10 Ways to Rank YouTube Videos Higher in 2023 [Latest]

You’ve come to the right site if you’re curious about how to become successful on YouTube.

It’s simple to blame a channel’s success on having an unfair head start while enviously observing the millions of views millions of the most successful YouTube channels and popular videos have received.

But keep in mind that each and every YouTube channel began with 0 subscribers and 0 views. Each and every one. 

So how is it possible for one video about [insert any topic here] to receive millions of views while another video about the same topic only manages to attract ten viewers at most?

The solution is neither elusive nor enigmatic. YouTube SEO is the solution.

You must optimise your YouTube videos for discovery if you want people to see your material.

The good news is that To rank YouTube videos is better IS attainable! You simply need to know how, which is what we’ll cover in this piece.

How does SEO for YouTube work?

As with any search engine, the ranks of YouTube videos are decided by a sophisticated algorithm; nevertheless, we do not recommend getting bogged down in trying to comprehend every single component.

Simply keep in mind that every search engine’s ‘objective’ is to provide users with the highest quality material that most closely fits their search criteria.

The YouTube algorithm is specifically reliant on two ‘groups’ of factors:

1. ‘Technical’ SEO signposts like the title, description, and tags of a YouTube video help the algorithm understand what your content is about.

2. Things like watch time, click rate, retention, and user engagement are examples of “human’ SEO signals that inform the algorithm whether the viewers of your YouTube material think it’s any good.

In many ways, SEO for YouTube is simpler than for other search engines.

Why?

Because YouTube SEO largely revolves around optimising things you have control over—creating awesome videos and properly tagging them with technical information like video descriptions, playlists, and metadata—as opposed to Google and other search engines that give real weight to backlink profiles, domain metrics, and other complex factors to evaluate rank.

Whatever way you look at it, getting your video into those valuable YouTube search results is essential to the success of any YouTube channel.

So let’s clear up the confusion by looking at 10 techniques for mastering YouTube SEO, optimising your channels and videos, and eventually increasing viewership.

How to quickly rank YouTube videos

1. Select a focus word.

Our first piece of advice for YouTube SEO is all about keywords.

Targeting a relevant term to centre each video on will significantly aid your YouTube SEO efforts, regardless of whether you have previously posted your films to YouTube or not.

Like other search engines, YouTube works by presenting users with the most pertinent and high-quality results for their search terms.

Rewatch the videos you’re jazzing up from the past on YouTube and try to identify the key message. What is the focus of this video, you could ask? What term is crucial? (And here, be inventive; consider peripheral ideas.)

It’s simpler to identify pertinent keywords before you begin future films. So that you may locate the most well-liked search terms to use, use a keyword research tool. You can use this to generate content ideas for your channel.

Ahrefs, SEMrush, Keywords Everywhere, and KeywordTool.io are some of the most well-known keyword research tools.

They all operate similarly, however if you’re new to keyword research, KeywordTool.io is the most ‘beginning’ friendly.

Simply choose your preferred search engine—in this case, YouTube—and type in your query. ‘Instagram Hacks’ is the name we chose.

The tool’s free edition provides you with a list of the most widely used terms associated with your search query, such as this:

However, the commercial edition allows you to compare search volume, CPC (cost per click), and competition in order to delve a little deeper. (There’s no need to get hung up on the latter two – they’re measures that offer you a rough indication of how tough a keyword will be to rank for, but they’re not necessarily good predictors. However, volume is really crucial. 

After using one of the aforementioned tools to find common search terms that closely relate to the subject of your video, write them down or export a list. Then, read the rest of this article for advice on how to use them to improve your video’s ranking.

Although keywords aren’t everything, careful keyword research is a great place to start in the world of YouTube SEO!

2. Improve the title of the video

Once you’ve chosen your keyword, you can use it to optimise your video in a variety of ways to raise it in the YouTube search results.

Including the term in the title of your video is one of the easiest methods to achieve this.

However, a keyword won’t be sufficient to provide you a significant YouTube SEO boost given that 400 hours of video are posted to YouTube every minute (!).

Your video’s title must be interesting. Users of YouTube need to receive a notification saying, “Click me!”

Making a pledge is an excellent method to do this. Are you intending to impart knowledge to your audience? Are you going to keep them amused? Inform them of the upcoming video. Look at the outcomes for our keyword “instagram hacks” below:

The top YouTube videos for this term all make the claim that they will teach their viewers something new, and of course they all exactly use the keyword.

They do, however, have some further description. The title “Instagram Hacks” or even “I Will Teach You Instagram Hacks” is insufficient to get views.

