[0:00] In seven and a half months, we focused our
efforts on YouTube SEO and ranked our videos
[0:04] for some of the most competitive keywords
in our industry.
[0:07] SEO, Ecommerce SEO, local SEO, SEO tips, and
the list goes on.
[0:12] This led to an almost 400% increase in YouTube
search traffic and growing.
[0:17] Our channel isn't huge.
[0:19] Our industry isn't exactly "exciting" either.
[0:21] And compared to our top YouTube competitors,
our subscriber count is microscopic.
[0:26] But that's what I love about YouTube.
[0:28] Anyone and everyone has the opportunity to
entertain, engage, and rank their videos fast.
[0:34] So in this video, I'm going to show you exactly
how to rank YouTube videos, from start to finish.
[0:39] Stay tuned.
[0:40] [music]
[0:44] What's up creators?
[0:45] Sam Oh here with Ahrefs, the SEO tool that
helps you grow your search traffic, research
[0:49] your competitors and dominate your niche.
[0:51] Now there's a lot to video SEO, so rather than
trying to dip into every single traffic source in
[0:55] YouTube analytics, I'll be focusing on ranking
in YouTube search and sprinkle a few tips
[1:00] to rank your videos on Google too.
[1:02] Let's get started.
[1:03] First, what is YouTube SEO?
[1:05] It's the process of optimizing your videos,
playlists, and channel to rank high in YouTube's
[1:10] organic search results for a given search
query.
[1:13] YouTube explains their discovery and search
ranking algorithm in two sentences.
[1:17] "Videos are ranked based on a variety of factors
including how well the title, description,
[1:22] and video content match the viewer's query."
[1:25] So there are three important points here.
[1:27] First, keywords matter in your title and description.
[1:30] Second, you need to match the search intent for
a viewer's query.
[1:33] And third, you need to drive engagement for
a query in order to rank on YouTube.
[1:38] But of all these things, the key point to
effective video SEO is creating high-engagement videos.
[1:44] So if you can't engage your audience, your
chances of ranking your YouTube videos for
[1:48] a meaningful keyword will be slim to none.
[1:51] So the first step is to do YouTube keyword
research.
[1:54] Unlike traditional Google search engine optimization,
YouTube doesn't have an official keyword research tool.
[1:59] And a lot of these third party tools are just pumping
out arbitrary numbers from Google Keyword Planner.
[2:04] But there are ways you can get estimated search
volumes.
[2:07] The first is to use YouTube suggest paired
with Google Trends.
[2:10] Just type a keyword into the search bar, and
you'll see a list of relevant queries that
[2:13] contain your keyword.
[2:14] You can also add a star before or after your
target keyword, which will act as a "wildcard."
[2:19] Now, since we don't have an official tool
to see search volumes, we can throw a few
[2:23] of YouTube suggestions into Google Trends.
[2:25] But remember, Google Trends uses "relative
popularity" to compare keywords.
[2:30] So take these estimates with a grain of salt.
[2:32] The second way to get keyword volumes is to
use Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer.
[2:35] Recently, we've released our latest version of
Keywords Explorer, which includes search volumes
[2:40] and metrics for search engines like Google,
YouTube, Bing, Amazon, Baidu, and more.
[2:45] Just select YouTube as the search engine and
enter a keyword or a list of keywords.
[2:50] Right away, you'll see country-specific search
volumes, clicks data, global search volumes,
[2:54] and have access to five keyword idea reports.
[2:57] You can also enter a list of up to 10,000
keywords you want to analyze.
[3:01] The best way to get a list of keywords is
to use TubeBuddy or VidIQ's Chrome extension.
[3:06] Just run a search in YouTube, and look to
the right sidebar.
[3:09] You'll see VidIQ's "Related Queries," or TubeBuddy's
"Most Used Tags" sections.
[3:14] Just choose all relevant keywords you want
to analyze, click the Copy button, and paste
[3:18] your list into Keywords Explorer.
[3:20] We'll then show you all keywords that have
YouTube search volume according to our database.
[3:25] Now, search volumes are great and all, but
the power of Keywords Explorer is in generating
[3:29] new keyword ideas.
[3:31] Let's say you want to start a channel on makeup
tutorials.
[3:33] Just type "makeup" into Keywords Explorer.
[3:35] And I'll also include a couple common variations
like make-up and make up.
