YouTube SEO can improve the ranking of your videos on YouTube search and increase your views. Learn how I use SEO to build visibility for my videos, plus my favorite tools to use. Checklist and examples included.

YouTube has over 2 billion active users worldwide and over 1 billion hours watched daily, making it the most popular video platform and second most-used social media platform behind Facebook.

And while you may not think of YouTube as a search engine, it’s actually the second most popular search engine globally, just behind Google.

If you want to appear in the YouTube search results and rank your videos on the Google search engine results page, you must know how to use YouTube SEO to boost your visibility.

As someone who tripled their email marketing list in 2022 from just one video using YouTube SEO, I’ve experienced first-hand just how powerful search engine optimization can be to generate leads and sales through YouTube video marketing.

In this article, I’m deep-diving into everything about YouTube SEO with expert tips and successful examples to get you started.

What is YouTube SEO?

YouTube SEO is the process of optimizing your YouTube videos to rank higher in the platform’s search results. Optimizing your videos for YouTube also helps them rank in Google search results, boosting your visibility.

14 expert tips to build a YouTube SEO strategy

Ready to get started with video marketing SEO? Here’s how to prime your YouTube SEO for search engine results page (SERP) success:

  1. Optimize your YouTube channel
  2. Do keyword research
  3. Give videos keyword-rich titles and descriptions
  4. Tag the video with relevant keywords
  5. Categorize your video
  6. Add subtitles and closed captions
  7. Add video chapters
  8. Use cards and end screens
  9. Create custom video thumbnails
  10. Build playlists to enhance watch time
  11. Create and publish new videos consistently
  12. Promote your YouTube content
  13. Encourage engagement with your videos
  14. Track results & tweak your strategy

1. Optimize your YouTube channel

Start with optimizing your YouTube channel elements so it’s easier to find you in search. Here are the elements to focus on.

Handle

Customizing your YouTube handle makes sharing your page easier while adding legitimacy to your channel. To change your handle, head to YouTube Studio and follow these steps:

  • Select Customization from the left menu
  • Go to Basic info
  • Under Handle, you can view and change your handle
  • Click Publish to confirm

Once created, your URL will render as youtube.com/@yourcustomizedname.

Banner & featured image

The YouTube banner image appears at the top of your channel. Much like a banner image on your website, the goal is to give users context about your channel and get them interested in what you offer.

While there’s no right way to create an attractive banner image, here are some best practices:

  • Use your branding elements. Use brand colors, fonts, graphic elements, and your logo in the banner image.
  • Keep image copy short and sweet. Highlight what your channel is about, feature your brand tagline, include a call to action, or provide details about when you release new videos.
  • Add relevant imagery. Add textures, graphics, and photos relevant to your channel content and align with your branding.
  • Don’t go overboard. You don’t want the channel banner to distract from your content. Avoid making it cluttered. Leave open space around the text and graphic elements.

The HubSpot Marketing channel keeps these best practices in mind with an attractive, branded banner that’s eye-catching and clarifies what the channel is about.

HubSpot YouTube banner

Don’t forget to update your featured image. If you have a personal brand channel, use a clear image of your smiling face. And if your channel is for a business, use the logo as your featured image like HubSpot does above.

Featured video

You can feature one of your videos at the top of your profile. This will be the first video people see when they land on your channel. Choose a video highlighting your channel’s offer. It can be one of your most popular videos or a 30-to 60-second trailer you create for that purpose.

HubSpot YouTube channel

Description & details

Complete the About section of your YouTube profile with a relevant and keyword-rich description of your channel.

Only the first 48 characters of your About section will show in search results, so be concise and use relevant keywords to increase on-page search visibility.

When someone clicks on your page description, it’ll expand, showing the full description, links, and channel details.

HubSpot YouTube channel description

Links

Don’t forget to include relevant links on your profile. Only one link will appear on your main profile page, so choose the most relevant as your first link. You can include additional links that viewers will see when they expand the link section on your profile.

2. Do keyword research

YouTube keyword strategy is similar to finding keyword ideas for Google. Use different tools to identify search terms viewers type to find videos like yours on YouTube.

“When conducting keyword research for YouTube SEO, I determine the topic I want to cover and then use a YouTube keyword research tool like TubeBuddy or VidIQ to find relevant, high-performing phrases related to that topic,” says Jamar Diggs, a low-lift digital marketing consultant.

