Youtube SEO

Youtube SEO is the work that aims to optimize the video content shared on Youtube to gain better rankings and thus reach more viewers.

This guide has been created to guide your Youtube SEO efforts and to make your content stand out more by creating an adequately designed Youtube video optimization process.

You can follow the steps below to optimize the Youtube videos.

How to Do Youtube SEO?

The works you can apply to make your channel and videos stand out while doing Youtube SEO are as follows;

• Do keyword research,
• Optimize your video titles,
• Optimize your video descriptions,
• Thumbnail (Featured image) optimization,
• Use End Screens and Cards
• Use tags,
• Take advantage of Advanced settings,
• Use subtitles,
• Optimize your channel settings,
• Optimize your playlists,
• Optimize files before uploading,

Keyword Research

Keywords should be words or phrases that reveal the main goal of your video. It will be more useful to determine during the video creation process. Since you will use keywords at every stage during video creation and publishing, you should carry out the target word determination processes meticulously.

You can give importance to the following items in the keyword determination processes;

Choose Your Target Keyword

You should find the target word that best describes what your video basically means to users. This word can be short or it can consist of long tail structures that we care about during SEO studies. Long tail words will bring you more views. For this reason, you can pay attention to long-tail words in the first stage of your channel.

When determining target keywords, you can focus on the volume of this word. You can control these volumes with the Youtube plugins we mentioned at the end of our article or with Google tools.

If you are a newly opened channel;

• Set phrases of 3-4 words as targets,
• Choose niche targets that your competitors do not have,
• Do not turn to high volumes just to get traffic in the first place.

Perform Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis is of great importance for Youtube SEO, as it is at the base of all digital processes. Your competitors will have already completed the video processes you have targeted and shared them on Youtube. That’s why it’s useful to analyze the views, likes, and builds they get.

• Do research on Youtube for the videos you are planning.
• Pay attention to which words are especially repeated and used frequently.
• Especially examine the title structures and try to catch the phrases.
• Note the tag structures.

Identify Side/Relative Keywords

Subordinate words will be derivatives or additional phrases that will support your target words. These words are also important because you will include them in every stage of your video optimization processes.

For example; You made a plan within the framework of the target word “Stuffed Peppers with Olive Oil”. You can add words such as “Current, Practical, Economical” as side words to this plan. These words may change according to users’ search trends. You can target people who don’t have much time to cook, especially using the “Practical” pattern. You can also create a target for people who don’t have a large budget using the “Economic” pattern.

Use Your Words Actively

These target words and sub-target words you set will be two different groups for you. By combining and diversifying these words with each other, you will use them at every stage of the video process. You should say these words frequently in the video and use these words actively in the title structure, descriptions, subtitles, file names, and prominent images.

Video Title

The video title is one of the first parameters users see on Youtube. It will be the first welcoming area for you. In addition, Youtube is an area that contributes greatly to SEO processes. That’s why the process of creating and optimizing video titles is critical. When creating a title, pay attention to the steps below;

Use Your Keywords in Yout Title

Be sure to use your target word in your title. You can choose this word in the title entry or as a second word. However, the most recommended structure is a title structure consisting of a single sentence and organically containing your keyword.

Analyze your competitors without creating a headline. Take steps by developing the strategies they use and try to do what has not been done in the most organic way.

Do not use your keyword more than once. If possible, you can also use your secondary target word in the same sentence.

Title Length

Title length has a limited structure as in other search engine parameters. Therefore, it is necessary to consider some criteria.

Youtube allows you to enter titles up to 100 characters. However, you do not have to use this structure completely.

The recommended title length is a maximum of 70 characters.

When creating your titles, we recommend that you also consider users who will log in from mobile devices.

Mistakes Made While Creating a Title

There are criteria you should never use in your header structures. These can harm you.

You should not use a fragmented structure in your headers. You should prefer a single sentence and organic structure whenever possible.

You should not use tags in titles. This can generate spammy value.

You should not copy the exact headlines of your competitors.

Youtube Video Title in Summary

• It would be helpful to use the main target word in the title entry.
• The title should be engaging, descriptive, and precise.
• You can use a structure like {Keyword} + { Video Content Summary (product review, etc.)}.
• Title length should be between 20-70. You should also consider mobile devices.
• Adding tags to header content is not recommended.
• It is recommended to use an organic header structure.

Video Description

The Youtube video description area is the area that will benefit us the most in Youtube SEO studies. This area has always been of great importance with options such as wide usage possibilities, using tags, and sharing links. While editing your Youtube video descriptions, you can pay attention to the steps we have presented below;

Description Length

Youtube has a structure that allows up to 5000 characters in video descriptions. But that doesn’t mean we should use them all.