[3:41] Then go to the Phrase match report, which
lists all keywords in our database that contain
[3:45] your seed keywords.
[3:46] And you'll see over 202,000 keyword ideas!
[3:50] Let's narrow in on some more focused topics.
[3:52] So I'll click on the "include" dropdown and
type in a list of related keywords like eye,
[3:57] face, halloween, wedding, and bridal.
[4:00] Finally, choose the "Any word" tab, which
will show us all keywords that contain any
[4:04] of these keywords.
[4:06] And we have over 17,000 relevant topics to
create videos on.
[4:10] Bottom line: there is no shortage of great
keyword ideas.
[4:13] We have an in-depth video on YouTube keyword
research, so I'll leave a link to it in the description.
[4:18] Now, YouTube search is great and all, but
why not maximize your views by ranking your
[4:22] videos on Google too?
[4:24] Don't think it's that important?
[4:25] Think again.
[4:26] Google search is one of our top external traffic
sources and sent us over 7,400 views in the
[4:31] past 28 days.
[4:33] Also, a study done by GetSTAT shows that Video
SERP features increased by around 75% in 2017
[4:39] for their sample list of keywords.
[4:41] Now in 2019, it's tough to browse Google for
more than ten minutes without seeing a video result.
[4:47] There are a few ways to find videos that get
search traffic from Google.
[4:51] The first is to search for your target keyword.
[4:53] If you see a video carousel or another video
SERP feature, then you have an opportunity
[4:57] to rank in that position too.
[4:59] Pay attention to video length and titles to
get an idea of what Google wants to show.
[5:03] The second way is to use Content Explorer,
which lets you search for any word or phrase
[5:07] and get all relevant pages with their SEO
and social metrics.
[5:12] To find YouTube videos that are ranking in
Google, I'll search for:
[5:15] site:youtube.com inurl:watch title:unboxing,
assuming that's the topic I wanted to search for.
[5:23] Then, I'll sort the result by search traffic
and you can immediately see the estimated
[5:27] amount of Google search traffic these videos
get each month, as well as the titles, descriptions,
[5:33] and social stats.
[5:34] Once you find a video that interests you,
click on the Details button, and then the
[5:38] Organic keywords tab where you can see all
of the keywords and the ranking position for
[5:42] the video on Google.
[5:43] Looking into both Google and YouTube search
lets you double-dip your traffic sources and
[5:48] get more views to your videos.
[5:50] Alright, step 2 is to identify search intent.
Search intent (or keyword intent) refers to
[5:55] the reason why a user searches for a query
in a search engine.
[5:58] Now, search engines are usually good at doing
this for you.
[6:01] Just search for the keyword you want to rank
for in YouTube and analyze the content and
[6:05] angle of the top 3 results.
[6:07] For example, if you want to teach people how
to make a website, then you would probably
[6:11] give them a step-by-step tutorial.
[6:13] YouTube agrees.
[6:14] But what if you want to rank for "Nintendo
Switch games?"
[6:17] YouTube will tell you that people want to
see a "listicle-type" video.
[6:20] Now, let's say that you're a florist and you
want to rank for "viola."
[6:23] Bad idea.
[6:24] All of the results show that someone searching
for this term wants to know about the instrument.
[6:29] Not the plant or the actress.
[6:31] Let's move on to step 3, which is the most
important.
[6:34] And that's to satisfy search intent with a
high-retention video.
[6:37] YouTube says that their goals are to help
viewers find the videos they want to watch
[6:42] and maximize long-term viewer engagement and
satisfaction.
[6:46] And if you're matching the reason for a user's
query, then your chance of having higher watch
[6:50] times for the video increases.
[6:52] Here are the exact steps we take to create
high-retention videos.
[6:55] First and foremost, plan your videos before
you create them.
[6:58] If you're creating how-to videos, the last
thing you want to do is stumble over your
[7:02] words or show sloppy demonstrations.
[7:04] Proper planning helps keep your ideas on point
and gives you the advantage of intentionally
[7:09] including keywords within your video, which
people believe YouTube uses in their ranking algorithm.
[7:14] Second, you need to start with a strong hook.
The first 10-15 seconds are critical for your
[7:19] video's success.
[7:20] Hook your readers, and you'll have audience
retention graphs that look like this.
[7:24] Forego the hook and lose the majority of your
viewers before you even get a chance to deliver value.