“I identify keywords and phrases with high search volume and low competition. Then I choose the best one that aligns with my topic and make it my primary keyword to use in the video title,” Diggs says. “The other relevant keywords I find during this process become secondary keywords I use as tags.”

I use TubeBuddy to do keyword research for my own YouTube channel. First, I type in a general keyword based on the video topic.

TubeBuddy keyword research

I want to use keywords with a keyword difficulty and search volume that’s in the good range (yellow on TubeBuddy’s scale). Like Diggs, any related keywords I don’t use as primary keywords become video tags (or future videos).

3. Give videos keyword-rich titles and descriptions

After keyword research, create keyword-rich titles and descriptions for your videos. Add target keywords in your raw file names before uploading the video to the platform.

Title

The title is the first thing your viewer sees when searching for content on YouTube. Like your title tag on Google, your YouTube video title determines whether someone clicks on the video.

So, make your title engaging while including the keyword naturally in the text. Keep your title concise (at 60 characters or less) to prevent it from cutting off in results pages.

Description

Descriptions can be up to 5,000 characters, but only about 100 will display under the video before a “Read more…” option is prompted. So get the main point across at the beginning of the description, along with a call to action (CTA) if applicable.

Here are a few tips to create a successful YouTube video description:

  • Use your keywords. Naturally use 1-2 main keywords in the video description.
  • Use formatting to your advantage. Bold and italicize font and use emojis to format your description so it’s easy to read.
  • Use video chapters. Video chapters allow viewers to skip around to important parts of a longer video.
  • Link to related videos or playlists. Include links to other relevant video content to keep viewers engaged with your videos.
  • Use hashtags when applicable. Use 3-5 relevant hashtags in the description to help people find your content.

YouTube video description example

Once you find a format that works for you, save time by creating a template to reuse whenever writing YouTube video descriptions.

4. Tag the video with relevant keywords

Tagging videos with relevant keywords also shows what your content is about. The platform allows you to use as many tags as you want as long as the total character limit across all tags is under 500 characters.

You’ll add these tags during the video upload process. Once you’re in the video editor, go to the “Details” section. Here, you’ll see the Tags box where you can enter your tags.

Here’s an example of the tags used for one of HubSpot’s videos on AI content creation tools:

YouTube video tag examples

Unlike the hashtags in your description, the video tags won’t be visible to viewers. It’s more of a back-end feature that helps YouTube understand what the video is about.

5. Categorize your video

Categorize your video under “Advanced Settings” after you upload it. Categorizing your videos groups them with similar content on YouTube. This can increase showing up in relevant playlists and being recommended by YouTube.

6. Add subtitles and closed captions

Adding subtitles and closed captions to your videos makes them inclusive and accessible to the hearing impaired. Plus, some viewers may not want to turn on sound because they’re in a quiet place or don’t have headphones.

These days, there are multiple options for creating captions or subtitles. While auto-generated captions might be easier or more cost-effective, they’re more prone to errors since the audio isn’t transcribed by a person.

While it’s important to keep budget in mind, experience tells us it’s worth seeking an affordable paid service (such as Rev) to ensure clarity, especially for complex subjects. Alternatively, you can read over the transcript and make edits yourself.

YouTube video closed captions

7. Add video chapters

Video chapters allow viewers to skip around or rewatch important sections of the video. When you create video chapters, you’ll add a title for each timestamp to describe the contents of each chapter.

Adding video chapters is especially important for longer videos that some viewers may not have the patience or time to watch all the way through.

YouTube video chapters

8. Use cards and end screens

Cards and end screens are two features you can use to increase viewership and watch time on your videos.

Cards

Cards are preformatted notifications to promote your brand or related videos on your channel. You can add up to five cards to a video.

They appear in the top corner of the video with an “i” logo like this:

YouTube card example

Here are the types of cards:

  • Channel cards directing people to another channel
  • Video or playlists cards linking to other YouTube content
  • Link cards directing viewers to an external site
  • Poll cards asking viewers a question and allowing them to vote in response
  • Donation cards encouraging fundraising for non-profit organizations
  • Fan funding encouraging viewers to support your video content creation

To add cards to your videos, follow these instructions from YouTube.

End screens

End screens are similar to cards, except they appear at the end of the video. These are less subtle and more visual than cards, making them a great way to encourage viewers to continue watching relevant videos, which increases your watch time.

