Seven Tips to Help Your Youtube Video Rank

I’m sure you’ve noticed Youtube clips rank high in Google. And they convert inquiries into clients better, but with 720,000 hours of video uploaded A DAY, YouTube is a big bucket you can easily get lost in. It’s easy to create great videos, which never get watched. In this post I’ll give you seven tips to help your Youtube videos rank.

Videos should form part of your online marketing strategy.  In this article, I just want to focus on how Google decides to rank videos in its search results.

Google looks at the number of seconds the video is viewed, the number of comments, likes, and social shares.  You want to engage people in the first five seconds, so the watch the next 30 seconds, and so on.

Here’s my top 7 things to get your video ranking:

1. Plan your Video Script And Keywords

In the video planning stage, think how you’ll reach the audience. What keywords will they be typing in Google search-box? Is there a niche interest group you can focus using long-tail keywords. Use Google’s Keyword Planner to see what will work for you. Make sure the video actually addresses the audience’s needs or interest and, when you upload it to YouTube, use the keywords in the title and description. Get a transcript of the video’s dialogue and paste that into the description.

Make sure the YouTube title is meaningful.  Google can’t actually see your video. It uses the title, description, tags, and audience behaviour to decide how it ranks.  Plan the title and description keywords when you write the video script.

2. Use a Custom Thumbnail Picture

Keith presenting why use our videos

When you upload to YouTube, it gives a choice of three random thumbnails from the video that represent it in searches. Alternatively, you can upload a custom picture. Why not control the first impression by creating and uploading your own picture. You can include a title in the pic, like “Get Your Video Ranking”. This will improve the Click-Through-Rate from searches.

 3. Get it in Front of Your Target Audience

If you have a database of suspects or past clients who might be interested—send the YouTube link to them. Write a short note about the behind the scenes shenanigans–“We made this last week in the rain”. Post on all your social media accounts. Facebook likes you to upload it separately, but you can also paste the URL link to the YouTube version on Facebook. Identify any Facebook or LinkedIn Groups who might be interested, and post it again there.

Part of the aim here is to increase the number of views, which improves your search engine ranking. But more importantly, the whole point is to get prospects seeing your great content, building trust and showing how you can solve their real world problems.

4. Ask for Comments, use Cards and Endscreens

As a part of the call to action within the video, ask viewers to leave a comment, or ask a specific question. YouTube lets you overlay a link, called Cards. Or use a Youtube endscreen which will encourage viewers to subscribe to your Youtube Channel or link to another video. 

 5. Build Links and Embed

Embed the video on relevant web pages, or landing pages. YouTube gives you the code when you click “Share”. If it’s a useful “How-To…” video, not simply promotional, this will increase the chance of others linking to it. Do you have suppliers or clients who might want to embed it on their website? You could also add links in your directory entries, like Yellow or Blue pages. Include it in blog posts, even a link in your email signature block.

6. Create a Play-list and Channel Page

When you upload to YouTube, either add it to a playlist or create a new playlist. This provides another layer of signals to YouTube about the content. The video will also be on your YouTube Channel, to which folks can subscribe. Tailor your channel, for example by adding a picture, or a “channel art”. The more  subscribers to your channel the better.

7.  Consistently Upload Clips to your Channel – and enjoy making them

The most important thing is to enjoy making the videos, so you can sustain making a series.  It can take a while (months and years) of consistently uploading videos on your subject  before you build a significant audience. For more advice, check out this video and anything else made by Filmbooth

Clips That Sell makes videos for business in Melbourne. Contact us to find out more

Author: Keith Rhodes