Increasing the Visibility of Videos Through Search Engine Optimization on YouTube and Other Platforms

A only ten years ago, the idea of inbound marketing was completely fresh. Marketers quickly realized that merely publishing a huge quantity of content was not enough; the content had to be of high quality and optimized in such a way that it was as discoverable as possible through search engines.

In the past, the majority of the content that was sent through YouTube SEO Packages consisted just of written words. However, it is not the case any longer.

Textual material such as blogs and eBooks, in addition to media such as podcasts, visual assets, and videos, are all elements that are included in today’s comprehensive content strategies.

1. Include a custom thumbnail image for your movie in the link to the results page.

Visitors will view the primary picture of your video thumbnail when they navigate through a list of video results when your video is displayed. This thumbnail, in conjunction with the title of the video, sends a message to the viewer about the substance of the video; as a result, it has the potential to affect the number of clicks and views that your video receives.

Although you can always utilize one of the pre-generated thumbnails that YouTube provides, we strongly recommend that you publish your own thumbnail instead. The Creator Academy claims that “90% of the highest performing videos on YouTube have personalized thumbnails,” and they suggest using images with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels (representing a ratio of 16:9) and a file size of 2 megabytes or less that are saved as a jpg, gif, bmp, or png file type. If you follow those principles, you can help ensure that your thumbnail will display in the same high quality across a variety of different viewing platforms.

It is essential that you are aware of the requirement that your YouTube account needs to be verified in order to post a custom thumbnail image. You can accomplish this by going to youtube.com/verify and following the instructions that are provided there.

2. Utilize an SRT file to add subtitles and closed captions to the video.

The use of subtitles and closed captions, along with the majority of the other language that we have discussed so far, has the potential to improve the search optimization on YouTube by highlighting important keywords.

In order to add subtitles or closed captions to your video, you will first need to provide a file containing either a proper text transcript or timed subtitles. You also have the option of instantly inserting the text for a video in such a way that it automatically syncs up with the video for the former.

A similar process is used to add subtitles; however, you have the option to control the total amount of text that is shown. Go to your video manager and choose “Videos” from the drop-down menu under “Video Manager” to access either one. Locate the video to which you would want to add closed captioning or subtitles, and then click the arrow with the drop-down menu that is located next to the edit button. After that, pick “Subtitles/CC” from the menu. After that, you will be given the option to either include subtitles or closed captioning.

3. To increase the number of people who watch your YouTube channel, you should incorporate Cards and End Screens into your videos.

Cards

Have you ever watched a video and seen in the top right-hand corner a thin, white circle with a “I” in the middle of it, or a thin bar of text urging you to subscribe to the channel? According to Creator Academy, cards are “preformatted notifications that appear on desktop and mobile that you can set up to promote your brand and other films on your channel.” Cards may be used to promote both your brand and other videos that are hosted on your channel.

There are six distinct types of video cards, and a single video can have as many as five of them.

• Channel cards that, when viewed, take viewers to a different television station.
• Donation cards to encourage charity organizations in the United States to raise more money for their causes.
• You can urge your viewers to contribute to the creation of your video content by employing a strategy known as “fan funding.”
• Link cards, which connect readers to an external site, an authorized crowd funding platform, or an authorized item sale platform. These cards can also connect readers to an authorized item sale platform.
• Poll cards, which pose a question to viewers and let them vote on how they feel the question should be answered.
• Video or playlist cards that connect to content on YouTube that is comparable to the linked-to video or playlist.

Displays at the very end

End screens present information that is analogous to that presented on cards, except they do not appear until after the video has completed playing and have a greater level of graphic detail.

There are numerous detailed instructions available for creating end screens, and these instructions vary depending on the sort of platform you want to build them for as well as the different types of content that YouTube allows for those screens. In this post, Google shows how to optimize your website for each of those variables individually.

It is essential to keep in mind that YouTube is always testing end screens in an effort to improve the overall user experience. Because of this, “your end screen, as specified by you, may not show” at various points. When determining whether to employ cards or end screens, these factors should be taken into consideration.

It is important to keep in mind that although these criteria might appear to be complicated and time-consuming, the amount of time that people spend viewing YouTube videos on their televisions has more than doubled in the past year alone. There is a potential audience to be found on YouTube, and optimizing your content for the platform will boost the likelihood that it will be found.

The majority of the search engine optimization tactics described above are dependent on your ability to correctly choose a keyword and market your video. Additionally, not all of those recommendations can be put into action using YouTube by itself. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, you should think about optimizing your video for search utilizing one of the tools that are provided below.

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