Maximize Views, Magnify Impact (YouTube Marketing Essentials)

5 Tips to Get More Views with YouTube Optimization [Free Checklist]

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a

In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.

How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention
2. Do Keyword Research
3. Engage Your Audience
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:

Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.

Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.

Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access to Analytics
3. Select the video you want to review
4. Click into engagement
5. See where a dip in watch time

What is Good Audience Retention?

If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.

If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.

In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.

There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.

If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.

How to Improve Audience Retention

Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:

- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)

- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)

- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)

- Edit out the unimportant stuff

- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.

If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.

Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.

2. Do Keyword Research:

Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.

Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?

- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.

- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.

- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.

Why Keywords Matter

keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.

Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.

That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.

Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access Analytics
3. Select Reach
4. Click into Traffic Source
5. Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search

If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.

1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.

2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.

3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.

Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.

Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.

Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.

4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.

3. Engage Your Audience:

It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.

While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.

Here is an example of how it would work:

- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it

- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.

- Boom! Domino effect!

- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.

Get engagements with a call to action:

- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.

- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.

- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.

It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.

4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:

YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.

Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.

Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.

If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.

However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.

If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.

End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .

Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
2. Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
3. Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
4. Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
5. Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.

Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking

Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.

For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.

However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.

- Subscribers know the moment your video is published

- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)

- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers

Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .

Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.

How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>

10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a

In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.

How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention
2. Do Keyword Research
3. Engage Your Audience
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:

Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.

Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.

Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access to Analytics
3. Select the video you want to review
4. Click into engagement
5. See where a dip in watch time

What is Good Audience Retention?

If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.

If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.

In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.

There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.

If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.

How to Improve Audience Retention

Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:

- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)

- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)

- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)

- Edit out the unimportant stuff

- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.

If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.

Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.

2. Do Keyword Research:

Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.

Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?

- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.

- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.

- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.

Why Keywords Matter

keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.

Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.

That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.

Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access Analytics
3. Select Reach
4. Click into Traffic Source
5. Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search

If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.

1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.

2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.

3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.

Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.

Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.

Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.

4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.

3. Engage Your Audience:

It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.

While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.

Here is an example of how it would work:

- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it

- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.

- Boom! Domino effect!

- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.

Get engagements with a call to action:

- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.

- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.

- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.

It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.

4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:

YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.

Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.

Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.

If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.

However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.

If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.

End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .

Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
2. Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
3. Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
4. Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
5. Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.

Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking

Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.

For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.

However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.

- Subscribers know the moment your video is published

- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)

- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers

Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .

Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.

How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>

10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a

In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.

How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention
2. Do Keyword Research
3. Engage Your Audience
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:

Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.

Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.

Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access to Analytics
3. Select the video you want to review
4. Click into engagement
5. See where a dip in watch time

What is Good Audience Retention?

If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.

If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.

In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.

There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.

If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.

How to Improve Audience Retention

Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:

- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)

- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)

- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)

- Edit out the unimportant stuff

- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.

If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.

Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.

2. Do Keyword Research:

Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.

Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?

- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.

- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.

- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.

Why Keywords Matter

keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.

Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.

That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.

Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access Analytics
3. Select Reach
4. Click into Traffic Source
5. Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search

If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.

1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.

2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.

3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.

Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.

Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.

Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.

4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.

3. Engage Your Audience:

It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.

While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.

Here is an example of how it would work:

- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it

- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.

- Boom! Domino effect!

- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.

Get engagements with a call to action:

- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.

- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.

- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.

It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.

4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:

YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.

Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.

Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.

If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.

However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.

If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.

End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .

Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
2. Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
3. Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
4. Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
5. Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.

Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking

Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.

For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.

However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.

- Subscribers know the moment your video is published

- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)

- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers

Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .

Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.

How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>

10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a

In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.

How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention
2. Do Keyword Research
3. Engage Your Audience
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:

Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.

Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.

Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access to Analytics
3. Select the video you want to review
4. Click into engagement
5. See where a dip in watch time

What is Good Audience Retention?

If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.

If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.

In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.

There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.

If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.

How to Improve Audience Retention

Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:

- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)

- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)

- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)

- Edit out the unimportant stuff

- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.

If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.

Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.

2. Do Keyword Research:

Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.

Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?

- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.

- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.

- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.

Why Keywords Matter

keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.

Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.

That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.

Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access Analytics
3. Select Reach
4. Click into Traffic Source
5. Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search

If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.

1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.

2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.

3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.

Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.

Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.

Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.

4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.

3. Engage Your Audience:

It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.

While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.

Here is an example of how it would work:

- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it

- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.

