YouTube Video Optimization

You can use YouTube Video Optimization in a number of ways that will help you get your videos discovered more quickly and easily.

Understand the Basics

YouTube Video Optimization and SEO (Search engine optimization) essentially means designing web content in a way that makes it Google friendly or in this case YouTube friendly. The main way most people find new content on YouTu, e is by searching for it and in this sense, YouTube is very similar to Google.

In fact, the search engine is built by Google and it’s actually the second biggest search on the net in terms of the number of queries it receives. So what can you do as a user to ensure your content is easily discovered on YouTube?

The first step in YouTube Video Optimization is to try and pick a topic that people are interested in and likely to be searching for. From there you should look up the topic to see what’s already present on YouTube and what you’ll be competing with.

The perfect scenario is that you find a subject matter that people are interested in but which hasn’t been properly covered on YouTube. If you can find that then anything you upload will automatically succeed.

Know the Competition

More likely you’ll find you have a few competitors. In this case, your success will be all about the keywords that you choose which you enter when you upload your video. Here, you want to use related words which will help tell Google precisely what your video is about.

If the video ¡ s about learning scales on the piano your keywords might be things like scales, piano, keyboard, electric keyboard, learning, learning music, music theory. This way you will reinforce the subject of your video while at the same time helping to create a connection between your video and other successful ones in your niche. This will help your videos appear as suggested content.

Taking a look at the titles and keywords used by the top videos on your subject is also a good strategy. This also works on Google and a good video can sometimes come up on Google as the top response to a search instead of a web page.

Finally, you have one last place that you can encourage Google and YouTube to index your video and that’s your description.

Make HD Videos

You need to ensure that your videos are HD and that they have HD thumbnails. Try to avoid shaky cameras or stolen content. Doing this will ensure that your videos are seen as unique and high quality by YouTube and that in turn will mean they get promoted more readily. At the same time, you should also think a little about SEO.

Building External Links

This is where you tell people all about your video and where you add external links and so on. This is a good place to insert more keywords and generally, you should aim to put lots of content here to create lots of long tail keywords and these are wordy search terms that sound natural. Even if you just write the first part of your script here, the tip is to make sure you indeed write something.

Meanwhile, the number of likes, shares and comments your video gets will also help to increase its visibility especially at the start of its life. Think of value and make sure you ask people to help out.

Another important factor is how long people watch your videos for. In other words, if people leave after the first two seconds this sends a signal to YouTube that the video probably isn’t very good. To make sure this doesn’t happen to you use shorter videos some of the time as this will guarantee faster watching.

Add to the Hype

Another thing which can help with your optimization and which can really get your video to take off is to generate lively discussion on your videos. While they can sometimes be annoying you really want to encourage people to leave comments in your comments section. One way to do this is simply to ensure that your videos ask interesting questions and raise interesting points that invite discussion. And this might even mean being purposely controversial.

You can also ask questions at the end of your videos and gently make yourself appear approachable. You should stay active in your own comments section – set up your account to email you when someone leaves a new comment and set out to answer all of these at the start of the day. It is also the way to get fans on YouTube and a few fans can be immensely valuable to any campaign.

And don’t forget YouTube and Google+ are now linked. When you upload videos, this means that if you spend some time building your Google+ circles they will all get to see your new videos. A great way to do this is to be active in the discussions in communities to take part in hangouts and “plus one” other people (you normally get a reciprocal plus one).

Have a G+ button on your blog or website if you have one and this will help you to gain more people in your circles.

What this also means is that if you share your YouTube video on a Google+ community and it gets commented on, that comment will show up on your YouTube video on YouTube. This is a great way to get some initial momentum on your video so try to find communities to join in your niche and then make videos that you think that enjoy. Just don’t post too often or you’re likely to get banned.

Doing this will ensure that your videos are seen as unique and high quality by YouTube and that in turn will mean they get promoted more readily. The number of likes, shares and comments your video gets will also help to increase its visibility especially at the start of its life. In other words, if people leave after the first two seconds this sends a signal to YouTube that the video probably isn’t very good. Another thing which can help with your optimization and which can really get your video to take off is to generate lively discussion on your videos. What this also means is that if you share your YouTube video on a Google+ community and it gets commented on, that comment will show up on your YouTube video on YouTube. This is YouTube Video Optimization.