YOUTUBE SEO BASICS - Rank Your Videos #1 on YouTube (Fast!)

[00:00] today i'm going to teach you the basics

[00:02] of youtube seo and exactly how to rank

[00:05] your videos in youtube search i've used

[00:07] these exact strategies to rank my videos

[00:10] in the top three on youtube for

[00:13] competitive keywords like how to

[00:15] self-publish a book how to write a

[00:17] business plan and how to start your own

[00:20] business

[00:21] now right now if you're making videos on

[00:23] youtube but you're not getting as many

[00:24] views and your channel isn't growing as

[00:26] quickly as you would like i want to grow

[00:29] quite possibly youtube seo mistakes are

[00:33] the culprit so in this video i'm going

[00:35] to teach you everything you need to know

[00:36] about youtube seo and how to rank your

[00:39] videos on youtube including very

[00:42] specific tactics that you can start

[00:43] implementing today on your videos small

[00:46] changes you can make that make a big

[00:48] difference and the most important three

[00:50] factors that the youtube algorithm truly

[00:53] cares about

[00:58] so what exactly is youtube seo well seo

[01:02] just stands for search engine

[01:04] optimization and basically it is the

[01:07] science of how you can work with an

[01:09] algorithm to get your videos to rank

[01:11] well in that search algorithm so here on

[01:14] youtube when someone types in a search

[01:17] term is your video going to show up in

[01:20] the top results if your video is search

[01:22] engine optimized then it will so let's

[01:26] start out with a bit of a truth bomb the

[01:28] truth youtube is a business and they

[01:30] exist for one main purpose and that

[01:32] purpose is to make money and like most

[01:35] businesses they invest in their business

[01:37] so that their business can become more

[01:39] and more profitable and one of the main

[01:41] ways youtube does this is by investing

[01:44] into their algorithm by improving the

[01:47] process by which they promote videos to

[01:50] viewers so that they can keep their

[01:52] viewers or their users on the platform

[01:55] for longer and keep them happy because

[01:57] the longer they can keep people on

[01:59] youtube the more money they can make and

[02:01] what that looks like in a practical

[02:02] sense is youtube has spent millions of

[02:04] dollars perfecting their algorithm so

[02:07] that it can match viewers with the exact

[02:09] videos they want to watch and why that

[02:11] matters to you is because if you're

[02:13] making videos that someone out there

[02:15] wants to watch then you need to make

[02:16] sure that you are working with the

[02:18] algorithm so that the algorithm truly

[02:21] knows what your videos are about and who

[02:22] would want to watch them and can promote

[02:25] your videos to those people when you

[02:27] make videos on youtube your audience or

[02:29] your viewers are going to engage with

[02:31] them in different ways they will first

[02:33] of all potentially click on them they'll

[02:36] watch them for a certain amount of time

[02:37] they might hit the like button and they

[02:39] might leave comments but you might be

[02:40] wondering which of these factors is

[02:42] really the most important well youtube

[02:44] has said time and time again that the

[02:46] most important factor for whether or not

[02:48] a video is going to rank and the most

[02:49] important factor of audience engagement

[02:52] is simply whether or not someone clicks

[02:55] on the video the percent of people that

[02:57] click on your video when it's suggested

[02:59] to them is called click through ratio or

[03:02] ctr now youtube does also give some

[03:04] weight to other factors including your

[03:07] viewer retention how long people keep

[03:09] watching your videos we'll talk more

[03:11] about that in just a couple minutes and

[03:13] also likes and dislikes and as far as

[03:15] that goes what that means is that it is

[03:18] worth asking people to like your videos

[03:21] but let's talk a little bit more about

[03:23] ctr since youtube has said time and time

[03:25] again that click-through ratio is one of

[03:28] the most important factors for ranking

[03:30] on youtube one specific

[03:32] easy tip that i can give you about how

[03:34] to improve your ctr is to simply add a

[03:37] bracket or parentheses to the end of

[03:40] your title now multiple studies have

[03:43] shown that when you add a bracket or

