YouTube + SEO: How To Optimise Your Videos For Google

You might think of YouTube as a limitless video library, but did you ever think about how it’s also a search engine for videos?

It is. YouTube is a search engine, just like Google, but only for videos hosted on its platform. That means that you should spend time optimising your videos so that they show up in YouTube searches.

But don’t forget to optimise your videos for Google search as well. Certain types of videos tend to show up in Google search results, depending on what keywords are being searched. Some topics lend themselves to video better than others, after all.

So in this article, we’re going to quickly go over which types of videos you should optimise for Google, and how to optimise YouTube videos.

What Types Of Videos Do Well In Google Search?

According to Backlinko, these types of keywords tend to generate video search results on Google:

• How-to keywords
• Reviews
• Tutorials
• Anything fitness or sports related
• Funny videos

So if your video falls into one of these categories, you should aim to optimise it for keywords that yield video results on Google. How do you know if they do? Search for them on Google and see if any video results come up.

For example, if you uploaded a video to YouTube about website design, you might want to title it “how to build a killer website” and optimise it for how-to keyword phrases that are more Google-friendly than something like “web design” or “website design”.

And how exactly do you optimise YouTube videos? Here’s how.

How To Optimise YouTube Videos

Here are a few simple ways to optimise a YouTube video:

• Create a compelling title: something that both entices someone to click through and watch, and also incorporates your keywords
• Add a few relevant tags: YouTube’s own help page on tags says the title, thumbnail and description matter more, and tags play a minimal role, so don’t overdo them
• Ask viewers to comment and subscribe: both comments and subscriptions are strong signals to YouTube that your video is popular and therefore should be ranked higher.
• Add your own closed captions: auto-captions can get words wrong, especially names and local terms, and accurate captions help viewers who watch without sound.
• Add a transcript in the video description: Google crawls and indexes this description, so the more useful text you include here, the better. Bonus points for inserting your keywords throughout.
• Use a quality thumbnail image: make sure your video thumbnail is enticing enough for people to click through to watch it.
• Use playlists: instead of linking to one video, you can link to a playlist of 4 to 6 videos, which often results in more user engagement.
• Optimise the video filename: use your keyword in the filename if possible, rather than leaving it as the default name generated by your camera.
• Aim for backlinks to both your videos AND your channel: both will increase your authority and lead to higher search rankings

Rock Solid Marketing is a digital marketing agency in Mildura that provides SEO services. Contact us to learn more about how to set your website up for SEO success.