Must-Have Filmmaking Tools for Aspiring YouTubers

YouTube Video Shooting Equipment List: What You Need to Start Recording Videos

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Shooting a video has never been easier because there are so many different cameras you can use to capture the footage for your YouTube video. In the past, professional video equipment has been expensive and difficult to operate, but all of this has changed with the invention of digital cameras.

On the other hand, buying the most expensive microphones, lighting equipment or cameras doesn’t guarantee that your videos will be a major success once you post them on YouTube. Instead, you should look for the equipment that is best suited for the type of videos you want to create. Let’s explore the equipment that is necessary for running a successful YouTube channel.

What Equipment Will You Need to Start Your New YouTube Channel?

The process of creating a video can be divided into three different stages, the pre-production, production, and post-production. Each stage has its own tools, without which completing a video would be impossible. In this article, we will be covering the equipment that will make the production stage of the process much smoother, and it will also help you to go through post-production much faster.

Equipment 1: Camera

You can’t shoot a video without a camera, but which camera you’re going to use depends on the type of the video you want to produce. Sometimes the camera that offers the most shooting options is not the best choice, and different factors like size or the weight of the camera can be much more important than the sheer quality of the footage.

1. Cellphone Cameras

If you own a smartphone , you already have a camera you can use to create a YouTube video. Mobile phone cameras are easy to operate and they are perfect for shooting videos while you are on the go. However, most phones are incredibly light and holding the device in your hand while shooting may produce camera shakes that ruin the video. You’ll also need a third-party app in order to control all of the camera settings manually.

You can also make YouTube videos with just your phone , check this video for more details.

2. Action Cameras

If you are a fan of outdoor activities and you want to shoot your YouTube videos while you’re having an adventure action cam may be your best choice. The GoPro and all similar types of cameras are small, lightweight, and they can produce videos in high resolution. Most of these cameras come with mounts and accessories that enable you to shoot perfectly stable footage while you are climbing, running or walking.

We have composed some useful tips and trick of buying and using action camera, in cast that you want to buy an action camera for shooting videos, do check out this ultimate action camera guide .

3. Camcorders

YouTubers that often shoot videos on different locations, can hardly go wrong if they decide to capture their videos with a camcorder. The best models on the market enable you to shoot 4K videos, even in less than perfect light conditions and you can also adjust the camera settings manually. Camcorders are a great choice if you want to make sure that your footage always looks great, regardless of the location on which you recorded it.

If you want to buy a camcorder to shoot your YouTube vlog video, please do check this list of best 4k camcorders that you can buy.

4. Mirrorless Cameras

Besides offering superb image quality, mirrorless cameras also let you change lenses so you get the best shot in every scene you want to include in your video. These types of cameras are a popular choice for vlogging or capturing footage for all types of YouTube videos because they feature professional video recording options while remaining relatively lightweight and easy to carry around. However, the best mirrorless cameras on the market can be quite expensive, and you must be prepared to invest money in lenses and other equipment.

If you want to buy a mirrorless camera to shoot your YouTube vlog video, please do check this list of best 4k mirrorless cameras.

5. DSLR Cameras

Seasoned professionals, as well as the newcomers to the world of video production, can benefit from using a DSLR camera for shooting the content for their YouTube channel. These types of cameras allow you to change lenses, pull focus manually, shoot at different frame rates or capture the footage in 4K and Full HD quality. What’s more, you can use a DSLR camera even in challenging light conditions, because most models support ISO sensitivity values that enable the camera to produce remarkable image quality even when the amount of light in a shot is far from perfect.

With a DSLR camera, you can also use it a webcam for recording your face and your desktop screen at the same time, check how to use a DSLR camera as a webcam .

Equipment 2: Microphones

Moving images are less effective without sound, which is the reason why you should pay close attention to this aspect of the video making process. All cameras have built-in microphones, but the audio quality they produce is often not good enough to actually use it in a YouTube video. That’s why recording sound with an external microphone is a common practice among the most successful YouTubers.

The location at which you’re shooting the video will help you determine which microphone you should use for that project. If you are recording your YouTube video in the exterior an omnidirectional microphone is your best choice because it will eliminate the wind noise. Furthermore, as their name suggests these microphones can pick up sounds from all directions so people in your videos don’t have to speak directly into the microphone.

Shotgun or unidirectional mics are frequently used in studio conditions when you want to eliminate all other sounds except the narrator’s voice. Gamers, tutorial makers and all other YouTube content creators that rely heavily on narration in their videos use shotgun mics because they produce great audio quality. Even though it is easy to overlook the importance of sound for the overall quality of the video you’re working on, a video with great audio quality may actually help you attract more followers on YouTube.

Check: best microphones for YouTube vloggers.

Equipment 3: Video Stabilization Equipment

Holding a camera in your hand while shooting a video is often not the best idea, because even breathing may cause the camera to move and produce camera shakes. That’s where tripods , steadicams, gimbals , rigs and other video stabilization equipment comes in. As a matter of fact, you should only shoot handheld videos when you want to achieve this effect, while all another camera movement should be avoided without the use of appropriate equipment.

Shaky videos are not very pleasant to watch and they can reduce your chances of attracting more followers on YouTube. The video stabilization equipment offers a great solution, and you can get a professional tripod or gimbal at a very reasonable price. However, which video stabilization equipment you are going to use depends on the camera you have and the type of shot you want to get.

Check our list of best camera stabilizer for YouTubers in 2018 .

Equipment 4: Lighting Equipment

Instead of struggling with natural light sources and having to deal with shadows, you can simply use the lighting equipment to equalize the light values in a shot. Of course, whether or not you will use artificial light in your video depends on a number of factors, including the location and the visual style you’re trying to achieve.

Whether you will use an on-camera LED light, ring light or softbox video lights is yet another creative decision you will have to make during the process of shooting your YouTube video. The great majority of video lighting equipment produces the best results in controlled, studio-like conditions, so before you go ahead and buy an on-camera light or a softbox make sure that you know how the equipment will perform on the interior and exterior locations.

Conclusion

Producing YouTube videos on a constant basis requires you to have the right equipment for the job. You don’t have to shoot your videos with the most expensive camera out there or have the best microphone on the market in order to create a great YouTube video, but having the equipment capable of delivering a professional level of video and audio quality won’t hurt your chances of becoming a successful YouTuber.

We’d love to hear all about the gear you’re using to capture your videos, so leave a comment and let us know.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Shooting a video has never been easier because there are so many different cameras you can use to capture the footage for your YouTube video. In the past, professional video equipment has been expensive and difficult to operate, but all of this has changed with the invention of digital cameras.

On the other hand, buying the most expensive microphones, lighting equipment or cameras doesn’t guarantee that your videos will be a major success once you post them on YouTube. Instead, you should look for the equipment that is best suited for the type of videos you want to create. Let’s explore the equipment that is necessary for running a successful YouTube channel.

What Equipment Will You Need to Start Your New YouTube Channel?

The process of creating a video can be divided into three different stages, the pre-production, production, and post-production. Each stage has its own tools, without which completing a video would be impossible. In this article, we will be covering the equipment that will make the production stage of the process much smoother, and it will also help you to go through post-production much faster.

Equipment 1: Camera

You can’t shoot a video without a camera, but which camera you’re going to use depends on the type of the video you want to produce. Sometimes the camera that offers the most shooting options is not the best choice, and different factors like size or the weight of the camera can be much more important than the sheer quality of the footage.

1. Cellphone Cameras

If you own a smartphone , you already have a camera you can use to create a YouTube video. Mobile phone cameras are easy to operate and they are perfect for shooting videos while you are on the go. However, most phones are incredibly light and holding the device in your hand while shooting may produce camera shakes that ruin the video. You’ll also need a third-party app in order to control all of the camera settings manually.

You can also make YouTube videos with just your phone , check this video for more details.

2. Action Cameras

If you are a fan of outdoor activities and you want to shoot your YouTube videos while you’re having an adventure action cam may be your best choice. The GoPro and all similar types of cameras are small, lightweight, and they can produce videos in high resolution. Most of these cameras come with mounts and accessories that enable you to shoot perfectly stable footage while you are climbing, running or walking.

We have composed some useful tips and trick of buying and using action camera, in cast that you want to buy an action camera for shooting videos, do check out this ultimate action camera guide .

