How to Rank in YouTube Search (SEO Beginners Guide)

[00:00] YouTube has changed if you're still

[00:02] relying on outdated tips and keyword

[00:04] hacks then you're leaving views and

[00:06] subscribers on the table this year

[00:09] YouTube's algorithm is smarter than ever

[00:11] so what actually works now to get views

[00:14] and grow your channel in this video

[00:16] we're going to be covering the newest

[00:18] SEO strategies to help your videos rank

[00:21] higher get discovered faster and grow

[00:24] your channel without wasting time on

[00:25] things that no longer matter we're going

[00:27] to be covering the number one ranking

[00:29] factor that YouTube cares about the

[00:31] difference between keywords and tags on

[00:34] YouTube and what really matters the

[00:36] biggest SEO mistakes that might be

[00:38] killing your channel and a step-by-step

[00:40] strategy for helping you get more views

[00:42] and subscribers fast you know I've been

[00:44] studying YouTube for over a decade I've

[00:46] got three silver play buttons a gold

[00:48] play button and I've helped thousands of

[00:50] creators rank videos through our program

[00:53] video ranking Academy so you can be

[00:55] confident that what you're about to

[00:56] learn is not a waste of your time this

[00:58] is an indepth Master Class and your

[01:00] complete guide to getting results let's

[01:03] begin you got to just press record now

[01:05] before we cover the five YouTube SEO and

[01:07] keyword strategies that are working this

[01:09] year and the list of outdated tactics

[01:12] that you want to avoid let's get on the

[01:14] same page by defining what is YouTube

[01:17] SEO and what is the difference between

[01:19] keywords and tags SEO stands for search

[01:22] engine optimization so YouTube SEO has

[01:25] the goal of getting your videos

[01:27] discovered by the right people on

[01:28] YouTube and Beyond through smart

[01:32] optimization of your videos this

[01:34] includes picking the right keywords so

[01:37] that YouTube knows what your video is

[01:38] about optimizing titles descriptions and

[01:42] tags so that viewers click and stay

[01:45] creating engaging thumbnails to boost

[01:47] click-through rates encouraging

[01:49] watchtime and engagement so that YouTube

[01:52] keeps recommending your content and

[01:55] leveraging captions chapters and

[01:57] metadata for accessibility and

[02:00] discoverability and then you also want

[02:02] to study your analytics so that you can

[02:04] tweak and improve your future videos

[02:07] because data will tell you what's

[02:09] working in your content and what's not

[02:11] working so at its core YouTube SEO is

[02:14] about helping the YouTube algorithm help

[02:16] you by making your content easy to find

[02:19] engaging to watch and irresistible to

[02:23] recommend now the next question that we

[02:25] must answer is what is the difference

[02:27] between keywords on YouTube and YouTube

[02:30] tags while there are some similarities

[02:32] they're actually kind of two different

[02:34] things so YouTube keywords are the words

[02:36] and phrases that let YouTube know what

[02:39] your video is about these are primarily

[02:42] going to show up in your titles in your

[02:45] descriptions and in your actual video

[02:47] script meaning the things you're saying

[02:49] in your video and these words and

[02:51] phrases are very important because they

[02:52] are going to help with search and

[02:54] recommendations so for example on this

[02:56] channel think media we talk a lot about

[02:58] the best cameras for Content creators

[03:01] and we'll make a video that could be

[03:03] titled best budget cameras for YouTube

[03:06] that's a phrase that people would

[03:08] naturally search for and could be placed

[03:10] in the title in the description and I

[03:12] would be verbally saying it in the video

[03:14] as well YouTube tags on the other hand

[03:16] are more about the backend metadata they

[03:19] are extra keywords that you add in the

[03:21] tags section of your video and they have

[03:23] minimal impact today as far as SEO goes

[03:26] they don't carry very much weight but

[03:29] YouTube has said they can help with

[03:32] misspellings or alternative spellings

[03:34] and so you still want to use them

[03:36] properly so some of the tags I would use

[03:38] for a video on the best budget camera

[03:40] for YouTube could be tags like cheap

[03:43] cameras comma YouTube cameras comma best

[03:47] camera for YouTube comma and variations

[03:50] reinforcing the big idea of the video

[03:53] I'm creating so now that we understand

[03:55] what YouTube SEO is and the difference

[03:57] between keywords and tags let's dive

[03:59] into the five YouTube SEO and keyword

[04:03] strategies that are working right now

[04:05] number one research before you press

