Many YouTubers have applied various tips and tricks and learned how to rank YouTube videos on the first page. But there are a lot of newcomers who are making videos but are not able to increase their rankings in searches. Well, it is important that you understand what YouTubers do to get those rankings.
The best way to improve your place in the searches is YouTube SEO. Yes, SEO can be done for YouTube as well. After all, YouTube is also considered to be a search engine, right?
Even though it is the largest video platform, it is also known as the second largest search engine. And for search engines, optimization is the most crucial aspect of generating traffic and ranking higher.
So, to rank your video on YouTube, you must make sure that your videos are optimized. Learn about YouTube SEO for that and start working on that channel now!
What is YouTube SEO and How Does it Help to Rank YouTube Videos?
If you are not aware of what SEO is, let’s first learn about that before moving towards YouTube SEO. Search Engine Optimization is basically the practice of optimizing your website and content according to search engines. It includes design, creation, and content production so that the page is considered to be the best result for user’s searches. The top SEO companies in India know how to perform SEO according to the business requirements.
Similar to search engines, YouTube also requires SEO to rank videos higher in search. YouTube has a search system using which users can find the relevant results on what they are looking for. And the platform gets a lot of searches on the internet among the other search engines. YouTube has a higher number of searches as compared to Yahoo! and Bing.
Does YouTube SEO Really Work to Rank YouTube Videos on the First Page?
It is hard to put YouTube’s platform in a single category. That is why some people are unsure about traditional SEO and if it really matters here. YouTube is considered as a substantial search engine and serves as a huge information hub.
Thus, YouTube SEO does work! There are numerous companies and brands who have witnessed improvements in the ranking of their YouTube videos by applying traditional methods as well as platform-specific tricks.
How Does YouTube SEO Work to Rank YouTube Videos on Top?
YouTube is a part of Google and it has the same intelligence level as the search engine itself. The purpose of both Google and YouTube is to offer the best results to enhance user experience. That is why, users also want to learn how to rank website on Google so that their organic traffic increases.
There is an algorithm that YouTube uses just like Google which plays a major role in helping YouTubers to rank YouTube videos on the first page of Google. User search and browsing histories count as some of the most important points to customize the search results. However, those who are publishing content on YouTube should know that channel engagement and optimization are included in the criteria to rank their YouTube videos.
Guidelines of YouTube SEO You Should Follow to Rank Your Videos on YouTube
While working on YouTube SEO, you should think of it as a separate entity from other SEO. The guidelines followed by YouTube and Google are similar. Thus, if you are already aware of the best practices of standard SEO, you can apply them to your YouTube SEO as well.
Check the SEO guidelines about publishing some content such as a blog and apply the same logic to your videos. Divide things into different sections and ensure to make a flow for your videos making it easier for your viewers to understand your message. This will not only help in creating better videos but also boost your SEO efforts on other content types. The best digital marketing service providers in India will be aware of the standard as well as YouTube SEO practices.
What Are the Best Tricks YouTubers Use to Rank YouTube Videos Higher in Search?
There are several factors taken under consideration by YouTube while ranking videos. Factors include performance of your videos and how popular your channel is among your followers and subscribers. A few metrics such as click-through rate, likes, average view duration, dislikes, etc. play a major role.
If you want to rank YouTube videos on the first page of Google in minutes, connect with a YouTube marketing agency in India and have your work done.
Let’s go through some of the highly used tactics
1. Start by a Thorough Keyword Research for Your Channel and Videos
Keyword research is a part of your content ideation process, be it creating a strategy or a step in brainstorming. This has proven to be true for blog posts as well as guides you on how to rank videos on YouTube. It is also possible that your videos might appear on Google’s Search Engine Results Page, but also display on YouTube’s search results. So, while creating YouTube videos, make sure that you find keyword opportunities and use SEO tools to find the focus keyword.
2. Rank Your Video on YouTube by Optimizing Titles and Descriptions
After finding your keywords, implement them in your title and description. What you can do is:
- Include Target Keyword: You can use the target keyword at the starting of your title and add them in your description as well.
- Crispy and Concise: Even though the character limit of the YouTube title is 100 characters, it should be short and to the point. The character limit should be 50-60 for the title and use 125-200 characters for the description.
- Be Descriptive: To rank video in YouTube search, YouTubers write titles and descriptions that match the intent of the video.
3. Add Relevant Tags to Get Your Video in the Top Ranked YouTube Videos
Tags are those keywords that can be added to your video’s metadata.
According to YouTube’s help page, it is clear that tags can help your viewers find your videos.
However, they play a minimal role and how effectively they help is not very clear. But it wouldn’t hurt adding them, would it?
So, when you are uploading your video, make sure to add a few keywords and make phrases to include in these tags.
