Video SEO - Rank Your Videos #1 in YouTube (Fast!)

[00:00] in this video I'm going to show you my

[00:01] five-step process for ranking number one

[00:04] in YouTube I recently used this exact

[00:06] method to rank in the top three in

[00:08] YouTube for the keyword SEO I'm Brian

[00:11] Dean the founder of backlinko the Play

[00:13] Store marketers turn for higher rankings

[00:15] and more traffic and today you're going

[00:17] to learn the five most influential video

[00:19] SEO Rocky factors to get your videos to

[00:21] the top of YouTube fast keep watching a

[00:24] few years ago my YouTube channel was

[00:27] struggling I consistently created high

[00:29] quality videos that provided a ton of

[00:32] value but when I publish my videos

[00:34] cricket

[00:38] needless to say I was frustrated I knew

[00:41] that video was a powerful way to grow my

[00:44] online business but I learned the hard

[00:45] way that video only works if people

[00:47] actually watch your videos and know your

[00:50] mom watching your videos doesn't count

[00:52] trust me hey Mom I just published a new

[00:55] video on YouTube can you watch it for me

[00:57] thanks Mom you're the best

[00:59] Flash Forward to today and my videos

[01:01] consistently get tens of thousands of

[01:04] views and hundreds of people subscribe

[01:06] to my channel every single month my

[01:08] secret I learned everything I could

[01:10] about video SEO unfortunately most of

[01:13] the advice that I initially read about

[01:15] ranking in YouTube didn't work you know

[01:18] the advice I'm talking about put your

[01:20] keyword in your video description put

[01:22] keywords in your video file name write

[01:24] 20 tags for every video sure this stuff

[01:27] can help but it's not gonna rocket your

[01:29] video to the top of Google or YouTube

[01:31] why because everyone on YouTube is doing

[01:34] the exact same thing after trying all

[01:37] the generic advice that I read and

[01:39] getting nowhere I decided to run a bunch

[01:42] of experiments and that's what I learned

[01:44] what really works specifically I

[01:46] discovered YouTube's five most important

[01:49] ranking factors and these are racking

[01:50] factors that very few people know about

[01:53] once I applied these ranky factors to my

[01:55] videos my rankings shot through the roof

[01:58] I started ranking first super

[01:59] competitive keywords like SEO link

[02:02] building how to get traffic and more and

[02:05] now it's time for me to share these five

[02:06] ranking factors with you and show you

[02:08] exactly how to use them to rank your

[02:10] videos in YouTube let's start with step

[02:12] number one which is to create and

[02:14] publish long videos you may have noticed

[02:17] that longer videos tend to perform

[02:19] better in YouTube why well YouTube's

[02:22] most important ranking factor is your

[02:24] videos total watch time as you probably

[02:27] know the more of your video people watch

[02:29] the better it tends to rank that's

[02:31] called audience retention which is an

[02:33] important ranking Factor even though

[02:35] audience retention is important it's not

[02:37] nearly as important as your videos total

[02:40] watch time that's because YouTube wants

[02:42] to promote videos that keep people on

[02:44] YouTube for a long period of time so the

[02:47] more total minutes people watch of your

[02:49] video the more YouTube will want to rank

[02:51] it in the search results for example

[02:53] let's say that you just published two

[02:55] different videos video one is two

[02:57] minutes long in video two is 10 minutes

[03:00] long and let's say that each video gets

[03:02] 1 000 views and the audience retention

[03:04] for both videos is exactly the same 50

[03:07] that means that on average people watch

[03:10] half of your video the total watch time

[03:12] for the two minute video would be 1 000

[03:15] minutes but for the longer video that

[03:17] video's watch time will be 5 000 minutes

[03:20] that means that video number two will

[03:22] have five times the watch time of video

[03:24] number one which means that it'll likely

[03:26] outrank video number one that's the

[03:29] power of publishing longer videos in

[03:31] fact my video that ranks in the top

[03:33] three for SEO is nearly 10 minutes which

[03:37] is significantly longer than most videos

[03:39] on YouTube because it's longer my video

[03:42] accumulates more total watch time than

[03:45] my competitors and I'm able to rack

[03:47] above videos with significantly more

[03:49] views than mine okay let's move on to

[03:51] step number two which is to master the

[03:53] hook as I said longer videos tend to

[03:56] rank better because they accumulate more

[03:58] total watch time but there's one big

[04:00] problem with this approach you have to

[04:03] keep someone's attention

[04:05] on the internet fortunately my

[04:07] experiments have taught me that if you

[04:09] can hook someone in the first 15 seconds

[04:11] of your video you've hooked them for

[04:13] good in fact YouTube recommends that you

[04:15] focus on the first 15 seconds of your

[04:17] video to maximize watch time the

[04:20] question is how do you hook people in

[04:23] the first 15 seconds of your video start

[04:25] your video off with the PPP formula the

[04:28] PPP stands for preview proof preview

[04:31] here's exactly how it works first

[04:33] preview what your video is all about

[04:35] when I first started creating videos my

[04:38] intros would go on and on about why my

[04:41] videos topic was important and these

[04:43] long-winded intros would make people

[04:45] click away today I cut out the fluff and

[04:49] tell them exactly what to expect for

[04:51] example let's say that your video

[04:52] outlines 10 paleo diet tips you'd want

[04:55] to start off your video saying in this

[04:57] video you're going to learn 10 of my

[04:59] favorite paleo diet tips that's it next

[05:02] it's time for the proof here's proof

[05:04] that you can deliver liver you can

[05:06] mention that you've already accomplished

[05:07] what the viewer wants that you have lots