[04:07] record one of the biggest myths on

[04:09] YouTube is that keyword research is dead

[04:12] but it's actually still very important

[04:15] but maybe for a different reason than

[04:17] many people think the reason why you

[04:19] want to do keyword research and really

[04:21] topic and video idea research before you

[04:24] film your video is so that you can

[04:26] actually find out what people are

[04:28] searching for so that your video has a

[04:30] higher likelihood of getting discovered

[04:33] this also helps you craft your videos

[04:34] intentionally and purposefully so your

[04:37] content is relevant and not random

[04:40] another reason is you want to use the

[04:42] right phrases and words in your titles

[04:45] and in your description so that YouTube

[04:48] knows exactly who to show your videos to

[04:50] and keyword research can also help you

[04:52] stay ahead of Trends so you're making

[04:53] videos that people actually want to

[04:56] watch well how exactly do you do keyword

[04:58] research effectively well in this video

[05:00] we're going to cover a couple different

[05:01] ways you can use YouTube search Google

[05:04] search Google Trends and also cool

[05:07] YouTube software tools like vid IQ and

[05:09] the key thing that you're looking for in

[05:11] this research phase is you're verifying

[05:13] that people are actually interested in

[05:15] this topic so you don't waste your time

[05:17] filming a video that nobody wants to

[05:20] watch you're actually studying to see

[05:22] demand because a great video that nobody

[05:25] is searching for won't get views so

[05:28] number one is research before you press

[05:30] record number two is use YouTube

[05:33] autocomplete for free keyword ideas

[05:36] here's how it works you want to start

[05:38] typing a topic into YouTube search bar

[05:40] then YouTube autocomplete will suggest

[05:42] real searches that people are typing and

[05:45] the cool thing is these predictions are

[05:46] based on actual demand so let's say you

[05:49] wanted to make a video about a walking

[05:51] pad that you just purchased for your

[05:53] home office that's something I just got

[05:54] and I actually love the one that I'm

[05:56] using and so when we type in Walking pad

[05:59] we could see see that this does show up

[06:02] which this is the test you want there to

[06:04] actually be predictions here which is

[06:06] telling you okay people around the world

[06:08] are looking for these things and the

[06:11] terms that are towards the top have the

[06:14] most interest so people are searching

[06:16] for a walking pad treadmill or a walking

[06:18] pad review or a walking pad workout but

[06:21] we can go all the way down to a walking

[06:24] pad versus a treadmill before and after

[06:27] and so there's a lot of key word phrases

[06:30] here that can influence our video ideas

[06:34] and our video titles and a pro tip is to

[06:37] try different variations and see what

[06:40] pops up we might put best walking pad in

[06:42] front of it we could have videos pop up

[06:45] with the year after 2024 2025 2026 you

[06:49] might have best walking pad treadmill on

[06:52] Amazon and so the Nuance of the

[06:55] different angles of these video topics

[06:59] is where the opportunity is and all this

[07:01] information can be used in your titles

[07:03] in your tags and in your description and

[07:05] here's some cool tricks you could do

[07:06] with the YouTube search bar that not a

[07:07] lot of people know about one of the

[07:08] things you can do in front of your topic

[07:11] is you could put a letter and an

[07:12] underscore space and this will actually

[07:14] then put words in front of your key term

[07:18] in our case walking pad and oiling a

[07:22] walking pad using a walking pad while

[07:24] working and again it's giving us some

[07:26] more nuances and you could go through

[07:28] the entire alphabet bet with that and

[07:30] then what you also can try is

[07:31] experimenting with words after your core

[07:34] topic so if we're talking about walking

[07:36] pads we might type in for and so now

[07:39] we're getting more ideas walking pad for

[07:41] heavy person for weight loss desk for

[07:44] tall person and so you can get very

[07:46] specific with the insights that are

[07:48] coming from the YouTube search bar and

[07:50] so this is the power of researching

[07:52] before you press record and using

[07:54] YouTube autocomplete to inspire video

[07:57] ideas and content for your title

[08:00] description and your tags and if you're

[08:02] already finding some value out of this

[08:04] video it would mean the world to me if

[08:05] you hit the like button and subscribe to

[08:07] the channel for more videos that will

[08:08] help you grow your YouTube channel but

[08:11] let's dive into number three number

[08:13] three is use software like vid IQ to

