YouTube has rapidly become a mecca for entrepreneurs. From small business owners, to large retail box stores, everyone wants to cash in on the video craze.

This explains why there are hundreds of videos uploaded every single minute of the day. With such a high volume of videos, and the traffic they generate, it only makes sense to use YouTube videos as a part of your marketing strategy.

With thousands upon thousands of videos on YouTube, making your video stand out is the only way to make it go viral.

Too many people simply upload their video, hoping people watch it, share it, and it goes viral. However, this is usually a losing proposition.

To ensure your videos go viral you need to put some time and effort into creating videos that optimize search engine results page tactics. These tactics entail utilizing the ranking signals that YouTube uses.

YouTube Rankings

Do you know that Google’s algorithm uses 200 ranking signals? YouTube’s algorithm is not quite so huge – a few dozen – but it is still important to know what they are looking for in quality videos. This list is just a few of the more important ranking signals:

- Likes and dislikes

- How many people watched the video and then subscribed

- Tags

- Comments

- Relevant Keywords

- Length of the video

- How well the public relates to the video

- How long it holds peoples’ interests

There are plenty of other rankings used, these are just a few that really make or break a video. With these ranking signals in mind, here are a few ways you can optimize them to get the viewing audience you desire:

1. Write Descriptive Previews

People wading through videos will stop and read descriptive previews, often clicking to watch the video. To get them to watch your video you need to give them a great description of what is forthcoming.

These are samples of descriptive content – or lack of it:

“Cooking with rhubarb”

“Rhubarb is a tough ingredient to work with. We are going to show you where to buy this versatile vegetable, how to prep it, and cook it. If you are interested in making the perfect rhubarb pie, then this is a video you cannot pass up.”

Which video are you going to watch?

When writing the content for your video preview, you need to be extra descriptive, because people will click or not depending on whether you can help or entertain them in the manner they are seeking.

Content of over 200 words is not unheard of, and is often ranked higher than shorter content. This is because YouTube ranks each video by searching for long tail keywords.

The more you write, the better your chances are that YouTube will find your keywords and give you a high-ranking.

Learn the specific keywords within your own niche market. Using these keywords is a sure-fire way to get top ranking.

2. Video Keywords

YouTube looks for video keywords (long or short) that give the video a fighting chance on Google. Using these video keywords helps to get your video on the Google’s front page.

Typing ‘cute babies’ in a search engine should bring up a zillion videos of babies doing cute things. If this is what you were searching for, great, you found it.

However, if your results were just pictures of cute babies, you would not be too happy. The expectations of a search should match the video keywords used.

To learn what video keywords are being used in your specific niche, you need to spend some time on search engine results pages and look for repetitive keywords.

If you have a keyword in mind, and you see it on these pages, then you should use that word. This gives your video a chance to be on the search engine results page.

3. Share Your Videos

You probably belong to a few online communities. These are the perfect places to introduce your videos, especially if you are in a community open to your product, services or brand.

Don’t rush into a community and start posting a bunch of videos; this doesn’t usually go over too well with most community members. They don’t mind a video when it is relevant to the topic being discussed.

So, post that video, explaining why you are posting it, what it contains, and what you hope they gain by watching it.

When you share your videos where they make the most impact, you will start to get the high-retention views and likes that YouTube is looking for in its rankings.

4. Get People To Like And Subscribe

‘Likes’ and subscribing are both used as high-ranking signals. This is because YouTube’s algorithm is highly dependent upon the experience signals from all users.

When a person watches a video, then subscribes, YouTube sees this as a positive sign that the video is top-notch.

Likes, while not used as much as subscribing for ranking, are still important to determine where a video falls in the ranking. Likes and subscriber rankings work in conjunction with each other.

The best way to increase your subscribers and likes is to simply ask them to do both. People don’t often hesitate to ‘like’ videos that they enjoyed. Don’t be shy about asking – and do so on every video you create.

5. Keyword-Rich Playlists

Once you have created ten videos then you should start to organize them into themes. This makes it so much easier for viewers to find what they want to watch.

When creating these playlists, make good use of keyword-rich titles. Don’t forget to write descriptive contents, using a wide variety of keywords. The more you ‘show’ the video with words, the more people will want to watch it.

YouTube visitors watch 4 billion videos each and every day! You want your video to be one of them. Using these SEO tactics almost guarantees that your video will be seen on search engine results pages.

HOT TIP:

Remember, YouTube looks for certain keywords, learn them and use them – the longer, the better! Take the time to learn these SEO tactics and let your videos rise above the rest. You can almost have Google first page Guaranteed!