One of the major advantages to uploading your videos to YouTube is that people can find them using the search feature. This is true of Facebook to a lesser extent as well. If you do not optimize your videos for search then you will reduce the chances of your videos being discovered. Your YouTube videos can appear in Google search too.
Conduct keyword Research
The first step to optimizing your videos for search is to perform keyword research. You need to know what terms people are using to find the information that they need in your niche. It is not difficult to conduct keyword research for videos and you can do this for free when you use the Google Keyword Planner.
With the Keyword Planner you will find related search terms and the estimated search volumes. Although this is based on Google search, the numbers will be fairly accurate for YouTube search as well. Another great tool for keyword research is the free browser extension called vidIQ. This will show you the tags used by high-ranking videos and other useful information.
Add your Main Keyword to your Video Titles
The title of your video is very important for optimization. Look at your keyword list and identify a main keyword and some related secondary keywords for your videos. Add the main keyword in the title of your video.
When you are at the start of your video marketing journey, we recommend that you target long tail keywords rather than the very competitive ones. As you start to rank for these terms, YouTube will take notice and start to rank you for the tougher keywords as well.
Make your Description Keyword Rich
You must provide a description for your videos. In this description you want to add a link back to your website and provide a persuasive text body to encourage people to watch your videos. You can add your main and secondary keywords in the description.
Don’t go crazy with your keywords in your description. There is no need to add your keywords more than once. Make sure that the keywords naturally flow with the rest of the words you use. YouTube does not like keyword stuffing and will penalize you if you do this.
Use Keyword Tags
For your YouTube videos you have the chance to add tags to your videos which you need to do. Here you will enter your main and secondary keywords. Use vidIQ to identify the tags used by the most popular videos and use some of these as well. Don’t overdo it with the tags. A maximum of 8 to 10 is recommended.
Create a Great Thumbnail
Use a different thumbnail for each of your videos. Your thumbnail needs to encourage users to click and watch your video. You can create YouTube thumbnails very easily using Canva.com for free. Decide on the style of thumbnail that you want and stick with this for consistency with your videos.
Add Transcripts to your Videos
A lot of people will want to use subtitles with your video so make sure that you provide this. There is an automatic transcription feature in YouTube that you can use first. Afterwards you can go and edit the transcript (there will usually be a few mistakes).
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