[08:16] analyze keyword competition keyword

[08:18] opportunities and Trends and get

[08:21] additional creative ideas so here we are

[08:23] in the back end of vid IQ and the cool

[08:25] thing about this software is it connects

[08:27] to your YouTube channel and so you can

[08:29] get powerful insights and we're going to

[08:31] be clicking on the keyword tool and what

[08:34] we find here is the ability to Search

[08:36] keywords kind of like we just did on

[08:38] YouTube but now we can do it with some

[08:41] additional data so if we type in Walking

[08:43] pad like we were doing in the previous

[08:45] tip we can now see a score on this topic

[08:50] we can see how much search volume there

[08:52] is for walking pads 63,000 people plus

[08:56] search for it on any given month and the

[08:59] competition is relatively low and so vid

[09:03] IQ assigns this topic with an overall

[09:07] score if it's closer to green and closer

[09:09] to 100 this particular score is 74 then

[09:14] that's great it tells you that there's

[09:16] less competition around this topic if

[09:18] it's in yellow or red then it might be

[09:21] harder to break through and rank and get

[09:23] views for this topic because of how much

[09:26] saturation there is now we also have the

[09:28] ability to see some search data so

[09:31] people looking for a walking pad review

[09:33] around 13,000 a month the best walking

[09:35] pad 10,000 a month and then we can go

[09:38] down to much lower numbers like walking

[09:42] pad treadmill results at 944 a month but

[09:46] still great however it would say that

[09:48] this is a not great search volume with

[09:50] quite a bit of competition of people

[09:52] sharing their walking pad results so in

[09:54] our researching before we press record

[09:57] that might not be the next video that we

[09:59] want to make now there's some really

[10:00] cool things that vid IQ does that I want

[10:02] to show you but if you've never tried it

[10:04] before you can actually get 30 days for

[10:06] just $1 if you want to check that out

[10:08] there's a link in the description down

[10:09] below or just go to vid iq.com

[10:13] slink I am an affiliate for vid IQ which

[10:16] simply means that I may get a commission

[10:18] if you use my link but I really think

[10:20] you're going to love the software in

[10:21] fact let's dive in and check out more of

[10:23] what it does and so on the left side of

[10:25] the page here you can see there's a lot

[10:27] of different tools that are included

[10:28] with fit IQ but we're just focusing on

[10:30] keywords for this video and so if you

[10:33] type in number one a keyword into the

[10:36] Search tool it's going to give you the

[10:38] score the related keywords it's going to

[10:40] give you matching keywords and some

[10:42] questions and it's going to give you top

[10:44] trending videos for walking pad which is

[10:48] really cool because you can look what

[10:49] other people are doing a lot of shorts

[10:52] content and what we can study here is

[10:55] how many views are these videos getting

[10:57] is there any angles or content ideas

[10:59] that might Inspire our content you can

[11:02] also organize the data in different ways

[11:04] you could look at related keywords and

[11:07] you could organize them by their related

[11:10] score the amount of search volume how

[11:13] much competition there is the overall

[11:15] score or even the number of words

[11:17] because the big idea with words could be

[11:20] long tail keywords are easier to rank

[11:25] for so how walking makes you shed fat or

[11:28] the revvo 2in1 under desk treadmill a

[11:33] very specific product that might not get

[11:35] a ton of views but the intent of the

[11:39] viewer looking for that information can

[11:41] be much higher when again there are more

[11:45] words in the topic or in the title you

[11:48] could look at matching terms but one of

[11:49] my favorites is questions which brings

[11:52] us to our fourth tip which is answer

[11:55] specific questions that meet viewer

[11:57] needs many people turn to YouTube to

[11:59] solve problems and learn new skills in

[12:01] fact in 2020 77% of respondents reported

[12:05] using YouTube to learn a new skill and

[12:08] so one of our favorite strategies here

[12:09] at think media is what we call asq or

[12:12] answering specific questions and you

[12:14] could use a tool like YouTube

[12:16] autocomplete or vid IQ to search out and

[12:19] identify the questions people are asking

[12:22] and then create YouTube videos based off

[12:24] those questions and so that's what I

[12:26] love about this section of the vid IQ

[12:28] tool when you click on questions you're

[12:30] now looking at specific questions that

[12:32] people want answers to how good is the

[12:35] walking pad treadmill spur ax versus the

