The YouTube/Google Search Connection

So, Google owns YouTube – it’s no secret, but if you’re not aware of how much YouTube can have an impact on Google rankings then you’re missing out. Plus, there are lots of relatively simple steps you can take to fix up your YouTube SEO strategy.

YouTube and Google’s search connection means that activity on YouTube doesn’t exist in its own separate bubble – even when users aren’t specifically searching for video content, YouTube content that’s optimized for search will affect universal search.

Let’s have a look at some intelligent search practices you can implement to generate more leads through YouTube search and utilize its connection with Google.

Related Videos

One of the most obvious ways to see the Youtube/Google connection is when you perform organic search on Google. Usually, your standardized bunch of search results will pop up and you’ll also find a few related YouTube videos too. If you’re able to optimize your videos and make them applicable to certain search terms then you can provide another option for searchers who want to view video content instead of textual content.

This is a really beneficial if you’re making instructional videos, informative explanations or FAQ-style video content. Your video content can provide another option for users who want more depth or information about a subject. You can optimize videos to help answer commonly asked questions.

How to Optimize your YouTube videos

First of all – it’s essential that you research and look around at what other competitors in your marketplace are doing with their videos so you can find gaps and areas of knowledge that they’re failing to cover. Or you can just find lots of ways to create much more awesome videos on the same subjects. How are they naming and describing their videos and what types of videos are they creating?

Try and find strengths and weaknesses in the videos that are performing well and optimized for search terms and questions you want to tailor your video content for.

Types of Video

As mentioned above – there are lots of different formats your videos can take and it’s up to you to decide which formats will be the most effective for your SEO objectives. Some types will perform much better than others. It depends on your subject, but a few tips are usually universally applicable:

• Keep your videos short, punchy and concise so you can deliver strong messaging.
• Give practical advice and provide actionable tips for your audiences, so you can answer queries.
• Use an informative, but entertaining style. Users won’t be interesting in your messaging if it’s not delivered effectively.

Video Titles

The titles you use for your video content are super important. They’ll be one of the most effective ways to utilize the YouTube/Google search connection. Create a title that includes keywords and gives your audiences a clear, actionable reason to choose your content. ‘How to’ videos are extremely effective at giving users a reason to watch and providing them with a solution to a challenge they’re facing.

If you’re stuck for inspiration, then a tool like SerpStat is a useful way to gather search terms for keywords and helps to spark some ideas.

Descriptions

Your descriptions will help you to give your audiences much more in-depth information about exactly what they’ll learn with your video content and the structure of the video. For example, you can include contents-style information and details about other people involved in the video and give precise detail. Use keywords and include your business’ name.

Give persuasive reasons and explanations for exactly why someone should be choosing your video content and what they’ll gain from watching it. It’s basically like a long-form CTA.

If you’re unsure then take a look at other videos and try to find similarities between high-performing videos in their description text.

Introductions

It can’t be enough to have an expertly optimized video and a fantastic format if the actual substance of your video is trash. Retaining your audience is essential and you can increase your chances of doing that with a killer opening and an impactful introduction.

Audiences don’t give you much time to prove yourself and another video is just a click away at any given time. Ideally, you want users to watch your video all the way through. This doesn’t just make logical sense, but it means that your videos will rank higher too. Google can track how long people are watching your videos for and it’ll then reward your content if it has high retention figures.

Give your audience an incentive to stick with your video and give them robust reasons to believe that they’re better off spending their time somewhere else. This obviously just makes sense from a creator’s point of view but also from an SEO point of view.

Final Thoughts

As always, you can never do enough research into your target audiences and what they enjoy watching. Do some keyword research and find search terms and questions that your audiences are using.

Create videos that will provide value and optimize them, so that they can perform well in search and provide a video alternative to other content. This means that your business and content can perform even better in search rankings and video content can become another important pillar on your marketing strategy.

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