Nowadays, the desire to have a trending YouTube video is noticeable within users. We all long to be at the top, right? Achieving this will depend not only on the content and quality of the video but most importantly, also on the audience’s attention. This article will highlight the ten easiest ways to get the results you need to put your music video in the right spot and improve your YouTube ranking.

First of all, let’s talk about YouTube’s SEO, also known as search engine optimization. This is the process or set of practices that triggers algorithms and helps optimize each video for great search results. By doing this you will be targeting a specific audience, attracting traffic, and growing a following. This will improve your YouTube ranking. The SEO will identify keyword-rich content, tags, links, metadata, descriptions, thumbnails and optimize your channel and videos for searches even outside of YouTube.

 

1. Selecting a Great Title and Description

The title is that all-important first impression and lets viewers know what they’re about to see, so it’s crucial that the title is not only attention-grabbing but also that it speaks for itself. A good place to start is to select keywords and then  look for videos that cover the same topics as yours, which will tell you what the target audience is searching for. Also, you can check some of the suggestions when you start typing a word on YouTube’s search bar. This will help your YouTube optimization.

Adding high search volume keywords to the title will display your videos in a higher ranking. Therefore, you will get more views.

A quick tip: YouTube will also evaluate the file name on your video, so make sure to include keywords in it as well to help in your YouTube optimization.

For example:

Keywords: greatest, pop song

Filename: Greatest-pop-song.mp4

In the case of a music video, make sure to include your artistic name followed by the name of the song (f.e, Alicia Keys – Fallin’). These words are also used as keywords for search results.

Your title should be short, precise, and concise because it helps to have a close match and avoid getting excluded from the results criteria.

2. Video Description

This section helps your audience understand what the video is about; it is also a good idea to add important information and links (to audio streaming providers like Spotify or Apple Music and social networks). Some artists opt to add the lyrics of the song as well, however, the character limit for YouTube video descriptions is 1,000 characters, considering that about 100 characters are displayed as a preview. You should include the keyword in the first 25 words, but be careful about writing a long description or over-optimizing this section.

3. Captions, Transcript and Tags/Hashtags

As for optimizing the video itself, it doesn’t hurt to add a transcript of the video, especially for those who have to watch it without sound. Search engines can’t watch videos, however, they can analyze the content of the text in it. Hence, including relevant keywords in an organic way potentially helps to power up your video.

This is a great way for your video to show up in relevant searches by using the right phrases. Then again, don’t overdo it because YouTube won’t understand the aspects of it and this could hurt your video SEO.

Although YouTube has its own auto-caption option, sometimes it’s only 75% accurate. As a recommendation, we believe adding an accurate transcript, is essential. In addition, it will be more appealing to those viewers who watch videos with the sound off and help deaf viewers as well, which positively impacts user experience and engagement.

Tags/Hashtags make it easier to point out the description of the video and optimize videos for YouTube. By clicking a hashtag, users can explore similar videos to yours, so see it as a shortcut to appear on relevant searches. Do not use complicated words, instead use general and specific ones (for example pop music). Keep in mind that an excessive number of hashtags won’t improve your search ranking, so make sure only to use the most relevant ones.

On the other hand, a location tag can filter the search to a specific location. This is well applied to live streams, which allows new users to discover your videos.

4. Thumbnail and customization

An attractive main image ​​draws the attention of users and is a great opportunity for your video to stand out. As one of the first impressions, a high-quality thumbnail image will be more engaging and get you some clicks.

YouTube will provide you with three screenshots to select from. However, you can also choose a different shot within the video or upload your own image. As a suggestion, custom thumbnails are a must. Including a logo (artist or band) or an image that represents the target keyword, such as the title of the song, will help Google’s image recognition filter your video and make it stand out on search results.

A great idea for customization is to work on your branding (logo, images, and colors) so people can recognize your content. Do not forget to link your channel with your website and other social media.

As an example, check out our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX9Jr0M3Y78scn0hnad5oFA

5. YouTube Cards, End Screens, and Watermarks

Cards are those interactive notifications that suddenly pop up in the top right of a video. This feature can level up your rank since people are able to interact within YouTube a little bit more by clicking on and exploring other videos or channels linked to the cards.

The End Screens are a great way to customize and, at the same time, provide more information regarding your channel or, better yet, build more traffic, forwarding viewers to more of your content.

Another way that you can promote your channel and make it more branding-specific is by using a watermark on your videos. Most YouTube accounts use their logo as a technique to gain more subscribers and views by setting it as the subscribe button. In order to use this option, your account must be verified. Here is a link to the description on how to get your account verified: 

https://playlist-promotion.com/guaranteed-more-views-with-an-official-youtube-artist-channel/

6. Video Length and Quality

Let’s make it clear, the more time people spend viewing your videos, the better ranking you will get. The first factor in ranking your videos and channel is the watch time. YouTube algorithms evaluate how engaged viewers are by keeping them on the platform for as long as possible.

Another detail that the YouTube algorithm takes into consideration is high-quality images. We all know that enjoyable visual content hypnotizes us, therefore, we will watch for a longer time, which increases the watch time on videos and channels.

A quick tip: Refer viewers to other content within the platform to boost your views. You can do this by using annotation and cards as links to other YouTube videos or accounts related to yours. Watch time is measured for how long your viewers continue watching content on YouTube.

7. Create Playlists

Let’s say that as an artist, your videos are related as one chapter of a bigger history. In this case, you want to avoid people skipping a chapter or watching it in a messy way. The best option to guide them in a meaningful way on what they should watch next is by creating playlists.

Make sure to arrange your videos in a well-thought-out order. As soon as one video ends, the next begins, so make it smooth to create engagement and catch the viewer’s attention.

This powerful feature will enhance the viewer’s experience, increase your watch time and ranking. Also, you can use the playlist title to target keywords.

8. Analyze Your Metrics

YouTube analytics help to understand the growth of your account and what needs to improve. The algorithm will analyze and gather this information every two days, so if you uploaded a video and want to check how it is performing, be patient.

Use this tool wisely, track each video individually and check the number of views, watch time, subscribers, likes, and dislikes. By monitoring each video performance, you’ll be aware of any flaws as well as which content performed the best with your audience. Acknowledge this information and make a strategy to create stronger and consistent content.

9. How Engaged is Your Audience?

Keep in mind that each screening will be counted as a new view. However, skipping and refreshing the video over and over again will be detected as a trick to the system by YouTube, and it will damage your YouTube video’s ranking.

If viewers are watching only a few seconds of the video, YouTube will not recommend it. However, if they’re watching more than 85% of the duration of a video, the algorithm pushes it and suggests the video, positioning it in a higher ranking.

This is the reason why it’s so important to retain your audience and make them binge-watch for as long as possible.

10. Always Share it

Promoting your content through all your social media using backlinks will help you get more traffic on your YouTube channel. YouTube SEO algorithms track all links shared in other platforms, which improves your numbers and channel’s authority.

A good option and not to miss is to have embedding enabled. By allowing this you are letting viewers share your content on their websites. Once the audience is amused with a video, they’ll like to spread the word and share it on their website. As a result, your content will reach a new audience and get more views, making a big impact on your search ranking inside and offsite of YouTube.

Your audience’s engagement plays a big part in how the YouTube SEO algorithm will evaluate your worth. Take into full consideration creating videos that are both interesting and appealing. Make people share it, like it, subscribe, and comment.

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