[12:39] walking pad that's two different brands

[12:41] and maybe you can get your hands on each

[12:43] one to review those do I need to

[12:45] lubricate a walking pad treadmill it's

[12:48] actually a question that I have I've had

[12:49] mine for a couple of weeks and I'm

[12:51] wondering that same question actually

[12:53] now that I think about it and so here's

[12:54] a few thoughts for implementing this

[12:56] strategy and identifying common

[12:58] questions first use tools like vid IQ to

[13:02] discover related keywords and top

[13:03] questions in your Niche second create

[13:06] content that provides clear answers what

[13:10] you want to do is develop videos that

[13:11] directly address these questions

[13:14] offering concise and actionable

[13:16] solutions and in some cases you might be

[13:18] thinking like these are very specific

[13:19] questions these aren't going to be viral

[13:21] videos and you'd be right but a lot of

[13:23] creators when you're trying to get your

[13:25] first 100 subscribers your first a th000

[13:27] subscribers you're under estimating the

[13:30] power of getting one view you're

[13:32] underestimating the power of getting 10

[13:34] views of people looking for very

[13:36] specific things and what you'll notice

[13:38] is there's a lot of golden opportunities

[13:40] because a lot of people haven't seen a

[13:42] video like this like this information

[13:45] applied can really help you grow your

[13:47] YouTube channel but then thirdly you

[13:48] want to make sure your video is

[13:50] optimized correctly I mean that's the

[13:51] power of YouTube SEO how exactly are you

[13:54] going to title your video what are you

[13:56] going to write in your YouTube

[13:57] description and actually in a bit I'm

[13:59] going to share with you a complete

[14:01] checklist of how to optimize your video

[14:04] when you upload it on YouTube so you

[14:06] don't miss anything now in just a second

[14:07] we're going to be covering the outdated

[14:09] tactics that do not work and are a total

[14:11] waste of your time but we still need to

[14:13] hit point number five number five is

[14:15] Niche down with longtail keywords for

[14:19] better results now we touched on this a

[14:21] little bit earlier but let's get clear

[14:22] on our definition so a longtail keyword

[14:25] is a specific phrase that people search

[14:27] for usually three plus words long and if

[14:31] you really want the opportunities it

[14:33] might be 5 6 7 8 nine words long and the

[14:36] reason why this works is less

[14:38] competition so they're easier to rank

[14:40] more targeted audience you're attracting

[14:42] a very specific audience but essentially

[14:44] getting the right viewers which means

[14:46] ultimately you'll get higher conversion

[14:48] rates now that's a conversation for

[14:49] another day but essentially means that

[14:51] you can make more money with things like

[14:52] affiliate marketing or even your own

[14:54] products and services because you have a

[14:56] much more specialized higher intent

[15:00] viewer that are finding this type of

[15:02] video so what is the difference between

[15:04] a keyword and a longtail keyword well an

[15:06] example would be a video titled podcast

[15:09] kind of ridiculous but if you think

[15:10] about it that would be too broad there's

[15:12] like way too much competition also

[15:14] doesn't even really make sense but if

[15:15] you made a video titled how to start a

[15:18] podcast for beginners and you could even

[15:21] include the year as well well it's much

[15:24] more specific and therefore easier to

[15:26] rank so how exactly do you find longtail

[15:29] keyword ideas I've got a really sneaky

[15:31] tactic to share with you in just a

[15:33] second but if we recap using YouTube

[15:35] autocomplete you're building out typing

[15:38] in things before your core term or

[15:41] building out the words after looking for

[15:43] very specific ideas and you can use that

[15:46] for free you can also check vid IQ

[15:48] looking for phrases with good search

[15:51] volume and also low competition and

[15:53] again if you want to try out vid IQ hit

[15:55] the link in the show notes and the

[15:57] description but but another cool place

[16:00] is to look at the people also asked

[16:04] section on Google so most people don't

[16:07] know about this cool way to come up with

[16:09] smart YouTube video ideas so if you just

[16:12] go to Google Search and type in

[16:14] walkingpad you then can look at the

[16:16] results you're going to get some

[16:17] sponsored results you're going to get

[16:19] some ranked web pages but then you're

[16:21] going to get the people also asked

[16:24] section now let's see what we can find

[16:26] here can you lose weight by walking 30

[16:29] minutes a day on a treadmill are walking

