YouTube Optimization: How to Make Your Video Stand Out in a Sea of Content

YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet behind Google. If you are not utilizing this medium to share content about your brand, you are missing out on a massive marketing opportunity.

Video is an extremely rich medium that generates high user engagement. According to Hootsuite, 70% of marketers plan to use social videos in the next twelve months. Video makes up 60% of online content, and Google reserves space on the first page of results for video related to search queries.

The positives of the medium are endless. However, before you jump the gun on creating a new video, check out these optimization tips to make sure your hard work lands on the right eyes.

Content

As with all social marketing efforts, content is king. Previously, YouTube ranked the validity and quality of a video based on the number of views. Now, the length of time a user watches a video is what primarily determines its rank. The more captivating and quality your content, the better it ranks.

Aim to make your content engaging, entertaining, informative, and shareable. Staying on top of trends and focusing on valuable content will get viewers to watch longer.

There are few practical things that will encourage longer views. To start, give a summary or thesis of your video in the first few minutes. People stay longer when they know exactly what they are about to watch. Longer videos always rank better than shorter ones, so aim to make every video at least five minutes long.

The highest ranked videos on Google are How-To videos, reviews, tutorials, fitness or sports related videos, and funny videos. You can help your video succeed by capitalizing on these already high-ranking content styles.

Title

The title of your video has a big impact on SEO. Incorporating keywords into the title phrase will significantly increase its ranking.

Titles are max 100 characters, so be as descriptive and accurate as you can. Keywords should be at the very beginning of the phrase – the closer to the front, the better. Be as specific as possible and include niche keywords into your title.

For consistency and increased SEO, use the same keyword optimized phrase in the name of the video file itself. Be sure to separate each word in the file name with a hyphen

Description

YouTube cannot always read and comprehend the audio and visual content in a video. Instead, the algorithms make sense of the video using its description.

Don’t make the description a company plug. Write unique, descriptive and keyword-rich content that explains what your video is about. It can be up to 980 words long, so take advantage of this space – it is there for a reason!

Include the keyword you are trying to rank for in the first 25 words, and include it 3-4 more times throughout the description. This is an essential place to rank for long tail keywords.

The description is also an excellent place to add URLs that link to other content you have produced. Always add a link to your website, specifically to relevant content such as a blog or another video.  Add a call to action that encourages viewers to click-through. You should also include links to your social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter. This will provide easy access for a viewer to look at your other content and networks.

Tags

Tags are what make your video discoverable on YouTube. To improve ranking, classify and associate your video with tags that are related to your target keywords. YouTube allows 500 characters in tags, and you should fill the space with anything that is relevant to the video. Don’t just describe the video with tags – describe the problem your video solves.

Don’t be afraid to create tags specific to your brand. Tagging your videos with that keyword will help promote them in the sidebar and view next card. Tags are the easiest way to categorize your videos. You should take full advantage of them!

Language and Closed Captioning

Adding closed captioning to your video is also a great way to increase optimization. Transcribing and uploading closed captions gives YouTube access to exactly what is in your video, providing information in multiple formats which can aid varying needs and preferences. YouTube also offers translating functions, which should be utilized if you are trying to reach a specific target audience.

Thumbnail

The thumbnail provides a small preview image of your video. This is a great way to catch a browser’s attention and drive them to view your content.

Thumbnails should be bright, captivating and interesting. Try using bright backgrounds, contrast and outlines, text, and a logo or brand. Strong emotions and close-ups of people making eye contact can also catch a viewer’s eye.

Call to Action Card

Although viewer retention is the biggest factor in YouTube’s ranking system, user engagement comes in close second. The ranking algorithm considers a video’s comments, the number of subscriptions directly after watching, shares, favourites, and likes.

The best way to achieve this kind of engagement is to directly ask viewers to engage, but a call to action card can also be effective. For the last 10 or 20 seconds of the video, insert a card that has links to social media channels, other videos, and the subscription button through the overlay function.

Check out YouTuber Grace Helbig’s call to action card below as an example.

4 Ways to Connect With Your Audience Using Visuals

Storytelling can take on many forms. A blog post, a social media announcement, a website, an email blast, a presentation or a book. Whether your purpose is to inform, educate or entertain, adding visual content is core to how you can connect with your audience. People respond more to what they see than any other form of stimulation.

