Tackling Teal Too Much? Clean up That Green Screen on Mac

How to Fix the Green Screen on YouTube on Mac

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

When you are watching YouTube, you might notice that the video is green while the sound keeps playing. This can be quite frustrating when you are watching something interesting and the YouTube green screen comes up.

There are various reasons as to why you have a green screen while watching videos on YouTube such as some problem with the GPU of Mac. No matter what the instance is, it can be quite overwhelming.

In case the YouTube green screen video issue while watching videos is bothering you and you are looking for a permanent fix to solve it, keep reading. In this guide, you can learn about the various issues that lead to the green screen problem on YouTube and how you can fix it.

But first, let’s take a look at the various issues that are causing the YouTube videos to turn green.

● Outdated Graphic Card Drivers: The issues associated with the graphics card can be a serious factor responsible for the green screen you are seeing while playing YouTube videos on your Mac device. This happens when the graphic drivers are outdated and can no longer support efficacious processing and playing of videos on the device. Graphics Card Drivers rendering is just the use of graphics cards for all rendering of functions such as videos. In case the drivers are outdated as the operating system, you will see a green screen error.

● Unreliable Third-Party Software: Any software from another source when used on Mac can lead to system errors. This will lead to green screen videos. It is more so when malware finds its way into the system when you are downloading the third-party software. This can even be a virus that comes with the software.

● Other Factors: Other factors might be responsible for the green screen videos such as a corrupt operating system.

How to Prevent Green Screen on YouTube on Mac?

In order to solve the YouTube video playing issue prior to moving on to the tricky troubleshooting methods, try out the simple hacks given below to prevent the problem altogether. These temporary hacks are usually quite helpful when you are in a hurry to watch a video.

● Play the YouTube video in some other browser. Often, a certain browser has a history of displaying a green screen on it when you play the videos on YouTube.

● Delete temporary files and cookies on Mac. This frees up space for the system.

● Close the other tabs and interfaces in the browser when you are watching the video online. This way the activities on the open window are not going to lead to an error while playing the video.

● Clear the cache data. By doing this, you can make sure that your system has enough space.

● Update the browser you are using to view videos on the latest browser.

● Reboot the Mac device if you are using it for a while. At times, rebooting the computer is all that you have to do to get the video working properly yet again after an error occurs.

How to Fix YouTube Green Screen?

As the video playing problem is primarily related to graphic drivers and hardware in the computer, further troubleshooting methods are for available for fixing these problems.

Hence, when the hacks fail to work and you keep seeing YouTube green screen, try out the following methods to fix this issue.

1. Disable Hardware Acceleration

The computer uses GPU rather than CPU for loading graphic intensive programs during hardware acceleration.

Nevertheless, some problems might occur when rendering the web pages from the Central Processing Unit to the Graphic Processing Unit. This causes performance problems. You might notice a green or blank screen while you are watching high-quality videos on YouTube.

In such a case, you need to disable hardware acceleration for resolving video playing problems.

● Right-click on the video which is displaying the green screen.

● Choose ‘Setting’ from the menu.

● Now, click to uncheck the option ‘Enable hardware acceleration’.

● Next, close the window to reload the page.

● To watch the video, reopen the website.

If you don’t find the ‘Settings’ option on the right-clicking the green video screen, disable the option of Hardware Acceleration on the web browser.

2. Update the Graphics Card Drivers

In case after establishing the hardware acceleration green screen in the YouTube videos to occur, update the graphics card driver. The video playing issue might have been caused due to the old AMD or NVIDIA graphics card.

Here are the steps to update the Graphics Card Drivers:

● Right-click on ‘My Computer’.

● Now, click on ‘Follow Manage’ and then ‘Device Manager’.

● Next, click on the option ‘Display Adapters’.

● Right-click on the graphics driver and then click on ‘Update Driver Software’.

● Choose ‘Search automatically for updated driver software’. The system will detect the graphics card and will find the latest driver. Restart the PC and the system.

3. Run a Troubleshooter

You can also try running a troubleshooter in the system to fix your green screen issue in YouTube videos.

Check out what you have to do.

● Open the computer ‘Settings’ app.

● Click on the ‘Update & Security’ section.

● Choose ‘Troubleshoot’ and then ‘Hardware and Devices’.

● As soon as the progress is complete, just restart the PC.

