Complete Guide to YouTube SEO

Ever wondered why videos of certain brands like GoPro, RedBull, and Nike constantly feature on top of your YouTube search results? It’s a no-brainer, really. They have mastered YouTube SEO, and it has helped them catapult their footprint in the world’s second-largest search engine. They’ve realized that with more than a billion hours of video content consumed every day, optimizing for YouTube is mandatory for improving their brand visibility.

Now, if you’re anything like them, looking to grow your reach organically and fully tap into YouTube’s infinite potential, then you know what to do. But the million-dollar question is, ‘How to do it’? That’s where this guide can help, as we will help you navigate the intricacies of YouTube SEO and bolster your brand presence without spending thousands of dollars on ads.

What drives the YouTube algorithm?

Understanding the YouTube algorithm is the first step to conquering this media magnate for brand growth. In fact, the results of one experiment state that the YouTube algorithm is responsible for driving 70% of the views on YouTube. Clearly, the YouTube algorithm is a powerful force in determining which of your videos gain visibility and traction.

Now that we’ve established the importance of the YouTube algorithm, here’s something straight from the horse’s mouth -

“Our algorithm doesn't pay attention to videos, it pays attention to viewers. So, rather than trying to make videos that'll make an algorithm happy, focus on making videos that make your viewers happy.” - YouTube

In other words, the YouTube algorithm continues to prioritize content that maximizes viewer satisfaction and engagement. Its primary goal in 2024 is to ensure that users stay on their platform longer. This means no matter how awe-inspiring or appealing your content is, it’s not going to feature on your target audience’s feed unless there is a ‘likelihood’ that they will watch your video as the next video, which will prolong their dwell time on YouTube.

Thankfully, this ‘likelihood’ is not based on luck or prayers and there is an actual methodology used by YouTube to determine it. Here are 4 factors that can directly influence it -

Relevance: YouTube tailors its recommendations based on a user’s viewing history, search behavior, and interactions with the platform. This means your videos are more likely to be recommended to users who have shown interest in similar content. This factor also focuses on whether people actually watch your videos or not when it is recommended. If they ignore it or click on ‘not interested’, your videos are not going on the feed of similar people.

Watch time: The YouTube algorithm prioritizes videos that keep viewers watching longer. Higher watch time (total minutes viewed) and audience retention (percentage of a video watched) signal to YouTube that the content is engaging, prompting the algorithm to promote it more widely.

Session Time: The algorithm aims to maximize the overall time users spend on the platform. So, if your videos contribute to longer overall session times, either by keeping viewers watching or by leading them to watch more videos, it is likely to be promoted to the top of search results.

Engagement: This factor focuses on the likes and dislikes of your video. It also considers engagement rates and post-watch survey results. High levels of engagement metrics suggest that viewers find the content valuable or compelling. The algorithm automatically boosts the ranking of such videos.

Region: Your location, time of the day, and the language you speak also have an impact on the YouTube algorithm.

Out of all these factors, the only one you have absolute control over is relevance. And that’s where the role of SEO comes in. You need to optimize your video elements like titles, tags, content, and descriptions to match the search queries of your target audience to rank higher. Before you wonder about what we’ve just said, let’s take a pause. Let’s first understand why there aren’t many success stories when it comes to brands adopting YouTube to scale their business.

Why have brands struggled to grow organic reach on YouTube?

While YouTube allows brands to connect with their target audience in unique and highly engaging ways, only a handful of them have succeeded in this endeavor. The rest have faltered to tap into the enormous potential of this channel. Here are 5 reasons why this happens -

Using YouTube as a content library

Many brands treat YouTube as a mere content repository. They upload videos without any strategic optimization or understanding of how YouTube functions as a search engine. This approach automatically results in limited views because it overlooks the importance of keyword research and other SEO best practices that make content discoverable on the platform.

H&M, the popular apparel brand, is a classic example of this scenario. They have hundreds of poorly optimized videos on their channel with limited engagement and views.

Spending too much time on irrelevant content

Another rookie mistake is focusing on content that does not resonate with your audience. Many brand channels are filled with expensive ad films, poorly produced user-generated content, or internal company updates that lack audience appeal. These brands have failed to understand that their target audiences are searching for specific information, entertainment, and solutions, not traditional advertisements or generic content. As a result, such videos fail to attract viewers, ultimately leading to poor engagement and limited growth.

