Top 10 Tips for an Effective YouTube SEO (vSEO) Campaign

Only famous influencers and super prolific content creators rank well on YouTube, right? Wrong. With a little effort, anyone can see success on the platform—including business owners who want to promote their products and services online.

Video is a powerful medium for explaining topics, giving people a better idea of how products work, or sharing insights with a large audience. This is why they are widely used in inbound marketing. But how can you make your YouTube videos stand out from the rest? The key is to understand the basics of YouTube SEO, also known as video SEO or vSEO—the art and science of getting YouTube views, likes, and comments from your target audience. Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Optimize the name of your video file.

Giving your video a better filename that contains relevant keywords is one of the simplest and most effective ways to boost your YouTube ranking. Keep in mind that the platform does not ‘watch’ your video to determine its relevance to your target keyword, but it can ‘read’ the video’s file name.

2. Find a way to naturally insert your keywords in the title.

Videos with the exact keyword match in their titles have a slight advantage over those that do not. And remember: Keep the title short, preferably no more than 60 characters, so that it doesn’t get cut off in the results pages.

3. Optimize the video description.

The character limit for YouTube video descriptions is 1,000. While you can use all that space, it’s not always a good idea. After all, your audience is there to watch a video—not read a lengthy passage. Also, YouTube only shows the first two to three lines of text (approximately 100 characters). People have to click ‘show more’ for the full description. This is why it makes sense to put the most important information on the front-loading description, including crucial links or your call-to-action.

4. Use popular keywords when tagging.

Tags are highly encouraged to tell viewers what the video is about. Tags also help the YouTube platform associate your video with similar ones, expanding your content’s reach. Just be sure to pick tags well. Avoid irrelevant words to prevent getting penalized by Google. Try to use the most important keywords, including long-tail ones.

5. Pick a category.

Go to ‘Advanced Settings’ to categorize your video so it can be recommended alongside similar content and appear in various playlists, receiving more attention from people who identify with your target audience.

6. Create a custom thumbnail.
The video thumbnail is the main image people see when going through video results. It gives viewers an idea of the content and influences whether they click on it or not. Consider uploading a custom thumbnail instead of using YouTube’s auto-generated version. Make sure it’s 1280×720 pixels, up to 2MB in size, and is in .png, .bmp, .gif, or .jpg format so that it shows properly across different viewing platforms.

7. Add closed captions and subtitles.

Subtitles and closed captions can help optimize your videos by highlighting important keywords. Upload a timed subtitles file or supported text transcript and make sure that it auto-syncs with your video.

8. Apply Cards and End Screens to boost viewership on your channel.

While watching a YouTube video, have you ever seen a little white circular symbol with an “i” appear in the corner, or a translucent bar of text asking you to subscribe? Those are Cards, which YouTube describes as preformatted notifications that appear on mobile and desktop that lets you promote your brand and other videos you might have. You can put up to 5 Cards on a video. Here’s how.

Meanwhile, End Screens show similar information as Cards but don’t display until your video is over, making them more visually detailed. Follow this guide if you want to use them.

9. Use hashtags to boost reach.

Hashtags appear just above your video title so they’re easily clickable and visible. Some examples of what you can use for hashtags include your company name or related keywords. You can also use hashtags in your video description, but keep them to a minimum or you might be marked for spam.

10. Make a playlist about a general topic.

Do you have a collection of related videos? Group them into keyword-optimized playlists. This not only helps YouTube figure out what your videos are about, but also keeps viewers engaged and clicking from video to video, ultimately increasing views and rankings.

While it’s possible to rank well on YouTube using these vSEO strategies, the process takes time and requires basic technical know-how. Unless you’re a full-time video content creator, it’s often more practical to outsource video SEO to the pros. SEOValley can help.