9 Steps to Proper YouTube Video Optimization

Since YouTube works as a search engine as well, it’s vital for any blogger to optimize their content correctly. Video optimization is one of the key factors that influence content promotion on YouTube. Without it, no one will find the video in searches, and the content will not get in Trending or recommendations. And on the contrary, when your clip is properly optimized, it’ll get loads of organic viewers and subscribers, gain higher engagement, and attract advertisers. It will help you earn more and spend less on your channel advertising.

So, it’s clear: optimization is important, but how to leverage it properly? Let’s consider crucial steps on the way to an effective optimization.

Step 1. Analyze other creators

Check other bloggers’ content. These can be bloggers from your niche, your relevant competitors, or simply famous YouTubers you like. Analyze their content strategy and how they optimize their videos - how they name clips, what descriptions they write, if they use hashtags, and if so, which ones. Analyze if they have subtitles, cards, and end screens.

Pay attention to how they organize their content. Do they sort their videos in playlists?

Engagement is another vital parameter to check. Analyze the likes/dislikes ratio and the number of followers in relation to a number of views. Examine how your competitors or bloggers you like interact with their audience - if they reply to comments or are active in their channels communities.

Some of the analysis points can be performed via special websites like Socialblade, which allows estimating the basic statistics of any channel.

Step 2. Include keywords

If it’s challenging for you to figure out what keywords to use in titles and bio captions, use special tools for that like Keyword Tool. YouTube is a search engine, so don’t ignore this important step of optimization. Put keywords into a video title, description, file name when you upload a video on the platform, and tags.

Rightly chosen keywords will assist in video indexing, and YouTube will start to show your content in search results. It works precisely like SEO optimization for websites which allows us to see relevant sites when we search for anything. But don’t spam with keywords.

Step 3. Structurize your description

Make it distinctive, clear, and logic. No need to make it too long. Viewers should understand what the video is about, the description shouldn’t be misleading.

The official YouTube Creators channel has a number of lessons dedicated to content creation and video optimization on YouTube. The video below is a guide on how to write a working description.

Let your description sound natural, not full of keywords. Keywords should be at the beginning of your description. You can add timestamps, links, or hashtags into your bio to make it look not that boring.

Step 4. Work on your titles

The titles should be easily readable, understandable, and yet inciting. Don’t play too much with clickbaits - they do work, and people will click on the video. But as soon as they understand that the content has nothing to do with the name, viewers will close the video and will highly unlikely subscribe to your channel.

Keep the titles short. The name of your video should be easily interpreted with the keywords put at the beginning.

Step 5. Think through hashtags

Like on Instagram or Twitter, hashtags are designed to organize the content flow. Choose relevant hashtags that reflect your video or channel as a whole. No need to include hashtags that hardly describe the particular video - hashtags are useful for search. If a user is not interested in your content, they’ll probably not open it even if it’s full of interesting and popular tags.

Sep 6. Add cards and end screens

Cards and end screens are used for interlinking between videos and are a nice way to attract a new audience. Cards are also applied to direct a user toward a particular playlist, participating in a poll, merchandise, or fundraising. Here are some tips on working with cards:

• Add related cards only which are anyhow relevant to the content in the original video.

• Follow the timestamp strictly. They should be relevant not only to the content but also to the time you’re referring.

• Don’t include them more often than one in two minutes.

• Include cards of playlists.

• Don’t put cards at the beginning of the video.

End screens are generally also cards but placed into 5-20 last seconds of the video. They can lead to other videos, playlists, and channels on YouTube; or invite people to subscribe to your channel. But note this: you shouldn’t include end screens in too short videos. Don’t place them until the video at the background has its logical end - end screens only show up in the last 20 seconds of the video. And keep them relevant.

Step 7. Add subtitles

Though subtitles are usually used by people with hearing problems or those who can’t understand the language spoken in a video, they also influence content optimization. Even if the subtitles don’t reflect every single thing said in the video, you can add them to explain or comment on some terms or complicated things. The platform analyzes subs and indexes the content.

We in 4K Download include subtitles in our videos both to help our international clients clearly understand our guides and promote the content throughout YouTube.

Step 8. Create playlists

This is one of the best ways to categorize your content and gain more views. Since the videos are played automatically one after one, the chances that people will watch them are somewhat higher. To form a playlist, you need to collect at least five videos of a related topic those that are no shorter than three minutes long. Don’t forget to include keywords into the playlists’ names and description.

Step 9. Add CTA

Call to action is what we hear every day from marketers, advertisers, entrepreneurs, and bloggers. But it doesn’t always work. To make it more effective, offer some discussion to your subscribers, hold contests, ask them to suggest new ideas for your upcoming videos. More importantly, communicate with followers. Reply or like their comments and keep up with good content.