3. Camcorders

YouTubers that often shoot videos on different locations, can hardly go wrong if they decide to capture their videos with a camcorder. The best models on the market enable you to shoot 4K videos, even in less than perfect light conditions and you can also adjust the camera settings manually. Camcorders are a great choice if you want to make sure that your footage always looks great, regardless of the location on which you recorded it.

If you want to buy a camcorder to shoot your YouTube vlog video, please do check this list of best 4k camcorders that you can buy.

4. Mirrorless Cameras

Besides offering superb image quality, mirrorless cameras also let you change lenses so you get the best shot in every scene you want to include in your video. These types of cameras are a popular choice for vlogging or capturing footage for all types of YouTube videos because they feature professional video recording options while remaining relatively lightweight and easy to carry around. However, the best mirrorless cameras on the market can be quite expensive, and you must be prepared to invest money in lenses and other equipment.

If you want to buy a mirrorless camera to shoot your YouTube vlog video, please do check this list of best 4k mirrorless cameras.

5. DSLR Cameras

Seasoned professionals, as well as the newcomers to the world of video production, can benefit from using a DSLR camera for shooting the content for their YouTube channel. These types of cameras allow you to change lenses, pull focus manually, shoot at different frame rates or capture the footage in 4K and Full HD quality. What’s more, you can use a DSLR camera even in challenging light conditions, because most models support ISO sensitivity values that enable the camera to produce remarkable image quality even when the amount of light in a shot is far from perfect.

With a DSLR camera, you can also use it a webcam for recording your face and your desktop screen at the same time, check how to use a DSLR camera as a webcam .

Equipment 2: Microphones

Moving images are less effective without sound, which is the reason why you should pay close attention to this aspect of the video making process. All cameras have built-in microphones, but the audio quality they produce is often not good enough to actually use it in a YouTube video. That’s why recording sound with an external microphone is a common practice among the most successful YouTubers.

The location at which you’re shooting the video will help you determine which microphone you should use for that project. If you are recording your YouTube video in the exterior an omnidirectional microphone is your best choice because it will eliminate the wind noise. Furthermore, as their name suggests these microphones can pick up sounds from all directions so people in your videos don’t have to speak directly into the microphone.

Shotgun or unidirectional mics are frequently used in studio conditions when you want to eliminate all other sounds except the narrator’s voice. Gamers, tutorial makers and all other YouTube content creators that rely heavily on narration in their videos use shotgun mics because they produce great audio quality. Even though it is easy to overlook the importance of sound for the overall quality of the video you’re working on, a video with great audio quality may actually help you attract more followers on YouTube.

Check: best microphones for YouTube vloggers.

Equipment 3: Video Stabilization Equipment

Holding a camera in your hand while shooting a video is often not the best idea, because even breathing may cause the camera to move and produce camera shakes. That’s where tripods , steadicams, gimbals , rigs and other video stabilization equipment comes in. As a matter of fact, you should only shoot handheld videos when you want to achieve this effect, while all another camera movement should be avoided without the use of appropriate equipment.

Shaky videos are not very pleasant to watch and they can reduce your chances of attracting more followers on YouTube. The video stabilization equipment offers a great solution, and you can get a professional tripod or gimbal at a very reasonable price. However, which video stabilization equipment you are going to use depends on the camera you have and the type of shot you want to get.

Check our list of best camera stabilizer for YouTubers in 2018 .

Equipment 4: Lighting Equipment

Instead of struggling with natural light sources and having to deal with shadows, you can simply use the lighting equipment to equalize the light values in a shot. Of course, whether or not you will use artificial light in your video depends on a number of factors, including the location and the visual style you’re trying to achieve.

Whether you will use an on-camera LED light, ring light or softbox video lights is yet another creative decision you will have to make during the process of shooting your YouTube video. The great majority of video lighting equipment produces the best results in controlled, studio-like conditions, so before you go ahead and buy an on-camera light or a softbox make sure that you know how the equipment will perform on the interior and exterior locations.

Conclusion

Producing YouTube videos on a constant basis requires you to have the right equipment for the job. You don’t have to shoot your videos with the most expensive camera out there or have the best microphone on the market in order to create a great YouTube video, but having the equipment capable of delivering a professional level of video and audio quality won’t hurt your chances of becoming a successful YouTuber.

We’d love to hear all about the gear you’re using to capture your videos, so leave a comment and let us know.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Shooting a video has never been easier because there are so many different cameras you can use to capture the footage for your YouTube video. In the past, professional video equipment has been expensive and difficult to operate, but all of this has changed with the invention of digital cameras.

On the other hand, buying the most expensive microphones, lighting equipment or cameras doesn’t guarantee that your videos will be a major success once you post them on YouTube. Instead, you should look for the equipment that is best suited for the type of videos you want to create. Let’s explore the equipment that is necessary for running a successful YouTube channel.

What Equipment Will You Need to Start Your New YouTube Channel?

The process of creating a video can be divided into three different stages, the pre-production, production, and post-production. Each stage has its own tools, without which completing a video would be impossible. In this article, we will be covering the equipment that will make the production stage of the process much smoother, and it will also help you to go through post-production much faster.

Equipment 1: Camera

You can’t shoot a video without a camera, but which camera you’re going to use depends on the type of the video you want to produce. Sometimes the camera that offers the most shooting options is not the best choice, and different factors like size or the weight of the camera can be much more important than the sheer quality of the footage.

1. Cellphone Cameras

If you own a smartphone , you already have a camera you can use to create a YouTube video. Mobile phone cameras are easy to operate and they are perfect for shooting videos while you are on the go. However, most phones are incredibly light and holding the device in your hand while shooting may produce camera shakes that ruin the video. You’ll also need a third-party app in order to control all of the camera settings manually.

You can also make YouTube videos with just your phone , check this video for more details.

2. Action Cameras

If you are a fan of outdoor activities and you want to shoot your YouTube videos while you’re having an adventure action cam may be your best choice. The GoPro and all similar types of cameras are small, lightweight, and they can produce videos in high resolution. Most of these cameras come with mounts and accessories that enable you to shoot perfectly stable footage while you are climbing, running or walking.

We have composed some useful tips and trick of buying and using action camera, in cast that you want to buy an action camera for shooting videos, do check out this ultimate action camera guide .

3. Camcorders

YouTubers that often shoot videos on different locations, can hardly go wrong if they decide to capture their videos with a camcorder. The best models on the market enable you to shoot 4K videos, even in less than perfect light conditions and you can also adjust the camera settings manually. Camcorders are a great choice if you want to make sure that your footage always looks great, regardless of the location on which you recorded it.

If you want to buy a camcorder to shoot your YouTube vlog video, please do check this list of best 4k camcorders that you can buy.

4. Mirrorless Cameras

Besides offering superb image quality, mirrorless cameras also let you change lenses so you get the best shot in every scene you want to include in your video. These types of cameras are a popular choice for vlogging or capturing footage for all types of YouTube videos because they feature professional video recording options while remaining relatively lightweight and easy to carry around. However, the best mirrorless cameras on the market can be quite expensive, and you must be prepared to invest money in lenses and other equipment.

If you want to buy a mirrorless camera to shoot your YouTube vlog video, please do check this list of best 4k mirrorless cameras.

5. DSLR Cameras

Seasoned professionals, as well as the newcomers to the world of video production, can benefit from using a DSLR camera for shooting the content for their YouTube channel. These types of cameras allow you to change lenses, pull focus manually, shoot at different frame rates or capture the footage in 4K and Full HD quality. What’s more, you can use a DSLR camera even in challenging light conditions, because most models support ISO sensitivity values that enable the camera to produce remarkable image quality even when the amount of light in a shot is far from perfect.

With a DSLR camera, you can also use it a webcam for recording your face and your desktop screen at the same time, check how to use a DSLR camera as a webcam .

Equipment 2: Microphones

Moving images are less effective without sound, which is the reason why you should pay close attention to this aspect of the video making process. All cameras have built-in microphones, but the audio quality they produce is often not good enough to actually use it in a YouTube video. That’s why recording sound with an external microphone is a common practice among the most successful YouTubers.