Now, you will have to view the videos once more to check if the problem has been resolved.

4. Adjust YouTube Settings

If you are persistently having this problem with YouTube videos, you can try to change the video quality to make it supported by the device. You need to do this in the following steps.

● Open the browser and play the YouTube video you prefer.

● Click on the ‘Gear’ icon and from the menu opt for ‘Quality’.

● Now, you can choose from different video quality options.

Conclusion

You might have seen how easy it is to solve the YouTube green screen issues while running YouTube videos on Mac. So, when you are encountering one, there is no reason to worry. Moreover, following the few hacks given above, you can easily resolve the YouTube green screen issue.

In case you are troubleshooting the issue, make sure that you begin with hardware acceleration and then move on to the other methods. If you want to create a video for YouTube using green screen, you can usevideo editor for Mac from Filmora. It offers various features that you can use to create a unique video.

Learn More: How do Beginners Make a Cool Video for YouTube on Mac>>>

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

When you are watching YouTube, you might notice that the video is green while the sound keeps playing. This can be quite frustrating when you are watching something interesting and the YouTube green screen comes up.

There are various reasons as to why you have a green screen while watching videos on YouTube such as some problem with the GPU of Mac. No matter what the instance is, it can be quite overwhelming.

In case the YouTube green screen video issue while watching videos is bothering you and you are looking for a permanent fix to solve it, keep reading. In this guide, you can learn about the various issues that lead to the green screen problem on YouTube and how you can fix it.

But first, let’s take a look at the various issues that are causing the YouTube videos to turn green.

● Outdated Graphic Card Drivers: The issues associated with the graphics card can be a serious factor responsible for the green screen you are seeing while playing YouTube videos on your Mac device. This happens when the graphic drivers are outdated and can no longer support efficacious processing and playing of videos on the device. Graphics Card Drivers rendering is just the use of graphics cards for all rendering of functions such as videos. In case the drivers are outdated as the operating system, you will see a green screen error.

● Unreliable Third-Party Software: Any software from another source when used on Mac can lead to system errors. This will lead to green screen videos. It is more so when malware finds its way into the system when you are downloading the third-party software. This can even be a virus that comes with the software.

● Other Factors: Other factors might be responsible for the green screen videos such as a corrupt operating system.

How to Prevent Green Screen on YouTube on Mac?

In order to solve the YouTube video playing issue prior to moving on to the tricky troubleshooting methods, try out the simple hacks given below to prevent the problem altogether. These temporary hacks are usually quite helpful when you are in a hurry to watch a video.

● Play the YouTube video in some other browser. Often, a certain browser has a history of displaying a green screen on it when you play the videos on YouTube.

● Delete temporary files and cookies on Mac. This frees up space for the system.

● Close the other tabs and interfaces in the browser when you are watching the video online. This way the activities on the open window are not going to lead to an error while playing the video.

● Clear the cache data. By doing this, you can make sure that your system has enough space.

● Update the browser you are using to view videos on the latest browser.

● Reboot the Mac device if you are using it for a while. At times, rebooting the computer is all that you have to do to get the video working properly yet again after an error occurs.

How to Fix YouTube Green Screen?

As the video playing problem is primarily related to graphic drivers and hardware in the computer, further troubleshooting methods are for available for fixing these problems.

Hence, when the hacks fail to work and you keep seeing YouTube green screen, try out the following methods to fix this issue.

1. Disable Hardware Acceleration

The computer uses GPU rather than CPU for loading graphic intensive programs during hardware acceleration.

Nevertheless, some problems might occur when rendering the web pages from the Central Processing Unit to the Graphic Processing Unit. This causes performance problems. You might notice a green or blank screen while you are watching high-quality videos on YouTube.

In such a case, you need to disable hardware acceleration for resolving video playing problems.

● Right-click on the video which is displaying the green screen.

● Choose ‘Setting’ from the menu.

● Now, click to uncheck the option ‘Enable hardware acceleration’.

● Next, close the window to reload the page.

● To watch the video, reopen the website.

If you don’t find the ‘Settings’ option on the right-clicking the green video screen, disable the option of Hardware Acceleration on the web browser.

2. Update the Graphics Card Drivers

In case after establishing the hardware acceleration green screen in the YouTube videos to occur, update the graphics card driver. The video playing issue might have been caused due to the old AMD or NVIDIA graphics card.

