Youtube is the most popular video platform. More and more businesses choose Youtube to share information with their audiences. As we know,Youtube is also a search engine.How to rank Youtube video fast? What are the main factors of Youtube ranking ? You can follow the following 11 Youtube SEO tips to promote your Youtube videos.
Our marketing researcher conducted a research on 1.3 million YouTube videos to help video creators better understand how the YouTube search engine works. Then we found 11 factors affecting rankings on YouTube, such as views, comments, and sharing.
Here are the key points of our research findings:
- The number of views of the video is highly correlated with the Youtube video ranking (top1);
- Comments are an important factor influencing Youtube video ranking, and video comments are highly relevant to video rankings;
- The ranking of Long video is better than short video. The average length of Youtube video on the first page of YouTube search results is 14 minutes and 50 seconds;
- The amount of video sharing is highly correlated with Youtube video ranking;
- The number of subscribers is moderately related to Youtube video ranking, which means that even small channels have the opportunity to improve their YouTube video rankings;
- The number of video likes is highly correlated with the Youtube video ranking
- “Subscriptions driven” has a large association with Youtube video ranking, so videos that attract new users have an advantage on YouTube search results ;
- Video tags with many keywords are not as important as other factors for Youtube SEO. This may mean that YouTube can now understand video content without the help of metadata;
- The title of Youtube video that match the keywords exactly, which is slightly better than other videos. This means that including specific keywords in the video title may improve your Youtube SEO;
- There is no correlation between the optimized keywords of the video description and the Youtube SEO;
- HD video (HD) dominates YouTube video search results, and 68.2% of the first page of the searching results is HD video.
Here are some details of 11 Youtube SEO tips :
Tip 1, video views – Top 1 factor of Youtube SEO
Video views used to be the top 1 factor influencing YouTube video rankings,probably : high pageviews = popular videos = high quality videos. But YouTube found that high viewing does not always necessarily mean that the video quality is good. So YouTube has changed its search ranking algorithm, emphasizing factors such as the ability to stick the audience and the level of engagement.
However, the study found that the total viewing volume of the video is still highly correlated with the search ranking:
It seems that companies still need to have a large amount of views on the Youtube video in order to have a higher ranking in YouTube search results. YouTube engineers say that while Youtube views isn’t as important as it used to be, YouTube still uses this as a ranking metric.
This is because, without the amount of Youtube views, the video can’t produce more metrics that affect the ranking, so YouTube can’t assess the quality of your video (like total viewing time and comments).
But to a certain extent, the influence of the length of views has shrunk. That’s why high-quality video rankings are ranked in front of low-quality videos even when low-quality videos have more views.
This is why some Youtube views providers tend to offer Youtube views with long Retention. So, how to rank Youtube video fast? One effective way is to buy Youtube Views from the provider. But please remember to choose the Youtube views with long Retention. If you ask if there are any resources to buy Youtube views,we recommend Skyrocket online Promo. Most of Youtube video creators said they provide high quality Youtube views.
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Tip 2, Youtube comments – an important factor of Youtube video ranking
YouTube encourages video producers to post videos that most people engage . And Youtube comments are a powerful indicator of how users interact with videos. But does YouTube use comments as a ranking signal ? The data shows that the answer is yes:
As shown above, the more video comments, the higher the search ranking. This is not surprising that YouTube emphasizes that videos should get users interacting with your Youtube channel.
Tip 3, long video Youtube ranking is higher than short video
Should companies create short videos when it comes to Youtube SEO ? Or should business still create a long video ?
The data shows that long Youtube videos tend to rank higher than short videos:
In fact, the average length of the first page of the search results page on YouTube is 14 minutes and 50 seconds.
YouTube publicly confirms that total video viewing time is a key Youtube ranking metric.
At the same time, in 2015, Google patented the algorithm because Youtube can use “watching time” as a Youtube ranking factor.
In short, YouTube wants to promote videos that will last a long time. And long videos can do this.
On the other hand, longer videos offer more value than a short video. The same is true of the “how-to” video (tutorial video) and entertainment videos. The value provided by longer videos may lead to more ranking metrics (including comments and likes) that ultimately affect Youtube rankings.
In fact, if you search for popular keywords roughly, it’s hard to find short Youtube videos (<3 minutes) in the search results.
Tip 4, The amount of video sharing – an important factor of Youtube SEO
The more the share, the higher the video ranking !
Google has always denied that social factors also play a role in the ranking algorithm of SEO. However, YouTube’s algorithm is independent of Google. So YouTube may use the amount of social media sharing such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as a ranking indicator.
In fact, the study found that social media sharing is highly correlated with Youtube rankings.
It’s worth noting that YouTube tracks the user’s social media sharing data.
Why is this important? One of the main problems with social factors as ranking indicators is that social factors can be artificially changed. Anyone can exchange a few dollars for 100 times to share on Facebook. But the situation on YouTube is different because YouTube knows which users share the video and what the user is sharing.
Therefore, on YouTube, social signals are difficult to change by video producers.
Considering that YouTube encourages users to create highly-shared content, the correlation between your Youtube video ranking and social sharing is more than just random. So creators should create video content that can be widely shared.
