YouTube Optimization: Getting Your Videos Searched

YouTube optimization is all about getting your videos crawled in the search engines. Much like articles, you can use keyword phrases to help searchers find your videos. However, videos do not have the searchability of written content, so you can’t rely on words alone to help you get views.

It may seem like YouTube optimization is pretty fruitless if you can’t use regular methods of optimization to attract viewers. After all, if you can’t put words in the video that can be searched through a search engine, what are you left with? It’s pretty hard to search the videos in and of themselves. But don’t lose hope! This guide will show you methods of optimizing your videos to make them search engine friendly.

YouTube Optimization with Video Quality

Did you know that the way you produce your videos has an impact on how well Google likes them and how well your YouTube optimization works? In the same way that articles of different qualities compete against each other, YouTube videos also compete for top ranking. Let’s see how this plays out in YouTube optimization.

Google favors videos with high-resolution, so this helps your YouTube optimization. Videos produced in HD format, i.e. 1280 by 720 pixels, tend to draw more views than videos with fuzzy quality or poor image resolution. If you don’t have an HD camera, though, you can still remedy lower quality videos by producing them in HD format. The image will automatically be compressed between black bars, which will fill up the pixel difference to account for the larger size.

YouTube Optimization with Tags

If you’ve ever tried YouTube optimization by putting tags in a video on YouTube, you’ve seen that they don’t necessarily stay attached when you provide keywords with more than one word. You can target your keyword phrases by putting them in quotation marks, rather than separating them with spaces or commas. Thus, if you’re targeting phrases for changing a tire, then place keyword phrases within quotation marks like this: “changing a tire” “changing tires” “repairing a flat tire” and so forth – no commas or spaces necessary.

Don’t overload your video with tags, either, or YouTube will say it cannot save your changes. Keep your tags between 10 and 20 whenever possible. This is ideal for YouTube optimization.

Encouraging Viewers to Vote

Google and YouTube both place a lot of stock in the votes that viewers give your videos and your channel. For instance, lots of “thumbs up” votes will pro-rate your video, while “thumbs down” votes will hurt you.

Additionally, the more subscribers you have, the more popular your channel looks, and the more likely Google will be to promote your video in search. Thus, request that viewers subscribe to your channel in your videos – you’d be surprised; a lot will, just because you asked them to.

YouTube optimization is also about interacting with your fans. Comment back to them, and place an interactive teaser at the end of your video that asks them to comment on your videos. Google notices when viewers watch to the end of a video, so make them want to stay to give your YouTube optimization efforts a worthwhile effort.