Here are the steps to update the Graphics Card Drivers:

● Right-click on ‘My Computer’.

● Now, click on ‘Follow Manage’ and then ‘Device Manager’.

● Next, click on the option ‘Display Adapters’.

● Right-click on the graphics driver and then click on ‘Update Driver Software’.

● Choose ‘Search automatically for updated driver software’. The system will detect the graphics card and will find the latest driver. Restart the PC and the system.

3. Run a Troubleshooter

You can also try running a troubleshooter in the system to fix your green screen issue in YouTube videos.

Check out what you have to do.

● Open the computer ‘Settings’ app.

● Click on the ‘Update & Security’ section.

● Choose ‘Troubleshoot’ and then ‘Hardware and Devices’.

● As soon as the progress is complete, just restart the PC.

Now, you will have to view the videos once more to check if the problem has been resolved.

4. Adjust YouTube Settings

If you are persistently having this problem with YouTube videos, you can try to change the video quality to make it supported by the device. You need to do this in the following steps.

● Open the browser and play the YouTube video you prefer.

● Click on the ‘Gear’ icon and from the menu opt for ‘Quality’.

● Now, you can choose from different video quality options.

Conclusion

You might have seen how easy it is to solve the YouTube green screen issues while running YouTube videos on Mac. So, when you are encountering one, there is no reason to worry. Moreover, following the few hacks given above, you can easily resolve the YouTube green screen issue.

In case you are troubleshooting the issue, make sure that you begin with hardware acceleration and then move on to the other methods. If you want to create a video for YouTube using green screen, you can usevideo editor for Mac from Filmora. It offers various features that you can use to create a unique video.

Learn More: How do Beginners Make a Cool Video for YouTube on Mac>>>

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

When you are watching YouTube, you might notice that the video is green while the sound keeps playing. This can be quite frustrating when you are watching something interesting and the YouTube green screen comes up.

There are various reasons as to why you have a green screen while watching videos on YouTube such as some problem with the GPU of Mac. No matter what the instance is, it can be quite overwhelming.

In case the YouTube green screen video issue while watching videos is bothering you and you are looking for a permanent fix to solve it, keep reading. In this guide, you can learn about the various issues that lead to the green screen problem on YouTube and how you can fix it.

But first, let’s take a look at the various issues that are causing the YouTube videos to turn green.

● Outdated Graphic Card Drivers: The issues associated with the graphics card can be a serious factor responsible for the green screen you are seeing while playing YouTube videos on your Mac device. This happens when the graphic drivers are outdated and can no longer support efficacious processing and playing of videos on the device. Graphics Card Drivers rendering is just the use of graphics cards for all rendering of functions such as videos. In case the drivers are outdated as the operating system, you will see a green screen error.

● Unreliable Third-Party Software: Any software from another source when used on Mac can lead to system errors. This will lead to green screen videos. It is more so when malware finds its way into the system when you are downloading the third-party software. This can even be a virus that comes with the software.

● Other Factors: Other factors might be responsible for the green screen videos such as a corrupt operating system.

How to Prevent Green Screen on YouTube on Mac?

In order to solve the YouTube video playing issue prior to moving on to the tricky troubleshooting methods, try out the simple hacks given below to prevent the problem altogether. These temporary hacks are usually quite helpful when you are in a hurry to watch a video.

● Play the YouTube video in some other browser. Often, a certain browser has a history of displaying a green screen on it when you play the videos on YouTube.

● Delete temporary files and cookies on Mac. This frees up space for the system.

● Close the other tabs and interfaces in the browser when you are watching the video online. This way the activities on the open window are not going to lead to an error while playing the video.

● Clear the cache data. By doing this, you can make sure that your system has enough space.

● Update the browser you are using to view videos on the latest browser.

● Reboot the Mac device if you are using it for a while. At times, rebooting the computer is all that you have to do to get the video working properly yet again after an error occurs.

How to Fix YouTube Green Screen?

As the video playing problem is primarily related to graphic drivers and hardware in the computer, further troubleshooting methods are for available for fixing these problems.

Hence, when the hacks fail to work and you keep seeing YouTube green screen, try out the following methods to fix this issue.

1. Disable Hardware Acceleration

The computer uses GPU rather than CPU for loading graphic intensive programs during hardware acceleration.