[03:45] parenthesis to the end of a title it

[03:47] increases the percentage of people who

[03:49] click on that and this goes for videos

[03:51] as well now the reason why this is is

[03:54] because it gives people a little bit of

[03:56] an insight or at least it makes them

[03:58] feel like they're getting an insight

[04:00] into what the video is actually about

[04:02] intriguing and since they feel more

[04:05] confident about what the video is about

[04:06] they feel more confident that the video

[04:08] will be what they're looking for and

[04:10] that the video will be interesting to

[04:12] them and so they are more likely to

[04:14] click on it obviously this is one of the

[04:16] easiest things you can do to improve

[04:19] your videos click-through rate and

[04:20] therefore rank higher on youtube another

[04:23] bonus tip is to add your target keywords

[04:26] again we'll talk more about keywords

[04:28] what those are and how to find your

[04:30] target keyword in just a minute but

[04:32] whatever your target keywords are make

[04:34] sure that you include them in the first

[04:36] 20 to 25 words of your video's

[04:39] description that's because this is the

[04:41] only part of your video's description

[04:43] that viewers or potential viewers can

[04:45] see before they click on your video and

[04:48] so it's the only part of your video's

[04:50] description that can affect whether or

[04:52] not they choose to click on your video

[04:54] meaning the part that can affect your

[04:56] ctr and therefore affect your ranking so

[04:59] let's move on now and talk about

[05:00] keywords as i promised so what exactly

[05:02] are keywords well they are simply words

[05:05] or phrases that people use to search for

[05:09] content and they're words or phrases

[05:11] that you can use to identify your

[05:13] content so for example someone might go

[05:16] to youtube and search youtube seo basics

[05:19] and find a video like this one or they

[05:21] might search for a term like how to

[05:24] start an online business to find videos

[05:26] like this

[05:27] keywords are extremely important because

[05:30] they are the heart of how any sort of

[05:32] search algorithm works users are typing

[05:35] in keywords to tell the algorithm

[05:38] what type of content that they're

[05:39] looking for and then the algorithm is

[05:42] using keywords at least in part to tell

[05:44] which pieces of content are the right

[05:46] fit for that search inquiry so it is

[05:49] extremely important that you know what

[05:52] keywords you are trying to rank your

[05:53] content for that you choose good

[05:56] keywords to rank your videos for and

[05:59] that you correctly optimize your videos

[06:01] to in fact rank for those keywords so

[06:03] let's talk about how to do that to find

[06:05] the right keywords for your video you'll

[06:07] want to start with some good

[06:08] old-fashioned common sense duh just

[06:11] think about literally what your video is

[06:13] about brainstorm a whole bunch of

[06:15] different ways that you can explain what

[06:17] your video is about in just a few words

[06:20] or less then it's time to take to

[06:22] youtube itself and start searching for

[06:24] each of those terms now you're looking

[06:26] for two things here first of all of the

[06:28] videos that youtube returns for your

[06:31] search inquiry are these videos very

[06:34] similar to the video that you were

[06:35] thinking about creating because you're

[06:37] getting some very valuable insight here

[06:40] you're learning what the algorithm has

[06:42] decided people want when they search for

[06:44] those words so you want to make sure

[06:47] that your video your content is in

[06:48] alignment with that if you're making a

[06:50] video that you think is a great fit for

[06:53] that term but the algorithm doesn't

[06:55] think so then when your video

[06:57] potentially ranks for that term people

[06:59] are most likely not going to click on it

[07:01] if you make a video about a certain

[07:03] topic and associate it with a certain

[07:06] keyword that you think is a good fit for

[07:08] it but the algorithm doesn't think so

[07:11] then it's simply not going to rank for

[07:13] that keyword better luck next time so

[07:15] like i said that is the first thing

[07:17] you're looking for are the videos that

[07:19] match those keywords you're looking for

[07:22] similar to the video you're trying to