- Boom! Domino effect!

- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.

Get engagements with a call to action:

- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.

- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.

- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.

It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.

4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:

YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.

Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.

Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.

If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.

However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.

If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.

End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .

Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
2. Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
3. Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
4. Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
5. Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.

Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking

Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.

For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.

However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.

- Subscribers know the moment your video is published

- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)

- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers

Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .

Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.

How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>

10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

YouTube Video Ranking - Factors that Will Affect Your Rank

Create High Quality YouTube Video - Wondershare Filmora

An easy and powerful YouTube video editor

Numerous video and audio effects to choose from

Detailed tutorials provided by the official channel

Try It Free Try It Free

Few social media mediums have grown more vital than YouTube. In certain instances, a good YouTube presence could make or break a business or budding entertainment sensation.

Those with high YouTube rankings typically yield more returns from the said venue. Luckily, users might increase these vital statistics by paying close attention to several factors that affect YouTube video ranking.

In this article

Factors that Affect YouTube Video Ranking

Top 8 YouTube Rank Tracker

Factors that Affect YouTube Video Ranking

If you are a YouTuber, you have to understand how videos rank higher. In turn, this will allow you to ensure your content appears in top search results more often. With that in mind, here are some factors that affect your YouTube ranking.

Video Title

YouTube videos number in the many millions. Therefore, users enjoy a significant deal of variety when choosing which ones to view. YouTubers may yield a more favorable ranking by creating a catchy title.

On-page YouTube ranking optimization is crucial if you want to get a higher video ranking. Metadata is one of the YouTube ranking factors; this includes your video title. Essentially, titles give the first impression of any video to end users, YouTube, and search engines.

A well-titled video attracts more traffic, which translates to more views. Experts recommend using short titles that immediately get to the meat and potatoes of what the video entails. Avoid long titles as some devices, browsers, and search engines can cut them off.

Video titles should have five words or less. Don’t forget to place keywords at the beginning of the title. The keywords should also be relevant to your video.

Video Description

When many videos on the same or similar topics exist, content can seem repetitive to prospective viewers. Therefore, YouTubers should offer a short but detailed description of the information contained within. And above all, address how their video stands out from similar content.

Because Google and YouTube cannot extract information from videos, they use text descriptions to define the content on videos. Therefore, if you do not include a description, search engines won’t know what your video is about: this might affect your ranking.

Make sure your video description is 250 words or more. Additionally, include relevant and suitable keywords.

When writing the description, you can place the main keyword in your first 25 words and then link to external URLs; for instance, you could link to related blog content or your social media channels.

Video Quality

Poor quality is an immediate buzz kill. Few people can bear to watch a video with poor sound or picture quality. In many instances, quality is one of the YouTube ranking factors. HD (high-definition) videos rank higher than lower-quality ones. YouTube often highlights HD videos in its top search results.

Filmora can help you improve the quality of your videos, which will make them rank higher. The software allows you to edit your video and change its hue, brightness, saturation, and contrast. You can also crop, cut, and trim your videos.

What’s more? Filmora allows you to adjust output volume, pitch, fade-in, and fade-out to make your video clear. Once you have finished creating your HD video, you can head to the Export tab and select Upload to YouTube to publish your video on your channel.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Watch Time

Watch Time is also among the YouTube ranking factors. According to YouTube, Watch Time is the total length of time people spend watching your videos.

YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes videos leading to longer viewing sessions over the ones with more views. You can use Audience Retention Report and YouTube Analytics Views Report to find out which videos have the worst and best view times. Doing this will allow you to plan for your future content accordingly

Using annotations and leaving links to other videos in your description box can help you increase the length of your viewing sessions.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails have a positive effect on click-through rates when used the right way. You can use them to maximize your views and YouTube video ranking.

YouTube generates thumbnails by taking screenshots from videos. However, you might want to go for customized thumbnails, as this will allow you to stand out from your competitors and outperform their videos.

Make sure the image you use as your thumbnail is aesthetically pleasing and grabs the attention of viewers. Also, it should be relevant to the content in your video. Keep in mind that thumbnails with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1280-by-20-pixel resolution generally perform best.

Number of Views

Views are a vital YouTube ranking factor, as people are more likely to watch videos with a high number of views. The more views your video has, the higher it will rank, especially for competitive keywords.

If you want to rank high for competitive keywords, ensure that your videos get loads of views. For this reason, you have to take steps and get your video content on other platforms. In turn, you will increase the visibility of your videos and view count.