The location at which you’re shooting the video will help you determine which microphone you should use for that project. If you are recording your YouTube video in the exterior an omnidirectional microphone is your best choice because it will eliminate the wind noise. Furthermore, as their name suggests these microphones can pick up sounds from all directions so people in your videos don’t have to speak directly into the microphone.

Shotgun or unidirectional mics are frequently used in studio conditions when you want to eliminate all other sounds except the narrator’s voice. Gamers, tutorial makers and all other YouTube content creators that rely heavily on narration in their videos use shotgun mics because they produce great audio quality. Even though it is easy to overlook the importance of sound for the overall quality of the video you’re working on, a video with great audio quality may actually help you attract more followers on YouTube.

Check: best microphones for YouTube vloggers.

Equipment 3: Video Stabilization Equipment

Holding a camera in your hand while shooting a video is often not the best idea, because even breathing may cause the camera to move and produce camera shakes. That’s where tripods , steadicams, gimbals , rigs and other video stabilization equipment comes in. As a matter of fact, you should only shoot handheld videos when you want to achieve this effect, while all another camera movement should be avoided without the use of appropriate equipment.

Shaky videos are not very pleasant to watch and they can reduce your chances of attracting more followers on YouTube. The video stabilization equipment offers a great solution, and you can get a professional tripod or gimbal at a very reasonable price. However, which video stabilization equipment you are going to use depends on the camera you have and the type of shot you want to get.

Check our list of best camera stabilizer for YouTubers in 2018 .

Equipment 4: Lighting Equipment

Instead of struggling with natural light sources and having to deal with shadows, you can simply use the lighting equipment to equalize the light values in a shot. Of course, whether or not you will use artificial light in your video depends on a number of factors, including the location and the visual style you’re trying to achieve.

Whether you will use an on-camera LED light, ring light or softbox video lights is yet another creative decision you will have to make during the process of shooting your YouTube video. The great majority of video lighting equipment produces the best results in controlled, studio-like conditions, so before you go ahead and buy an on-camera light or a softbox make sure that you know how the equipment will perform on the interior and exterior locations.

Conclusion

Producing YouTube videos on a constant basis requires you to have the right equipment for the job. You don’t have to shoot your videos with the most expensive camera out there or have the best microphone on the market in order to create a great YouTube video, but having the equipment capable of delivering a professional level of video and audio quality won’t hurt your chances of becoming a successful YouTuber.

We’d love to hear all about the gear you’re using to capture your videos, so leave a comment and let us know.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Shooting a video has never been easier because there are so many different cameras you can use to capture the footage for your YouTube video. In the past, professional video equipment has been expensive and difficult to operate, but all of this has changed with the invention of digital cameras.

On the other hand, buying the most expensive microphones, lighting equipment or cameras doesn’t guarantee that your videos will be a major success once you post them on YouTube. Instead, you should look for the equipment that is best suited for the type of videos you want to create. Let’s explore the equipment that is necessary for running a successful YouTube channel.

What Equipment Will You Need to Start Your New YouTube Channel?

The process of creating a video can be divided into three different stages, the pre-production, production, and post-production. Each stage has its own tools, without which completing a video would be impossible. In this article, we will be covering the equipment that will make the production stage of the process much smoother, and it will also help you to go through post-production much faster.

Equipment 1: Camera

You can’t shoot a video without a camera, but which camera you’re going to use depends on the type of the video you want to produce. Sometimes the camera that offers the most shooting options is not the best choice, and different factors like size or the weight of the camera can be much more important than the sheer quality of the footage.

1. Cellphone Cameras

If you own a smartphone , you already have a camera you can use to create a YouTube video. Mobile phone cameras are easy to operate and they are perfect for shooting videos while you are on the go. However, most phones are incredibly light and holding the device in your hand while shooting may produce camera shakes that ruin the video. You’ll also need a third-party app in order to control all of the camera settings manually.

You can also make YouTube videos with just your phone , check this video for more details.

2. Action Cameras

If you are a fan of outdoor activities and you want to shoot your YouTube videos while you’re having an adventure action cam may be your best choice. The GoPro and all similar types of cameras are small, lightweight, and they can produce videos in high resolution. Most of these cameras come with mounts and accessories that enable you to shoot perfectly stable footage while you are climbing, running or walking.

We have composed some useful tips and trick of buying and using action camera, in cast that you want to buy an action camera for shooting videos, do check out this ultimate action camera guide .

3. Camcorders

YouTubers that often shoot videos on different locations, can hardly go wrong if they decide to capture their videos with a camcorder. The best models on the market enable you to shoot 4K videos, even in less than perfect light conditions and you can also adjust the camera settings manually. Camcorders are a great choice if you want to make sure that your footage always looks great, regardless of the location on which you recorded it.

If you want to buy a camcorder to shoot your YouTube vlog video, please do check this list of best 4k camcorders that you can buy.

4. Mirrorless Cameras

Besides offering superb image quality, mirrorless cameras also let you change lenses so you get the best shot in every scene you want to include in your video. These types of cameras are a popular choice for vlogging or capturing footage for all types of YouTube videos because they feature professional video recording options while remaining relatively lightweight and easy to carry around. However, the best mirrorless cameras on the market can be quite expensive, and you must be prepared to invest money in lenses and other equipment.

If you want to buy a mirrorless camera to shoot your YouTube vlog video, please do check this list of best 4k mirrorless cameras.

5. DSLR Cameras

Seasoned professionals, as well as the newcomers to the world of video production, can benefit from using a DSLR camera for shooting the content for their YouTube channel. These types of cameras allow you to change lenses, pull focus manually, shoot at different frame rates or capture the footage in 4K and Full HD quality. What’s more, you can use a DSLR camera even in challenging light conditions, because most models support ISO sensitivity values that enable the camera to produce remarkable image quality even when the amount of light in a shot is far from perfect.

With a DSLR camera, you can also use it a webcam for recording your face and your desktop screen at the same time, check how to use a DSLR camera as a webcam .

Equipment 2: Microphones

Moving images are less effective without sound, which is the reason why you should pay close attention to this aspect of the video making process. All cameras have built-in microphones, but the audio quality they produce is often not good enough to actually use it in a YouTube video. That’s why recording sound with an external microphone is a common practice among the most successful YouTubers.

The location at which you’re shooting the video will help you determine which microphone you should use for that project. If you are recording your YouTube video in the exterior an omnidirectional microphone is your best choice because it will eliminate the wind noise. Furthermore, as their name suggests these microphones can pick up sounds from all directions so people in your videos don’t have to speak directly into the microphone.

Shotgun or unidirectional mics are frequently used in studio conditions when you want to eliminate all other sounds except the narrator’s voice. Gamers, tutorial makers and all other YouTube content creators that rely heavily on narration in their videos use shotgun mics because they produce great audio quality. Even though it is easy to overlook the importance of sound for the overall quality of the video you’re working on, a video with great audio quality may actually help you attract more followers on YouTube.

Check: best microphones for YouTube vloggers.

Equipment 3: Video Stabilization Equipment

Holding a camera in your hand while shooting a video is often not the best idea, because even breathing may cause the camera to move and produce camera shakes. That’s where tripods , steadicams, gimbals , rigs and other video stabilization equipment comes in. As a matter of fact, you should only shoot handheld videos when you want to achieve this effect, while all another camera movement should be avoided without the use of appropriate equipment.

Shaky videos are not very pleasant to watch and they can reduce your chances of attracting more followers on YouTube. The video stabilization equipment offers a great solution, and you can get a professional tripod or gimbal at a very reasonable price. However, which video stabilization equipment you are going to use depends on the camera you have and the type of shot you want to get.

Check our list of best camera stabilizer for YouTubers in 2018 .

Equipment 4: Lighting Equipment

Instead of struggling with natural light sources and having to deal with shadows, you can simply use the lighting equipment to equalize the light values in a shot. Of course, whether or not you will use artificial light in your video depends on a number of factors, including the location and the visual style you’re trying to achieve.

Whether you will use an on-camera LED light, ring light or softbox video lights is yet another creative decision you will have to make during the process of shooting your YouTube video. The great majority of video lighting equipment produces the best results in controlled, studio-like conditions, so before you go ahead and buy an on-camera light or a softbox make sure that you know how the equipment will perform on the interior and exterior locations.

