[0:00] in this video I'm going to show you my
[0:01] five-step process for ranking number one
[0:04] in YouTube I recently used this exact
[0:06] method to rank in the top three in
[0:08] YouTube for the keyword SEO I'm Brian
[0:11] Dean the founder of backlinko the Play
[0:13] Store marketers turn for higher rankings
[0:15] and more traffic and today you're going
[0:17] to learn the five most influential video
[0:19] SEO Rocky factors to get your videos to
[0:21] the top of YouTube fast keep watching a
[0:24] few years ago my YouTube channel was
[0:27] struggling I consistently created high
[0:29] quality videos that provided a ton of
[0:32] value but when I publish my videos
[0:34] cricket
[0:38] needless to say I was frustrated I knew
[0:41] that video was a powerful way to grow my
[0:44] online business but I learned the hard
[0:45] way that video only works if people
[0:47] actually watch your videos and know your
[0:50] mom watching your videos doesn't count
[0:52] trust me hey Mom I just published a new
[0:55] video on YouTube can you watch it for me
[0:57] thanks Mom you're the best
[0:59] Flash Forward to today and my videos
[1:01] consistently get tens of thousands of
[1:04] views and hundreds of people subscribe
[1:06] to my channel every single month my
[1:08] secret I learned everything I could
[1:10] about video SEO unfortunately most of
[1:13] the advice that I initially read about
[1:15] ranking in YouTube didn't work you know
[1:18] the advice I'm talking about put your
[1:20] keyword in your video description put
[1:22] keywords in your video file name write
[1:24] 20 tags for every video sure this stuff
[1:27] can help but it's not gonna rocket your
[1:29] video to the top of Google or YouTube
[1:31] why because everyone on YouTube is doing
[1:34] the exact same thing after trying all
[1:37] the generic advice that I read and
[1:39] getting nowhere I decided to run a bunch
[1:42] of experiments and that's what I learned
[1:44] what really works specifically I
[1:46] discovered YouTube's five most important
[1:49] ranking factors and these are racking
[1:50] factors that very few people know about
[1:53] once I applied these ranky factors to my
[1:55] videos my rankings shot through the roof
[1:58] I started ranking first super
[1:59] competitive keywords like SEO link
[2:02] building how to get traffic and more and
[2:05] now it's time for me to share these five
[2:06] ranking factors with you and show you
[2:08] exactly how to use them to rank your
[2:10] videos in YouTube let's start with step
[2:12] number one which is to create and
[2:14] publish long videos you may have noticed
[2:17] that longer videos tend to perform
[2:19] better in YouTube why well YouTube's
[2:22] most important ranking factor is your
[2:24] videos total watch time as you probably
[2:27] know the more of your video people watch
[2:29] the better it tends to rank that's
[2:31] called audience retention which is an
[2:33] important ranking Factor even though
[2:35] audience retention is important it's not
[2:37] nearly as important as your videos total
[2:40] watch time that's because YouTube wants
[2:42] to promote videos that keep people on
[2:44] YouTube for a long period of time so the
[2:47] more total minutes people watch of your
[2:49] video the more YouTube will want to rank
[2:51] it in the search results for example
[2:53] let's say that you just published two
[2:55] different videos video one is two
[2:57] minutes long in video two is 10 minutes
[3:00] long and let's say that each video gets
[3:02] 1 000 views and the audience retention
[3:04] for both videos is exactly the same 50
[3:07] that means that on average people watch
[3:10] half of your video the total watch time
[3:12] for the two minute video would be 1 000
[3:15] minutes but for the longer video that
[3:17] video's watch time will be 5 000 minutes
[3:20] that means that video number two will
[3:22] have five times the watch time of video
[3:24] number one which means that it'll likely
[3:26] outrank video number one that's the
[3:29] power of publishing longer videos in
[3:31] fact my video that ranks in the top
[3:33] three for SEO is nearly 10 minutes which
[3:37] is significantly longer than most videos
[3:39] on YouTube because it's longer my video
[3:42] accumulates more total watch time than
[3:45] my competitors and I'm able to rack