You should reflect more deeply.

Inform your audience in advance how many hacks they can expect from you, or make a specific, in-demand guarantee, like the second video in the example above.

It’s a terrific strategy to get clicks to include these promises in your video title while staying within the character limit.

And guess what if YouTube’s search algorithm finds you? A nice boost appears for you in the YouTube search results. This is due to YouTube’s computerised algorithm noticing that more users believe your content would answer their query.

3. Make the video description better

You need to optimise your video description in addition to your title.

Now that you know that the major purpose of your title is to draw people in, you may be a little more descriptive in your description.

The first 125 characters of your description are displayed on YouTube, so it’s a good idea to try for 250 words if you can. Additionally, YouTube advises that you start your video description with the most crucial keywords.

Of course, the algorithm isn’t everything. Make sure to keep your audience in mind when writing this because they will be reading it as well. It’s never a smart idea to write entirely for robots!

When composing the descriptions for your videos, keep the following in mind:

If at all feasible, don’t forget to add your target keyword(s).

Make sure your writing is original. Don’t simply paste some text from your website or another location.

Include the URL of your website so that people can visit it.

Look at this illustration:

An immediate link to the creator’s website is visible. The title of the video and the keyword (start an internet company) are included in the first sentence of the two lengthy paragraphs about the video that follow.

This kind of distinctive, tailored description enables YouTube to comprehend the subject matter of your video and present it to the appropriate audience.

4. Use the appropriate tags

You should also include your keyword(s) in the ‘tags’ box after included them in your title and description.

Your viewers won’t see anything you add in tags because they are just for YouTube’s use. And, to be really honest, it’s hotly debated how much influence these truly have on YouTube’s algorithm; the general agreement is “not much.” But since it can be completed so quickly, it makes sense.

Feel free to include as many different keyword and search term combinations as you can.

Following the “Instagram Hacks” example, here are seven strategies you might employ:

• Instagram phishing
• Instagram
• Hacks
• Life Tips
• Hacks on social media
• on social media
• Advice on social media

They don’t have to be incredibly specific, as you can see.

For Chrome, there is a Tube Buddy extension for YouTube.

Keyword rank tracking is one of the services that lets you see how different tags are performing in searches so you can use the best ones for SEO.

A tool like VidIQ may be used to assist you see the tags that your rivals are utilising. By using the same tags as your rivals, you can divert attention away from them by having your films appear in the ‘Up Next’ area anytime someone watches one of their videos.

5. Write a compelling script

You may be tempted to move on from this section.

Scripts are clunky and wooden, and you want to come across as spontaneous and natural, after all.

You can actually have a better chance of coming across as genuine and spontaneous with a compelling, well-written screenplay, while also avoiding being distracted and losing viewers.

Using a script can help you speak more clearly and eliminate “ums,” “ahs,” and “where was I?” and captivate your audience. Additionally, it helps speed up the production of your video so you can focus on producing more content.

According to a 2015 AdAge study—which seems like a lifetime ago in the context of video marketing—marketers have just 10 seconds to capture and engage their audience before they lose them.

Additionally, according to their analysis, if your audience isn’t completely engaged within the first 30 seconds, you’ve probably lost 33% of them. Also keep in mind that was in 2015! Now it’s even more challenging.

Therefore, be sure to include a brief and engaging introduction that goes right to the point and tells readers why they should continue reading. Consider it an extension of your title; make a commitment at the outset that you will keep by the conclusion.

Another straightforward advice: in your video, SAY your desired term. YouTube is getting better at automatically ‘listening’ to your video and transcribing it, so if you use your target term naturally — that is, early in the video and a few times so that it seems natural to a human audience — you might see a slight improvement in your ranks.

6. Commence producing lengthier videos

Contrary to popular assumption, longer YouTube videos do better than shorter ones. When you enter any term or phrase into YouTube, the most popular videos are typically quite long:

In fact, it’s widely accepted that YouTube genuinely considers the time of views when determining rankings. If you stop to think about it, it makes sense: the longer you watch, the more involved you are, the more likely you are to watch additional videos, and the more likely you are to see the advertising, therefore YouTube is successful from a business standpoint as well!

Your rankings are likely to rise the longer people watch your videos. This logically means that YouTube prefers longer, high-retention videos that viewers watch for longer periods of time.

This does not imply that you should attempt to make your films as long as possible; rather, it just implies that you should aim to answer them completely and comprehensively rather than dividing them into multiple movies.

YouTube will take note and you’ll start to rank better if your videos are long and in-depth yet still interesting enough to keep viewers watching.

