SEO on YouTube: What You Need for Successful Ranking on the Platform

YouTube is the second most popular social network in the world, only behind Facebook. Using YouTube can ensure brand recognition, compete with rivals, and secure a high position in your niche. However, to achieve your marketing goals, it’s essential to create a successful video publication plan, develop your content strategy, and regularly monitor the channel.

What Affects Video Ranking

At present, video content is the most sought-after format of information on the Internet, but to get your video to the Top, you must do it wisely.

• Watch Duration
• YouTube is interested in promoting videos that can retain visitors for long periods. According to research, users also prioritize longer video content that carries thematic value: instructional guides, product reviews, and entertainment. A brief search can highlight that videos lasting over 3 minutes often make it to the top positions.

The Impact of Reposts on Ranking

SEO specialists have long established that YouTube ranks videos by considering reposts from social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Manipulating social activity can elevate a video in rankings. Of course, this doesn’t mean buying likes, as YouTube is aware of this and adopts new algorithms to better understand user interactions and eliminate fake social activity. We are referring to YouTube supporting and encouraging those who create engaging content with a high probability of reposting.

The Influence of View Volume

It was found that low-quality videos might have a large number of impressions, prompting YouTube to adjust its algorithm to test and enhance the retention and engagement factor of a broader audience. However, view volume still significantly impacts search position since videos without views do not generate other signals (watch time, comments, reposting).

Likes and Their Influence on Ranking

There is a moderate correlation between the total volume of channel followers and video position, but in some cases, videos from smaller channels outshine major channels with millions of subscribers. In such cases, the number of “likes” plays a crucial role, as they act as a significant interaction signal.

Attracting New Subscribers

If a visitor likes a video on YouTube, they are likely to subscribe to the channel to watch subsequent videos. Thus, the video attracts new subscribers, which is evidence of good quality. Moreover, gaining a subscription from a video view is complex for manipulation.

Increasing the subscriber count can be achieved by creating high-quality video content and placing various subscription buttons within the video itself. Inviting viewers to subscribe always prompts action, thereby raising each video’s rating on YouTube.

Using Tags

When a video appears on the platform, YouTube analyzes the title, tags, description, and file name. The more text attached to the video, the better the statistics for the video. Tags also influence ranking, albeit slightly, but it’s still recommended to use them. YouTube prefers descriptive tags: keys help with ranking distribution.

The Influence of Keywords in the Title

Introducing a keyword into the title has a small effect on ranking. This is because YouTube doesn’t prioritize titles, although vital information about the video’s content should be conveyed in the title. YouTube uses deeper parsing of the title besides the keys. Often in popular top searches, videos may not have exact keyword entries in the title.

Keywords in the Video Description

Do keywords in the video description affect distribution? The answer: almost no. First, YouTube doesn’t require exact phrases to understand what the video is about. Secondly, as a ranking signal, this factor is too small. In the third case, YouTube might even ignore this factor altogether.

Even so, writing a review with quality keywords for the video is recommended. In such cases, the description will be displayed in the “Recommended Videos” panel, playing an important role as a source of additional information, potentially compelling a visitor to click the link.

Inbound Links to the Video

It’s no secret that backlinks are a ranking factor in Google search. This applies to improving video ranking as well. It’s also worth noting that the highest quality are links, which provide maximum effectiveness from placement.

Video Quality

It has been observed that HD videos rank higher than SD videos. This can be explained by content creators increasingly preferring to record videos in HD format. YouTube, in turn, supports this too. Most videos presented in HD format occupy top positions in search results.

Conclusion for Successful Ranking on YouTube

Thus, from the above and recent studies, we can conclude that the following parameters affect the ranking of a media product on YouTube:

• The video description should be more than 50 words;
• Queries like “how to do” – description more than 100 words;
• Queries like “how to do” – duration over 5 minutes;
• A larger number of results comes from channels with the most subscribers, but smaller channels also have a chance to make it to the Top;
• The more views a video receives, the more comments it gets, thus raising in the rankings;
• Likes have a positive influence on the ranking growth of a video;
• Using 6-10 words in the title is recommended;
• Top video descriptions contain 11-30 words, with examples showing that a video can be at the forefront with descriptions of up to 250 words;
• Having three hashtags helps rank the video in the first positions, any more can be ignored.

Based on this, it can be said that for successful ranking on the platform, you need to:

• Focus on creating quality content and subscriber engagement;
• Actively promote videos immediately after publication, sharing through various channels to attract a wider audience;
• Encourage viewers to like and comment on the video, invite repeated viewing within 24-48 hours;
• Retain the viewer with interesting topics throughout the entire video;
• Have a clear description that reflects the video’s content;
• Add branded links that increase CTR;
• Use links to other videos;
• Include keywords in hashtags.

The above points are just a few recommendations to start your journey on the YouTube channel. More advanced actions, such as analytics or linking an account to Google Ads are the subject of a separate post. An interesting idea for your YouTube channel, based on original, sequential, and authentic content, is one thing, but ensuring your material has a better chance of taking top positions and being noticed is another. However, this will only be achieved if you take care of proper YouTube channel SEO.