[16:31] pads any good is a walking PAD as good

[16:35] as a treadmill what is the best walking

[16:37] pad on the market remember our previous

[16:39] tip we want to answer specific questions

[16:42] and what we're seeing in this section of

[16:44] Google is very specific questions that

[16:47] the world wants to know but let's take

[16:49] this thing even deeper if you scroll to

[16:51] the bottom of a Google page you can also

[16:54] find the section people also searched

[16:56] for and this is going to give you some

[16:59] keyword phrases not in a question in

[17:01] this case but you're going to see

[17:03] walking pad UK walking Pad de cathlon

[17:07] what is that walking pad with incline

[17:09] and now you're getting more insights

[17:12] during your research phase so we've

[17:15] covered five specific YouTube SEO tips

[17:19] you can apply for finding keywords and

[17:21] applying them to your videos at the end

[17:23] of this video I'm going to be breaking

[17:25] down the 10 ranking factors that matter

[17:27] but as promised we got to talk about the

[17:31] outdated SEO things that do not work

[17:34] anymore and you should absolutely avoid

[17:37] because they will waste your time so

[17:39] I've got six outdated YouTube tactics to

[17:40] share with you but one of the things I

[17:42] want you to see is when we head over to

[17:43] YouTube and type in Walking pad again

[17:45] I've got vid IQ installed here you have

[17:48] a really cool feature on the right side

[17:50] of the page called the search panel and

[17:52] it gives us a score of that keyword

[17:55] right on the page it gives us some data

[17:58] about it it some top channels for the

[18:00] search term and some top related

[18:03] opportunities all of that stuff is good

[18:06] but one of the outdated features which

[18:08] vid IQ still offers you but you can

[18:10] pretty much ignore it is enable inline

[18:13] keywords when we click that what it's

[18:15] actually going to do is show us other

[18:17] people's tags on their videos and you

[18:20] actually can copy them if you want but

[18:23] here's the thing this is one of the

[18:25] outdated tactics and so our philosophy

[18:27] here at think media is that if YouTube

[18:29] gives us a place to put information like

[18:31] the area called tags on your YouTube

[18:35] video optimization page you might as

[18:38] well use it but you don't want to take

[18:40] too much time there which brings us to

[18:43] our first outdated tactic which is over

[18:46] Reliance on tags and researching

[18:49] competitor's tags here's the facts tags

[18:51] have minimal impact on YouTube SEO today

[18:54] back in the day people would copy

[18:56] competitor tags in an attempt to rank

[18:59] higher but now YouTube prioritizes

[19:02] audience Behavior over tags so the

[19:05] bottom line is tags are nearly

[19:07] irrelevant what actually matters is the

[19:09] content quality the retention of the

[19:11] video and smart keyword use in your

[19:14] title and your description and so while

[19:17] it's a waste of time to copy your

[19:19] competitor's tags it's not a waste of

[19:21] time to study your competitor's content

[19:24] what titles are they using what topics

[19:27] are they covering in their videos which

[19:29] videos are performing best on their

[19:30] Channel and how are they structuring

[19:33] their videos what kind of Engagement are

[19:35] they getting the content itself can be

[19:38] very insightful for your next video now

[19:41] another myth in an outdated YouTube SEO

[19:43] tactic that I actually see a lot of

[19:45] YouTube gurus talking about still this

[19:48] year which really kind of blows my mind

[19:50] but it is naming your video file with

[19:53] keywords and so the theory here was that

[19:55] after you shot your video and edited it

[19:57] and exported the actual file you rename

[20:00] the file to be like best- walking

[20:04] dad- review and that's just a waste of

[20:07] time now to be fair it's not a waste of

[20:09] time for your own file management and

[20:12] organization on your computer or hard

[20:14] drive or external hard drive but it's

[20:16] not going to help your video perform

[20:18] better here's the truth YouTube does not

[20:21] use file names for SEO anymore what

[20:23] YouTube does now is it actually scans

[20:26] the content of the video and it's pretty

[20:29] wild what YouTube and the parent company

[20:32] alphabet and Google actually can see

[20:35] when you upload a video file YouTube

[20:37] uses Ai and machine learning to scan

[20:40] exactly what is inside of your YouTube

[20:43] videos Beyond just the metadata in fact

[20:45] they could see these five things spoken

[20:48] words YouTube

[20:51] autogenerator for keywords onscreen text

[20:55] if you edit text into your videos or if

[20:58] you share a presentation of some kind