[05:09] of experience in your field or that

[05:11] you've researched a ton about your topic

[05:13] for example you could say these are the

[05:15] same tips I use to gain five pounds of

[05:17] muscle in 60 days finally hit them with

[05:20] the preview again here's where you

[05:22] reiterate what your video is about now

[05:25] you obviously don't want to just repeat

[05:26] what you said in the beginning instead

[05:28] mention something specific from your

[05:31] video you can mention the number of tips

[05:33] a detail from a case study or that

[05:35] you're going to share something

[05:36] completely new this will make your

[05:38] viewers curious and want to keep

[05:40] watching for example you could say and

[05:42] today you're going to learn about the

[05:43] so-called healthy paleo diet food that's

[05:46] actually bad for you next up we have

[05:49] putting your exact keyword in your title

[05:51] there's no question that Google and

[05:53] YouTube are getting smarter every day

[05:55] which means the days of keyword stuffing

[05:57] your video to the top of YouTube are

[06:00] long gone that said Google and YouTube

[06:02] both use your video's title to

[06:04] understand what your video is all about

[06:06] so make sure to include your exact

[06:08] keyword once in your title preferably in

[06:11] the beginning of your title for example

[06:13] I created a video that I wanted to rank

[06:15] for the keyword link building so I made

[06:17] sure to include my exact keyword link

[06:19] building in the beginning of the title

[06:21] and that helped it rank in the top three

[06:23] for my target keyword okay now it's time

[06:26] for Rocky Factor number four which is to

[06:28] say your keyword in your video when I

[06:30] first got started with video SEO I'd go

[06:32] back to old videos and optimize them

[06:34] around keywords that I wanted to rank

[06:37] for and it very rarely worked that's

[06:39] because Google and YouTube can now

[06:41] listen to your videos even without a

[06:44] transcript for example let's say they

[06:45] just published a video about healthy

[06:48] desserts then a few weeks later you

[06:50] realize that the keyword healthy

[06:51] desserts is too competitive so you go

[06:54] back and optimize it around a different

[06:56] keyword like low carb desserts now this

[06:59] sounds smart but it's something that

[07:00] doesn't work as well as it used to why

[07:03] even though the keyword low carbon

[07:05] desserts maybe in your title description

[07:07] and tags you never said that keyword

[07:10] once in the video YouTube knows this and

[07:13] it looks fishy to YouTube your video is

[07:15] about healthy desserts but all of your

[07:17] on-page metadata says it's about low

[07:20] carb desserts so they won't rack you for

[07:23] either keyword that's why I always make

[07:24] sure to actually say my target keyword

[07:27] in every video for example in my video

[07:30] about SEO I made sure to say the word

[07:32] SEO a few times simple yet effective

[07:36] last up we have user interaction signals

[07:39] YouTube wants to see that people are

[07:41] actually interacting with your video the

[07:43] more people watch like subscribe and

[07:45] comment on your video the higher your

[07:48] video will rank in YouTube search

[07:50] results now the strategies that I've

[07:51] showed you so far will help you

[07:53] naturally get more of these user

[07:55] interaction signals but there are two

[07:57] simple tactics that I use on every video

[07:59] to increase my videos user interaction

[08:01] signals first I add an annotation that

[08:04] asks people to like my video after a lot

[08:07] of experimenting I found this simple

[08:08] annotation significantly boosts the

[08:11] number of likes that my videos receive

[08:13] at the end of my video I also ask people

[08:15] to subscribe and comment which also

[08:18] increases the amount of my videos user

[08:21] interaction signals I was originally

[08:23] going to end the video right here but I

[08:25] decided to throw in a quick bonus tip

[08:27] for you which is to optimize for

[08:29] click-through rate when someone searches

[08:30] for something in YouTube YouTube pays

[08:33] very close attention to what video they

[08:35] click on for example let's say the Iraq

[08:37] number five for your Target keyword as

[08:40] you probably know videos ranking number

[08:42] one through four get the vast majority

[08:44] of clicks but for some reason lots of

[08:47] people are clicking on your video in the

[08:49] search results what do you think YouTube

[08:50] will think about your video that it's a

[08:53] great result for that keyword and

[08:55] they'll give your video a rankings boost

[08:57] to make it easier for people to find so

[09:00] how do you maximize your click-through

[09:01] rate well YouTube displays three main

[09:03] pieces of information

[09:05] in the search results your title your

[09:07] thumbnail and a snippet of your

[09:09] description here's how to quickly

[09:10] optimize all three for click-through

[09:13] rate the key with your thumbnail is

[09:15] simply that it stands out that means

[09:17] that you want to create a custom

[09:18] thumbnail that looks different than the

[09:20] other videos that are on the first page

[09:22] for example my video has a completely

[09:25] different design and color scheme than

[09:27] my competition for your title like I

[09:29] mentioned before you want to include

[09:31] your target keyword once other than that

[09:33] your goal with your title should be to

[09:35] maximize your click-through rate as you

[09:37] can see my video title is emotionally

[09:40] compelling I also include the current

[09:42] year so people know that the content is

[09:45] still relevant finally you want to write

[09:47] something compelling in the first few

[09:49] lines of your description most people

[09:50] put a link to their website or channel

[09:53] here and it's a huge mistake nothing

[09:55] looks less enticing to click on than a

[09:58] 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