It would be useful to use a structure of 100-150 words (not characters) as a suggestion in this field. It is important that this structure is completely video-related and organically designed. For this reason, it is necessary not to engage in cannibalism of keywords that will constitute spam.

Timestamps

Timestamps can be thought of as a video table of contents, which is used to quickly deliver certain parts of your video to users. Using timestamps makes your videos look more meaningful and accessible both inside and outside of Youtube. Therefore, it should definitely be used.

Things to consider when creating timestamps;

• Timestamps should always start with 00:00.
• You must set the time zones you want to mark as XX:XX.
• You should write the clearest content expressing that section by leaving a space next to the second period you have determined.

Additional Links

We mentioned that additional links can be used in the video descriptions section. Be sure to use the link in this area. You can use your social media, website addresses, video-related blog resources, playlists with the video, and links to other relevant videos in this area.

If there is a very important external source link related to the video, you should definitely use it.

Using Tags in Descriptions

It is possible to create tags with a logic that has the logic of hashtags found in other social media in the descriptions. The tags created here will be immediately presented to the users watching your video on the front. It will also directly affect your optimization processes.

You should not use too many and irrelevant tags.

3-5 labels will benefit you. However, more than 3 will not be reflected on the front. Therefore, setting these limits will benefit you and your videos more.

In summary, how should the video description be?

• It will be useful to use between 150-500 words.
• It is necessary to use the determined target and relevant keywords organically in the description. It’s important to be organic here.
• Typing keywords side by side hurts Youtube SEO. Like xxx,xxx,xxx,xxx.
• The first few words of your description should be very strong and definitely include target words.
• It would be helpful to include source links in the explanations. Where possible, potential external sources should also be used.
• You must use at least 3 tags at the end of the description. You should not use irrelevant tags.
• Using more than 15 tags will cause all tags to be ignored by the Youtube algorithm.

Thumbnail

Thumbnails are the area where users interact first. No matter how high-quality your video is, if your featured images don’t attract enough attention, it will cause you to miss viewers and reach a low viewing rate. For this reason, you should create thumbnails by scrutinizing them tightly.

Thumbnail Content

Thumbnail content should be engaging. Images and text can be used in it. However, it is recommended to use these two elements in dose. So using too many images and icons is not a good idea for featured images. Likewise, using too much text is useless.

In order for the pictures/photos, you will use in the featured images to be interesting, you should make sure that they contain content that expresses emotion and has high relevance to the text next to it. Of course, you should also take care not to be clickbait while creating these images. Otherwise, your total watch times will negatively affect your channel.

You can look at an example of a successful featured image by doing research on Youtube for the target words you have determined.

You should also make sure that the texts you use are readable on mobile devices.

Thumbnail Sizes

Another element that you should pay attention to when creating prominent images for your Youtube videos is the image size.

• The featured image size should be 1280*720.
• Image formats can be JPG, GIF, or PNG.
• A maximum of 2 MB of images can be uploaded.

Source: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/72431

Thumbnail Creation Resources

There are resources you can use to create a thumbnail. These;

• Canva
• Cool Background
• Photopea
• Unsplash
• Fotor
• Picmaker

Thumbnail Details (in summary)

• Use eye-catching images and simple text.
• Images that reflect people’s emotions as close-ups get more clicks.
• Large and easy-to-read texts should be chosen. Use as few words as possible.
• It can be helpful to capitalize all words and use bold.
• The text on the thumbnail must remain readable on mobile devices as well.
• It would be beneficial to use as little text and images as possible. There is no need for more images and text.

End Screens and Cards

End screens and Card insertion options are methods of communicating with the audience in the video. For this reason, it would be helpful to include these options in the optimization.

End Screens

End screens provide the opportunity to direct users to other videos in the last seconds of your videos, to provide information about the playlist and to re-engage with them.

You should definitely add the following 3 items on the end screens;

• Playlist suggestion (Choose the playlist most relevant to the video if possible.)
• Best video recommendation for the viewer
• Subscribe button

Cards

Cards are a special structure created to present information to the user in the upper right part of the video. It can be added to any desired second of the video.

You can cite between videos using this structure. For example, while you are talking about your previous training video in a serial video system, you can show the card and the link of that video in the upper right corner.

Pay attention to these when adding an In-Video Card;

• If possible, do not add to the first 2 minutes of the video,
• Try to add in the most relevant parts,
• Using custom text is not recommended.
• Avoid adding an irrelevant card.

