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YouTube SEO: Tips to Rank on the Video Platform

YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine (next to Google, its parent company). 8 out of 10 videos displayed on the search engine results are from YouTube. With more than 500 hours of videos uploaded to YouTube, how can you make your uploads stand out from the sea of videos? The most effective way is to optimize your video for search using YouTube SEO best practices.

How to Boost Your Search Ranking

Numerous brands use YouTube SEO strategies to increase their online visibility and search rankings on the major video platform on the web. Like Google, YouTube employs identical algorithms for website and video ranking and goals to provide users with the best experience possible. The combination of Google and YouTube search results not only helped simplify user search queries but also supercharge your digital marketing efforts. 

Before we dive into the tips, here are some of the tools you can use to rank your videos:

  • Canva
  • TubeBuddy
  • VidIQ Vision
  • Cyfe
  • Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

Here are 8 YouTube SEO tips that will capture the attention of your target audience and drive more traffic and video views.

  1. Choose Keywords Wisely

The search engine results page is a fierce battleground for millions of brands competing for the attention of their target audience. New products, services, and competitors fight for the top spot daily. That is why it is crucial to diversify your brand—the key to using competitive terms and incorporating the right keywords to get you volume.  

Here are some of the most helpful keyword research tools for SEO or PPC:

  • Google Keyword Planner
  • SemRush
  • Moz
  • WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool

  1. Use Keywords in Your Title 

Businesses must understand the search intent of their audience: informational, commercial, navigational, and transactional. To boost the visibility of your video in search results, you must match the subject of your video to the intent of your target audience. 

You must also understand the purpose of your video and get to know your primary audience. For instance, when you showcase an excellent product review to attract more customers. You need to use the product name in the title and description of the video. While this is a simple step, many video marketers tend to miss this crucial step, causing their videos to appear low on both YouTube and Google search results.  

  1. Include the Keyword in Your Video File

This step is extremely crucial as it is among the YouTube ranking factors that will help boost your video’s visibility in search results. Uploading a file name with a relevant keyword in it increases your likelihood of being ranked and acquiring more search volume.

  1. Optimize Your Video Description

A strong, optimized video description is among the most critical YouTube SEO ranking factors. Make sure to include descriptions, subtitles, closed captions, and thumbnails when changing or updating any important video elements. To optimize your video description, integrate the user-relevant keywords in the first few sentences of your description. Your video description should not exceed 200 words. 

  1. Use Hashtags to Drive Search Results

Across social media, the use of Youhashtags (#) helps people find relevant content that offers answers or solutions to their problems. Incorporating a specific hashtag into your video descriptions and titles can make your video more searchable to your target viewers. 

  1. Choose a Category for Your Video

When uploading on YouTube, be sure to choose the category that best suits the topic of the video. Contextualizing your video with categories can help increase your likelihood of getting found by viewers. 

  1. Customize Your Thumbnails

Thumbnails can make or break your YouTube videos. A strong thumbnail can help you stand out and catch the attention of your target viewers when searching for videos on YouTube. It increases your click-through rates, leading to a higher watch time and improving your YouTube rankings. Customizing your thumbnail enables people to see what your video is about. 

  1. Add Subtitles and Closed Captions

Using subtitles and closed captions is our final tip for increasing your success on YouTube searches. Both subtitles and closed-caption act as a transcript for your video. Subtitles can help communicate the dialogue to viewers who cannot understand the language used in the video. On the other hand, closed captions are designed for your viewers who cannot hear the audio.

What Are the Best Ways to Repurpose Your Content?

There is an exciting way to make your existing content new and great again. We are sure that you have an archive loaded with once helpful, popular content, and it is a shame to keep them hidden in the dark!

Repurposing is a content marketing technique that allows you to breathe in new life to old posts and continue to gain value. Repurposing is about recycling old posts and promoting them in a new form to widen their reach and lifespan.

You do not need to create new content every day. Drawing existing blog posts, videos, and other assets can cut down the time to produce new content. Additionally, it improves your bottom line and the visibility of your content, which can help you reach a wider audience.

How to Repurpose Your Old

Content If you want to repurpose your outdated content for various channels, start by assessing your metrics. Identify high-performing content and think of ways how you can continue to provide value to your target audience with the same content in various formats.

  • Create a YouTube Video

Your existing how-to blog posts can be transformed into tutorial YouTube videos, especially if they are graphics-heavy pieces. For example, you are a business coach offering tutorial services to salespeople who want to master sales calls. You can use some of your blog posts to create a script and convert it into a YouTube video.

  • Create an Infographic

If you have an old blog post packed with statistics or data, the best way to repurpose it is by creating an infographic. Most consumers love visuals, so creating an infographic post of statistics is an effective way to engage your target audience and give new value to your content. While you can include infographics in your blog, you can also post them on social media.

  • Create a Podcast

You can cite quotes from industry leaders or thought leadership posts and create podcasts. Convert the blog into a script and invite industry leaders back for a more comprehensive analysis of the insight they have given for the post.

  • Create an eBook

You can turn long-form content into an ebook to provide educational value to your reader. Discuss specific essential elements of your subject in your blog and offer the ebook to your target audience for a more in-depth analysis.

  • Create a Slideshow

Creating a slideshow is perhaps the easiest way to recycle your old content since it only involves converting the blog into a presentation form. Choose high-performing content and repurpose it into a SlideShare. It allows you to easily share it and introduce your repurposed content in a new format. You can also add graphic elements to make your slideshow more engaging.

  • Social Media Post

You can turn your blog posts into microblogs on various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Tumblr, and Instagram. However, avoid promoting your blog posts directly. Instead, repurpose your brand message. Be sure to create a summary of the crucial points of your original blog. It allows you to maximize your ideas and share them on your social media.

  • Turn Old Webinars Into Video Tutorials

If you have hosted great webinars that attracted many attendees, do let them go to waste! You can reuse them again and transform them into video tutorials. Not only does your content live forever, but it can also be an additional asset to your website and attract more target audiences to your website via YouTube!

  • Turn Video Transcripts Into Blog Posts

Did you know that you can convert video transcripts into blog posts?

A scripted video with a logical structure does not require heavy editing to turn it into an engaging blog post. Take, for instance, the Whiteboard Friday, a weekly video produced by Moz. Although each of their videos has unique content, they also employ a transcription tool that helps convert videos into blog posts.