[3:47] above videos with significantly more
[3:49] views than mine okay let's move on to
[3:51] step number two which is to master the
[3:53] hook as I said longer videos tend to
[3:56] rank better because they accumulate more
[3:58] total watch time but there's one big
[4:00] problem with this approach you have to
[4:03] keep someone's attention
[4:05] on the internet fortunately my
[4:07] experiments have taught me that if you
[4:09] can hook someone in the first 15 seconds
[4:11] of your video you've hooked them for
[4:13] good in fact YouTube recommends that you
[4:15] focus on the first 15 seconds of your
[4:17] video to maximize watch time the
[4:20] question is how do you hook people in
[4:23] the first 15 seconds of your video start
[4:25] your video off with the PPP formula the
[4:28] PPP stands for preview proof preview
[4:31] here's exactly how it works first
[4:33] preview what your video is all about
[4:35] when I first started creating videos my
[4:38] intros would go on and on about why my
[4:41] videos topic was important and these
[4:43] long-winded intros would make people
[4:45] click away today I cut out the fluff and
[4:49] tell them exactly what to expect for
[4:51] example let's say that your video
[4:52] outlines 10 paleo diet tips you'd want
[4:55] to start off your video saying in this
[4:57] video you're going to learn 10 of my
[4:59] favorite paleo diet tips that's it next
[5:02] it's time for the proof here's proof
[5:04] that you can deliver liver you can
[5:06] mention that you've already accomplished
[5:07] what the viewer wants that you have lots
[5:09] of experience in your field or that
[5:11] you've researched a ton about your topic
[5:13] for example you could say these are the
[5:15] same tips I use to gain five pounds of
[5:17] muscle in 60 days finally hit them with
[5:20] the preview again here's where you
[5:22] reiterate what your video is about now
[5:25] you obviously don't want to just repeat
[5:26] what you said in the beginning instead
[5:28] mention something specific from your
[5:31] video you can mention the number of tips
[5:33] a detail from a case study or that
[5:35] you're going to share something
[5:36] completely new this will make your
[5:38] viewers curious and want to keep
[5:40] watching for example you could say and
[5:42] today you're going to learn about the
[5:43] so-called healthy paleo diet food that's
[5:46] actually bad for you next up we have
[5:49] putting your exact keyword in your title
[5:51] there's no question that Google and
[5:53] YouTube are getting smarter every day
[5:55] which means the days of keyword stuffing
[5:57] your video to the top of YouTube are
[6:00] long gone that said Google and YouTube
[6:02] both use your video's title to
[6:04] understand what your video is all about
[6:06] so make sure to include your exact
[6:08] keyword once in your title preferably in
[6:11] the beginning of your title for example
[6:13] I created a video that I wanted to rank
[6:15] for the keyword link building so I made
[6:17] sure to include my exact keyword link
[6:19] building in the beginning of the title
[6:21] and that helped it rank in the top three
[6:23] for my target keyword okay now it's time
[6:26] for Rocky Factor number four which is to
[6:28] say your keyword in your video when I
[6:30] first got started with video SEO I'd go
[6:32] back to old videos and optimize them
[6:34] around keywords that I wanted to rank
[6:37] for and it very rarely worked that's
[6:39] because Google and YouTube can now
[6:41] listen to your videos even without a
[6:44] transcript for example let's say they
[6:45] just published a video about healthy
[6:48] desserts then a few weeks later you
[6:50] realize that the keyword healthy
[6:51] desserts is too competitive so you go
[6:54] back and optimize it around a different
[6:56] keyword like low carb desserts now this
[6:59] sounds smart but it's something that
[7:00] doesn't work as well as it used to why
[7:03] even though the keyword low carbon
[7:05] desserts maybe in your title description
[7:07] and tags you never said that keyword
[7:10] once in the video YouTube knows this and
[7:13] it looks fishy to YouTube your video is
[7:15] about healthy desserts but all of your
[7:17] on-page metadata says it's about low
[7:20] carb desserts so they won't rack you for
[7:23] either keyword that's why I always make