Kraft Heinz, the world-renowned food and beverage brand, has a suboptimal YouTube presence despite its popularity, majorly because their videos revolve around content lacking audience appeal. Here’s one such video -

Incredible competition on the platform

The sheer volume of content on YouTube makes it incredibly competitive. With thousands of new videos uploaded every minute, brands find it challenging to stand out amidst an ocean of diverse content, including AI-generated videos that are often optimized for search. This intense competition means that brands must not only produce high-quality content but also optimize it strategically to gain visibility and attract their target audience.

Revlon, the cosmetics brand, struggles to attract viewers and engagement despite creating quality tutorials that are liked by their target audience. This is attributed primarily to the strong competition found in this space.

Not understanding the algorithm

Many brands struggle to keep pace with YouTube’s ever-evolving algorithm. They have failed to adapt to the frequent changes, resulting in declining visibility and organic reach. Without a clear understanding of how the algorithm works—factors such as watch time or engagement—brands may find their content buried under videos that better align with YouTube’s current preferences.

Poor content quality and inconsistent posting

Low-quality production and irregular posting schedules can severely impact your brand’s growth on YouTube. We have already highlighted earlier that YouTube rewards content that retains viewers and encourages them to keep coming back for more. Brands that fail to deliver valuable, engaging videos consistently miss out on building a loyal audience. This ultimately hurts their SEO and organic reach.

Tide, the detergent manufacturer known for their smart advertisements, do not have a strong presence on YouTube primarily because of their infrequent posting schedule.

Being impatient

YouTube SEO is not a magic wand - one wave and your reach skyrockets! Growing organically on YouTube requires time and persistence. Many brands expect immediate results and become discouraged when their videos don't go viral right away. However, YouTube SEO is a long-term strategy that requires consistent effort, experimentation, and patience. Brands that give up too soon miss out on the potential rewards that come from steadily building a strong presence on the platform.

Key SEO strategies to optimize a YouTube video

In this section, we will discuss some battle-tested SEO strategies that are highly relevant in 2024 to optimize your brand’s YouTube videos. Plus, we have also covered AI tools that you can use for automating that strategy.

Do a thorough keyword research

First and foremost, YouTube is a search engine and you need to treat it as one. Whatever you would do to appear at the top of Google SERP is going to work here too. And identifying the right keywords has eternally been the first step in most Google SEO strategies.

Start by understanding your target audience and what they are searching for on YouTube. The easiest way to do this is through YouTube's autocomplete feature. Type your keywords and see what people are searching around them.

You could also use a combination of Google Trends and dedicated SEO tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to find what’s trending in your industry.

Beyond just finding popular search terms, it’s also essential to understand the intent behind those keywords.

Are users looking for tutorials, product reviews, entertainment, or answers to specific questions? Tailor your content to match this intent, ensuring that your brand delivers exactly what the audience is seeking.

🤖 AI tools to automate this strategy: Automate your keyword research process by using AI tools like VidIQ or TubeRanker that use advanced algorithms to identify high-ranking keywords for your videos.

💡Pro Tip: Regularly revisit and update your keyword strategy based on performance metrics, evolving trends, and changes in user behavior.

Optimize your titles & descriptions with relevant keywords

Once you have identified the right keywords, the next obvious step is to add them at the right places in your videos. There are two YouTube elements you need to particularly focus on -

Title: YouTube recommends that the title should be less than 70 characters and capture the reader’s attention. It should also contain the keywords your users are searching for. Preferably it should be as close to the beginning as possible.
Description: The description should be detailed and informative, with keywords placed naturally and help describe the content of the video. The recommended practice is to include the keyword in the first 25 words and two to four times in total.

Here is a well-optimized video title and description -

🤖 AI Tools: Use tools like Coschedule or HootSuite that uses AI to generate SEO-optimized titles for your videos.

💡 Pro Tip: Avoid using irrelevant keywords as clickbait. It could boost your click-through rate and might even lead to an inflated view count. However, it will ultimately hurt your video’s performance due to a high bounce rate.

Optimize thumbnails, closed captions, and video length

Thumbnails are the first thing anybody will see. So it becomes important to make them eye-catching and relevant to your content. According to Google, over 90% of high-performing videos have custom thumbnails. Ensure that you have a design person putting time and effort into creating appealing thumbnails for your videos.

Similarly, you also need to add closed captions and transcripts to your video. There are two main reasons for this. One, it will make your videos more accessible to a broader audience, particularly those with hearing impairments. Second, they provide additional textual data for YouTube's search algorithms, boosting your SEO.

Finally, optimize your video length. Longer videos will rank high, provided they maintain viewer engagement. Shorter videos, on the other hand, may perform better if they lead to higher retention rates. So, strike the right balance between video length and content quality to maximize viewer satisfaction and retention.