You could embed your videos into your blog posts or share them on social media platforms to get more people to watch them.

Closed Captions and Subtitles

Adding captions to videos with spoken-word content can improve your YouTube video ranking. Essentially, it opens up your videos to a larger audience, including people who are deaf and anyone speaking a different language from the one in your videos. Search engines also crawl close captions, which can boost your rankings.

While YouTube offers automatic captioning, it is not perfect. So you may need to make some edits or upload the captions yourself.

How to Optimize Your YouTube Ranking

Focusing on User Engagement

One of the best YouTube ranking optimization practices that you can implement is asking users to leave comments, like your videos, and share them. YouTube analyzes these metrics to determine the quality of your content. Ergo, if YouTube sees your video is engaging users, it will rank higher than those with little or no engagement.

Using Video Hashtags

Hashtags help people to find content that provides answers to their questions across various platforms. Use related hashtags when creating your descriptions to ensure people find your videos when searching for specific hashtags.

Tags help drive search because they make main trends more visible. After adding a hashtag to the description, it will appear above the video title, and viewers will see it hyperlinked.

Categorizing Your Video

After uploading your video, you should categorize it by going to Advanced settings. By choosing a category, YouTube will group your videos with similar content. Viewers will find your quickly, as they will come in the right audience searches. In turn, this will help your videos to rank higher.

Conclusion

With 720,000 hours of video being uploaded every day to YouTube, getting your videos to rank high is challenging. But by paying attention to the above YouTube ranking factors, you can improve your video ranking.

Try It Free Try It Free

Few social media mediums have grown more vital than YouTube. In certain instances, a good YouTube presence could make or break a business or budding entertainment sensation.

Those with high YouTube rankings typically yield more returns from the said venue. Luckily, users might increase these vital statistics by paying close attention to several factors that affect YouTube video ranking.

In this article

Factors that Affect YouTube Video Ranking

Top 8 YouTube Rank Tracker

Factors that Affect YouTube Video Ranking

If you are a YouTuber, you have to understand how videos rank higher. In turn, this will allow you to ensure your content appears in top search results more often. With that in mind, here are some factors that affect your YouTube ranking.

Video Title

YouTube videos number in the many millions. Therefore, users enjoy a significant deal of variety when choosing which ones to view. YouTubers may yield a more favorable ranking by creating a catchy title.

On-page YouTube ranking optimization is crucial if you want to get a higher video ranking. Metadata is one of the YouTube ranking factors; this includes your video title. Essentially, titles give the first impression of any video to end users, YouTube, and search engines.

A well-titled video attracts more traffic, which translates to more views. Experts recommend using short titles that immediately get to the meat and potatoes of what the video entails. Avoid long titles as some devices, browsers, and search engines can cut them off.

Video titles should have five words or less. Don’t forget to place keywords at the beginning of the title. The keywords should also be relevant to your video.

Video Description

When many videos on the same or similar topics exist, content can seem repetitive to prospective viewers. Therefore, YouTubers should offer a short but detailed description of the information contained within. And above all, address how their video stands out from similar content.

Because Google and YouTube cannot extract information from videos, they use text descriptions to define the content on videos. Therefore, if you do not include a description, search engines won’t know what your video is about: this might affect your ranking.

Make sure your video description is 250 words or more. Additionally, include relevant and suitable keywords.

When writing the description, you can place the main keyword in your first 25 words and then link to external URLs; for instance, you could link to related blog content or your social media channels.

Video Quality

Poor quality is an immediate buzz kill. Few people can bear to watch a video with poor sound or picture quality. In many instances, quality is one of the YouTube ranking factors. HD (high-definition) videos rank higher than lower-quality ones. YouTube often highlights HD videos in its top search results.

Filmora can help you improve the quality of your videos, which will make them rank higher. The software allows you to edit your video and change its hue, brightness, saturation, and contrast. You can also crop, cut, and trim your videos.

What’s more? Filmora allows you to adjust output volume, pitch, fade-in, and fade-out to make your video clear. Once you have finished creating your HD video, you can head to the Export tab and select Upload to YouTube to publish your video on your channel.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Watch Time

Watch Time is also among the YouTube ranking factors. According to YouTube, Watch Time is the total length of time people spend watching your videos.

YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes videos leading to longer viewing sessions over the ones with more views. You can use Audience Retention Report and YouTube Analytics Views Report to find out which videos have the worst and best view times. Doing this will allow you to plan for your future content accordingly

Using annotations and leaving links to other videos in your description box can help you increase the length of your viewing sessions.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails have a positive effect on click-through rates when used the right way. You can use them to maximize your views and YouTube video ranking.

YouTube generates thumbnails by taking screenshots from videos. However, you might want to go for customized thumbnails, as this will allow you to stand out from your competitors and outperform their videos.

Make sure the image you use as your thumbnail is aesthetically pleasing and grabs the attention of viewers. Also, it should be relevant to the content in your video. Keep in mind that thumbnails with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1280-by-20-pixel resolution generally perform best.

Number of Views

Views are a vital YouTube ranking factor, as people are more likely to watch videos with a high number of views. The more views your video has, the higher it will rank, especially for competitive keywords.

If you want to rank high for competitive keywords, ensure that your videos get loads of views. For this reason, you have to take steps and get your video content on other platforms. In turn, you will increase the visibility of your videos and view count.

You could embed your videos into your blog posts or share them on social media platforms to get more people to watch them.

Closed Captions and Subtitles

Adding captions to videos with spoken-word content can improve your YouTube video ranking. Essentially, it opens up your videos to a larger audience, including people who are deaf and anyone speaking a different language from the one in your videos. Search engines also crawl close captions, which can boost your rankings.

While YouTube offers automatic captioning, it is not perfect. So you may need to make some edits or upload the captions yourself.

How to Optimize Your YouTube Ranking

Focusing on User Engagement

One of the best YouTube ranking optimization practices that you can implement is asking users to leave comments, like your videos, and share them. YouTube analyzes these metrics to determine the quality of your content. Ergo, if YouTube sees your video is engaging users, it will rank higher than those with little or no engagement.

Using Video Hashtags

Hashtags help people to find content that provides answers to their questions across various platforms. Use related hashtags when creating your descriptions to ensure people find your videos when searching for specific hashtags.

Tags help drive search because they make main trends more visible. After adding a hashtag to the description, it will appear above the video title, and viewers will see it hyperlinked.

Categorizing Your Video

After uploading your video, you should categorize it by going to Advanced settings. By choosing a category, YouTube will group your videos with similar content. Viewers will find your quickly, as they will come in the right audience searches. In turn, this will help your videos to rank higher.

Conclusion

With 720,000 hours of video being uploaded every day to YouTube, getting your videos to rank high is challenging. But by paying attention to the above YouTube ranking factors, you can improve your video ranking.

Try It Free Try It Free

Few social media mediums have grown more vital than YouTube. In certain instances, a good YouTube presence could make or break a business or budding entertainment sensation.

Those with high YouTube rankings typically yield more returns from the said venue. Luckily, users might increase these vital statistics by paying close attention to several factors that affect YouTube video ranking.

In this article

Factors that Affect YouTube Video Ranking

Top 8 YouTube Rank Tracker

Factors that Affect YouTube Video Ranking

If you are a YouTuber, you have to understand how videos rank higher. In turn, this will allow you to ensure your content appears in top search results more often. With that in mind, here are some factors that affect your YouTube ranking.

Video Title

YouTube videos number in the many millions. Therefore, users enjoy a significant deal of variety when choosing which ones to view. YouTubers may yield a more favorable ranking by creating a catchy title.

On-page YouTube ranking optimization is crucial if you want to get a higher video ranking. Metadata is one of the YouTube ranking factors; this includes your video title. Essentially, titles give the first impression of any video to end users, YouTube, and search engines.

A well-titled video attracts more traffic, which translates to more views. Experts recommend using short titles that immediately get to the meat and potatoes of what the video entails. Avoid long titles as some devices, browsers, and search engines can cut them off.

Video titles should have five words or less. Don’t forget to place keywords at the beginning of the title. The keywords should also be relevant to your video.

Video Description

When many videos on the same or similar topics exist, content can seem repetitive to prospective viewers. Therefore, YouTubers should offer a short but detailed description of the information contained within. And above all, address how their video stands out from similar content.

Because Google and YouTube cannot extract information from videos, they use text descriptions to define the content on videos. Therefore, if you do not include a description, search engines won’t know what your video is about: this might affect your ranking.

Make sure your video description is 250 words or more. Additionally, include relevant and suitable keywords.

When writing the description, you can place the main keyword in your first 25 words and then link to external URLs; for instance, you could link to related blog content or your social media channels.