Tags

Add tags fields are available both in the video description and in the advanced video settings. With these tags, we can increase our video relevance and improve our optimization rate. For this reason, you should definitely not avoid the use of labels.

You should pay attention to the following criteria when using tags for your videos;

Tag Limit

We mentioned that our label usage areas are different. There is no limit to creating tags in the video description fields. You can use as much as you want. However, using more than 15 will cause you to appear as spam.

In the field in the advanced settings, there is a character limit, not the number of tags. You can enter a maximum of 500 characters. This tag may cause a different number to appear depending on the length of your words.

Tag Relevance

You should make sure that the tags you will use during the editing steps of your Youtube videos are of high relevance. If you use irrelevant tags, the optimization quality of your videos will decrease. So don’t make irrelevant tag selections. If possible, opt for niche tags and long tags.

Ways to Find Tags

The first way to find tags for your Youtube videos would be to analyze your competitors.

You can consider using the tags on the front of your competitors’ videos. In addition, you should definitely use your target words and their derivatives as tags. You can also make tag selections thanks to plugins such as Vidiq and TubeBuddy.

You can also discover tags by using the Keywords Everywhere plugin, which we frequently use in our SEO processes.

Advanced Video Settings

Advanced settings are settings that are not visible in the video editing section in the first place, but can be filled upon request. It is entirely up to you to fill in these. But effectively optimizing these areas will benefit you.

Recording Date Setting

The recording date setting is a field that allows you to select the date you took the video. Here we recommend that you choose the day you will share the video as the recording date to always be up to date.

Location Selection

Location is an effective feature where you can determine the target audience of your video. From here you can choose a location to integrate with the language of your video. However, if you have videos in English, it may make sense not to choose a location as this language is used in wider locations. But if you shot a video in Turkish, it would be healthy to set the location as “Turkey”.

In addition, if you have taken a field shot in a special location, you can directly determine that location. For example, if you are going to upload a documentary shoot, you can specify this location as the location where that documentary was shot.

Age Restriction

This field is one of the mandatory fields. A video is either made for kids or it isn’t. If your videos are special for children, be sure to mention them. “No, it’s not for kids.” If you choose, you will have published a general video.

If there are parts of your videos that will disturb some age criteria, you should mark whether your video is suitable for those under 18 years of age from the settings in the “Age Restriction” field. Otherwise, in case of any complaint, your video will be restricted and this may cause your channel to be closed.

Category Selection

Category fields allow you to select the category your Video is generally related to. If you do not specify a category in your videos, your categories will be equivalent to your channel categories and will be set as default.

If you want to make a selection other than your channel category, you can follow the Advanced settings > Category steps. Here you have to choose the most relevant for your video from 15 different categories.

Subtitles

Captions of videos are an important feature in terms of accessibility. It is especially useful for people who just want to follow the image and are not in an available environment to listen to the audio.

In addition, thanks to the subtitles translated into foreign languages, people from different locations and languages ​​can benefit from your informative videos. It is also an undeniable fact that videos with subtitles are more prominent on Youtube. In light of all the information, the importance of adding subtitles to our videos is undeniable.

Ways to Create Subtitles

Creating subtitles is quite a painstaking task. By listening to your video from beginning to end, you should separate the texts according to certain time periods and write them. This work can turn into an effort that takes hours.

There are many ways to add subtitles to videos;

• With automatic Youtube translation
• 3rd party tools
• Manual

Youtube Automatic Translation

Youtube translation analyzes the sound of your video, creates an automatic text, and processes it into your video on a time basis. In this way, you will have subtitles without any effort.

3rd Party Tools

3rd party tools are tools that provide captioning services for videos. As they are private programs, they are usually paid. However, it is possible to find free programs that provide this service on platforms such as GitHub.

Paid tool; Rev.com

Free tool; pyTranscriber

How to Add Subtitles?

• Enter the video editing area,
• Select the video you want to edit,
• Enter the “Subtitles” field on the left panel,
• If there are subtitles in this field, click “Edit”.
• If you are going to upload a new one, press the “Add” button.

You can create subtitles either as a .srt file or as text one by one.

Channel Based Settings

Channel-based editing refers to channel-wide edits regardless of video settings. Most of these arrangements can be made once. Therefore, it is necessary to be careful and determined. It will affect the entire appearance of the channel.

Channel Customization

Channel customization settings generally include adding a Logo, adding a channel picture, and planning a channel name. Things to consider in channel customization settings;

Kanal Logosu Ekleme

The channel logo is the image of your channel. It is the part that will appear below all your videos. Therefore, it should be well designed. It can be thought of as a brand logo. You can change it whenever you want.