🤖 AI Tools: Tools like Thumbnail AI and TestMyThumbnails are popular tools that automatically create thumbnails for your YouTube videos using AI.

Post at the optimal time

The YouTube algorithm doesn’t rank videos based on the posting time or day. However, it does consider the video’s views and engagement for ranking. And the easiest way to boost your video’s visibility and engagement is by publishing it at a time when your target audience is most active.

To find the active time of your audience, navigate to YouTube Studio > Analytics > Audience > When your viewers are on YouTube.

Promote videos on social media

Promoting your YouTube videos through your social media channels on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok is an awesome idea for several reasons. For starters, you push your videos to your social followers who already like your content. This means the chances of them opening the video and watching it completely are higher. This can increase the views and watch time.

You might wonder - won’t the YouTube algorithm punish my video for having a lot of traffic from off-site? The short answer is no. The algorithm focuses only on how it performs in context, which means it only looks at metrics like watch time, engagement, and viewer retention. If viewers from external sites interact positively with your content, it signals to YouTube that your video is valuable irrespective of its source, potentially boosting its ranking in search results and recommendations.

💡Pro Tip: Embed the YouTube video on your blog page or website. This is great for both your blog’s Google SEO as well as your video’s view counts on YouTube.

Respond to user comments

It’s quite simple - an active comment section means longer viewer engagement on your video page. This signals the YouTube algorithm that this particular video is valuable and engaging. Additionally, comments create a sense of community, encouraging users to engage more with your content and even share it.

So, actively interact with your audience in the comments. Have a person from your marketing team respond to user comments and feedback, either via written replies or likes. This will show your audience that you value their participation.

💡 Pro Tip: The first few hours after posting a video are crucial for engagement. Responding quickly to early comments can boost that initial interaction period, which is when YouTube most heavily considers engagement for ranking.

Build Playlists

Playlists encourage viewers to spend more time on your channel. A playlist automatically plays videos in a sequence, increasing overall watch time, a critical factor that YouTube uses to rank content. Playlists also organize your content in a way that makes it easier for viewers to navigate your channel, improving the user experience.

Create playlists based on themes or series so that viewers interested in one video are more likely to keep watching related videos. Just like individual videos, your playlists should have SEO-friendly titles and descriptions. Include relevant keywords to help your playlists show up in search results.

Here is a playlist on Nike’s YouTube channel -

💡Pro Tip: Don’t just promote individual videos; promote entire playlists on social media and your website. The more people watch an entire playlist, the more likely YouTube is to boost the SEO of all the videos in that list.

Bonus Strategy

There are several other ways to keep the viewers within the YouTube ecosystem so that you increase the session duration of every user. Here are they:

Cards: You can use this to flag relevant videos during your current video. These clickable prompts can direct viewers to related content without interrupting their experience.
End screens: Conclude your video with a strong call-to-action (CTA) that encourages viewers to watch another relevant video, further boosting watch time and engagement.
Subscription watermarks: This gives the viewers a convenient way to subscribe to your channel without leaving the video. This helps build your subscriber base while keeping your audience focused on your content.

Is AI the key to mastering YouTube SEO?

From the previous section, you would have realized that there are several AI tools that can automate most of the YouTube SEO processes. This is majorly due to AI's ability to analyze vast amounts of data, identify trends, and generate relevant outputs. From optimizing video titles to generating voiceovers, AI offers brands an efficient way to enhance their visibility and reach on the platform.

However, while AI is incredibly effective at managing data-driven aspects of SEO, brands cannot rely solely on technology. AI lacks the nuanced understanding of your requirements that only human creators can bring to the table. While it can process data and suggest strategies, it does not fully grasp the elements that truly work with your audiences.

The real magic happens when AI and human creativity work hand in hand. AI tools helmed by humans can effectively and efficiently optimize metadata, forecast trends, fine-tune content strategies, create visually engaging videos, and deliver content that resonates on a deeper level. By combining the strengths of AI with the unique touch of human creativity, brands can achieve a more effective and well-rounded YouTube SEO strategy that drives growth and builds lasting connections with viewers.

VidBoost: A Blend of AI and Human Touch

VidBoost combines AI-powered efficiency with the strong expertise offered by human professionals.

At VidBoost, we understand that successful video content needs more than just creativity and efficiency—it needs precision, strategy, and insight. That’s why we’ve developed a process that integrates artificial intelligence with human creativity to offer our clients the best of both worlds. Whether you're a small business or a large enterprise, our tailored YouTube solutions ensure that you get the most value for your investment.

Ready to enhance your brand presence on YouTube? Contact us now.