[07:23] create the second thing you want to pay

[07:25] attention to here is how many views are

[07:28] those videos getting you want to make

[07:30] sure that you're choosing keywords that

[07:32] are popular enough so that if your video

[07:35] ranks for that keyword it actually ends

[07:37] up getting a significant number of views

[07:40] i always recommend starting with youtube

[07:43] and your common sense for this but you

[07:44] can also use a tool such as tubebuddy to

[07:47] see how popular different keywords are

[07:50] and how competitive they are which

[07:52] basically means how many other videos

[07:54] are trying to rank for this keyword as

[07:56] well by the way tubebuddy is a free

[07:59] browser extension that you can install

[08:01] on your browser and then sign into with

[08:03] your youtube account to be able to get a

[08:05] lot of valuable search data so as you

[08:08] look at the numbers that tubebuddy shows

[08:10] you about each different keywords

[08:13] popularity and competitiveness and then

[08:15] the score that tubebuddy gives it you

[08:17] might be wondering which of these

[08:18] numbers is really the most important and

[08:20] what makes for a good keyword common

[08:22] advice is often that you should go for

[08:25] keywords that are as popular as possible

[08:28] but not competitive at all because if

[08:30] the keyword is too competitive then you

[08:32] won't be able to rank for it but this is

[08:34] simply bad advice because the truth is

[08:37] that you can rank for any keyword

[08:39] regardless of how competitive it is if

[08:41] you correctly optimize your video for

[08:44] that keyword and you make sure that your

[08:47] video is a good fit for that keyword

[08:50] meaning that people will be satisfied

[08:52] with your video as a result to their

[08:55] search that's what i was looking for

[08:57] so for example if you searched on

[08:59] youtube youtube seo basics and you found

[09:01] this video would this video be what

[09:03] you're looking for if it is then it

[09:06] stands a great chance of ranking high

[09:08] for that keyword even though that's a

[09:10] very competitive keyword now earlier on

[09:12] i mentioned that it's very important

[09:14] that you are ranking for keywords that

[09:16] are popular enough so that when you do

[09:20] rank for those keywords you can actually

[09:22] get a significant number of views from

[09:24] that high ranking so because of that the

[09:26] keyword's popularity is of primary

[09:30] importance you'll want to make sure that

[09:32] that keyword is getting at least a few

[09:34] thousand searches every month and you

[09:36] can see that listed as the search volume

[09:39] for that keyword in order for it to

[09:41] truly be worth your time to make a video

[09:44] about it as far as the keywords

[09:45] competition yes it can make it a little

[09:48] easier for you if you steer clear of the

[09:50] most competitive keywords but you want

[09:53] to give a lot more weight to the

[09:54] popularity of the keyword than the

[09:57] competition level another really

[09:59] important note when it comes to choosing

[10:01] keywords is that you want to choose them

[10:02] before you make your video ideally

[10:05] before you even plan your video so that

[10:07] you can first of all ensure that the

[10:09] keyword is popular enough and the second

[10:12] that you can design your video around

[10:13] that keyword to make sure that it will

[10:15] really give the viewers what they're

[10:17] looking for on the other hand if you try

[10:19] to optimize your video for keywords or

[10:22] choose the right keywords for it after

[10:23] you've made it you might find that

[10:25] you've made your video around keywords

[10:28] that aren't very popular or that you're

[10:30] trying to fit your video into a keyword

[10:33] that is more popular but it's not really

[10:34] the right fit for

[10:36] and it's tough to ever rank a video for

[10:38] a keyword that it's not the right fit

[10:40] for so now let's talk about how to

[10:42] actually rank your video for your

[10:44] keywords once you have selected them now

[10:47] of course as i'm sure you know you can

[10:49] and should include your keyword in your

[10:51] videos title description and tags

[10:54] however what matters more than any of

[10:57] those things is that you include your

[10:59] keywords in your video's actual content

[11:01] because youtube is automatically