4. Include Closed Captions as a Tactic to Rank Videos on YouTube SEO
Want to know a cool trick to rank YouTube videos higher in search? Try adding closed captions. You must know that YouTube offers support to closed captions. These are basically for those people who cannot listen or are hard of hearing.
But how does this help in ranking YouTube videos in search?
Did you know? Closed captions are crawlable.
Search engines crawl these closed captions and enabling them will boost your SEO. Even though there is support provided to automatic captioning, it is not the best.
You have the option to edit these captions or add your own, but what is important is to make them accurate.
5. YouTubers Use Hashtags in Their Videos to Increase Reach on the Platform
You guessed it right! Hashtags give your videos more valuable context and help to rank videos on YouTube. Adding hashtags to your description can help in improving your rankings. Not just that, there is a possibility that your content shows up on a separate page dedicated to each hashtag.
This increases the reach of your videos. Whenever you enter a hashtag in the description and start typing the keyword, the most popular ones appear.
Add hashtags similar to your search terms, add a few variations, and additional topics. But make sure that you prioritize accuracy above quantity. Adding more hashtags will make the relevancy of each lower.
6. Create Chapters and Playlists to Rank YouTube Videos by Views on Top
Adding chapters or timestamps to your videos can increase your engagement by making it easier for users to jump to relevant sections.
Always remember: Higher engagement = Higher YouTube rankings
Moreover, using your chapter titles allows YouTube to better understand the broader themes of your video content. This helps you get rankings on more keywords.
Also, creating a playlist of relatable and relevant videos maintains engagement. Meaning, if your audience finds a video relevant to the one they were watching, they might stick around to watch another one.
Them staying on your channel and watching your videos for longer periods of time increases engagement. This helps in getting better rankings on YouTube and Google first page.
7. Cards and End-Screens Add to Better Rankings of YouTube Videos on Google
Both cards and end-screens are beneficial for YouTube SEO as they make the videos more engaging. But what are they?
Cards are simply call-to-action that can be set to pop-up during the key moments in your videos. You have the option to add up to 5 cards in every video and there are four main categories:
- Video Cards: Redirect users towards a public video of your choice
- Playlist Cards: Link a public YouTube playlist
- Channel Cards: Link a specific YouTube channel
- Link Cards: Only available to users who are members of the YouTube Partner Program
Then come the end-screens helping YouTubers to rank YouTube videos on first page.
Adding end-screen is the perfect way to add a CTA like asking viewers to subscribe to the channel or go to the next video.
Not Satisfied? Find More Ways to Rank YouTube Videos on Google First Page
If you still want to know more ways about how to rank your videos on YouTube, here are a few. Make sure to first apply the ones mentioned above and then go through these if you still want to know more.
8. Create a Channel Trailer to Communicate Your Channel’s Message
With the help of a channel trailer, YouTubers can explain what their channel is about. These videos are:
- An introduction of your brand to your audience
- Overview of the content type that you publish
- Preview of the style you follow with your videos
They prove to be very helpful and there is no need to create new content as the highlights featured from your old content is key. Having a leading content marketing company in India can help you with that.
9. Share Them on Other Channels to Rank Videos on YouTube Search
For reaching new audiences, SEO is a great tool. But, having followers on other platforms means some of them must be using YouTube. Well, in such a case, they need to know about your channel. Finding the top social media marketing agency in India can help you promote your channel on socials.
Promoting your videos on socials or other channels can increase your engagement rate and enhance rankings. Embed relevant videos in your blogs, add your YouTube channel’s link in your social profiles, add specific links in your stories, etc.
10. Start Creating YouTube Shorts to Rank YouTube Videos by Views on Google
We all know that YouTube Shorts have become very popular among today’s audience. The user-base of YouTube is growing on a daily basis. Due to the vertically aligned videos, they are perfect to watch and scroll on smartphones keeping viewers engaged.
They are limited to a duration of 60 seconds which makes them perfect for viewers to spend time with. These videos are considered to become a major advertising opportunity very soon. If you want to increase YouTube Shorts views, this guide will help you!
11. Last But Not the Least Trick is to Try Paid Promotion
The best way to rank YouTube videos on the first page and in front of your target audience is by running ads on YouTube. With YouTube’s advertising options come ads including both skippable and non-skippable ads.
You need to make sure that you create a clear CTA for your ads or use snippets from existing content. Thus, taking help from video marketing companies in India might be useful.
Final Say on Learning How to Rank Video on YouTube on Top
YouTube, being the second largest search engine, is used by the majority of people worldwide. But to learn how to rank videos on YouTube on search is not as easy as it might seem. There are a lot of tactics and strategies that need to be applied. Moreover, learning YouTube SEO if you are not even aware of standard SEO practices might be difficult. In the guide above, we have shared all the useful and proven tricks that YouTubers use to rank videos on YouTube. Learn these tricks and apply them to enhance rankings of your YouTube videos.
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