7. Encourage participation

The phrase “If you liked this video, click the like button below and don’t forget to subscribe for more content” appears at the end of almost every YouTube video for a reason.

…or a variant.

This increases a creator’s audience and makes it simpler to re-engage old viewers with new content, and it also sends out positive SEO signals. Consider this: every channel subscriber, like, or remark is a vote of trust on your material. It reads: That was amazing. Look at the graph below:

This data comes from a research of 1.3 million YouTube videos conducted by Backlinko CEO Brian Dean, and it demonstrates a direct link between YouTube ranking and video comments.

One of the simplest YouTube SEO strategies to use, encouraging involvement can have a big impact on how well your YouTube content performs.

8. Construct a captivating video thumbnail

The video title and the video thumbnail are the only two things a viewer sees before choosing to click on your video. That thumbnail is crucial because visual information is processed 60,000 times faster than words.

You will receive a video thumbnail from YouTube immediately, but it will only be a random image from the video.

Use a distinct, attention-grabbing image that will compel visitors to click if you want to stand out. Look at the following instances:

Each thumbnail has been chosen to pique interest in viewers. The caption on the screen further clarifies what the video will be about as the presenters are gazing directly into the camera. The thumbnail’s colourful illustrations help draw the eye and give off a professional sense.

The YouTube SERP can be compared to a digital storefront where you sell your content and where searchers spend their time. You must be the BEST, MOST PROFESSIONAL, MOST THOROUGH article on the topic they have looked for on any SERP.

This encourages viewers to click on the video, and (broken record alert!) a high click-through rate will significantly improve your ranking performance since it gives YouTube’s algorithm another chance to recognise that your video is the essential resource for information on that subject.

9. Make playlists

Because they play automatically, playlists are a fantastic method to improve the amount of time people spend watching your channel. So a consumer might watch five or six of your other films instead of just one!

Once more, view time is crucial to YouTube SEO.

You must assemble a few videos with a related subject or theme in a playlist, as in this example:

Asking folks who produce material similarly to you but are not your competitors to include your videos in one of their playlists can also be helpful. The more playlists that include your videos, the better.

Here is an illustration of what you might say:

Hello, [NAME]

Your channel ROCKS! I found your most recent video on [TOPIC] to be really fascinating since [ADD COMPLIMENTS & SHOW INTEREST].

If you added any of my videos to your playlists, it might encourage visitors to stick around on your channel as I believe my videos are quite similar to yours. I thought the following videos would fit:

(INSERT LINKS)

Continue the excellent work!

“[YOUR NAME]”

Make sure to explain why it is beneficial to them as well when you speak with these people. They shouldn’t assume that you are just pleading for a favour. They can better serve the requirements of their viewers and extend their own watch time by incorporating your films in their playlists. Offering to include their videos in your playlists as well–sort of like a trade–helps.

Add closed captions, please

Closed captions can be added to YouTube videos to help deaf and hard of hearing viewers.

These captions also have the extra benefit of being crawled by Google and YouTube, which can help your YouTube SEO.

Your films can have automatic captions added by YouTube, but they are typically rife with mistakes.

You must alter the captions YouTube gives based on transcribing your video file, or upload your own, in order to get your closed captions indexed and YouTube SEO-friendly. This is how:

Top 3 SEO tools for YouTube

The fact that you don’t have to do it alone is another piece of good news. There are numerous software programmes available to assist you in mastering video SEO. Here are the top five.

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer for keyword research

Ahrefs is a frontrunner in the field of keyword research and excels at researching YouTube content as well. Their Keyword Explorer tool can help you identify keywords for which you can rank and generate concepts for brand-new films.

TubeBuddy manages the channels.

A fantastic tool for managing your YouTube channel is Tube Buddy. You may mass upload films, add custom thumbnails, and improve your tags and titles using this tool.

Created using Canva

Let’s also talk about Canva because we need to make sure we stand out to our human audience on that search results page.

Canva is a fantastic tool for making unique video thumbnails and artwork. Without hiring a designer, you may produce graphics that appear professional. Even pre-made designs are available so you can easily create stunning video thumbnails.

Closing remarks

Because so many people use YouTube every day, it is a competitive place to publish your work. Although the level of competition can be intimidating at times, you should always keep in mind that there are still plenty of ways to rank videos higher and enhance your YouTube SEO in order to increase the profitability of your channel and your videos for your business. Our blog piece, 21 YouTube Video Ideas for Businesses, would be the ideal place to start if you’re having trouble coming up with great ideas for video content in the first place.