SEO for YouTube is a little bit different than for search engines like Google or Bing. This is because instead of using backlinks, YouTube prefers to analyze the user experience and determine the quality of the content based on that.
That means that if your YouTube video engages the audience, if its content makes them stay, subscribe or interact with your channel and video in any other way, it will rank it better.
YouTube gives a lot of importance to the user experience metrics: comment count, the length of the video, the number of views, likes, shares, etc will influence how you rank on YouTube.
You should dedicate your time to improve your user engagement methods and attract your audience to subscribe and stay on your channel. But there are other things you could also be doing in order to improve your rankings and here is what theta re:
1. Keyword research.
By now you understand the importance of having a good set of keywords that will be related to your content and describe it in the best possible way so that search engines will understand what your videos are about. However, you should pay special attention to researching your keywords often and with the right tools. The popularity of keywords changes over time and a keyword that worked perfectly yesterday might not work for you tomorrow. This is why it is important to periodically check your keywords and how they rank. Google provides you with a free tool you can use to check the popularity of the keywords and discover new ones. It’s called “Google Trends” and it already comes with a YouTube search option implemented.
2. Track the rankings of your videos on YouTube.
You don’t need to do this manually, there are tools out there, both free and paid, that will help you keep track of your positioning on both Google and on YouTube. One such tool is Ubersuggest.
3. Be consistent.
While becoming viral is a great thing, it will bring you a short burst of fame. The key is consistency. You need to build your subscribers base and turn your viewers into fans. This can be done only over a long period of time. Keep producing high-quality videos that are published on schedule. Having two viral videos in a row is impossible, and forget about making all of your videos viral. Only by building a strong community of viewers and through their engagement with your channel, you will have a consistently high ranking.
4. Long-form content.
While it is true most people will give a video maybe a minute or two to intrigue them, that doesn’t mean you should keep your videos short. Put the most intriguing information at the beginning, but keep the video at least five minutes long. Google ranks better longer videos because it means they can charge for more advertisement. High-quality, long-form content allows running more ads, therefore more profit for YouTube.
5. The first 48 hours are critical.
Prepare your SEO before you publish a video. Better yet, before you upload it. Never publish a video without properly done SEO, thinking you can do it anytime you want. As soon as you give YouTube’s algorithm the information about what your video is about, it will rank high enough to attract viewers. These viewers will interact with your video through likes, comments, and subscriptions, and will push its rankings even higher. The sooner this happened the better. It is possible to go back and repair the SEO of your older videos to keep them relevant. But once the algorithm judges your video, it is very hard to change that judgment.