Video content has taken the internet by storm. It is ruling the market and as studies show, video content is king. It is so popular that YouTube is the second-largest search engine on the planet. It is next to Google for the throne. Due to its high level of engagement and amazing response, companies and marketing agencies are leveraging it. The number of content creators on YouTube is in millions. It has over 8,000 major networks creating videos on the platform.
Their biggest content creator award is the Ruby award, which is given to a channel with 50 million subscribers. If you’re publishing videos on YouTube, then this is the right article for you. Whether you’re a single content creator or a full-fledged marketing agency, this article will help you get to the top of the search results.
How to increase views on YouTube?
You should take the help of the following tips:
Leverage YouTube Cards
YouTube has removed the boring blocks of text which used to hinder the view of the users. These blocks of text used to contain links. The link could be to another video, or a website, depending on the content creator. In place of that system, YouTube has introduced cards. These cards increase the interactivity of the video and are a great way to enhance user engagement.
How do YouTube cards work?
A small ‘I’ icon appears on the upper-right corner of the video. When a user clicks on the ‘I’ symbol a small menu appears with links provided by the content creator. You can add links to your website or a web page, provide links for your other videos or a created playlist too. Apart from links, you can use this feature to quiz your audience and get feedback on your content. It is an effective way to enhance your user engagement and thus, generate more views. It makes easier for your viewers to find more of your content.
Engage with Social Media Marketing
There are many other social media platforms apart from YouTube. You should use them as well. They can drive loads of traffic to your video and increase your YouTube views. Depending on the kind of content you create, you should focus on using the platforms. For example, if your content is professional or educational, you can use LinkedIn and market it there. On the other hand, if you are focused on creating humorous videos or entertaining videos, Instagram and Facebook would be better choices.
With the help of other social media platforms, you can reach more people present in your audience. You can join groups, forums and discussions on relevant topics, and engage with the community there. As Neil Patel says, SEO is about user optimization. Engaging with the community there will help you find out what people really want.
You can use that knowledge to create great videos.
Gather High-quality Backlinks
Backlinks refer to the links directed towards a specific piece of content. One can get backlinks from other websites. However, the website should be reputed because it really matters for search engines. The number of backlinks your videos or channel get denote your reputation to the search engines. So, having a number of backlinks will benefit you considerably.
How to get backlinks for your YouTube channel?
You can get in touch with bloggers and fellow YouTubers present in your niche. If your content is of high quality, they’ll surely add a link to your video or channel (depending on your request). Try to get backlinks for your channel as well as your videos. They can drive traffic and increase your views on YouTube. A key thing to note: YouTube doesn’t care much about backlinks. Backlinks are effective for SEO, and they can help you get traffic from search engines such as Google and Bing. You can write backlinks on your video descriptions as well as on your channel’s ‘About’ page.
Do Keyword Research like a Pro
Use the right keywords to get the maximum exposure. Without keywords, your YouTube SEO will be ineffective. Keywords are the terms people search for. If your content is based on the terms people search for, you will easily get more traffic and so, you will rank higher.
How to find keywords for YouTube SEO?
You can take the help of YouTube’s search suggestions. Enter a term and you’ll see automatic suggestions for a number of other relevant terms. This is a great way to find out trending keywords. This handy strategy will get you keywords specific to YouTube’s needs. You’ll be able to find out what is your audience searching about on YouTube. Another thing you can do is to take a look at the keywords your competitors are using. If your competition is ahead of you, then take a look at their titles and video descriptions. What are the kinds of keywords they are using? What kind of tags they have included? Finding out this info will let you get ahead of the competition.
Use Keywords in Title and Description
Your video title is your headline. With a keyword in the title, your chances of ranking higher in the search results will increase. The same goes for your video description. However, don’t spam your video title and description with keywords. Just target one or two keywords and sprinkle them in your content. YouTube also suggests creators focus on the keyword early while doing it naturally. That means, your keyword use shouldn’t be forced. Name your video file accordingly too. It shouldn’t be ‘movie01’ or ‘vid0004’. Have a descriptive file name, such as ‘content marketing tips’, etc.
That’s because search engines or YouTube can’t watch your video. They don’t know what’s in there. They can, however, read the file name and interpret it. So, you should insert a keyword in the filename along with the title and description.
Ask for Likes, Comments and Shares
Asking for likes, comments, shares or requesting them to subscribe isn’t bad. In fact, these all are CTAs.
What are CTAs?
A CTA refers to call-to-action. It is a term used in copywriting (the art of writing advertising copy). When you ask the reader or the audience to perform a specific task, it is a CTA. Inserting a CTA is important to make sure that your visitors know what to do after watching the video. Without a CTA like asking for likes or subscribing, you will lose a good deal of feedback. Encourage users to provide feedback on your content. The more likes and comments your video will have, the higher it will rank in YouTube searches. That’s because YouTube takes user feedback as a serious factor for YouTube SEO. So, don’t forget to ask for likes, comments and subscriptions. It’s worth it.
Create Professional-looking Videos
You don’t need a production studio and a fantastic video editor to create awesome videos. However, your video quality has a lot of impact on your YouTube success. Consider getting a good background, a video recording camera and a microphone. They don’t have to be costly but they will give you a head start. Good quality videos ensure your audiences watch your videos for certain duration. YouTube cares about audience retention rate and if people exit your videos after a few seconds, it’s bad for your channel.
How to increase the retention rate of your videos?
Create great thumbnails and focus on providing value. It doesn’t hurt to provide as much as value as possible to your viewers. Build suspense to make sure people stick till the end. You can also invest in a good intro or offer a snippet of what’s to come in the beginning.
Add Subtitles to your Video
Closed captions help in improving the watching experience of your audience. Moreover, adding captions on YouTube is quite simple. You can add captions using the YouTube Creator Studio. With captions, you can also boost your rankings as search engines notice that you provide more value. Technically, search engines can crawl the captions. This means you can get higher rankings on search results and increase views on YouTube with just a little tweak.
Conclusion
Getting successful on YouTube isn’t easy. It takes time and effort. You’ll need to publish content regularly and stay active in the community to make sure you get the best results. However, with its wide reach and a constantly increasing reach, you can be certain of reaching your marketing goals. What do you think of YouTube? Did you find these tips helpful? Share your thoughts with us.