Video Quality

Poor quality is an immediate buzz kill. Few people can bear to watch a video with poor sound or picture quality. In many instances, quality is one of the YouTube ranking factors. HD (high-definition) videos rank higher than lower-quality ones. YouTube often highlights HD videos in its top search results.

Filmora can help you improve the quality of your videos, which will make them rank higher. The software allows you to edit your video and change its hue, brightness, saturation, and contrast. You can also crop, cut, and trim your videos.

What’s more? Filmora allows you to adjust output volume, pitch, fade-in, and fade-out to make your video clear. Once you have finished creating your HD video, you can head to the Export tab and select Upload to YouTube to publish your video on your channel.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Watch Time

Watch Time is also among the YouTube ranking factors. According to YouTube, Watch Time is the total length of time people spend watching your videos.

YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes videos leading to longer viewing sessions over the ones with more views. You can use Audience Retention Report and YouTube Analytics Views Report to find out which videos have the worst and best view times. Doing this will allow you to plan for your future content accordingly

Using annotations and leaving links to other videos in your description box can help you increase the length of your viewing sessions.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails have a positive effect on click-through rates when used the right way. You can use them to maximize your views and YouTube video ranking.

YouTube generates thumbnails by taking screenshots from videos. However, you might want to go for customized thumbnails, as this will allow you to stand out from your competitors and outperform their videos.

Make sure the image you use as your thumbnail is aesthetically pleasing and grabs the attention of viewers. Also, it should be relevant to the content in your video. Keep in mind that thumbnails with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1280-by-20-pixel resolution generally perform best.

Number of Views

Views are a vital YouTube ranking factor, as people are more likely to watch videos with a high number of views. The more views your video has, the higher it will rank, especially for competitive keywords.

If you want to rank high for competitive keywords, ensure that your videos get loads of views. For this reason, you have to take steps and get your video content on other platforms. In turn, you will increase the visibility of your videos and view count.

You could embed your videos into your blog posts or share them on social media platforms to get more people to watch them.

Closed Captions and Subtitles

Adding captions to videos with spoken-word content can improve your YouTube video ranking. Essentially, it opens up your videos to a larger audience, including people who are deaf and anyone speaking a different language from the one in your videos. Search engines also crawl close captions, which can boost your rankings.

While YouTube offers automatic captioning, it is not perfect. So you may need to make some edits or upload the captions yourself.

How to Optimize Your YouTube Ranking

Focusing on User Engagement

One of the best YouTube ranking optimization practices that you can implement is asking users to leave comments, like your videos, and share them. YouTube analyzes these metrics to determine the quality of your content. Ergo, if YouTube sees your video is engaging users, it will rank higher than those with little or no engagement.

Using Video Hashtags

Hashtags help people to find content that provides answers to their questions across various platforms. Use related hashtags when creating your descriptions to ensure people find your videos when searching for specific hashtags.

Tags help drive search because they make main trends more visible. After adding a hashtag to the description, it will appear above the video title, and viewers will see it hyperlinked.

Categorizing Your Video

After uploading your video, you should categorize it by going to Advanced settings. By choosing a category, YouTube will group your videos with similar content. Viewers will find your quickly, as they will come in the right audience searches. In turn, this will help your videos to rank higher.

Conclusion

With 720,000 hours of video being uploaded every day to YouTube, getting your videos to rank high is challenging. But by paying attention to the above YouTube ranking factors, you can improve your video ranking.

Try It Free Try It Free

Few social media mediums have grown more vital than YouTube. In certain instances, a good YouTube presence could make or break a business or budding entertainment sensation.

Those with high YouTube rankings typically yield more returns from the said venue. Luckily, users might increase these vital statistics by paying close attention to several factors that affect YouTube video ranking.

In this article

Factors that Affect YouTube Video Ranking

Top 8 YouTube Rank Tracker

Factors that Affect YouTube Video Ranking

If you are a YouTuber, you have to understand how videos rank higher. In turn, this will allow you to ensure your content appears in top search results more often. With that in mind, here are some factors that affect your YouTube ranking.

Video Title

YouTube videos number in the many millions. Therefore, users enjoy a significant deal of variety when choosing which ones to view. YouTubers may yield a more favorable ranking by creating a catchy title.

On-page YouTube ranking optimization is crucial if you want to get a higher video ranking. Metadata is one of the YouTube ranking factors; this includes your video title. Essentially, titles give the first impression of any video to end users, YouTube, and search engines.