Youtube channel logo sizes are recommended as 800×800.

It is important that it is specific to your channel. It is one of the areas that users attach importance to. Therefore, it should be well designed.

Adding Channel Picture

Channel art is the area just above your channel logo. Like Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin cover pictures, channel art is also known as Youtube cover photo. It is a fertile space for you to express the content of your channel.

Youtube channel art sizes for desktop; 25601440 px, for mobile view; It will be 1546423 px. It is important that you choose these sizes.

Youtube channel art maximum 8 MB. may be in size.

Your channel picture should express your channel well. The text can contain a motto. It should be compatible with your channel logo. It should have a color match.

Channel Name Planning

The Channel name is your Channel title. It will be one of the most important parts that will represent you. In this section, you may consider using your target words. However, we strongly recommend that you use your brand name or your own name first.

The channel name is a parameter that you can change at any time. However, we do not recommend that you constantly change it. It would be more accurate to think about making your changes with target word additions by keeping your brand name constant.

Channel Private Link

A channel custom link is a structure that allows you to make changes to the Youtube URL structure. In order to make changes to this structure, you must have at least 100 Subscribers. You can edit this field only once. That’s why you have to be firm and sure.

You should definitely pass your brand name in the channel-specific URL structure. In addition, if there is a clear channel target word that you do not intend to change in the future, you can integrate it into the channel CUSTOM URL field.

Channel Links

Channel links are clickable and customizable links located at the bottom right of the Channel image. Can be changed via channel customization settings. You can use up to 5 links here. You can give these links to any external sources you want.

For example, you can consider giving your website address and sharing your other social media addresses. But we strongly recommend that you use this field and fill in all your channel link options. Because it will add value to you as an external link.

About Me Section

The About me section is where you provide information about your Channel and your goals. Here you should write as professional a statement as you can. You should post notes that clearly represent your brand and goals.

While creating the text in the About section, you should not neglect to include your words in the channel target words in this text and to create a blended structure with your side target words. In this way, you can make your channel more prominent.

Also, do not forget to share your e-mail address in this area. In this way, you will not miss a possible sponsorship agreement.

Channel Layout

With the channel layout, you determine which areas a user will see when they come to your channel’s home page. Here you can add playlists, highlight shorts and put a main welcome video. These videos vary according to the returning user and the new user. It is useful to put different videos for both.

You can put videos that are important to you here, as your featured videos will have a chance to get a view from anyone viewing your channel homepage. Also, you don’t have to think too much about making a decision, as you can change these videos at any time you want.

When creating a channel layout, you should not neglect to add important playlists, the “Channels” area where your other channels are located and use the structure of the short, which is the trend of recent times.

Channel Details in Summary

• The channel name is an important place to pass keywords.
• Channel keywords must be filled in completely.
• It would be useful to pass the keywords in the channel about me field.
• You should also take care to pass your keywords in the playlist descriptions.

Playlist Based Editing

Since your playlists are also an element of your channels and therefore your videos, it will be very useful to optimize these lists. These optimization steps are as follows;

Playlist Title

Your playlist title should definitely contain the target word. The videos that will be included in it should be related to the series. Optimizing this title well will allow even your playlists to appear in search results. You should definitely edit the title with this one.

Playlist titles can be up to 150 characters long. However, in order to be organic and visible on mobile devices, it would be beneficial to stay at the level of 70-90 without using all of this limit.

Playlist Description

The playlist description is a field that allows editing up to 5000 characters. It gives you a great opportunity to express what your playlists are all about. It is essential to use target words in these areas to take advantage of this opportunity. It will be of great benefit to you to create a meaningful text by adding other side words next to the target words and to share the goals of your playlist exactly.

By acting in the light of all this information, you can make your playlists more visible. You can also try using hashtags and tags at the bottom of the description section.

Playlist Featured Content

The featured content will be the cover of your playlist. That’s why it’s helpful to bring the latest video here. If you put the first video of your playlist content, it may cause you to get an old look. Therefore, it will be more efficient for you to choose the most up-to-date content.

Things to Consider Before Uploading Videos

Keyword Usage in Video

While shooting your videos, take care to pass the keywords you have previously determined and the derivatives of these words aloud in this content. Thanks to the sound processing success of the Youtube algorithm, passing these words will make your video more meaningful. We recommend that you use your core word aloud in your videos more than 3 times in an organic stream. You can take this into account when writing video scripts.

