Increase Visibility: Rank Your Video on Google & YouTube SERP

Online video consumption is at an all-time high. Over 90% of people have watched an explanatory video of how to learn more about a product or a service, and that’s just the beginning. Almost 75% of people say that they’ve been moved to purchase or download an app after watching a video. A majority would prefer to learn about something through a video rather than read an article. Popular streamers gather thousands of loyal followers, who often simply align themselves to the streamer’s personality.

The point is: video killed the radio star, and video isn’t going anywhere, except maybe into more homes. It’s that popular. YouTube is perhaps the single most recognizable video service platform out there, and it’s the home of many business-related videos. You may have created content like how-to guides, product descriptions, or hosted reviews and analyses.

We all know the importance of SEO, ranking our page offerings in the almighty Google listings. But did you know that you can also rank your video in Google listings, not just in YouTube searches? With the right keywords, Google will offer up video links in its search results, and yes, proper video SEO will help rank your video just like your website.

Curious how it works? Then let’s look a little deeper!

YouTube SEO and You

Clearly, the more popular a video is, the better it will rank on YouTube. What determines that popularity? Views, user comments, and the all-important likes all add up. As with Google rankings for your webpage, YouTube consistently rates quality content higher. So do users, and their engagement helps drive up your rankings.

The first and most basic step, then, is simply producing quality videos. Google also prizes certain types of videos more than others when it comes to showing them as search engine results: tutorials and how-tos, entertainment (as anyone who has ever seen funny animal vids can attest), reviews, and fitness- or sports-based material.

Video SEO works just like your webpage. You need to make sure you’re choosing the keywords that people are searching for. You need to make sure that your video actually serves the consumer’s needs. This is where the quality comes in: lighting, sound, editing, narration (if need be), and that the video is informative.

Don’t skimp out on the on-page optimization! You’ll want to give your video an attention-grabbing title, description, and tags. Don’t forget the thumbnail. While this may seem a small detail, a good thumbnail is important in the split-seconds you have to grab users’ attention.

Avoid the temptation to go pure clickbait titles and thumbnails. You can flirt with this a little bit and find success, but if it feels like it’s actually clickbait, users will shower your video with dislikes and other negative attention. You’ll find that your rankings don’t improve at all, and may in fact slip if you make a habit of trying to trick users into watching your content.

YouTube’s Search Algorithm

After following the basic video SEO steps, you’ll want to take into account YouTube’s actual search algorithms. Really, this is just another part of the previous step, but the search algorithm won’t be kind if your video is not worth suggesting as a search result, so you want to start with the basics.

Though the algorithm has evolved over the past decade, currently its priority goals are to find the right video for each viewer and to keep viewers watching. Likes, comments, watch time, total views all impact the videos YouTube recommends. Some priority is dependent on the user’s watch history, which you can’t control, but the other factors are something you can influence. Your in-video content is key, of course, but once the video is complete, you must consider all the other factors.

Time spent watching, total user engagement (likes, dislikes, comments), rate of growth, date added, and how often a channel uploads, as well as viewer time spent after watching the video are all key factors in YouTube’s algorithm.

Tips for Boosting Your Video Ranking

Besides putting together a quality video, there are several important steps to take if you want to boost your video’s rankings. In the same way that good SEO can elevate your website rankings, these are some simple practices to increase your video’s relevance in Google’s eyes.

Description

Your video description is key to your video’s ranking. You’ll want more than just keywords and social media plugs here. Have you ever seen a description that was short, poorly written, and ended with a big block of tags? Contrary to popular belief, those don’t work. Mashing a bunch of keywords together doesn’t help as much as skillfully using a few focus keywords in your description and title. Determine which are the most important (which requires research into videos on similar topics and how they perform) and build around those.

Cast Multiple Lines

Unlike with fishing (which may even be the subject of your video!), here you want to throw out multiple lines and see what you can catch. That is, experiment a little. See what works and what doesn’t. Don’t pay attention purely to analytics here. Ultimately, it all breaks down to an exchange between people, not algorithms and machines. User engagement (including on-page reactions such as likes, dislikes, and comments) is what’s going to tell you whether you’re hitting the mark or not.

Welcome All Feedback

If a video receives a largely negative reaction, don’t fret—this can be a good thing! The worst thing would be a neutral reaction. Positive or negative, you want a strong reaction because it will tell you more about what your audience wants to see. Be willing to adjust your approach based on feedback, and take criticism with aplomb.

Frequency and Timing

Timing the release of a new video with your channel’s most active periods is a good way to capitalize on the buzz. The more frequently you can upload, the better for your rankings.

Speaking Google’s Language

Giving your video the proper markup properties so that Google better understands its contents. This makes it more likely for Google to recommend the video in its search results, as well as displaying more information relevant to the users performing the search.

Similarly, you will benefit from a well-indexed set of videos. This makes it easier for Google bots to crawl your channel and learn more about your video content. Anything you can do to enable the video to better reach an audience, the better!

Conclusion

Video SEO is similar to webpage SEO, but it requires some additional considerations if you want your video to appear in Google searches as well as YouTube searches. However, with some diligent practices, you can accomplish both, and over time boost your rankings in both key areas.

The best practices for boosting your video’s rankings are simply doing the work:

• Find out what keywords and videos on similar topics perform well, then build them into your video.
• Research what times have the most active viewers and release your videos during those times.
• Produce quality video content, rather than cheap filler.
• In addition to in-video content, do the work on video markup properties and site mapping so Google can better place your videos.
• Remember the on-page information: description, title, tags, links. Don’t neglect one area; all of them are important.

Taking advantage of these best practices will boost your video rankings in both YouTube and Google searches. You can snowball that success into future uploads and build a successful channel. Remember to always cover the basics and your viewers—not to mention Google—will appreciate it!