1. Break up text

In this age of “Big Data”, we are literally bombarded with information. Visual assets such as videos, photography, infographics and illustrations cut through all the noise and leave a powerful impact.

Are people just lazy readers?

Many readers will scan through large sections of text, picking out words, here and there, stopping at headlines, and maybe at an image or video that captures interest. It’s not that people are lazy readers or would not find your writing interesting. It’s just that there is such a large volume of available information, they have to move quickly to capture what is relevant to them. A reader will be more willing to read an article when colourful images are used.

2. Be more memorable

Blog posts with images and videos are more engaging to visitors.

• Web pages with more visual content rank better
• Tweets with images receive 18% more clicks and 150% more retweets

With 90% of information transmitted to the brain being visual, and a retention rate at 80%, it only makes sense to use visuals to their advantage.

Using visuals across all the major social platforms—Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest, increases the:

• Number of visitors,
• Level of participation, and the
• Reach of your post.

What makes an effective visual?

A good visual will reach out on an emotional level and leave a long-lasting impression. When you connect with your audience on an emotional level, they associate it with your brand and it nurtures a feeling of trust.

Effective visuals are relatable and sharable. The right infographic can transform a complex or large amount of data into a more manageable format.

3. Set a tone

Sketchy, trendy, artistic, dark or funny—the right image will set the tone or mood for your writing. Open the door and invite your reader in.

A brand’s values and unique personality can be defined by:

• Logos
• Use of colour
• Typography
• Use of icons and relatable imagery
  

4. Implement a visual content strategy

Keep in mind that competition for your audience’s attention is high. A strong visual content marketing strategy is key to attracting internet users and building brand credibility. Just as important as headlines, and calls to action, visual content deserves more than a second thought.

Remember to:

• Show, don’t tell
• Use testimonial videos
• Share feedback
• Show customer reviews as images
• Drive content production with polls

Engage employees

• Share behind-the-scenes activities
• Encourage sharing of staff picks
• Capture celebrations of your big moments

Increase reach and visibility

• Use social media cover images
• Design your call-to-action
• Offer downloadable white papers, or e-books
• Make your images sharable
• Use a feature box on your blog

Optimize

• Change your visual’s file name
• Add a text transcript of your visuals
• Optimize file size
• Watch your embed code strategy </>

Top 5 reasons that SEO alone might not be right for you

Wait, what?

Yes, you heard correctly. We’re in the business of helping clients with their SEO, gaining organic website traffic, but the reality is that SEO is not always the right answer for every client in every situation. Let me explain.

1. Sometimes your SEO budget is not enough

This is usually the most common reason. SEO projects have a lot of variables to consider including the difficulty of ranking for search terms and other competitive issues.

For some clients, the work required to achieve their goals within a fixed time is simply not realistic inside a tight marketing budget. Unfortunately, some SEO companies will promise results using tactics outside Google’s guidelines, which ultimately causes more harm than good.

2. The timeframe for your objective is too short

The changing nature of SEO rules, as well as the moving marketing strategy of your competition, means that setting a precise timeframe to achieve results is nearly impossible. SEO success is inherently not an overnight strategy and if your objective is to get to page one from page three immediately, you would likely be better served to leverage other methods.

3. Ad competition is too stiff

Recent changes to the way Google displays ads is not making organic SEO any easier. There are now up to four ads displayed at the top of a page and the length of these ads are now even longer. The result? Even if you do rank on the first page it might be “below the fold” meaning users will have to scroll down to see it.

4. You have a new product or service

Sort of like “if a tree falls in the forest…”, you might be offering something totally new and awesome but no one is searching for it. You need to focus on an educational and awareness strategy that might be better served through ads and content.

5. You’re a new business

Similarly, if you are a new business, organic search can take some time to show results. As a result, if you’re looking for immediate results, you should consider a different tactic initially and use SEO to build organic traffic over time.

Summary

Today’s competitive marketplace demands patience and a variety of tactics. Marketers need to have realistic expectations about what can be achieved in a given time frame and within a given budget. An integrated marketing approach consisting of SEO, PPC, social media, and content marketing, is usually the best recipe for long-lasting results.