A well-titled video attracts more traffic, which translates to more views. Experts recommend using short titles that immediately get to the meat and potatoes of what the video entails. Avoid long titles as some devices, browsers, and search engines can cut them off.

Video titles should have five words or less. Don’t forget to place keywords at the beginning of the title. The keywords should also be relevant to your video.

Video Description

When many videos on the same or similar topics exist, content can seem repetitive to prospective viewers. Therefore, YouTubers should offer a short but detailed description of the information contained within. And above all, address how their video stands out from similar content.

Because Google and YouTube cannot extract information from videos, they use text descriptions to define the content on videos. Therefore, if you do not include a description, search engines won’t know what your video is about: this might affect your ranking.

Make sure your video description is 250 words or more. Additionally, include relevant and suitable keywords.

When writing the description, you can place the main keyword in your first 25 words and then link to external URLs; for instance, you could link to related blog content or your social media channels.

Video Quality

Poor quality is an immediate buzz kill. Few people can bear to watch a video with poor sound or picture quality. In many instances, quality is one of the YouTube ranking factors. HD (high-definition) videos rank higher than lower-quality ones. YouTube often highlights HD videos in its top search results.

Filmora can help you improve the quality of your videos, which will make them rank higher. The software allows you to edit your video and change its hue, brightness, saturation, and contrast. You can also crop, cut, and trim your videos.

What’s more? Filmora allows you to adjust output volume, pitch, fade-in, and fade-out to make your video clear. Once you have finished creating your HD video, you can head to the Export tab and select Upload to YouTube to publish your video on your channel.

Try It Free

For Win 7 or later (64-bit)

Try It Free

For macOS 10.12 or later

Watch Time

Watch Time is also among the YouTube ranking factors. According to YouTube, Watch Time is the total length of time people spend watching your videos.

YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes videos leading to longer viewing sessions over the ones with more views. You can use Audience Retention Report and YouTube Analytics Views Report to find out which videos have the worst and best view times. Doing this will allow you to plan for your future content accordingly

Using annotations and leaving links to other videos in your description box can help you increase the length of your viewing sessions.

Thumbnails

Thumbnails have a positive effect on click-through rates when used the right way. You can use them to maximize your views and YouTube video ranking.

YouTube generates thumbnails by taking screenshots from videos. However, you might want to go for customized thumbnails, as this will allow you to stand out from your competitors and outperform their videos.

Make sure the image you use as your thumbnail is aesthetically pleasing and grabs the attention of viewers. Also, it should be relevant to the content in your video. Keep in mind that thumbnails with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1280-by-20-pixel resolution generally perform best.

Number of Views

Views are a vital YouTube ranking factor, as people are more likely to watch videos with a high number of views. The more views your video has, the higher it will rank, especially for competitive keywords.

If you want to rank high for competitive keywords, ensure that your videos get loads of views. For this reason, you have to take steps and get your video content on other platforms. In turn, you will increase the visibility of your videos and view count.

You could embed your videos into your blog posts or share them on social media platforms to get more people to watch them.

Closed Captions and Subtitles

Adding captions to videos with spoken-word content can improve your YouTube video ranking. Essentially, it opens up your videos to a larger audience, including people who are deaf and anyone speaking a different language from the one in your videos. Search engines also crawl close captions, which can boost your rankings.

While YouTube offers automatic captioning, it is not perfect. So you may need to make some edits or upload the captions yourself.

How to Optimize Your YouTube Ranking

Focusing on User Engagement

One of the best YouTube ranking optimization practices that you can implement is asking users to leave comments, like your videos, and share them. YouTube analyzes these metrics to determine the quality of your content. Ergo, if YouTube sees your video is engaging users, it will rank higher than those with little or no engagement.

Using Video Hashtags

Hashtags help people to find content that provides answers to their questions across various platforms. Use related hashtags when creating your descriptions to ensure people find your videos when searching for specific hashtags.

Tags help drive search because they make main trends more visible. After adding a hashtag to the description, it will appear above the video title, and viewers will see it hyperlinked.

Categorizing Your Video

After uploading your video, you should categorize it by going to Advanced settings. By choosing a category, YouTube will group your videos with similar content. Viewers will find your quickly, as they will come in the right audience searches. In turn, this will help your videos to rank higher.

Conclusion

With 720,000 hours of video being uploaded every day to YouTube, getting your videos to rank high is challenging. But by paying attention to the above YouTube ranking factors, you can improve your video ranking.