and properly attributed images. YouTube’s Content ID system detects copyrighted material, and using it without permission could result in strikes or legal consequences. 5) Try to maintain a consistent upload schedule as YouTube rewards channels that post regularly. 6) Add closed captions (CC) or subtitles. YouTube can read your captions to better understand your video’s content, and videos with captions generally perform better. 7) Avoid using misleading titles or clickbait thumbnails. YouTube tracks watch time, so if people click away quickly after realising the content isn’t what they expected, it negatively impacts your video’s ranking. 8) While YouTube favours longer videos that provide in-depth content, they must be engaging as well. Videos that are 8 to 12 minutes long perform better because they allow more space for ads. Your video length should match the content quality—don’t stretch a video just to hit a certain time frame. 9) If you plan to monetise your videos, comply with monetisation guidelines. Do not use adult content, controversial topics, or inappropriate language. This may result in limited ad revenue or demonetisation. 10) Any external links in your video description must be safe and relevant to the video. Any harmful or irrelevant links can hurt your SEO and result in penalties. Top YouTube SEO strategies Below are some top YouTube SEO strategies that will help your videos rank higher on search results and gain more visibility. We will walk you through each one with practical steps and examples, so get ready to dive in! 1. Optimise video titles Video titles, without any doubt, are another of the best ranking factors. It has to be as optimized as possible to be able to get YouTube to understand what it is actually about and in return rank it with regard to relevant user intent. Use these tools like Google Keyword Planner, TubeBuddy or vidiQ to see which keywords would come up according to your video content as your audience could be trying to find the same. Put your key head word at the title’s starting. With SEO, don’t forget that your title has to be interesting so it really catches people’s attention, but also that short it needs to be—less than 60 characters, no longer so they can get it all when sharing links or embedding code Don’t forget about tweaking these elements after publishing a video if you discover its title does not play as well as you imagined. For example,if you are publishing a video on “YouTube SEO Tips,” an optimized title