YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. It means that if you are not marketing yourself on YouTube, then you are missing out on a lot of potential customers. According to data from HubSpot, 80% of YouTube users say they find videos helpful when making purchase decisions.  

So what does this mean for your business? Well, it means there’s a good chance people will be viewing your content and deciding whether or not to buy something from you based on what they see.

With over two billion views per day, your goal should be to stay in YouTube’s top viewers’ section so that more people can see your videos and potentially become customers. If you want to stay at the top of these viewers’ minds (and therefore increase sales), here are some tips. 

Create a catchy and interesting thumbnail

First impressions are everything. If you want to get viewers’ attention, then you need to make sure they click on your videos and watch them. It may sound like a no-brainer, but about 80% of users who click on a video do so because they see an interesting thumbnail. No need for fancy art or anything like that; just make sure whatever is on your thumbnail stands out. 

Include keywords to the video title and description 

When searching for a video on YouTube, there are two important factors that determine what you see: relevance and popularity. Keywords fall under relevancy, while the number of views a video has falls under popularity. So when people search for a phrase or term on YouTube, your goal should be to rank high in both these categories. To do this, you need to ensure that you include keywords (e.g., “dog training tips”) both in the title of your video and the description.

Post quality content consistently 

The internet is very fickle; people are constantly looking for new stuff to watch and will quickly leave if they don’t find it right away. The only way to do Youtube SEO is by consistently posting and updating videos. When you first start out, this may be difficult. But once you’ve built up a few videos and an audience, it gets easier. Identify what type of content will work best for your business and then stick with that. Keep people coming back by updating your channel with fresh, original videos.

Use annotations, cards, and links within videos

One of the best ways to stay high up in the viewer’s section is by adding speech annotation, cards, and links within your videos. People often watch a video on YouTube to learn something or solve a problem, so give them what they want by adding annotations, cards, and links within your content. Make sure you use relevant keywords for anything you add (e.g., “more dog training tips”) and that it’s mentioned throughout the video. If your audience completes a call to action (e.g., watching more of your videos), make sure you let them know where they can find out more information.

Use tags that are specific to your niche or topic 

You may have heard of tags before, but did you know that they are used for more than just categorizing videos? That’s right; YouTube also uses them to determine whether or not your content will show up in search results. You want to make sure that the tags you use are not only specific but relevant to your topic. Always include a list of tags that relate to your video’s content, and then upload those tags into YouTube. This will help you show up not only in relevant searches but also during targeted ad campaigns.

Promote your videos

Do you have a Twitter account, Facebook page, or blog? If so, then be sure that you’re promoting your channel on these platforms. This can be done by including links to your videos within posts and tweets (try to use hashtags when sharing). Sharing your videos to other sites will help get people interested in what you have to offer. There are tons of places online where you can promote your channel, so take full advantage of them all.

Engage with the people who comment on your videos

Another way to get more views on a video is by persisting engagement on it. A great way to do this is by responding to comments. YouTube will often show the most recent comment in search results, so when people are checking out your video, they may see that you’ve responded to someone’s question or comment further down in the thread.

Use YouTube Analytics to track your progress

There are two ways to use YouTube Analytics in order to improve your viewing numbers: look at the data and then take action or do nothing and hope for the best. While we recommend looking at the data and taking action, you should know that over 60% of all data used on YouTube is never going to be acted upon. The importance of staying in the top viewers’ section means that you need to look at your analytics and use this information to get better results.

I hope this has helped you learn some YouTube search engine optimization basics. As you can see, there are many things to consider when it comes to YouTube SEO. If your videos have been languishing at the bottom of a viewer’s list, it may be time to try one or more of these ideas and see if they can help increase your visibility on YouTube.

The important thing is that if you apply these tips well and consistently, your videos will not only stay in the top viewers’ section but they’ll also be more popular with users too. You might just find that visitors will come back again and again for more great content from you.

What other ways have you found success? We’re all ears here so please share by leaving a comment below.