[21:01] with PowerPoint slides or keynote slides

[21:03] AI can read the words in your video also

[21:08] visual elements Google can recognize

[21:10] objects faces locations logos and even

[21:16] emotions music and audio YouTube can

[21:18] detect copyrighted music in fact that is

[21:21] a challenge for some people background

[21:23] sounds and even your tone of voice and

[21:28] the fifth thing is engagement data how

[21:30] viewers react to a video once it's

[21:32] public it's looking at the likes the

[21:34] comments the watch time which is going

[21:36] to affect how YouTube recommends the

[21:38] video and so the reason this matters for

[21:40] creators is you just can't fake YouTube

[21:42] SEO anymore changing your file name is a

[21:45] waste of time at least in terms of

[21:48] influencing how your video ranks and

[21:51] performs and what's actually more

[21:53] powerful than changing the video file

[21:55] name that you're uploading is actually

[21:57] using the keywords that you want to ring

[22:00] for in the video itself or even showing

[22:04] products on screen that you're going to

[22:05] be talking about if you can edit in

[22:07] b-roll and you can make a rich content

[22:10] experience for the viewer that Google is

[22:12] scanning and seeing like wow this video

[22:15] is thorough it's educational there's a

[22:17] lot of good information in it that's

[22:18] going to be better optimization in

[22:20] today's world now the third outdated SEO

[22:22] tactic is using exact match keyword

[22:26] phrases in your titles instead instead

[22:29] of natural highly clickable titles so

[22:32] stuffing the exact match keywords in

[22:33] your title feels robotic and It

[22:35] ultimately hurts clickability so in the

[22:37] past people would write a title like for

[22:40] a video like this best SEO tips YouTube

[22:43] SEO strategy for ranking videos and that

[22:46] just doesn't work very well anymore the

[22:47] reason for this is YouTube's Ai and

[22:49] algorithm has continued to evolve so it

[22:52] can understand things like natural

[22:54] language as well as synonyms so if the

[22:57] key Concepts are included in your title

[23:00] and related phrases really you don't

[23:02] need to force exact matches even more

[23:05] importantly titles need to be engaging

[23:07] and not just optimized so a keyword

[23:10] stuffed title might rank but if no one

[23:12] clicks it won't matter you're talking to

[23:15] humans and so you want the metadata like

[23:18] a keyword phrase to be in your title but

[23:20] then around the title you want it to be

[23:21] an experience that's interesting and

[23:24] highly clickable by real humans that

[23:27] would click on the video and CTR which

[23:30] means clickthrough rate is King YouTube

[23:33] prioritizes videos that people actually

[23:35] click on and actually watch so what you

[23:37] can do instead is make sure your title

[23:39] is compelling and curiosity driven use

[23:42] natural conversational language and you

[23:45] could still include keywords in fact you

[23:47] should but you want to blend them in

[23:50] smoothly so an example if we're still

[23:53] talking about walking pads is best

[23:56] walking pad review walking pad treadmill

[24:00] review pretty boring right keyword

[24:03] stuffed as opposed to something like I

[24:05] tried this viral walking pad is it worth

[24:09] it question mark curiosity driven you

[24:12] put a good thumbnail around that idea

[24:15] and you have a video that can be

[24:17] anchored in what people are searching

[24:18] for walking pad or viral walking PAD as

[24:22] well as something that could be

[24:23] suggested by the YouTube algorithm

[24:25] number four is keyword stuffing in

[24:29] descriptions and so the big idea here

[24:31] was that people would do their research

[24:32] and they would get as many phrases best

[24:35] camera for YouTube cheap cameras for

[24:37] YouTube and they would just stuff as

[24:39] many keywords as possible in the

[24:42] description and the truth is this just

[24:45] does not fool YouTube and it can

[24:47] actually hurt your video performance so

[24:48] in today's world YouTube actually

[24:50] prioritizes natural language even that's

[24:52] written in your YouTube description the

[24:55] algorithm understands context and

[24:57] synonyms so repeating the same keyword

[24:59] over and over looks spammy furthermore

[25:02] it's a bad user experience let's

[25:05] remember that the point of building a

[25:06] YouTube channel is to connect and help

[25:08] real people to build real community and

[25:11] every piece of content you put out there

[25:13] is an experience with you in your brand

[25:15] so if your description is just packed

[25:16] with a bunch of meaningless information

[25:18] and huge blocks of text then it's really

[25:22] not giving an individual a good