Conclusion

Producing YouTube videos on a constant basis requires you to have the right equipment for the job. You don’t have to shoot your videos with the most expensive camera out there or have the best microphone on the market in order to create a great YouTube video, but having the equipment capable of delivering a professional level of video and audio quality won’t hurt your chances of becoming a successful YouTuber.

We’d love to hear all about the gear you’re using to capture your videos, so leave a comment and let us know.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Elevate Your Video Rankings with Effective SEO Tactics

YouTube SEO Guide: How to Improve Search Rankings For Your YouTube Videos

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If there exists searches, there exists SEO. YouTube now is the second largest search engine which processes more than 3 billion searches in a single month. Besides making sure that each video you upload to YouTube offers thought-provoking content, you can also optimize the video in accordance with the rules of SEO to stand out from the 500 hours of videos uploaded per minutes.

If you are trying to learn more about the SEO optimization of YouTube videos, you’ve landed on the right page, because in this guide we are going to take you through the process of improving the search rankings for each video you upload to YouTube.

YouTube SEO Guide

Quick Jump Menu:

The guide covers these five aspects of YouTube SEO optimization:

• The Basics - Five Main Traffic Sources
• How to Come Up With SEO Topics?
• The Metadata Process
• Promoting Videos Using Off-Channel Marketing
• How to Monitor a Video’s Data?

The Basics - Five Main Traffic Sources

Producing a video and posting it on your YouTube channel is simply not enough to guarantee its success. You have to know where the video’s traffic will come from, because over 500 hours of video content are being uploaded each minute, and there are over 50 million content creators on the platform.

That’s the reason why you have to develop a strategy that will attract the traffic to your videos and place them high in the YouTube’s search rankings. Let’s have a look at five traffic sources that will boost the number of views and comments videos are getting.

YouTube Search

A great deal of traffic for your videos can come from the search results, which makes the title of a video one of the most important aspects of SEO optimization on YouTube.

Don’t use long titles, strive to use short and catchy titles that also contain keywords which accurately describe the contents of the video in order to appear higher in the YouTube’s search results.

Suggested Videos

The platform offers video suggestions that cover topics similar to those of the videos you already watched. Once more, the title and the description you provided will play a crucial role in driving more traffic to your videos, so make sure that each video you post on YouTube has an effective title that will spark interest in a potential viewer to take action and actually watch the video.

Suggested videos that appear next to the video

Suggested videos that appear after the video

Suggested videos that appear from links in a video description.

YouTube Advertising

Investing in the promotion of the content you’re posting on your channel can help you to generate more views, but different types of YouTube ads produce different results. Non-skippable ads never count as a view, while a skippable ad that lasts more than ten seconds must be viewed for at least thirty seconds in order to qualify as a view. All other types of YouTube ads require the viewer to click on them and play them so the YouTube Analytics can recognize the action as a view.

Channel Pages, Browse Features, Playlists

Channel Pages - This method of generating traffic includes views created by other channel owners as well as Topic Channels that are automatically created using the platform’s video discovery system. In either case, your videos are discovered through search results or video suggestions.

Browse Features - The homepage of your YouTube channel as well as the subscription feed and all other browse features can be a potential source of views for your videos. The YouTube users who watch a video on your channel can be either signed-in or signed-out, but the YouTube Analytics tool will still recognize their action as a view.

Playlists - Producing content other YouTubers will want to include in their playlists is one of the best ways to attract more traffic and increase the amount of views videos you upload to your YouTube channel are getting.

External Traffic Sources

Even though YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, sharing a link to a video on social media such as Twitter or Facebook or embedding it on your website can significantly increase the number of views the video is getting.

Sources of traffic mentioned above are not equally effective, because the intent to actually watch the video varies greatly for each source. That’s why you’ll be able to achieve the best results if you combine several, if not all sources of traffic described in this guide.

How to Come Up With SEO Topics

Videos are a form of communication, and like with all forms of communication, you must know who you are addressing in order to know what to say. Defining the target audience before you start creating a video will make the SEO optimization process much simpler and much faster.

Let’s say that you want to become a successful beauty vlogger and your aim is to produce makeup tutorials. Your first step should be to determine which market is the most relevant for you. Assuming you’d like to target the Asian market, it becomes obvious that the audience you’ll be addressing will consist of women in need of practical makeup advice and your colleagues who offer similar types of tutorials.

Now that you’ve defined your target audience you can proceed to develop the content strategy. People search videos for many different reasons, but their motivation can be approximately divided into four micro-moments. These are:

I want to know, I want to go, I want to do and I want to buy moments and some or all can be applied to all types of YouTube videos.

I want to know moments refer to YouTube users who want to learn more about a certain topic and often ask how to perform a certain action. In the beauty niche, the search terms may include questions like ‘Is makeup bad for your skin?’ or ‘What is contouring?’.

I want to do moments reflect a certain need the potential viewer of your videos has, and your video should provide a straightforward answer. Most common I want to do search patterns for beauty vloggers are ‘How to apply mascara, eyeliner, etc..’

If you know quite a bit about beauty products, then producing videos that rely on I want to buy moments is a sure way to attract a lot of traffic to your videos. These include product reviews, top ten videos or comparison videos that offer the reasons for and against buying a certain product.

Furthermore, you should try to think of a way to create a makeup video that makes the viewer feel involved, so even if you are just explaining the basic terms or tools in the video, viewers should have the feeling that they are learning something.

After defining your target audience and determining what you have to offer, you can choose the topic based on keywords. Here’s how you can easily come up with keyword ideas for your YouTube videos.

How to find the right keywords ideas?

YouTube Search Suggestions:

This is by far the easiest and fastest way to come up with an SEO friendly topic for a video. The best part is that the keywords you come up with will work without a doubt since all suggestions are based on search terms actual people have already used.

Copy the Keywords From a Video in Your Niche that Already Has a Lot of Views:

Study the competition and find a few channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers that cover the same topics as you. These channels probably have a significant number of videos so just sort them out using the ‘Most Popular’ option.

Click on a video that has the most views and that also has a topic that isn’t far removed from what you want to do. When the video is open, look for the keyword around which it is centered, in the title, description or tags and just find a creative way to incorporate it into your video.

Use YouTube’s Traffic Sources and Search Report:

If you would like to find out which keywords YouTubers have used to find your videos this is your best option. Even though the chances are you’ll know most keywords in the report since you already used them for SEO optimization of your videos, you might come up with a few unexpected entries that might be useful.

Look for low-competition keywords, because frequently used keywords are already used by videos featured on channels that have a lot of followers. Low-competition keywords can be particularly helpful if you are trying to grow your channel since they might attract more viewers than the most obvious keyword choices.

YouTube keyword tools:

https://filmora.wondershare.com/vlogger/youtube-keyword-tools.html

The Metadata Process

Now that you’ve found the best keywords for a video you’d like to upload to your YouTube channel, you should do everything in your power to maximize its SEO value. The following YouTube Ranking factors all play a part in the success your video will enjoy:

• On Video (Metadata)
• Recommendations
• Channel
• User Action

As you can see, metadata is directly related to the search rankings performance of your videos. So what is metadata exactly?

Video file name: The SEO optimization of a YouTube video starts even before you upload the file to your channel. When naming a video file, make sure that the name contains a keyword, because the platform’s algorithm will analyze it and use it to determine how high it should be ranked in the search results.

Video title: The title of a YouTube video is added after the upload is complete. So, in order to increase the video’s chances of appearing high in the search results, you should place the keyword at its begging and avoid using titles longer than 70 characters as much as you can.

Description: The more words you use to describe a video, the better. YouTube descriptions can have up to 5000 characters, which gives you quite a lot of room to use the keywords you’ve selected.

Tags: You can hardly use too many tags, as a matter of fact, you should use as many tags as you can think of. Channel name, brand name, related keywords are all great choices for tags, just keep in mind that they can’t be longer than 127 characters.

YouTube tag generator:

http://www.betterwaytoweb.com/tag-generator-for-youtube

Transcript: Chances are that the keyword around which your video is based appears quite a lot in the narration and dialogue. YouTube lets you create transcripts of all your videos in just a few simple clicks, which enables you to take the SEO optimization a step further.