[11:04] captioning every single video meaning

[11:06] it's listening to it and it's

[11:08] transcribing it and it is basing your

[11:11] search ranking more than almost anything

[11:13] else on what you actually say in the

[11:16] video because that obviously that makes

[11:18] sense that that would give youtube the

[11:21] best information about what your video

[11:23] is actually about and now going back to

[11:25] what we were talking about earlier how

[11:27] there are three main factors that have

[11:28] the biggest impact on your videos

[11:30] ranking well what you say in your video

[11:33] is going to be that second most

[11:35] important factor and finally before we

[11:37] move on from keywords let's talk about

[11:39] one more bonus tip for getting your

[11:41] video to rank for a keyword and that is

[11:43] to make sure that your video's

[11:44] description is at least about 100 words

[11:48] long the more words you include in your

[11:50] video's description the more you can

[11:52] tell youtube and the algorithm about

[11:55] what your video is actually about so

[11:57] you'll want to make sure that you

[11:58] include each of your main target

[12:01] keywords in your video's description at

[12:04] least about two times this is going to

[12:07] give youtube a strong indication that

[12:09] your video is probably about that and

[12:11] help your video to rank higher for those

[12:14] terms and next up let's talk about tags

[12:17] first of all what's the difference

[12:18] between a keyword and a tag well a

[12:21] keyword we already talked about that is

[12:23] just a term that people are using to

[12:25] search for content and a term you're

[12:27] using to identify your content tags on

[12:29] the other hand are something very

[12:30] specific there is a specific field in

[12:33] your videos description or metadata

[12:36] where you can type in video tags and

[12:38] these are just keywords that you're

[12:39] plugging into your videos metadata so

[12:42] keywords super important can't avoid

[12:44] them tags on the other hand are actually

[12:47] a bit of a relic of the past ancient

[12:49] history now there is a reason to still

[12:52] use tags we'll talk about that in just a

[12:53] minute but first let me give you a very

[12:56] short history of youtube tags when

[12:58] youtube was first created there wasn't

[13:00] really an algorithm at all people were

[13:02] just uploading videos willy nilly very

[13:04] quickly it became a search driven

[13:06] platform where people were searching for

[13:10] certain keywords and then youtube was

[13:12] trying to give them what they were

[13:13] looking for and at first youtube based

[13:15] this primarily off of the videos titles

[13:18] and the videos tags because they added

[13:20] in this tag field so that they could

[13:22] sort and categorize the videos now over

[13:26] time as youtube sought to improve their

[13:28] algorithm so that they could give their

[13:29] users better results that were more

[13:32] aligned with what they were actually

[13:33] looking for and keep them on the

[13:34] platform for longer they updated the

[13:36] algorithm to factor in descriptions and

[13:40] also captions that people added to the

[13:43] video so that they could better

[13:44] understand what the content was actually

[13:46] about as things progress even further

[13:49] youtube developed the capability to do

[13:51] auto captioning where they started

[13:53] actually listening to the videos and

[13:55] transcribing them which gave them a lot

[13:58] more insight into what the videos were

[14:00] truly about now i understand now as i'm

[14:03] sure you can understand as youtube got

[14:05] more and more data about what the videos

[14:07] were actually about and that data was

[14:09] really from the source it was from the

[14:11] actual content of the video instead of

[14:12] just what the creator said the video is

[14:15] about youtube began to rely more and

[14:17] more on that data and eventually stopped

[14:20] relying on tags altogether it's been a

[14:23] couple of years now since youtube came

[14:25] out and blatantly said that they are not

[14:27] using tags as a ranking factor at all

[14:30] and that their only purpose for tags is

[14:32] to correct commonly misspelled words or

[14:35] words that are homonyms words that sound

[14:38] the same sometimes the captioning

[14:40] software can't tell exactly what you're

[14:41] saying in the video and so if there is a