Video File Name

When adding your video to your Youtube channel, you should also make sure that the filename you upload is relevant enough. Do not forget that all this Youtube SEO process creates a meaningful whole. That’s why you should consider optimizing your video filenames as well.

For example, “How to Do Youtube SEO?” Let’s say you’re shooting a targeted video. Before uploading this video, make sure your video filename is “youtube-seo-how-to”

Video Quality

Video quality is one of the criteria given importance by Youtube. Like every platform, Youtube takes care to include quality content on the platform. For this reason, take care to get your video outputs at least HD quality. If you have the opportunity, output all your videos in 4K and upload them to your Youtube channel in this way.

Important User Interaction Metrics for Youtube

There are certain interaction metrics on Youtube that will make your channels stand out and grow faster. You should also keep these metrics in mind and conduct your analysis on these metrics.

The proportions of these criteria and the success you have achieved in these criteria will be instrumental in highlighting your newly uploaded videos more.

The list of user interaction metrics you should pay attention to;

• It is a huge plus for the viewers to navigate through your youtube channel and switch from video to video.
• Long videos and long watch times are important criteria.
• Videos of 10 minutes or longer rank better in search results.
• It is beneficial to include CTA texts in the video and to call out to the users.
• Average watch time will be the most important criterion of your channel.
• The most important source of views for your channel will be “Youtube Search”, “Playlists” and “Recommended Videos”.

Plugins and Tools That Can Be Used For Youtube SEO

There are helpful tools that we can use while doing all these Youtube SEO processes. During these tools, we can increase our optimization speed, access more data, and thus achieve more successful results. Some of the tools we can use in our Youtube video SEO work;

Vidiq

It is a free and paid plugin. It can make a serious contribution to your videos. Useful features;

• Searching and discovering tags
• Show competitors’ tags
• Provide video scoring with a Checklist
• Sharing optimization suggestions
• Do competitor analysis
• Quick glance at the search result page with the target word
• See competitor featured image

TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy is an add-on with paid and free versions just like Vidiq. It offers you all the features mentioned above. In addition, they offer;

• Checking the general installation settings (Default installation)
• Monetization violation check
• Label import option
• Creating a target word-based general optimization plan with SEO Studio
• Creating a ready-made template and using it later

Youtube Search

The Youtube search section provides very productive data to get new ideas for your videos. By entering your target word here, you can do research and identify frequently used word derivatives. However, when you do research with your target word, you will be able to see your competitors and include your competitor analysis in your optimization processes.

Google Trends

Google trend is an important tool for finding volume data about your target words, comparing this data seasonally, and getting new word suggestions. By using Google trends in your Youtube SEO studies, you can highlight your videos one step further and complete your keyword planning in the most accurate way.

Statistics About Youtube SEO Efforts

• Youtube is known as the 2nd largest search engine after Google. As of 2022, it has 2.1 billion users (Statista).
• The likelihood of videos appearing prominently increases if they are optimized on Youtube.
• Channels that conduct Video SEO efforts on Youtube see a 20% increase in revenue.
• Being the world’s 2nd largest search engine, it will increase your chances of reaching potential customers.

What is the Contribution of Youtube SEO Efforts to Websites?

SEO efforts on Youtube channels for projects will not only affect the number of views and the channel itself but also significantly contribute to the project’s websites. Links added to the channel and links made in the description through Youtube SEO efforts can empower the site. Additionally, using timelines can enable a Youtube video to appear on Google’s SERP for relevant queries. Appearing on the SERP with a Youtube video is as important as appearing with your website.

Should Youtube SEO Efforts Be Made for Old Videos?

SEO efforts for Youtube can also be applied retroactively for previously uploaded videos that have not been optimized enough in terms of SEO. This can contribute to both sending signals for staying up-to-date and improving the view counts of old videos. Moreover, these SEO efforts can facilitate a quick response for the videos that will be uploaded in the future.

If you are going to perform Youtube SEO for your old videos, your priorities should be:

• Editing the video title,
• Editing the video description,
• Adding a timeline,
• Linking to a playlist.

Are Old Videos or New Videos More Advantageous for the Youtube Algorithm?

For the Youtube algorithm, new videos are always more advantageous than old ones. It is possible for a new video, which has undergone Youtube SEO, to gain momentum and views quickly. Of course, this situation is not limited to being new or old.

• The channel’s potential audience,
• The number of views in the first 24 hours,
• The number of interactions, and other factors are also very important.

Focusing on current SEO efforts for old videos to compete with new incoming rival videos and revisiting Youtube SEO steps repeatedly will provide significant benefits.

Frequently Asked Questions About Youtube SEO