[7:30] Every niche is different and unfortunately,
there isn't one formula that works for everyone.
[7:35] Being in the how-to and informational space
for a B2B audience, I like to start off with
[7:39] stats or proof so that's worth your time to keep watching.
[7:42] Like in this video on YouTube SEO, I started
off by showing you how we rank in the top
[7:47] 3 for a lot of competitive keywords.
[7:49] I also showed you that our search traffic
grew by almost 400%.
[7:53] And most importantly, I tell you that I'm
going to show you the exact steps we used
[7:58] so you can try and replicate our results.
[8:00] Drop-offs in the first 15 seconds is inevitable.
[8:03] But you can minimize the damage by connecting
with your audience's reason for watching and
[8:07] showing that you have a solution to that problem.
[8:10] Third, you need to edit your videos strategically.
For every single video we create, our focus
[8:15] isn't to impress you with cool tricks.
[8:17] We care about engagement.
[8:18] So rather than getting into a full-out editing
tutorial, I'll leave you with a few power tips.
[8:22] First, use jump cuts.
[8:24] A jump cut is a transition between two shots
from the same position.
[8:27] It creates the effect of the scene "jumping,"
hence, the name, "jump cut."
[8:31] These add dynamics to a video and help polish
mistakes.
[8:35] Second, draw your audience's attention to
what you want them to see.
[8:39] Pay attention for a second.
[8:40] If you've never used our Site Explorer tool
before, and I say something like:
[8:43] "Click on the Linked domains report."
[8:45] Did you see it?
[8:46] Probably not.
[8:47] But I could easily draw your eyes to the linked
domains report by doing this, this, this,
[8:53] or even this.
[8:54] The effects don't need to be fancy, but they
should help your audience follow along to
[8:58] avoid drop-offs due to confusion.
[9:00] The last tip is to entertain with stories
or narratives.
[9:03] YouTube is an entertainment platform.
[9:05] But entertaining isn't easy.
[9:07] So while our primary focus is to teach SEO
and marketing, we do our best to make it somewhat
[9:12] entertaining without trying too hard.
[9:14] If you've watched up to here, then you've
probably seen some examples, so I won't go
[9:18] deeper into that.
[9:19] We have a full video on the workflow we use
to edit our videos for YouTube, so I highly
[9:22] recommend watching that, which I'll link up.
[9:24] Alright, step 3 is to do on-page video optimization.
[9:28] On-page optimizations for YouTube boils down
to 4 things:
[9:31] We have the Title, Description, Tags, and Thumbnail.
[9:35] Each of these help provide context to your
video and/or will influence your bottomline:
[9:39] click-through-rates.
[9:40] After all, no clicks = no views.
[9:43] Here are a few best practices to craft searchable
and clickable videos, according to YouTube.
[9:47] Tip 1 is to use your keyword in the title.
YouTube suggests using the most relevant search
[9:52] terms in your titles and descriptions as
long as they're accurate and not excessive.
[9:57] A study from Briggsby also shows that more
than 90% of top ranking videos included at
[10:02] least part of a target keyword in their title.
[10:04] While it seems important to include at least
partial matches of your target keyword in
[10:08] your title, you don't want to sacrifice the
"click-worthiness" of it.
[10:12] Tip 2 is to keep your titles under 60 characters.
[10:15] YouTube recommends keeping your titles concise
with the most important information up front.
[10:19] From an SEO perspective, that will often mean
using your target keyword near the beginning
[10:23] of your title.
[10:24] For example, our target keyword for this video is YouTube SEO.
[10:28] And you'll see that we added the phrase right
at the beginning.
[10:31] Keeping your titles short will also prevent losing
clicks from truncation in search, suggested,
[10:35] and browse features.
[10:36] Tip 3 is to write catchy titles that evoke
curiosity or highlight a benefit.
[10:41] If you were to create a tutorial on tying
a tie, a keyword rich title might be, "how
[10:46] to tie a tie."
[10:47] But that's uninteresting at best.
[10:48] There are numerous angles you could take like:
How to tie a tie with the "007 technique;"
[10:53] How to tie a tie in 11 seconds flat;
My 3-year old teaches you how to tie a tie.
[10:58] The point is that boring titles are less likely
to stand out in a competitive landscape.
[11:03] Tip 4 is to create a thumbnail that complements
your title.