Tip 5, the number of subscriptions to Youtube channel
The study found that the number of subscribers to a channel has a certain correlation with the Youtube ranking :
If the company has a small channel or a new channel, then this is good news. Unlike Google, which prefers big brands, YouTube prefers to show good videos from “little people” on the search results page. For example, searching for the popular keyword “foot massager”, the video rankings of these two small channels are very high, and are more prominent than those with 2 million subscribers.
Tip 6, the Youtube Likes that your Youtube Video got- an important factor of Youtube SEO
Youtube video ranking is higher than that of a low number of likes that Youtube video got.
It’s an indisputable fact that YouTube likes videos that interact with users more. So the number of Youtube likes can be an important factor influencing Youtube video ranking. After all, praise is the way YouTube evaluates how users feel about video.
This is just theory, so what about the data? Research reveals that Youtube video ranking is highly correlated with the number of Youtube likes.
This means that YouTube may consider the number of user clicks as a ranking metric. But This is only one factor.
A lot of videos that receive a lot of praise may be high-quality videos, so they will also generate other signals that YouTube is interested in and that will affect the search ranking (such as viewer retention).
Tip 7. Attract new subscribers
Youtube video ranking that attract new subscribers are higher than those that do not.
If the user thinks the video is interesting, what will they do next? They may subscribe to the channel and continue to watch the channel video. Video that appeals to many new subscribers is certainly good quality. And not only that, video creators have a hard time manipulating and getting large-scale new subscribers.
Of course, after watching the video, there may be a small number of users who will subscribe to your channel. But this is much more difficult than generating thousands of page views and Youtube likes.
Studies have shown that “subscriptions driven” has a strong correlation with improving Youtube ranking .
As with sharing, YouTube will show the number of new subscriptions below each video.
Video creators can drive the growth of video subscribers by creating world-class video content. But you can also ask video viewers to subscribe to the video.
The study found that videos with obvious CTA behavior and ask user to subscribe have significantly higher new subscribers.
Tip 8, keywords and tags – little correlation about how to rank Youtube video
Keywords and tags are weakly related to YouTube ranking .
In the early days, on online video platforms like YouTube, metadata was used to explain video themes. For example, YouTube analyzes video titles, subscriptions, tags, and even the file name of a video to rank. Basically, the more content the video attaches, the higher the ranking.
Now, YouTube can “listen” to any word on the video (Video producer doesn’t even have to upload text).
So, does YouTube still use video tags as metadata? The study found that keywords&tags and search rankings are weak, but not irrelevant.
Although the tags are not as important in the rankings as the previous one, the research data shows that it still has a little impact. At the same time, YouTube also recommends users to use descriptive tags. This means that it still uses tags to understand the content and background of the video.
Tip 9, title with the optimized keywords
The keyword-optimized title has a bit of relevance to the Youtube video ranking .
The general video title is part of the metadata highlighted by YouTube. But the study found that including the exact keywords in the video title has only a small impact on the Youtube ranking :
This finding means: On the one hand, YouTube may no longer emphasize the importance of video titles. But this seems unlikely, because YouTube says: “The title contains valuable information that makes it easier for viewers to see your video while searching.” But on the other hand, it’s more likely that YouTube has a deeper understanding of the title. The meaning is no longer just a simple match of keywords.
In other words, YouTube may have used a less complex Google semantic algorithm for Youtube ranking. If so, YouTube doesn’t need to see some specific keywords in the video title and use it to rank Youtube Video .
In fact, videos with popular keywords rank higher on YouTube, even though their tags don’t contain exact phrases.
Tip 10, description with the optimized keywords
Video descriptions that have been keyword-optimized have nothing to do with Youtube video ranking .
Can optimizing keywords in the video description help improve Youtube ranking ? According to the data, the video description of the optimized keywords has no effect on the Youtube SEO :
This finding is inconsistent with the common “best practices” of video optimization – describing the inclusion of rich keywords.
There are reasons for this: First, like the title, YouTube may not need to use the exact keywords in the description to understand the video content. For example, suppose your target keyword is: “how to rank Youtube video fast”, and it is also possible to use terms such as “Youtube SEO” or “the best way of Youtube ranking” in the description.
Secondly, it is possible that YouTube uses “keywords appearing in the video description” as a ranking factor, but its impact on rankings is so small that it cannot be measured. In fact, we found that several undescribed videos were ranked high on the first page of the seaching results . This means that video descriptions are not as important as user metrics (including pageviews and new subscribers).
Finally, YouTube may now ignore the video description as ranking factor. But this is unlikely, because YouTube stated: “Writing descriptions with the right keywords can increase the amount of viewing and viewing time because they can improve the ranking of videos in search results.”
Still, it is recommended to write a keyword-rich video description, why? The optimized description will make your video appear in the recommended video bar. The recommended video bar is an important source of view for most channels.
Tip 11, HD video
HD video captures the first page of the YouTube video search results page.
What is the ranking of HD or SD video on YouTube search results pages? The study found that on the home page of the YouTube video search results, HD video is more than standard definition video.
This data can be explained in two ways: On the one hand, YouTube video publishers who may create good content tend to record HD video; but on the other hand, it is also possible that YouTube ranking algorithm prefers HD video. But based on available data, it is difficult to determine the impact of HD and SD video on Youtube ranking.
In any case, the high-ranking video on YouTube is HD video. In fact, 68.2% of the YouTube search results page is HD video.
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