Nevertheless, some problems might occur when rendering the web pages from the Central Processing Unit to the Graphic Processing Unit. This causes performance problems. You might notice a green or blank screen while you are watching high-quality videos on YouTube.

In such a case, you need to disable hardware acceleration for resolving video playing problems.

● Right-click on the video which is displaying the green screen.

● Choose ‘Setting’ from the menu.

● Now, click to uncheck the option ‘Enable hardware acceleration’.

● Next, close the window to reload the page.

● To watch the video, reopen the website.

If you don’t find the ‘Settings’ option on the right-clicking the green video screen, disable the option of Hardware Acceleration on the web browser.

2. Update the Graphics Card Drivers

In case after establishing the hardware acceleration green screen in the YouTube videos to occur, update the graphics card driver. The video playing issue might have been caused due to the old AMD or NVIDIA graphics card.

Here are the steps to update the Graphics Card Drivers:

● Right-click on ‘My Computer’.

● Now, click on ‘Follow Manage’ and then ‘Device Manager’.

● Next, click on the option ‘Display Adapters’.

● Right-click on the graphics driver and then click on ‘Update Driver Software’.

● Choose ‘Search automatically for updated driver software’. The system will detect the graphics card and will find the latest driver. Restart the PC and the system.

3. Run a Troubleshooter

You can also try running a troubleshooter in the system to fix your green screen issue in YouTube videos.

Check out what you have to do.

● Open the computer ‘Settings’ app.

● Click on the ‘Update & Security’ section.

● Choose ‘Troubleshoot’ and then ‘Hardware and Devices’.

● As soon as the progress is complete, just restart the PC.

Now, you will have to view the videos once more to check if the problem has been resolved.

4. Adjust YouTube Settings

If you are persistently having this problem with YouTube videos, you can try to change the video quality to make it supported by the device. You need to do this in the following steps.

● Open the browser and play the YouTube video you prefer.

● Click on the ‘Gear’ icon and from the menu opt for ‘Quality’.

● Now, you can choose from different video quality options.

Conclusion

You might have seen how easy it is to solve the YouTube green screen issues while running YouTube videos on Mac. So, when you are encountering one, there is no reason to worry. Moreover, following the few hacks given above, you can easily resolve the YouTube green screen issue.

In case you are troubleshooting the issue, make sure that you begin with hardware acceleration and then move on to the other methods. If you want to create a video for YouTube using green screen, you can usevideo editor for Mac from Filmora. It offers various features that you can use to create a unique video.

Learn More: How do Beginners Make a Cool Video for YouTube on Mac>>>

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

When you are watching YouTube, you might notice that the video is green while the sound keeps playing. This can be quite frustrating when you are watching something interesting and the YouTube green screen comes up.

There are various reasons as to why you have a green screen while watching videos on YouTube such as some problem with the GPU of Mac. No matter what the instance is, it can be quite overwhelming.

In case the YouTube green screen video issue while watching videos is bothering you and you are looking for a permanent fix to solve it, keep reading. In this guide, you can learn about the various issues that lead to the green screen problem on YouTube and how you can fix it.

But first, let’s take a look at the various issues that are causing the YouTube videos to turn green.

● Outdated Graphic Card Drivers: The issues associated with the graphics card can be a serious factor responsible for the green screen you are seeing while playing YouTube videos on your Mac device. This happens when the graphic drivers are outdated and can no longer support efficacious processing and playing of videos on the device. Graphics Card Drivers rendering is just the use of graphics cards for all rendering of functions such as videos. In case the drivers are outdated as the operating system, you will see a green screen error.

● Unreliable Third-Party Software: Any software from another source when used on Mac can lead to system errors. This will lead to green screen videos. It is more so when malware finds its way into the system when you are downloading the third-party software. This can even be a virus that comes with the software.

● Other Factors: Other factors might be responsible for the green screen videos such as a corrupt operating system.

How to Prevent Green Screen on YouTube on Mac?

In order to solve the YouTube video playing issue prior to moving on to the tricky troubleshooting methods, try out the simple hacks given below to prevent the problem altogether. These temporary hacks are usually quite helpful when you are in a hurry to watch a video.

● Play the YouTube video in some other browser. Often, a certain browser has a history of displaying a green screen on it when you play the videos on YouTube.

