The Most Important YouTube SEO Ranking Factors
A couple of years ago, only a few brands were dabbling in video marketing, as it required plenty of resources and a unique skill set. But now, being active in the video space is an absolute must, as production and content editing costs have dropped dramatically.
There is no bigger video platform out there than YouTube which is owned by Google. It’s a video discovery platform, but it also serves as a search engine, which means you can do certain things to appear higher in the search results.
Of course, you can start by working with influencers who are now in high demand because they already have large audiences and are willing to promote your product if it’s aligned with their brand. By collaborating with someone who already has the trust among a specific audience, you can gain unprecedented leverage.
But you should be smart and build your own channel even if you run a small local business. This will take time, but ultimately it will give you more control and influence. So, what are the crucial YouTube SEO ranking factors you should consider? Let’s take a look.
Channel keywords
You need to pick a few crucial phrases that your channel will be recognized by. This will help the algorithms understand what your channel is about and in what niche are you in. It’s essential that you pick the main topic for your channel and then stick with it over months and years. This will enable you to build domain authority over time so that your videos will come up in the search results more often.
Watch time
YouTube is determined to keep its users on the platform for as long as possible. This will only happen if they serve high-quality content that keeps people glued to their screens. If viewers bounce from your videos after one or two minutes, this is a strong signal that your content is not up to scratch with people’s expectations. Dive into the analytics and make sure your average watch time is at least 3 minutes.
Video description
Video platforms start to use machine learning algorithms to learn more about the content of each video. However, the description you place under the content is still a huge ranking factor. Make sure to avoid keyword-stuffing and write a natural description that’s at least 250 words long. You should also add specific tags that will help your video appear in the “recommended” section in the sidebar.
There are a few more ranking factors like video quality, view count, and thumbnails, but if you cover the ones listed above, you will be way ahead of the game. Just make sure that you’re consistently uploading new content, and you’ll start gaining traction with time. Stay patient and give it at least a few months before calling it quits.
