3 YouTube SEO Strategy Tips to Jump You To Higher Ranking

Are you tired of creating exceptional content only for it to remain hidden from potential viewers? With an SEO agency, you can unlock the secrets of YouTube marketing strategy and propel your video content to higher rankings.

Let us begin with these five practical tips:

• Match keywords with the user intent.
• Place keywords strategically on the videos.
• Maximize YouTube video features for a better user experience and promotion.

How do you do all these things? Read our guide below. Let’s go!

Want to learn more about the Digital Authority Partners approach to SEO? Watch this video!

3 YouTube SEO Strategies To Claim the Top Spot

Refining your YouTube videos for SEO offers many benefits.

• Studies have shown that most people process information faster and retain them more effectively through visuals.
• YouTube videos are highly engaging and appealing, including to audiences with short attention spans.
• These videos are great marketing materials. Break them into shorter clips for other social media accounts, such as Instagram Reels and TikTok.
• They can be a source of passive income. Participate in the Partner Program once you reach 1,000 subscribers and accumulate at least 4,000 public watch hours.

But with hundreds of videos uploaded daily, how do you keep yours visible? SEO agency experts suggest the techniques below to help rank videos higher in search results.

     1. Match Keywords With the User’s Intent

Do you know that YouTube is also a search engine? It means it works similarly to Google and Bing, whereby the videos can appear in the organic search results of these mega sites.

Additionally, it relies heavily on chosen keywords to match yours with user queries and intent.

These queries usually fall into three categories or types:

• Informational, which are terms indicating a user is looking for information about a specific topic (e.g., “how to” or “what is”)
• Navigational, which are words that the user is researching more about a website, brand, or product (e.g., “Nike Air Force 1 review”)
• Transactional, which are keywords that suggest users are ready to buy but need more information or push (e.g., “request a proposal” or “buy today”)

To illustrate how this works, let us pretend you are a real estate agent selling homes in Phoenix, Arizona. Here are the possible video types you can make and the user-based keywords to use:

More Tips:

• Consider targeting long-tail keywords to deliver more targeted traffic. 
• Analyze competitor keywords and identify gaps and opportunities. 
• Do not immediately dismiss zero-search-volume keywords, as these could help propel videos to the top spot for such queries. Instead, relate the keyword data with niche relevance, video content, and ability to drive the desired traffic.

     2. Place Keywords Strategically on the Videos

The locations of keywords are just as essential as the targeted phrases and terms themselves. In fact, wrong placements can make keyword research almost useless because of poor conversions.

The question is where to put keywords. Here are the best places:

• Title
• Meta or video description
• Video tags
• Comments and mentions
• Video links
• YouTube channel names

Of the six places, the title and video descriptions are the most important. These are the ones audiences see first in the search results. They also depend on these parts to understand your video content. 

Besides adding these keywords prominently in your YouTube videos, enhance them with these tips:

• Limit the keyword count for the title to 60 to 70 characters to avoid truncation.
• Maximize the video descriptions by making them specific, accurate, and relevant. Add affiliate links, resources, etc., here. But include the keywords early in the descriptions.
• Avoid abusing keyword tags. Pick five of the most relevant related keywords to your videos.

     3. Maximize YouTube Video Features for a Better UX and Promotion

YouTube has many basic and advanced features to improve the user experience (UX) and increase brand awareness, engagement, and even conversions. These include:

• YouTube Analytics offers valuable insights into viewer demographics, watch time, audience engagement, and other essential data that helps to optimize content and strategies. Access it by clicking on your profile picture in the top-right corner and navigating to the YouTube Studio option. Then choose the Analytics tab.
• Custom Thumbnails are personalized, eye-catching images designed to represent the video content, potentially increasing clicks. Upload an image with 2560 x 1440 pixels. They render well on various mobile devices and desktops.
• Video Playlists, if well-crafted, help increase the exposure of your work and provide a seamless, binge-worthy experience for the audience. It also efficiently organizes content based on personal interests. 
• Transcripts help broaden the target audience to include non-visual learners, people with short attention spans, and individuals with disabilities. Enter the transcript directly or format a transcript file.
• End screens help bring viewers to other videos and channels that you manage, and allow for external links pointing to your website or other relevant landing pages. Extend your videos for between 5 and 20 seconds to allow for end screens. 

Summing Up

YouTube SEO helps level the playing field, even for new content creators and marketers. When done well, you can give popular channels and brands a good run for their money and gain the top spot for your chosen keyword. 

These three tips can give you a nice head start but work with an SEO agency for more customized optimization strategies. 

Digital Authority Partners (DAP) is here to help. Let us talk about your niche, marketing goals, and audience. Contact us today!