● Delete temporary files and cookies on Mac. This frees up space for the system.

● Close the other tabs and interfaces in the browser when you are watching the video online. This way the activities on the open window are not going to lead to an error while playing the video.

● Clear the cache data. By doing this, you can make sure that your system has enough space.

● Update the browser you are using to view videos on the latest browser.

● Reboot the Mac device if you are using it for a while. At times, rebooting the computer is all that you have to do to get the video working properly yet again after an error occurs.

How to Fix YouTube Green Screen?

As the video playing problem is primarily related to graphic drivers and hardware in the computer, further troubleshooting methods are for available for fixing these problems.

Hence, when the hacks fail to work and you keep seeing YouTube green screen, try out the following methods to fix this issue.

1. Disable Hardware Acceleration

The computer uses GPU rather than CPU for loading graphic intensive programs during hardware acceleration.

Nevertheless, some problems might occur when rendering the web pages from the Central Processing Unit to the Graphic Processing Unit. This causes performance problems. You might notice a green or blank screen while you are watching high-quality videos on YouTube.

In such a case, you need to disable hardware acceleration for resolving video playing problems.

● Right-click on the video which is displaying the green screen.

● Choose ‘Setting’ from the menu.

● Now, click to uncheck the option ‘Enable hardware acceleration’.

● Next, close the window to reload the page.

● To watch the video, reopen the website.

If you don’t find the ‘Settings’ option on the right-clicking the green video screen, disable the option of Hardware Acceleration on the web browser.

2. Update the Graphics Card Drivers

In case after establishing the hardware acceleration green screen in the YouTube videos to occur, update the graphics card driver. The video playing issue might have been caused due to the old AMD or NVIDIA graphics card.

Here are the steps to update the Graphics Card Drivers:

● Right-click on ‘My Computer’.

● Now, click on ‘Follow Manage’ and then ‘Device Manager’.

● Next, click on the option ‘Display Adapters’.

● Right-click on the graphics driver and then click on ‘Update Driver Software’.

● Choose ‘Search automatically for updated driver software’. The system will detect the graphics card and will find the latest driver. Restart the PC and the system.

3. Run a Troubleshooter

You can also try running a troubleshooter in the system to fix your green screen issue in YouTube videos.

Check out what you have to do.

● Open the computer ‘Settings’ app.

● Click on the ‘Update & Security’ section.

● Choose ‘Troubleshoot’ and then ‘Hardware and Devices’.

● As soon as the progress is complete, just restart the PC.

Now, you will have to view the videos once more to check if the problem has been resolved.

4. Adjust YouTube Settings

If you are persistently having this problem with YouTube videos, you can try to change the video quality to make it supported by the device. You need to do this in the following steps.

● Open the browser and play the YouTube video you prefer.

● Click on the ‘Gear’ icon and from the menu opt for ‘Quality’.

● Now, you can choose from different video quality options.

Conclusion

You might have seen how easy it is to solve the YouTube green screen issues while running YouTube videos on Mac. So, when you are encountering one, there is no reason to worry. Moreover, following the few hacks given above, you can easily resolve the YouTube green screen issue.

In case you are troubleshooting the issue, make sure that you begin with hardware acceleration and then move on to the other methods. If you want to create a video for YouTube using green screen, you can usevideo editor for Mac from Filmora. It offers various features that you can use to create a unique video.

Learn More: How do Beginners Make a Cool Video for YouTube on Mac>>>

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

YouTube SEO 101: Boost Your Video’s Visibility

The 12-step YouTube SEO Guide for Beginners Who Want More Views

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.

Well, let’s change that!

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.

Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.

Ready?

Let’s Go!

Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors

Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?

Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.

Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.

Step 1: Find Related Videos

Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.

Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:

While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!

Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.

Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:

- To be entertained

- To learn something new

- To be inspired

A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.

So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .

Step 2: Find Keywords

Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.

Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:

Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.

This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.

Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.

How to Read Keyword Suggestions

Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:

- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.

- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.

- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.

The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.

In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!

Step 3: Write Title

I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.

A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.

Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs

But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.

Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…

Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.

Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.

So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?

Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.

You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.

See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?

Step 4: Write Description

You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.

This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.

But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.

Step 5: Write Tags

Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.

Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.

Organize your keywords in the tag as such:

Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:

Specific: How to make scrambled eggs

General: Scrambled eggs

Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs

Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible

It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.

Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.

Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook

The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .

What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.

Step 7: Film B-Roll

One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.

In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.

While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.

So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.

Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video

Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.

While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.

The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.

For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”

Who knows, who will respond.

Step 9: Design a Thumbnail

You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.

Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.

Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.

Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?

You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.

Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .

Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization

Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.

Come on, keep going!

Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets

The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.

Step 11: Add Transcripts

In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.

While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.

You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.

Step 12: Add Video to Playlist

Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.

When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.

So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.

I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!

If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.

Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.

Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.

Well, let’s change that!

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.

Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.

Ready?

Let’s Go!

Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors

Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?

Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.

Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.

Step 1: Find Related Videos

Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.

Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:

While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!

Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.

Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:

- To be entertained

- To learn something new

- To be inspired

A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.

So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .

Step 2: Find Keywords

Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.

Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:

Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.

This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.

Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.

How to Read Keyword Suggestions

Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:

- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.

- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.

- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.

The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.

In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!

Step 3: Write Title

I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.

A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.

Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs

But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.

Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…

Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.

Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.

So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?

Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.

You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.

See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?

Step 4: Write Description

You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.

This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.

But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.

Step 5: Write Tags

Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.

Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.

Organize your keywords in the tag as such:

Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:

Specific: How to make scrambled eggs

General: Scrambled eggs

Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs

Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible

It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.

Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.

Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook

The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .

What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.

Step 7: Film B-Roll

One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.

In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.

While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.

So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.

Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video

Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.

While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.

The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.

For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”

Who knows, who will respond.

Step 9: Design a Thumbnail

You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.

Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.

Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.

Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?

You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.

Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .

Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization

Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.

Come on, keep going!

Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets

The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.

Step 11: Add Transcripts

In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.

While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.

You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.

Step 12: Add Video to Playlist

Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.

When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.

So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.

I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!

If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.

Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.

Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.

Well, let’s change that!

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.

Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.

Ready?

Let’s Go!

Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors

Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?

Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.

Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.

Step 1: Find Related Videos

Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.

Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:

While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!

Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.

Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:

- To be entertained

- To learn something new

- To be inspired

A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.

So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .

Step 2: Find Keywords

Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.

Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:

Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.

This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.

Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.

How to Read Keyword Suggestions

Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:

- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.

- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.

- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.

The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.

In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!

Step 3: Write Title

I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.

A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.

Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs

But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.

Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…

Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.

Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.

So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?

Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.

You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.

See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?

Step 4: Write Description

You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.

This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.

But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.

Step 5: Write Tags

Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.

Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.

Organize your keywords in the tag as such:

Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:

Specific: How to make scrambled eggs

General: Scrambled eggs

Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs

Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible

It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.

Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.

Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook

The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .

What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.

Step 7: Film B-Roll

One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.

In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.

While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.

So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.

Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video

Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.

While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.

The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.

For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”

Who knows, who will respond.

Step 9: Design a Thumbnail

You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.

Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.

Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.

Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?

You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.

Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .

Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization

Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.

Come on, keep going!

Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets

The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.

Step 11: Add Transcripts

In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.

While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.

You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.

Step 12: Add Video to Playlist

Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.

When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.

So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.

I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!

If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.

Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.

Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.

Well, let’s change that!

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.

Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.

Ready?

Let’s Go!

Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors

Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?

Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.

Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.

Step 1: Find Related Videos

Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.

Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:

While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!

Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.

Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:

- To be entertained

- To learn something new

- To be inspired

A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.

So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .

Step 2: Find Keywords

Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.

Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:

Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.

This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.

Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.

How to Read Keyword Suggestions

Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:

- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.

- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.

- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.

The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.

In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!

Step 3: Write Title

I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.

A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.

Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs

But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.

Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…

Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.

Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.

So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?

Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.

You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.

See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?

Step 4: Write Description

You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.

This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.

But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.

Step 5: Write Tags

Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.

Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.

Organize your keywords in the tag as such:

Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:

Specific: How to make scrambled eggs

General: Scrambled eggs

Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs

Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible

It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.

Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.

Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook

The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .

What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.

Step 7: Film B-Roll

One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.

In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.

While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.

So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.

Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video

Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.

While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.

The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.

For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”

Who knows, who will respond.

Step 9: Design a Thumbnail

You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.

Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.

Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.

Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?

You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.

Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .

Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization

Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.

Come on, keep going!

Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets

The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.

Step 11: Add Transcripts

In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.

While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.

You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.

Step 12: Add Video to Playlist

Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.

When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.

So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.

I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!

If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.

Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.

Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox