Youtube SEO: Give your videos a ranking boost by optimizing for these On-page factors
Saffron Edge
Dec 10, 2018
5 min read

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Place keywords in the meta-data
Like Google, the Youtube algorithm also relies heavily on figuring out the relevance of a video with the help of keywords present in its meta-structure. But mind you, the keywords are only as good as getting your video in front of viewers searching for the exact same or related keywords, the algorithm relies heavily on user engagement signals which we’ll get to in a while. When it comes to adding a specific keyword in your video’s meta-structure, you have to add it in your video title, its description and the tag section for them to make a difference for your videos. You’ll have to go as far as adding the keyword in the file name of your Youtube video so that the crawlers can make sense of it right from the beginning. -
Take care of the quality of your video
Youtube cares about the user experience your video provides to their users. And If your video is of sub-par quality, forget about getting on the top of Youtube for your targeted keyword.When it comes to Youtube, HD videos will always rank higher than low-quality videos because who’d seriously want to look at a blurry 144p video. Your viewers will abandon your video mid-way in search of a better video and possibly will never see a video uploaded on your channel again.And believe me, you don’t want users doing that, which bring us to the most important on-page ranking factor for ranking videos on Youtube… -
Work on generating user engagement and social signals
The way a user interacts with your video is the top-most ranking signal for the Youtube algorithm. That includes a viewer clicking your video, liking it, commenting on it, sharing it with their friends (which creates natural backlinks for the video as well), watching it till the end, the links it acquires over time and the likes. Youtube gives importance to these user engagement and social signals and ranks all their videos according to them. So, it makes sense to promote your videos on your social media profiles and ask people to share, like and comment on it to gain traction on the platform. Now you know why so many Youtube creators ask you explicitly to like, comment and share their videos.Because it gives them the exposure they need to gain traction on the platform. -
Upload a catchy thumbnail
In the simplest of words, a thumbnail on Youtube is like the banner image of your blog, but for videos. Along with the title and your channel name, a video thumbnail is what a person sees first about your video. So, optimizing them for the best can matter a lot for your videos when it comes to getting it clicked. Focus on uploading a catchy email that subtly tells what your video is all about so users can quickly figure out what’s in it for them if they click on the video. Because of it’s visual nature, your thumbnails can be the reason why your awesome video is not getting clicked at all or is attracting a lot of attention from viewers. -
Consider adding subtitles, closed captions and cards
Since, Youtube crawlers can not view your videos, adding subtitles and closed captions to all your videos help crawlers get a better idea of what your content is about, and they help users too to better grasp your content. Moreover, with the help of cards, you can display your older videos, website links and other types of content to foster clicks for your other videos as well. A great way to get some additional clicks on your videos and increase their rankings.

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