Promoting Videos Using Off-Channel Marketing

One of the greatest advantages YouTube offers is how easy it is to share the links to your videos on social media or anywhere else on the Internet. These off-channel marketing methods can help you drive more traffic to the videos you upload to YouTube:

Embedding the Link: Articles covering topics similar to the topic your video is covering are a perfect place to embed a link to the video featured on your channel. What’s more, you can embed a link in your blog posts, on your website, or on a website of a partner company.

Backlinks: A backlink is a link from some other website to the particular web resource, in this case, your video. You can insert links that offer additional information about the topic and by doing so increase the traffic.

Third-party Website Promotion: Share links to videos you upload to YouTube on websites like Quora or forums such as Filmora.io.

Team up with Other YouTube Creators: Looking for cooperation on Fiverr, or just send them private messages to ask for recommendation/follow. Add your video in their playlist, or in Related Channel, End-screen card, etc.

How to Monitor a Video’s Data?

YouTube Analytics is a tool that will enable you to find out more about the people who are watching your videos. How many of your subscribers have watched a video you added to your channel? How many viewers found a video you uploaded through search results? The answer to these questions can be easily found with this tool.

YouTube Analytics also provides insight into subscriber conversion rates, so you can know exactly which videos attracted the most subscribers. This feature is particularly important if you are still developing your channel since it can help you understand which type of videos inspired a viewer to take action and hit the Subscribe button

Combining the information supplied by the YouTube Analytics with the data Google Analytics can offer will allow you to get to know the viewers of your videos better, which can be useful when planning the topics of the videos you’d like to upload to your YouTube channel in the future. If you’d like to gain access to more advanced statistics, there are a lot of free and paid YouTube analytics tools that enable you to keep track of the number of video comments, rankings, dislikes, likes, video replies or favorites.

Each of these metrics serves as a building block of a successful YouTube channel because uploading a video during a weekend or during the working days may not produce the same results. The YouTube analytics tools can assist you in staying one step ahead of your competition and increasing the number of subscribers to your YouTube channel.

A Few Final Thoughts

Just keep these fundamental things into your mind when you’re doing YouTube SEO:

YouTube will do anything they can to keep viewer watch longer

So what’s relevant to the content? YouTube

Always suggest videos from the same creator (so you should use brand, channel name tags)

Evaluated what people watch next and which video they ignore.

Displays video with the similar titles and keywords/tags

So what’s relevant to the viewers? YouTube

Learns your preferences, style, tasted

Considers what content might be interesting to an individual viewer: analyze viewing history, channel subscriptions, search history, viewing choices.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If there exists searches, there exists SEO. YouTube now is the second largest search engine which processes more than 3 billion searches in a single month. Besides making sure that each video you upload to YouTube offers thought-provoking content, you can also optimize the video in accordance with the rules of SEO to stand out from the 500 hours of videos uploaded per minutes.

If you are trying to learn more about the SEO optimization of YouTube videos, you’ve landed on the right page, because in this guide we are going to take you through the process of improving the search rankings for each video you upload to YouTube.

YouTube SEO Guide

Quick Jump Menu:

The guide covers these five aspects of YouTube SEO optimization:

• The Basics - Five Main Traffic Sources
• How to Come Up With SEO Topics?
• The Metadata Process
• Promoting Videos Using Off-Channel Marketing
• How to Monitor a Video’s Data?

The Basics - Five Main Traffic Sources

Producing a video and posting it on your YouTube channel is simply not enough to guarantee its success. You have to know where the video’s traffic will come from, because over 500 hours of video content are being uploaded each minute, and there are over 50 million content creators on the platform.

That’s the reason why you have to develop a strategy that will attract the traffic to your videos and place them high in the YouTube’s search rankings. Let’s have a look at five traffic sources that will boost the number of views and comments videos are getting.

YouTube Search

A great deal of traffic for your videos can come from the search results, which makes the title of a video one of the most important aspects of SEO optimization on YouTube.

Don’t use long titles, strive to use short and catchy titles that also contain keywords which accurately describe the contents of the video in order to appear higher in the YouTube’s search results.

Suggested Videos

The platform offers video suggestions that cover topics similar to those of the videos you already watched. Once more, the title and the description you provided will play a crucial role in driving more traffic to your videos, so make sure that each video you post on YouTube has an effective title that will spark interest in a potential viewer to take action and actually watch the video.

Suggested videos that appear next to the video

Suggested videos that appear after the video

Suggested videos that appear from links in a video description.

YouTube Advertising

Investing in the promotion of the content you’re posting on your channel can help you to generate more views, but different types of YouTube ads produce different results. Non-skippable ads never count as a view, while a skippable ad that lasts more than ten seconds must be viewed for at least thirty seconds in order to qualify as a view. All other types of YouTube ads require the viewer to click on them and play them so the YouTube Analytics can recognize the action as a view.

Channel Pages, Browse Features, Playlists

Channel Pages - This method of generating traffic includes views created by other channel owners as well as Topic Channels that are automatically created using the platform’s video discovery system. In either case, your videos are discovered through search results or video suggestions.

Browse Features - The homepage of your YouTube channel as well as the subscription feed and all other browse features can be a potential source of views for your videos. The YouTube users who watch a video on your channel can be either signed-in or signed-out, but the YouTube Analytics tool will still recognize their action as a view.

Playlists - Producing content other YouTubers will want to include in their playlists is one of the best ways to attract more traffic and increase the amount of views videos you upload to your YouTube channel are getting.

External Traffic Sources

Even though YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, sharing a link to a video on social media such as Twitter or Facebook or embedding it on your website can significantly increase the number of views the video is getting.

Sources of traffic mentioned above are not equally effective, because the intent to actually watch the video varies greatly for each source. That’s why you’ll be able to achieve the best results if you combine several, if not all sources of traffic described in this guide.

How to Come Up With SEO Topics

Videos are a form of communication, and like with all forms of communication, you must know who you are addressing in order to know what to say. Defining the target audience before you start creating a video will make the SEO optimization process much simpler and much faster.

Let’s say that you want to become a successful beauty vlogger and your aim is to produce makeup tutorials. Your first step should be to determine which market is the most relevant for you. Assuming you’d like to target the Asian market, it becomes obvious that the audience you’ll be addressing will consist of women in need of practical makeup advice and your colleagues who offer similar types of tutorials.

Now that you’ve defined your target audience you can proceed to develop the content strategy. People search videos for many different reasons, but their motivation can be approximately divided into four micro-moments. These are:

I want to know, I want to go, I want to do and I want to buy moments and some or all can be applied to all types of YouTube videos.

I want to know moments refer to YouTube users who want to learn more about a certain topic and often ask how to perform a certain action. In the beauty niche, the search terms may include questions like ‘Is makeup bad for your skin?’ or ‘What is contouring?’.

I want to do moments reflect a certain need the potential viewer of your videos has, and your video should provide a straightforward answer. Most common I want to do search patterns for beauty vloggers are ‘How to apply mascara, eyeliner, etc..’

If you know quite a bit about beauty products, then producing videos that rely on I want to buy moments is a sure way to attract a lot of traffic to your videos. These include product reviews, top ten videos or comparison videos that offer the reasons for and against buying a certain product.

Furthermore, you should try to think of a way to create a makeup video that makes the viewer feel involved, so even if you are just explaining the basic terms or tools in the video, viewers should have the feeling that they are learning something.

After defining your target audience and determining what you have to offer, you can choose the topic based on keywords. Here’s how you can easily come up with keyword ideas for your YouTube videos.

How to find the right keywords ideas?

YouTube Search Suggestions:

This is by far the easiest and fastest way to come up with an SEO friendly topic for a video. The best part is that the keywords you come up with will work without a doubt since all suggestions are based on search terms actual people have already used.

Copy the Keywords From a Video in Your Niche that Already Has a Lot of Views:

Study the competition and find a few channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers that cover the same topics as you. These channels probably have a significant number of videos so just sort them out using the ‘Most Popular’ option.

Click on a video that has the most views and that also has a topic that isn’t far removed from what you want to do. When the video is open, look for the keyword around which it is centered, in the title, description or tags and just find a creative way to incorporate it into your video.

Use YouTube’s Traffic Sources and Search Report:

If you would like to find out which keywords YouTubers have used to find your videos this is your best option. Even though the chances are you’ll know most keywords in the report since you already used them for SEO optimization of your videos, you might come up with a few unexpected entries that might be useful.