[7:24] sure to actually say my target keyword
[7:27] in every video for example in my video
[7:30] about SEO I made sure to say the word
[7:32] SEO a few times simple yet effective
[7:36] last up we have user interaction signals
[7:39] YouTube wants to see that people are
[7:41] actually interacting with your video the
[7:43] more people watch like subscribe and
[7:45] comment on your video the higher your
[7:48] video will rank in YouTube search
[7:50] results now the strategies that I've
[7:51] showed you so far will help you
[7:53] naturally get more of these user
[7:55] interaction signals but there are two
[7:57] simple tactics that I use on every video
[7:59] to increase my videos user interaction
[8:01] signals first I add an annotation that
[8:04] asks people to like my video after a lot
[8:07] of experimenting I found this simple
[8:08] annotation significantly boosts the
[8:11] number of likes that my videos receive
[8:13] at the end of my video I also ask people
[8:15] to subscribe and comment which also
[8:18] increases the amount of my videos user
[8:21] interaction signals I was originally
[8:23] going to end the video right here but I
[8:25] decided to throw in a quick bonus tip
[8:27] for you which is to optimize for
[8:29] click-through rate when someone searches
[8:30] for something in YouTube YouTube pays
[8:33] very close attention to what video they
[8:35] click on for example let's say the Iraq
[8:37] number five for your Target keyword as
[8:40] you probably know videos ranking number
[8:42] one through four get the vast majority
[8:44] of clicks but for some reason lots of
[8:47] people are clicking on your video in the
[8:49] search results what do you think YouTube
[8:50] will think about your video that it's a
[8:53] great result for that keyword and
[8:55] they'll give your video a rankings boost
[8:57] to make it easier for people to find so
[9:00] how do you maximize your click-through
[9:01] rate well YouTube displays three main
[9:03] pieces of information
[9:05] in the search results your title your
[9:07] thumbnail and a snippet of your
[9:09] description here's how to quickly
[9:10] optimize all three for click-through
[9:13] rate the key with your thumbnail is
[9:15] simply that it stands out that means
[9:17] that you want to create a custom
[9:18] thumbnail that looks different than the
[9:20] other videos that are on the first page
[9:22] for example my video has a completely
[9:25] different design and color scheme than
[9:27] my competition for your title like I
[9:29] mentioned before you want to include
[9:31] your target keyword once other than that
[9:33] your goal with your title should be to
[9:35] maximize your click-through rate as you
[9:37] can see my video title is emotionally
[9:40] compelling I also include the current
[9:42] year so people know that the content is
[9:45] still relevant finally you want to write
[9:47] something compelling in the first few
[9:49] lines of your description most people
[9:50] put a link to their website or channel
[9:53] here and it's a huge mistake nothing
[9:55] looks less enticing to click on than a
[9:58] link to someone's website instead write
[10:00] a sentence or two that includes your
[10:01] target keyword in a compelling way for
[10:04] example in my SC video my first sentence
[10:06] is if you want to rank in Google today
[10:09] there's a new SEO ranking factor to pay
[10:11] attention to in this attention grabbing
[10:13] line gets more people to click on my
[10:16] result if you like this video make sure
[10:18] to subscribe to my YouTube Channel right
[10:20] now just click on the Subscribe button
[10:22] right here also if you want exclusive
[10:24] SEO and traffic techniques that I only
[10:26] share with subscribers head over to
[10:28] backlinko.com and sign up for the
[10:30] newsletter it's free now I want to turn
[10:32] it over to you which of the five racking
[10:34] signals from this video are you going to
[10:36] try first are you going to try to create
[10:37] longer videos or maybe you're going to
[10:39] start optimizing your videos for click
[10:41] through rate let me know by leaving a
[10:43] comment below right now
[10:45] the stage is yours all right ready I'll
[10:48] do it for real this time yeah that was a
[10:49] very very slight do it like what up I
[10:52] don't know
[10:53] PPP your thumbnail