[11:06] In my opinion, this is the hardest part to
execute consistently.
[11:10] Here's the thumbnail for our SEO mistakes
video.
[11:12] The thumbnail text describes the video since
91% is the majority.
[11:16] And if you look closely, there's a picture
of Google's page numbers with the third part
[11:20] circled stating, "You are here."
[11:22] You can also draw inspiration from things
around you and use your image to speak undeniable
[11:27] truths like our video, "How long does it
take to rank on Google."
[11:30] And if you're stuck, try and get ideas from
Google images or stock photos.
[11:35] For example, I searched for the word "system" in Adobe
Stock, and was inspired by this image.
[11:40] So I used the idea to create our thumbnail
for our link building system video but cooler.
[11:44] The next video optimization tip is to write
searchable descriptions.
[11:48] YouTube says using the "right" keywords can
boost views and watch time because they help
[11:53] your videos show up in search results.
[11:55] But what are "the right" keywords?
[11:58] For starters, we include our target keyword
in both the title and description.
[12:02] But we also include related keywords by analyzing
the descriptions of the top ranking videos.
[12:07] Just type in the keyword you want to rank
for, then look through the description for
[12:11] keywords that have relevance to your topic.
[12:13] For example, this video uses language like
"free traffic" and talks about traffic in the
[12:17] context of a blog. Another phrase used is "increase website traffic."
[12:22] These might be keywords that I want to include
within my description or other closely related
[12:27] keywords where my video matches the content.
[12:29] Next up are Tags.
[12:30] And tags are another way to give context to your
video, which can help you rank in YouTube
[12:34] search and suggested.
[12:36] YouTube simplifies this by recommending to
add keywords and phrases that are most descriptive
[12:40] of your video.
[12:41] You can also use tools like VidIQ or TubeBuddy
to see the tags for competing videos in the sidebar.
[12:46] Look for common tags within competing videos,
and add them to your video when it makes sense
[12:51] to do so.
[12:51] And as an extra measure, I'll normally copy
all of the tags from the top ranking videos,
[12:56] and paste them into Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer
to see the search volumes on these tags.
[13:00] Step 4 are In-Video Optimizations.
[13:03] Creating the video is 80% of the battle.
[13:05] There are additional optimizations you can
do to increase retention rate and create a
[13:09] better user experience for your viewers.
[13:12] The first thing is to add subtitles or closed
captions.
[13:15] Many creators, including myself, believe that
YouTube reads closed captions to better
[13:19] understand the context of videos.
[13:21] And chances are, your viewers come from all
over the world with a different native tongue.
[13:26] So it's worth using a transcription service
or if your videos are scripted, just go to
[13:30] the CC tab of your video, select your language,
and create your closed captions file.
[13:35] To give you an idea, around 17% of our viewers
use our English subtitles when watching our videos.
[13:40] The second thing to do is to add cards to
your video.
[13:43] These are an interactive feature that encourages
viewers to take one of these 5 actions.
[13:48] Just select the timecode where you want the
card to trigger, select the type of card you
[13:52] want to use, choose an appropriate option,
and you're all set.
[13:56] Now, when a viewer hits that timecode, the title
of the video will slide in as a suggestion.
[14:01] Finally, use end screens.
[14:03] End screens are similar to cards.
[14:05] The purpose is to keep viewers on the YouTube
platform.
[14:08] For our channel, we have a Subscribe button
as well as a suggested video the viewer should
[14:11] watch next.
[14:13] This can help you get more subscribers, keep
viewers consuming your content, and increase
[14:17] one of the metrics YouTube uses in their ranking
algorithm, session time.
[14:21] I'll expand on this in a bit.
[14:22] For now, let's move on to step 5, which is
to publish and promote your video.
[14:27] The first 24-48 hours from publishing can
make or break your video.
[14:31] So you need to promote your video as hard
as you can right away.
[14:34] Here are some rapid-fire tips to do that.
[14:36] First, promote to your existing audience.
[14:38] At Ahrefs, we publish at around 8:00 AM Eastern
time on Wednesdays.
[14:42] We then use an inapp alert to notify our customers
about a new piece of content we created.
[14:47] At noon, we tweet out our video link, which
sends us more viewers directly to our video.
[14:51] And of course, we send an email newsletter
to our blog about 24 hours after the video
[14:56] was live.