[14:44] question then youtube's algorithm goes

[14:46] to the tag to figure out which of those

[14:48] two meanings you really meant but the

[14:50] big takeaway here is that tags don't

[14:53] really affect your videos ranking at all

[14:55] at this point so you might be wondering

[14:58] should you even bother with tags should

[15:00] you type anything into that tag field

[15:02] well first of all if there is one of

[15:04] those commonly misunderstood words in

[15:06] your video something that the algorithm

[15:07] might be confused about you might as

[15:09] well put it in the tag section just to

[15:12] clarify but beyond that i actually still

[15:14] would recommend that you do include your

[15:18] target keywords in the tag section now

[15:20] it's not going to help you rank for them

[15:22] but it will give you some valuable

[15:24] insight especially if you're using a

[15:26] tool such as tubebuddy if you have typed

[15:29] your target keywords into that tag

[15:31] section then when you view that video

[15:34] tubebuddy will give you data on how

[15:37] you're ranking for each of those

[15:38] keywords and that way you can easily see

[15:41] how your video is performing so far and

[15:43] you can work on optimizing from there so

[15:45] far we've covered two of those three

[15:48] most important factors for ranking well

[15:50] on youtube and now we come to the third

[15:52] and that is audience retention so

[15:55] audience retention is the percentage of

[15:58] time that your viewers watch your video

[16:00] and channel wide the percentage of time

[16:03] that your viewers on average watch your

[16:05] videos and something that's very similar

[16:06] to audience retention is average view

[16:08] duration which is the number of minutes

[16:11] that viewers watch each of your videos

[16:14] now doesn't it make so much sense that

[16:15] of course youtube would rank videos

[16:18] higher if viewers keep watching them for

[16:20] longer obviously that's a really strong

[16:22] indicator that they are enjoying the

[16:24] video and that the video is what they

[16:26] were looking for especially if they

[16:28] searched for a certain term then they

[16:30] chose to click on it and then as they

[16:33] watched it they kept on watching it it

[16:35] shows that it was really what they were

[16:36] looking for so how can you improve your

[16:39] audience retention how can you keep

[16:41] people watching for longer well there

[16:43] are three things you can do first of all

[16:45] make sure that your video is a good fit

[16:48] for the search intent so this goes back

[16:50] to what we talked about earlier you need

[16:52] to have the keyword in mind when you

[16:54] plan and film the video you need to make

[16:56] sure that you are designing the video

[16:58] around the keyword so that it is a good

[17:00] fit for what your viewer will be looking

[17:02] for second don't waste your viewers time

[17:05] avoid rambling and make sure that your

[17:07] video keeps moving forward with new

[17:10] valuable information or new events that

[17:12] keep unfolding and third make sure that

[17:14] you keep your viewers focused by using

[17:17] an easy to follow outline the only way

[17:19] you can do that is by planning your

[17:21] video ahead of time and having a clear

[17:23] outline viewers are more likely to keep

[17:26] watching a video for longer if they

[17:27] understand the information that they're

[17:30] consuming you can also keep viewers

[17:32] attention by keep changing things up

[17:34] with different camera angles graphics

[17:36] and music so that your viewers don't get

[17:39] bored this is interesting so let's wrap

[17:41] things up with a bonus tip for getting

[17:43] people to keep watching your videos for

[17:45] longer so here's the thing people keep

[17:47] watching videos for longer when they see

[17:50] social proof that others also enjoyed

[17:53] the video they think other people said

[17:55] this video is good so it must be good or

[17:57] it's going to get good so i'll keep on

[17:59] watching it to get to the good part or

[18:01] to get whatever else is coming later so

[18:03] here are a few different ways that you

[18:05] can increase the social proof on your

[18:07] video first of all how can you get

[18:08] people to comment more well just asking

[18:11] people to comment is too vague and

[18:13] people don't have a good idea of what to

[18:15] say you can make it way easier for