Look for low-competition keywords, because frequently used keywords are already used by videos featured on channels that have a lot of followers. Low-competition keywords can be particularly helpful if you are trying to grow your channel since they might attract more viewers than the most obvious keyword choices.

YouTube keyword tools:

https://filmora.wondershare.com/vlogger/youtube-keyword-tools.html

The Metadata Process

Now that you’ve found the best keywords for a video you’d like to upload to your YouTube channel, you should do everything in your power to maximize its SEO value. The following YouTube Ranking factors all play a part in the success your video will enjoy:

• On Video (Metadata)
• Recommendations
• Channel
• User Action

As you can see, metadata is directly related to the search rankings performance of your videos. So what is metadata exactly?

Video file name: The SEO optimization of a YouTube video starts even before you upload the file to your channel. When naming a video file, make sure that the name contains a keyword, because the platform’s algorithm will analyze it and use it to determine how high it should be ranked in the search results.

Video title: The title of a YouTube video is added after the upload is complete. So, in order to increase the video’s chances of appearing high in the search results, you should place the keyword at its begging and avoid using titles longer than 70 characters as much as you can.

Description: The more words you use to describe a video, the better. YouTube descriptions can have up to 5000 characters, which gives you quite a lot of room to use the keywords you’ve selected.

Tags: You can hardly use too many tags, as a matter of fact, you should use as many tags as you can think of. Channel name, brand name, related keywords are all great choices for tags, just keep in mind that they can’t be longer than 127 characters.

YouTube tag generator:

http://www.betterwaytoweb.com/tag-generator-for-youtube

Transcript: Chances are that the keyword around which your video is based appears quite a lot in the narration and dialogue. YouTube lets you create transcripts of all your videos in just a few simple clicks, which enables you to take the SEO optimization a step further.

Promoting Videos Using Off-Channel Marketing

One of the greatest advantages YouTube offers is how easy it is to share the links to your videos on social media or anywhere else on the Internet. These off-channel marketing methods can help you drive more traffic to the videos you upload to YouTube:

Embedding the Link: Articles covering topics similar to the topic your video is covering are a perfect place to embed a link to the video featured on your channel. What’s more, you can embed a link in your blog posts, on your website, or on a website of a partner company.

Backlinks: A backlink is a link from some other website to the particular web resource, in this case, your video. You can insert links that offer additional information about the topic and by doing so increase the traffic.

Third-party Website Promotion: Share links to videos you upload to YouTube on websites like Quora or forums such as Filmora.io.

Team up with Other YouTube Creators: Looking for cooperation on Fiverr, or just send them private messages to ask for recommendation/follow. Add your video in their playlist, or in Related Channel, End-screen card, etc.

How to Monitor a Video’s Data?

YouTube Analytics is a tool that will enable you to find out more about the people who are watching your videos. How many of your subscribers have watched a video you added to your channel? How many viewers found a video you uploaded through search results? The answer to these questions can be easily found with this tool.

YouTube Analytics also provides insight into subscriber conversion rates, so you can know exactly which videos attracted the most subscribers. This feature is particularly important if you are still developing your channel since it can help you understand which type of videos inspired a viewer to take action and hit the Subscribe button

Combining the information supplied by the YouTube Analytics with the data Google Analytics can offer will allow you to get to know the viewers of your videos better, which can be useful when planning the topics of the videos you’d like to upload to your YouTube channel in the future. If you’d like to gain access to more advanced statistics, there are a lot of free and paid YouTube analytics tools that enable you to keep track of the number of video comments, rankings, dislikes, likes, video replies or favorites.

Each of these metrics serves as a building block of a successful YouTube channel because uploading a video during a weekend or during the working days may not produce the same results. The YouTube analytics tools can assist you in staying one step ahead of your competition and increasing the number of subscribers to your YouTube channel.

A Few Final Thoughts

Just keep these fundamental things into your mind when you’re doing YouTube SEO:

YouTube will do anything they can to keep viewer watch longer

So what’s relevant to the content? YouTube

Always suggest videos from the same creator (so you should use brand, channel name tags)

Evaluated what people watch next and which video they ignore.

Displays video with the similar titles and keywords/tags

So what’s relevant to the viewers? YouTube

Learns your preferences, style, tasted

Considers what content might be interesting to an individual viewer: analyze viewing history, channel subscriptions, search history, viewing choices.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If there exists searches, there exists SEO. YouTube now is the second largest search engine which processes more than 3 billion searches in a single month. Besides making sure that each video you upload to YouTube offers thought-provoking content, you can also optimize the video in accordance with the rules of SEO to stand out from the 500 hours of videos uploaded per minutes.

If you are trying to learn more about the SEO optimization of YouTube videos, you’ve landed on the right page, because in this guide we are going to take you through the process of improving the search rankings for each video you upload to YouTube.

YouTube SEO Guide

Quick Jump Menu:

The guide covers these five aspects of YouTube SEO optimization:

• The Basics - Five Main Traffic Sources
• How to Come Up With SEO Topics?
• The Metadata Process
• Promoting Videos Using Off-Channel Marketing
• How to Monitor a Video’s Data?

The Basics - Five Main Traffic Sources

Producing a video and posting it on your YouTube channel is simply not enough to guarantee its success. You have to know where the video’s traffic will come from, because over 500 hours of video content are being uploaded each minute, and there are over 50 million content creators on the platform.

That’s the reason why you have to develop a strategy that will attract the traffic to your videos and place them high in the YouTube’s search rankings. Let’s have a look at five traffic sources that will boost the number of views and comments videos are getting.

YouTube Search

A great deal of traffic for your videos can come from the search results, which makes the title of a video one of the most important aspects of SEO optimization on YouTube.

Don’t use long titles, strive to use short and catchy titles that also contain keywords which accurately describe the contents of the video in order to appear higher in the YouTube’s search results.

Suggested Videos

The platform offers video suggestions that cover topics similar to those of the videos you already watched. Once more, the title and the description you provided will play a crucial role in driving more traffic to your videos, so make sure that each video you post on YouTube has an effective title that will spark interest in a potential viewer to take action and actually watch the video.

Suggested videos that appear next to the video

Suggested videos that appear after the video

Suggested videos that appear from links in a video description.

YouTube Advertising

Investing in the promotion of the content you’re posting on your channel can help you to generate more views, but different types of YouTube ads produce different results. Non-skippable ads never count as a view, while a skippable ad that lasts more than ten seconds must be viewed for at least thirty seconds in order to qualify as a view. All other types of YouTube ads require the viewer to click on them and play them so the YouTube Analytics can recognize the action as a view.

Channel Pages, Browse Features, Playlists

Channel Pages - This method of generating traffic includes views created by other channel owners as well as Topic Channels that are automatically created using the platform’s video discovery system. In either case, your videos are discovered through search results or video suggestions.

Browse Features - The homepage of your YouTube channel as well as the subscription feed and all other browse features can be a potential source of views for your videos. The YouTube users who watch a video on your channel can be either signed-in or signed-out, but the YouTube Analytics tool will still recognize their action as a view.

Playlists - Producing content other YouTubers will want to include in their playlists is one of the best ways to attract more traffic and increase the amount of views videos you upload to your YouTube channel are getting.

External Traffic Sources

Even though YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, sharing a link to a video on social media such as Twitter or Facebook or embedding it on your website can significantly increase the number of views the video is getting.

Sources of traffic mentioned above are not equally effective, because the intent to actually watch the video varies greatly for each source. That’s why you’ll be able to achieve the best results if you combine several, if not all sources of traffic described in this guide.

How to Come Up With SEO Topics

Videos are a form of communication, and like with all forms of communication, you must know who you are addressing in order to know what to say. Defining the target audience before you start creating a video will make the SEO optimization process much simpler and much faster.

Let’s say that you want to become a successful beauty vlogger and your aim is to produce makeup tutorials. Your first step should be to determine which market is the most relevant for you. Assuming you’d like to target the Asian market, it becomes obvious that the audience you’ll be addressing will consist of women in need of practical makeup advice and your colleagues who offer similar types of tutorials.

Now that you’ve defined your target audience you can proceed to develop the content strategy. People search videos for many different reasons, but their motivation can be approximately divided into four micro-moments. These are:

I want to know, I want to go, I want to do and I want to buy moments and some or all can be applied to all types of YouTube videos.

