What is video SEO on YouTube and how does it work?

What is video SEO on YouTube and how does it work?

Video SEO on YouTube: get found and get seen

If you’ve been making videos and posting them on YouTube for a while, you know it’s not enough to just make a great video and hope people will find it. You also need to pay attention to video SEO. But what exactly is video SEO, and how can it help make your videos more visible on YouTube? Let’s take a look.

What is video SEO?

Video SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimising your videos to make them easier to find in search engines such as Google and YouTube. This includes using relevant keywords in your titles, descriptions, video chapters and tags, and optimising other elements such as thumbnails and subtitles.

Why is video SEO important on YouTube?

After Google, YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. That means millions of people search for videos on all kinds of topics every day. By optimising your videos for SEO, you can make sure your videos are found by the people who are most interested in them.

How do you optimise your videos for SEO on YouTube?

There are several ways to optimise your videos for SEO on YouTube. Here are some important steps you can take:

1. Use relevant keywords: research the keywords your target audience uses to find videos like yours. Use these keywords in your titles, descriptions and tags.

2. Create attractive thumbnails: viewers decide whether to watch your video based on the thumbnail, title and duration. That first impression matters. Make thumbnails attractive and relevant to your video’s content to get more clicks and views.

3. Add subtitles: subtitles make your videos more accessible and help improve your SEO, because they provide extra text that search engines can index.

4. Use video metadata: metadata such as your video’s title, description and tags can have a big influence on how well your video ranks in search results. Make sure these elements are relevant.

5. Promote your videos: share your videos on your other social media channels, on your website and in your emails or newsletters to attract more viewers. A video doesn’t promote itself ;-)

6. Use video chapters: by adding chapters to your YouTube videos, you help viewers quickly navigate to specific parts of your video. This not only improves the user experience but can also increase watch time, because viewers find what they want to see more easily. Video chapters can also make your video easier to find in search engines, because they provide extra metadata that search engines can index.

7. Ensure a good user experience: on YouTube, the content of the video matters most. But for a good viewing experience, it’s also important to get the sound, lighting and quality of your videos right. And finally: make sure the videos you’ve embedded on your website load quickly, because if nobody watches, all your work has been for nothing.

By following these 7 steps, you optimise your YouTube videos for SEO and make sure they’re found and watched by the people who are most interested in them. And don’t forget that SEO is an ongoing process, so keep optimising your videos and keep an eye on the results.