[14:57] Now, if you don't have an existing audience,
a few things you can do are to post on relevant
[15:01] niche forums like Quora.
[15:03] Just search for the topic of your video, provide
a helpful answer and include your video in the mix.
[15:08] You can also post on other platforms like
Reddit, Facebook, or wherever.
[15:12] The point is that you need to get involved
where your audience hangs out.
[15:15] Last but not least is to use YouTube ads.
[15:17] Right now, from our experience, YouTube ads are super cheap.
[15:21] You can target by interest, keyword, or custom
audiences.
[15:25] If you have a great video, set up some search
ads based on your target keyword with the
[15:28] intention to earn their subscription.
[15:30] As your subscriber base grows, they'll begin
to get notified with your future videos and
[15:35] help accelerate your growth without breaking
the bank.
[15:38] The last and final step is to optimize your
videos for session watch time.
[15:42] Session watch time is the total time a viewer watches videos on YouTube without leaving the platform.
[15:47] YouTube said in its Creator Blog:
[15:49] "We've started adjusting the ranking of videos
in YouTube search to reward engaging videos
[15:54] that keep viewers watching.
[15:56] As with previous optimizations to our discovery
features, this should benefit your channel
[16:01] if your videos drive more viewing time across
YouTube"
[16:05] Here are a few more ways to improve session
time.
[16:07] First, create series.
[16:09] Think of series like #AskGaryVee or 490 episodes
of Casey Neistat's Vlog.
[16:15] Series hook people and if they like what they
see, they keep watching, which increases your
[16:20] total session watch time.
[16:21] We've created 3 series in total.
[16:23] One on keyword research, another on link building,
and a shorter one on WordPress SEO.
[16:27] The first two were made to educate our customers,
while the WordPress SEO series was meant to rank.
[16:32] And rank we did.
[16:34] To encourage viewers to watch the next video
in the series, add it as an end screen or
[16:38] add a card to the next video near the end.
[16:40] This will make it easy for viewers to find
the next video in your series.
[16:44] Now, the next part is where the magic happens.
[16:46] And that's to turn your playlist into series
playlists.
[16:49] A playlist is a list of videos that plays
in the order they're set.
[16:53] Whereas a series playlist is everything I
just said, but it's also a creator's way to
[16:57] tell YouTube that your group of videos is
an "official" list of videos.
[17:01] Think of how Netflix does it with seasons
and episodes of your favorite show.
[17:05] They're in a specific order and skipping a
couple episodes probably wouldn't be a good idea.
[17:09] Using series playlists helps YouTube understand
order and increases your chances of claiming
[17:15] the "up next" spot.
[17:16] If you've done the card, endscreen, and series
playlist, you now have 3 places where your
[17:21] next video will be recommended to viewers.
[17:23] The last and final tip to boost your video
SEO is to use my channel page hack.
[17:28] Your channel page will likely be one of your
most visited pages so it's worth optimizing.
[17:32] Here's how the channel page hack works.
[17:34] If you look at our channel, the first 4 videos
in this stripe look kind of random.
[17:38] But they are not.
[17:39] Each of these videos is the first series in
one of the 3 series we have on our channel.
[17:44] And the only reason the fourth video is in
the same series as this video is because we
[17:48] don't have a fourth series.
[17:50] Now, since all of these videos are separate
series playlists, look what happens when I
[17:54] click on them.
[17:55] The up next video is always the next video
in the series.
[17:58] So no matter which video you click, it heightens
our chances of getting viewers to keep watching
[18:03] videos on our channel.
[18:05] While YouTube doesn't have a "session watch
time" metric in their analytics, I'm a strong
[18:09] believer that my channel playlist hack contributed
to our massive increase in overall watch time
[18:15] since the day I added it.
[18:16] YouTube SEO from a technical perspective is
easy.
[18:19] Optimize your titles, descriptions, and tags.
[18:22] Then add relevant cards, endscreens or description
links and you're good to go.
[18:26] But the most challenging part of video SEO
is engaging your audience.
[18:30] So take these processes and tips and focus
your attention on these 3 things: entertain,
[18:35] engage, and rank.
[18:37] Now, if you enjoyed this video, make sure to
like, share and subscribe, and if you have
[18:41] any questions about our video SEO process,
leave a comment below and I'd be happy to help.
[18:46] So keep grinding away, create your videos
strategically, and I'll see you in the next tutorial.