I want to know moments refer to YouTube users who want to learn more about a certain topic and often ask how to perform a certain action. In the beauty niche, the search terms may include questions like ‘Is makeup bad for your skin?’ or ‘What is contouring?’.

I want to do moments reflect a certain need the potential viewer of your videos has, and your video should provide a straightforward answer. Most common I want to do search patterns for beauty vloggers are ‘How to apply mascara, eyeliner, etc..’

If you know quite a bit about beauty products, then producing videos that rely on I want to buy moments is a sure way to attract a lot of traffic to your videos. These include product reviews, top ten videos or comparison videos that offer the reasons for and against buying a certain product.

Furthermore, you should try to think of a way to create a makeup video that makes the viewer feel involved, so even if you are just explaining the basic terms or tools in the video, viewers should have the feeling that they are learning something.

After defining your target audience and determining what you have to offer, you can choose the topic based on keywords. Here’s how you can easily come up with keyword ideas for your YouTube videos.

How to find the right keywords ideas?

YouTube Search Suggestions:

This is by far the easiest and fastest way to come up with an SEO friendly topic for a video. The best part is that the keywords you come up with will work without a doubt since all suggestions are based on search terms actual people have already used.

Copy the Keywords From a Video in Your Niche that Already Has a Lot of Views:

Study the competition and find a few channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers that cover the same topics as you. These channels probably have a significant number of videos so just sort them out using the ‘Most Popular’ option.

Click on a video that has the most views and that also has a topic that isn’t far removed from what you want to do. When the video is open, look for the keyword around which it is centered, in the title, description or tags and just find a creative way to incorporate it into your video.

Use YouTube’s Traffic Sources and Search Report:

If you would like to find out which keywords YouTubers have used to find your videos this is your best option. Even though the chances are you’ll know most keywords in the report since you already used them for SEO optimization of your videos, you might come up with a few unexpected entries that might be useful.

Look for low-competition keywords, because frequently used keywords are already used by videos featured on channels that have a lot of followers. Low-competition keywords can be particularly helpful if you are trying to grow your channel since they might attract more viewers than the most obvious keyword choices.

YouTube keyword tools:

https://filmora.wondershare.com/vlogger/youtube-keyword-tools.html

The Metadata Process

Now that you’ve found the best keywords for a video you’d like to upload to your YouTube channel, you should do everything in your power to maximize its SEO value. The following YouTube Ranking factors all play a part in the success your video will enjoy:

• On Video (Metadata)
• Recommendations
• Channel
• User Action

As you can see, metadata is directly related to the search rankings performance of your videos. So what is metadata exactly?

Video file name: The SEO optimization of a YouTube video starts even before you upload the file to your channel. When naming a video file, make sure that the name contains a keyword, because the platform’s algorithm will analyze it and use it to determine how high it should be ranked in the search results.

Video title: The title of a YouTube video is added after the upload is complete. So, in order to increase the video’s chances of appearing high in the search results, you should place the keyword at its begging and avoid using titles longer than 70 characters as much as you can.

Description: The more words you use to describe a video, the better. YouTube descriptions can have up to 5000 characters, which gives you quite a lot of room to use the keywords you’ve selected.

Tags: You can hardly use too many tags, as a matter of fact, you should use as many tags as you can think of. Channel name, brand name, related keywords are all great choices for tags, just keep in mind that they can’t be longer than 127 characters.

YouTube tag generator:

http://www.betterwaytoweb.com/tag-generator-for-youtube

Transcript: Chances are that the keyword around which your video is based appears quite a lot in the narration and dialogue. YouTube lets you create transcripts of all your videos in just a few simple clicks, which enables you to take the SEO optimization a step further.

Promoting Videos Using Off-Channel Marketing

One of the greatest advantages YouTube offers is how easy it is to share the links to your videos on social media or anywhere else on the Internet. These off-channel marketing methods can help you drive more traffic to the videos you upload to YouTube:

Embedding the Link: Articles covering topics similar to the topic your video is covering are a perfect place to embed a link to the video featured on your channel. What’s more, you can embed a link in your blog posts, on your website, or on a website of a partner company.

Backlinks: A backlink is a link from some other website to the particular web resource, in this case, your video. You can insert links that offer additional information about the topic and by doing so increase the traffic.

Third-party Website Promotion: Share links to videos you upload to YouTube on websites like Quora or forums such as Filmora.io.

Team up with Other YouTube Creators: Looking for cooperation on Fiverr, or just send them private messages to ask for recommendation/follow. Add your video in their playlist, or in Related Channel, End-screen card, etc.

How to Monitor a Video’s Data?

YouTube Analytics is a tool that will enable you to find out more about the people who are watching your videos. How many of your subscribers have watched a video you added to your channel? How many viewers found a video you uploaded through search results? The answer to these questions can be easily found with this tool.

YouTube Analytics also provides insight into subscriber conversion rates, so you can know exactly which videos attracted the most subscribers. This feature is particularly important if you are still developing your channel since it can help you understand which type of videos inspired a viewer to take action and hit the Subscribe button

Combining the information supplied by the YouTube Analytics with the data Google Analytics can offer will allow you to get to know the viewers of your videos better, which can be useful when planning the topics of the videos you’d like to upload to your YouTube channel in the future. If you’d like to gain access to more advanced statistics, there are a lot of free and paid YouTube analytics tools that enable you to keep track of the number of video comments, rankings, dislikes, likes, video replies or favorites.

Each of these metrics serves as a building block of a successful YouTube channel because uploading a video during a weekend or during the working days may not produce the same results. The YouTube analytics tools can assist you in staying one step ahead of your competition and increasing the number of subscribers to your YouTube channel.

A Few Final Thoughts

Just keep these fundamental things into your mind when you’re doing YouTube SEO:

YouTube will do anything they can to keep viewer watch longer

So what’s relevant to the content? YouTube

Always suggest videos from the same creator (so you should use brand, channel name tags)

Evaluated what people watch next and which video they ignore.

Displays video with the similar titles and keywords/tags

So what’s relevant to the viewers? YouTube

Learns your preferences, style, tasted

Considers what content might be interesting to an individual viewer: analyze viewing history, channel subscriptions, search history, viewing choices.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If there exists searches, there exists SEO. YouTube now is the second largest search engine which processes more than 3 billion searches in a single month. Besides making sure that each video you upload to YouTube offers thought-provoking content, you can also optimize the video in accordance with the rules of SEO to stand out from the 500 hours of videos uploaded per minutes.

If you are trying to learn more about the SEO optimization of YouTube videos, you’ve landed on the right page, because in this guide we are going to take you through the process of improving the search rankings for each video you upload to YouTube.

YouTube SEO Guide

Quick Jump Menu:

The guide covers these five aspects of YouTube SEO optimization:

• The Basics - Five Main Traffic Sources
• How to Come Up With SEO Topics?
• The Metadata Process
• Promoting Videos Using Off-Channel Marketing
• How to Monitor a Video’s Data?

The Basics - Five Main Traffic Sources

Producing a video and posting it on your YouTube channel is simply not enough to guarantee its success. You have to know where the video’s traffic will come from, because over 500 hours of video content are being uploaded each minute, and there are over 50 million content creators on the platform.

That’s the reason why you have to develop a strategy that will attract the traffic to your videos and place them high in the YouTube’s search rankings. Let’s have a look at five traffic sources that will boost the number of views and comments videos are getting.

YouTube Search

A great deal of traffic for your videos can come from the search results, which makes the title of a video one of the most important aspects of SEO optimization on YouTube.

Don’t use long titles, strive to use short and catchy titles that also contain keywords which accurately describe the contents of the video in order to appear higher in the YouTube’s search results.

Suggested Videos

The platform offers video suggestions that cover topics similar to those of the videos you already watched. Once more, the title and the description you provided will play a crucial role in driving more traffic to your videos, so make sure that each video you post on YouTube has an effective title that will spark interest in a potential viewer to take action and actually watch the video.

Suggested videos that appear next to the video

Suggested videos that appear after the video

Suggested videos that appear from links in a video description.

YouTube Advertising

Investing in the promotion of the content you’re posting on your channel can help you to generate more views, but different types of YouTube ads produce different results. Non-skippable ads never count as a view, while a skippable ad that lasts more than ten seconds must be viewed for at least thirty seconds in order to qualify as a view. All other types of YouTube ads require the viewer to click on them and play them so the YouTube Analytics can recognize the action as a view.

Channel Pages, Browse Features, Playlists

Channel Pages - This method of generating traffic includes views created by other channel owners as well as Topic Channels that are automatically created using the platform’s video discovery system. In either case, your videos are discovered through search results or video suggestions.

Browse Features - The homepage of your YouTube channel as well as the subscription feed and all other browse features can be a potential source of views for your videos. The YouTube users who watch a video on your channel can be either signed-in or signed-out, but the YouTube Analytics tool will still recognize their action as a view.

Playlists - Producing content other YouTubers will want to include in their playlists is one of the best ways to attract more traffic and increase the amount of views videos you upload to your YouTube channel are getting.

External Traffic Sources

Even though YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, sharing a link to a video on social media such as Twitter or Facebook or embedding it on your website can significantly increase the number of views the video is getting.

Sources of traffic mentioned above are not equally effective, because the intent to actually watch the video varies greatly for each source. That’s why you’ll be able to achieve the best results if you combine several, if not all sources of traffic described in this guide.

How to Come Up With SEO Topics

Videos are a form of communication, and like with all forms of communication, you must know who you are addressing in order to know what to say. Defining the target audience before you start creating a video will make the SEO optimization process much simpler and much faster.

Let’s say that you want to become a successful beauty vlogger and your aim is to produce makeup tutorials. Your first step should be to determine which market is the most relevant for you. Assuming you’d like to target the Asian market, it becomes obvious that the audience you’ll be addressing will consist of women in need of practical makeup advice and your colleagues who offer similar types of tutorials.

Now that you’ve defined your target audience you can proceed to develop the content strategy. People search videos for many different reasons, but their motivation can be approximately divided into four micro-moments. These are:

I want to know, I want to go, I want to do and I want to buy moments and some or all can be applied to all types of YouTube videos.

I want to know moments refer to YouTube users who want to learn more about a certain topic and often ask how to perform a certain action. In the beauty niche, the search terms may include questions like ‘Is makeup bad for your skin?’ or ‘What is contouring?’.

I want to do moments reflect a certain need the potential viewer of your videos has, and your video should provide a straightforward answer. Most common I want to do search patterns for beauty vloggers are ‘How to apply mascara, eyeliner, etc..’

If you know quite a bit about beauty products, then producing videos that rely on I want to buy moments is a sure way to attract a lot of traffic to your videos. These include product reviews, top ten videos or comparison videos that offer the reasons for and against buying a certain product.

Furthermore, you should try to think of a way to create a makeup video that makes the viewer feel involved, so even if you are just explaining the basic terms or tools in the video, viewers should have the feeling that they are learning something.

After defining your target audience and determining what you have to offer, you can choose the topic based on keywords. Here’s how you can easily come up with keyword ideas for your YouTube videos.

How to find the right keywords ideas?

YouTube Search Suggestions:

This is by far the easiest and fastest way to come up with an SEO friendly topic for a video. The best part is that the keywords you come up with will work without a doubt since all suggestions are based on search terms actual people have already used.

Copy the Keywords From a Video in Your Niche that Already Has a Lot of Views:

Study the competition and find a few channels with hundreds of thousands of subscribers that cover the same topics as you. These channels probably have a significant number of videos so just sort them out using the ‘Most Popular’ option.

Click on a video that has the most views and that also has a topic that isn’t far removed from what you want to do. When the video is open, look for the keyword around which it is centered, in the title, description or tags and just find a creative way to incorporate it into your video.

Use YouTube’s Traffic Sources and Search Report:

If you would like to find out which keywords YouTubers have used to find your videos this is your best option. Even though the chances are you’ll know most keywords in the report since you already used them for SEO optimization of your videos, you might come up with a few unexpected entries that might be useful.

Look for low-competition keywords, because frequently used keywords are already used by videos featured on channels that have a lot of followers. Low-competition keywords can be particularly helpful if you are trying to grow your channel since they might attract more viewers than the most obvious keyword choices.

YouTube keyword tools:

https://filmora.wondershare.com/vlogger/youtube-keyword-tools.html

The Metadata Process

Now that you’ve found the best keywords for a video you’d like to upload to your YouTube channel, you should do everything in your power to maximize its SEO value. The following YouTube Ranking factors all play a part in the success your video will enjoy:

• On Video (Metadata)
• Recommendations
• Channel
• User Action

As you can see, metadata is directly related to the search rankings performance of your videos. So what is metadata exactly?

Video file name: The SEO optimization of a YouTube video starts even before you upload the file to your channel. When naming a video file, make sure that the name contains a keyword, because the platform’s algorithm will analyze it and use it to determine how high it should be ranked in the search results.

Video title: The title of a YouTube video is added after the upload is complete. So, in order to increase the video’s chances of appearing high in the search results, you should place the keyword at its begging and avoid using titles longer than 70 characters as much as you can.

Description: The more words you use to describe a video, the better. YouTube descriptions can have up to 5000 characters, which gives you quite a lot of room to use the keywords you’ve selected.

Tags: You can hardly use too many tags, as a matter of fact, you should use as many tags as you can think of. Channel name, brand name, related keywords are all great choices for tags, just keep in mind that they can’t be longer than 127 characters.

YouTube tag generator:

http://www.betterwaytoweb.com/tag-generator-for-youtube

Transcript: Chances are that the keyword around which your video is based appears quite a lot in the narration and dialogue. YouTube lets you create transcripts of all your videos in just a few simple clicks, which enables you to take the SEO optimization a step further.

Promoting Videos Using Off-Channel Marketing

One of the greatest advantages YouTube offers is how easy it is to share the links to your videos on social media or anywhere else on the Internet. These off-channel marketing methods can help you drive more traffic to the videos you upload to YouTube:

Embedding the Link: Articles covering topics similar to the topic your video is covering are a perfect place to embed a link to the video featured on your channel. What’s more, you can embed a link in your blog posts, on your website, or on a website of a partner company.

Backlinks: A backlink is a link from some other website to the particular web resource, in this case, your video. You can insert links that offer additional information about the topic and by doing so increase the traffic.

Third-party Website Promotion: Share links to videos you upload to YouTube on websites like Quora or forums such as Filmora.io.

Team up with Other YouTube Creators: Looking for cooperation on Fiverr, or just send them private messages to ask for recommendation/follow. Add your video in their playlist, or in Related Channel, End-screen card, etc.

How to Monitor a Video’s Data?

YouTube Analytics is a tool that will enable you to find out more about the people who are watching your videos. How many of your subscribers have watched a video you added to your channel? How many viewers found a video you uploaded through search results? The answer to these questions can be easily found with this tool.

YouTube Analytics also provides insight into subscriber conversion rates, so you can know exactly which videos attracted the most subscribers. This feature is particularly important if you are still developing your channel since it can help you understand which type of videos inspired a viewer to take action and hit the Subscribe button

Combining the information supplied by the YouTube Analytics with the data Google Analytics can offer will allow you to get to know the viewers of your videos better, which can be useful when planning the topics of the videos you’d like to upload to your YouTube channel in the future. If you’d like to gain access to more advanced statistics, there are a lot of free and paid YouTube analytics tools that enable you to keep track of the number of video comments, rankings, dislikes, likes, video replies or favorites.

Each of these metrics serves as a building block of a successful YouTube channel because uploading a video during a weekend or during the working days may not produce the same results. The YouTube analytics tools can assist you in staying one step ahead of your competition and increasing the number of subscribers to your YouTube channel.

A Few Final Thoughts

Just keep these fundamental things into your mind when you’re doing YouTube SEO:

YouTube will do anything they can to keep viewer watch longer

So what’s relevant to the content? YouTube

Always suggest videos from the same creator (so you should use brand, channel name tags)

Evaluated what people watch next and which video they ignore.

Displays video with the similar titles and keywords/tags

So what’s relevant to the viewers? YouTube

Learns your preferences, style, tasted

Considers what content might be interesting to an individual viewer: analyze viewing history, channel subscriptions, search history, viewing choices.

Richard Bennett

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

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