[18:17] people to comment and make it much more

[18:19] likely that they do so by asking them a

[18:21] specific and easy to answer question

[18:24] ideally this is a multiple choice

[18:26] question where they can choose between

[18:28] two options that makes it easy for them

[18:30] to answer and a lot of the time they'll

[18:32] want to share their opinion so for

[18:34] example here's a question for you right

[18:36] now how do you choose your keywords or

[18:40] your video topics do you make videos

[18:42] just about what you feel like making

[18:43] videos about or are you more the

[18:45] analytical type that likes to do a lot

[18:47] of keyword research and choose your

[18:49] keywords and your video topics based on

[18:51] data data data data i cannot make bricks

[18:54] without clear tell me in the comments

[18:55] down below

[18:56] are you more of the intuitive type or

[18:58] more of the research type and one more

[19:01] way to increase your video social proof

[19:03] and keep people watching your videos for

[19:05] longer especially if your channel is

[19:07] still really small

[19:09] is to add some social proof by actually

[19:12] engaging with your video yourself so

[19:14] when you first publish a video don't be

[19:16] shy about clicking on your video and

[19:18] watching it all the way through a few

[19:21] times not only is this going to start to

[19:23] rack up the first few views which adds

[19:26] some social proof but it also is going

[19:28] to set your audience retention on a good

[19:32] path from the start so that means your

[19:34] first few views are going to be 100

[19:36] audience retention which can help to

[19:38] increase your search ranking you can

[19:40] also of course give your video a like

[19:43] and leave a comment and you can pin your

[19:45] comment to the top which again adds more

[19:47] social proof and if you have multiple

[19:49] google accounts maybe you have yours

[19:51] maybe you have access to your

[19:54] significant others or to a friends or to

[19:57] your businesses or to your dogs well you

[19:59] can log into each of those different

[20:00] google accounts and do the same things

[20:03] with those accounts again adding more

[20:04] social proof and helping your video to

[20:06] rank higher from the start a lot of

[20:08] people don't talk about this tactic

[20:10] because it can feel a little silly but

[20:12] when you're first starting out every

[20:13] single view counts and so this tactic

[20:16] can really help there is tons more about

[20:18] youtube seo that i would love to share

[20:20] with you but i don't have time in this

[20:22] video it's already getting way too long

[20:25] so i recorded an hour-long masterclass

[20:28] in which i share with you more about how

[20:31] the algorithm works more about how to

[20:32] work with it and especially how to grow

[20:35] your channel to a thousand subscribers

[20:37] as quickly as possible in fact i've had

[20:39] several people reach out to me and share

[20:41] that they use the strategies in that

[20:44] free workshop to get their first

[20:46] thousand subscribers after posting just

[20:48] five or ten videos and i even share one

[20:51] of the stories like that in the workshop

[20:54] itself and i break down exactly how that

[20:56] new creator did that so if you want to

[20:59] check out that workshop and get access

[21:01] to that hour-long youtube algorithm

[21:03] masterclass and be sure to check the

[21:05] description below you can sign up and

[21:07] choose a time to watch it that works for

[21:09] you because it is an on-demand workshop

[21:12] which means that we've got multiple

[21:13] showing times every day that you can

[21:16] watch it and it is completely free all

[21:18] right well that is everything for this

[21:20] video thank you so much for joining me

[21:22] today give this video a like if you

[21:24] learned something new if you have

[21:25] something valuable out of it if you have

[21:27] tips now that you are going to start

[21:29] implementing on your next video and of

[21:32] course consider subscribing if you want

[21:34] to learn even more about how to grow

[21:36] here on youtube or you're interested in

[21:38] starting your own online business which

[21:41] is one of the main things i talk about

[21:42] here on my channel my name is gillian

[21:44] perkins thanks so much for joining me

[21:46] today i love you and i'll see you next

[21:48] week with another video