[25:24] experience and low engagement on your

[25:27] video will Le lead to low rankings and

[25:30] ultimately we already learned that

[25:31] YouTube's AI scans your content it

[25:34] listens to your video it analyzes your

[25:36] captions it checks for your behavior so

[25:38] stuffing keywords won't help now one

[25:41] cool thing that will help is including

[25:43] the best keywords in your description in

[25:46] a nice easyto read block of text in fact

[25:50] here's a cool way to do it so what we're

[25:51] going to do here is quickly optimize our

[25:53] video and description with keywords in a

[25:57] natural way of flowing language using

[26:00] vid IQ and so this is a YouTube short

[26:03] but I'm just going to use it as an

[26:04] example it's about something else but

[26:06] let's say I wanted to do a video on the

[26:08] best budget walking pad on Amazon and so

[26:11] what I can do is use their title tool

[26:15] which is going to give me really

[26:17] well-written highly clickable titles

[26:19] that also includes the keyword I found

[26:22] the best budget walking pad on Amazon

[26:24] you won't believe the amazing features

[26:26] of this budget walking pad I tried the

[26:30] cheapest walking pad on Amazon and

[26:31] here's what happened great video ideas

[26:33] so let's just say I found the best

[26:35] budget walking pad on Amazon and maybe I

[26:38] put something in there like walking pad

[26:41] C2 which by the way is the walking pad

[26:44] that I purchased it literally is

[26:46] changing my life it's pretty amazing if

[26:49] you're interested in it I will link it

[26:51] up in the show notes it's my favorite

[26:53] purchase in the last five to 10 years

[26:56] yeah this is the one walking pad C2 it's

[26:58] foldable I think I got the white one in

[27:01] fact why would I not know that I would

[27:03] totally understand what color I got and

[27:05] so it yeah it's a whole vibe it's really

[27:07] been awesome and so anyways now that

[27:10] we've quickly decided our title in like

[27:12] 10 seconds we can actually go down and

[27:14] use this description feature here that

[27:16] says AI description generator and what I

[27:19] did was I copy pasted the title and I

[27:23] clicked generate description and it says

[27:25] looking for the best walking pad on

[27:26] Amazon check out my review the walking

[27:28] pad C2 the perfect option for walking

[27:31] and staying active at home and it gives

[27:33] you a couple VAR variations and you

[27:35] could either insert it or copy it and

[27:37] now you're good to go with some very

[27:40] short but interesting description text

[27:43] the fifth outdated SEO tactic is

[27:45] embedding videos on external websites

[27:47] for higher rankings embedding videos on

[27:50] other websites does not directly boost

[27:54] YouTube rankings in the past some

[27:57] believed and I think it was true that

[27:59] getting your video embedded on multiple

[28:01] sites would trick the YouTube algorithm

[28:03] into ranking your videos higher it was

[28:05] the SEO concept of backlinks but today

[28:08] YouTube prioritizes user engagement on

[28:11] its own platform things like watch time

[28:14] people actually clicking on your videos

[28:15] watching your videos not just where a

[28:18] video appears externally which brings up

[28:20] the question do back links still matter

[28:23] for YouTube SEO and the answer is yes if

[28:26] they still drive traffic that includes

[28:29] real viewers who actually engage with

[28:31] your video then that can really

[28:33] indirectly help ranking the point is if

[28:36] these are individuals that are giving

[28:37] you watch time audience retention

[28:39] engaging on your videos it's not just

[28:42] because your video is linked or embedded

[28:44] on somebody's site that your rankings

[28:46] would be boosted but it is the fact that

[28:48] if that website drives a real individual

[28:51] to your video that engages and loves

[28:53] your video then it's the on platform

[28:55] metrics that matter and the sixth

[28:57] outdated YouTube SEO tactic that doesn't

[28:59] just not work but is also dangerous is

[29:03] buying fake likes fake comments and fake

[29:06] views and the reason for this is

[29:08] YouTube's AI is too smart it can tell

[29:11] where traffic is coming from bot views

[29:13] fake likes spam comments and fake views

[29:16] do not equal real watch time and so Bots

[29:20] or lowquality traffic that don't

[29:22] actually watch your video then your

[29:24] watch time will tank which will also

[29:27] hurt your video you also have low

[29:29] engagement rates if you buy 100,000

[29:31] views but you get almost no comments or

[29:33] real interaction then YouTube will know

[29:35] something is off and people like me will

[29:37] know as well because we use tools like

[29:39] vid IQ and we can sometimes see a spike

