The Ultimate Guide On How To Rank YouTube Videos
In 2006, Google bought YouTube for $1.6 billion. At that time, video was not on everyone’s lips. In some countries, the DSL network had not yet been achieved by all people, so that watching videos was sometimes a real challenge.
Today, the tables have turned. YouTube is one of the most visited websites on the planet. Every minute about 60 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. YouTube is not just a platform where people can upload their own personal videos. There are an infinite number of training videos. One can find answers to nearly every imaginable question, especially for those who want to make money on the Internet, YouTube is more than interesting because the website allows you to link the uploaded videos to your own website. So when you upload videos you can get a lot of new visitors from YouTube.
Furthermore, YouTube also has an affiliate program that is linked with Adsense. When in your video appears an advertising block, you may earn extra money. Also affiliate links in the description of the videos are not prohibited.
I think at this point you can already see the potential of YouTube and the creation of videos. In this guide I will show you in detail how to upload videos to YouTube so that they will be found. You will learn and understand that YouTube is nothing more than a search engine – but for videos.
But it gets even better: Google loves videos(and of course especially to their own site, YouTube) and ranks them in search results often much higher than “just text”.
Here’s the step-by-step guide to rank YouTube videos:
On Page factors (factors which you can influence directly on YouTube)
Your YouTube channel
Put to each blog a separate YouTube account. If you have for example a blog about “losing weight in 30 days” then try to call it this, Weight Loss in 30 days or something similar. This helps with the ranking in the search engines because your keyword is already selected in the YouTube account and therefore, Google “knows” what it is about.
Title of your videos
The title of your video is the most important feature for search engine optimization. It’s the most important “On Page”(on the site) optimization factor. Pronouns in the video are the keywords you want to optimize. If e.g. your video is about “losing weight in 30 days” then your title should be like this or the keyword should be “built in” in the title.
A small side note:
Before you are aiming at a specific keyword search, try to search for it by yourself. If your video is e.g. about “making money online” and you have videos with 20,000 + views from YouTube accounts that have been around for years, then you will have it really hard to rank for that keyword. At this point you may want to consider key phrases that are perhaps longer or more specific, and don’t have so much competition.
For researching keywords I use Market Samurai. I get a lot of other potential keywords delivered this way which I can use and have all the data at a glance. Nobody really needs Market Samurai but it makes the lives of everyone who wants to make money on the Internet much easier.
The description of your video
The description of your video is the second most important “On Page” factor for your video. Whatever you insert in the description – first, use your keyword and then the URL of your video. Then you can also mention the keyword again without fearing a degradation of Google.
Tags to describe your video
Another important factor for the On Page optimization is the use of tags. Use as many as you can. Search for videos about your topic and look at what tags are used. Create a list and use them for your video. The more specialized the better. Always remember that YouTube is just a search engine for videos. The more tags you use, the easier YouTube can “read” your video and recommend it to other visitors.
Off Page factors (factors that affect the ranking of your video outside of YouTube)
Views
In order to rank higher than your competitors, you need to have more people who have seen your videos. The odds are good if you have more people viewing your video than your competitors, then you will be classified “as important” and appear higher in the search results. On sites like “Fiverr.com“, views can be purchased for $5. But you should make sure that your views are growing slowly and that you don’t get 10,000 views in three hours.
Ultimately, I rather recommend you to promote your own video. A well made and interesting video is often viewed and shared with friends. Send the video to your email list(I use Aweber), and link it in forums to relevant articles or load it up on other sites(see below). This way you build up not only more back links, but also you will get real people who are interested in your video and watch it.
You can also work at additional views.
Anyone can log in to sites like AddmeFast.com, YoulikeHits.com or Vagex and collect “likes” and “views”. The principle is simple. You subscribe and then you add your videos. The more videos you look at from others(you’ll just have to open the “look through”) the more points you get which you can use for your own videos. This is similar to the principle of Stumble Upon. I’ve often thought that I get more traffic from that site when I look at a few pages they offer me before.
Likes & Subscriber
You can also use the above services to get many subscribers, likes, and comments on your videos.
Of course, try to make it look as natural as possible. These techniques are not illegal but they are trying to “fool” the YouTube system and for this you have to be cautious.
Embed your video on other sites
The purpose of social media is of course sharing. If your video is embedded on other sites, it’s considered by the webmaster to be valuable. So you can still do something for your ranking. Don’t just embed your video on your blog, and your Facebook site, or other Web 2.0 sites, but also on the following video sharing sites:
The good thing about these sites is that you are just using your YouTube code: copy and paste. There are pages with high PageRank, much traffic, and a contribution to a good ranking.
In brief – that is all about marketing on YouTube. Of course you can also do social bookmarking intensively and post your video links in comments on blogs and forums. Just be careful when you use services that offer you 1000s of views in a few hours, meaning that they occur automatically. As much as we would all enjoy these “shortcuts”, it helps us little in ranking. It’s really better to make it a habit to promote your blog and your videos every day. A “real” business does not advertise only once and then never again, but does so with daily specials, flyers, or similar advertising.
Some other tips that have been proven:
Give your YouTube account authority. This means that if you’re offering videos about losing weight, add some “healthy living”, “diet tips”, or “fitness” to it. This way, you won’t lose a visitor who may not like one video, immediately. YouTube shows other videos automatically from your channel. Furthermore, you will come into other niches and you will talk to other users. Someone who seeks videos on “jogging” today, can also like tips on losing weight tomorrow.
YouTube gives you the option to connect your account to other accounts in your niche. Of course you don’t want to specify the accounts in your sidebar which are in direct competition with you, but ones that fit in your niche work very well.
Of course, all this sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but remember, “No pain, no gain.” Many people who have just uploaded their videos on YouTube ignore the entire off-page area. Everything, which could lead on your own website to significant problems(e.g. buying views and links), won’t do any harm on YouTube.
Nevertheless, the more you do manually in case of ranking, the better.
Filed in: Blog • Internet Marketing
About the Author (Author Profile)
I'm Monja, the owner of several websites, amongst others Digidesignresort.com and CMDacademy.de. I make my money online since 2011 and as a teacher I love to teach others how to do the same - personally. You can connect with me here and on Google +Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Great guide, I found a lot of new informations.
Thanks for this article!
Sandy,
You are very welcome! Thanks a lot for your comment!
Am bookmarking this article to refer back to once the coffee fully kicks in…we have a few YouTube videos, and I don’t think we have done any of this stuff! Thank you! Stopping by from SITS.
HI,
Thanks for coming over and leaving a comment! It’s greatly appreciated!
Thank you for sharing these tips. Another way to promote Youtube video would be making good use of Facebook. It is very powerful to get your video viral if you have contents that are interesting.
YouTube is a great resource, and offers a chance at YouTube fame. It is an extremely crowded market though, with high barriers to entry. You pretty much covered a lot of the ways to earn rankings for your videos/channel and these are tactics that can carry over to your blog or other sites as well. Lots of great advice, thanks for sharing!
Nice share! I was really looking for these tips only! Now I think I can get a good rank on Youtube!
It’s A nice Guide..Now i have started a Youtube channel..One of my video is Getting Popular…And its Vuevs are mostly from social Media…
These are realyy some cool posts thanx a lot again!
Awsome post, and very usefull informations, i really like your ranking videos way i’ll try it too o my youtube channel, thanks for sharing Monja!