[29:41] of traffic and then at flat flat lines

[29:42] you're like oh they purchased views up

[29:44] to that level or you could see the view

[29:47] to Comet ratio and you're like

[29:49] something's off here so real ones know

[29:52] and so there's just no reason to do it

[29:54] and also you do run the risk of

[29:56] demonetization or Bans so YouTube can

[29:59] limit reach or even demonetize or delete

[30:01] your channel if you're violating their

[30:04] terms of service and you're caught

[30:06] manipulating engagement so uh just don't

[30:10] do it what you should do is focus on

[30:11] organic growth even though it's harder

[30:13] it's better over time create valuable

[30:16] content real people want to watch boost

[30:18] engagement naturally if you can ask

[30:20] questions encourage comments and then

[30:21] promote your videos smartly so share

[30:23] your video with the Right audience on

[30:25] social media email list Niche forums so

[30:28] sharing your video out there is great if

[30:30] you can attract people that are truly

[30:31] interested in the content all right I

[30:33] hope you're staying hydrated during this

[30:35] indepth master

[30:38] class because as we land the plane let's

[30:40] just look at the top 10 ranking factors

[30:44] that actually matter for YouTube SEO

[30:46] this year all in one complete and

[30:49] concise list number one watch time and

[30:52] audience retention trumps keywords the

[30:54] longer people watch the better your

[30:56] ranking engaging content keeps viewers

[30:58] hooked number two CTR AKA clickthrough

[31:02] rate topic titles and thumbnails are

[31:05] critical if people don't click they

[31:06] don't watch number three study

[31:08] competitors content don't copy their

[31:11] tags instead study their content

[31:13] strategy their video formats their

[31:15] engagement tactics and the insights that

[31:18] you can learn and borrow that can

[31:20] influence your own content all right

[31:23] number four viewer engagement getting

[31:25] comments getting likes and getting

[31:26] shares YouTube boost videos that spark

[31:29] interaction so encourage comments and

[31:32] responses in your videos in fact let me

[31:34] pass a question off to you what is one

[31:36] of the biggest challenges you're having

[31:37] on YouTube right now or is there a topic

[31:40] you would want us to cover in the future

[31:42] here on this channel let me know in the

[31:44] comments number five optimize your

[31:46] videos for search and suggested rank

[31:49] your videos and search matters but

[31:50] getting videos into YouTube's suggested

[31:54] and recommended algorithm is way more

[31:56] powerful number six realize YouTube's Ai

[32:00] and contextual understanding know that

[32:02] YouTube reads your scripts scans the

[32:04] visuals in your video and detects intent

[32:08] so keywords still matter but they must

[32:10] be naturally woven into your content

[32:14] number seven chapters and detailed

[32:16] descriptions especially for educational

[32:17] content YouTube uses timestamps for SEO

[32:21] making it easier for viewers and search

[32:23] engines to find relevant parts of your

[32:26] videos that's that's why a video like

[32:28] this includes what's called YouTube

[32:31] chapters it's not just the entire video

[32:32] that can rank it's individual Parts

[32:35] number eight personalization in session

[32:38] watch time YouTube recommends videos

[32:40] based on individual viewing habits and

[32:42] rewards creators whose videos keep

[32:44] people on the platform longer and so the

[32:48] Creator who understands the viewer best

[32:50] wins and the Creator who keeps

[32:51] individuals on the platform longer by

[32:54] perhaps creating a video series instead

[32:56] of just a singular video

[32:58] is going to dominate number nine

[33:00] external traffic and off-platform

[33:02] promotion while backlinks do not boost

[33:05] rankings bringing real viewers from

[33:07] social media from email lists from Niche

[33:11] communities like Reddit or Kora can help

[33:14] push your YouTube content further and

[33:16] number 10 freshness and consistency

[33:18] YouTube favors creators who consistently

[33:20] upload and keep content fresh in search

[33:23] results especially with trending topics

[33:27] bottom line YouTube SEO isn't just about

[33:29] keywords anymore you need great content

[33:32] engagement and optimization strategies

[33:34] to win this year and if you want my

[33:36] complete Youtube upload and optimization

[33:39] checklist just click or tap the screen

[33:41] to watch my deep dive video on that

[33:44] topic if you got value can you hit the

[33:47] like button my name is Sean canell your

[33:49] guide to building a profitable YouTube

[33:51] channel this is think media and I will

[33:53] catch you in a future video