Here’s an example from digital product YouTuber, Christina Scalera:

YouTube end screen example

To create your own end screen, follow these steps from YouTube.

9. Create custom video thumbnails

Your video thumbnail is the main thing people see when scrolling through the video results. In combination with the video title, this tells the viewer what your video is about.

Customizing your thumbnails makes videos stand out and your page look more professional and cohesive. Use images that are 1280×720 pixels, 2MB or smaller, and saved as .jpg, .png, .gif, or .bmp files.

YouTube thumbnail examples

Here are a few ways to make your video thumbnails stick out:

  • Show a face in your thumbnail. The more emotion the face is showing, the better!
  • Use color to your advantage. Choose bright colors that draw the eye to the thumbnail.
  • Keep text concise. Keep it short and focused on the important information the video will provide.

If you don’t upload custom thumbnails, YouTube will randomly select a still from your video, which is likely not as eye-catching as a designed thumbnail.

10. Build playlists to enhance watch time

When someone watches a video from a playlist, the others in queue will auto-play one after the other, rather than the viewer selecting each video individually.

Curating multiple videos on similar subjects into playlists can increase watch time — one of YouTube’s top-ranking factors.

Depending on your videos and industry, you could create playlists for your webinars, client testimonials, how-tos, or frequently asked questions.

For example, HubSpot’s Marketing YouTube channel has playlists for “free tools and templates,” “social media business strategies,” “SEO success strategies,” and “digital marketing for beginners.”

These playlists make it easy for viewers to find the content they’ want while providing additional relevant content they’ll likely want to watch.

HubSpot YouTube playlists

11. Create and publish new videos consistently

Want to grow your subscriber base and keep your target audience engaged? Publish new, high-quality videos consistently. After a few months of regular publishing, you’ll collect enough data. This will identify the topics your audience engages with most.

“The biggest thing to encourage engagement is well-thought-out storytelling that sparks an emotion in the viewer. The moment the viewer is moved, they will engage,” says Gulce Onganer, YouTube marketing expert.

12. Promote your YouTube content

YouTube marketing isn’t an “if you build it, they will come” situation. Actively promote your YouTube content to grow your channel’s subscriber base and get new views on your videos.

When you publish a new YouTube video, share it with your social media followers and email list. You can embed the video in an email, landing page, or blog post for maximum exposure.

“One of the simplest ways to get more bang for my SEO buck on YouTube is through embedding the videos on a blog post,” says Onganer. “This can increase your domain authority and SEO visibility over time.”

She suggests using your video script or transcripts as the basis for the blog post. Transcribe the video using an AI transcription tool like Rev, then clean it up, add some content, and optimize it before publishing it on your blog.

13. Encourage engagement with your videos

Encouraging viewers to interact with you improves engagement — another metric YouTube uses to rank videos. You can embed “share” and “like” buttons, incentivize subscriptions, and invite viewers to leave comments. The more positive interactions you have, the better.

“It’s corny, but telling your viewers exactly what to do works. The more precise you can be with your request, the more it will happen,” says Christina Scalera, digital product coach and YouTuber.

“For example, if you say ‘like and follow,’ they probably won’t. But if you say, ‘See that button below that’s a big thumbs up? Tap on it to help this channel grow so I can create more videos for you.’”

In addition to your verbal requests, use graphics to remind your viewers to like and subscribe to your content.

YouTube engagement example

14. Track results & tweak your strategy

As you publish videos, track your results along the way to tweak your strategy for best results.

“Tracking is an essential part of any SEO campaign, especially when determining the true value of YouTube SEO,” shares Sam Yadegar, CEO of HawkSEM. “Many times, companies don’t continue YouTube SEO efforts because they can’t track things properly, so they believe the channel isn’t viable for them. This is a huge mistake that can lead to missed market share.”

YouTube studio has its own analytics tools to track metrics like click-through rate and watch time. But other YouTube analytics tools exist to help you get the most out of your data.

“We use ConversionIQ (CIQ), HawkSEM’s proprietary software, to granularly track every single step of the buyer journey so we can understand which of the new MQLs and SQLs were generated as a result of your SEO efforts,” Yadegar adds.

3 examples of successful YouTube SEO campaigns

The best way to understand what YouTube SEO looks like in practice is to look at channels that do it well.

Salesforce

Salesforce YouTube channel

Salesforce is a software company that uses YouTube SEO to grow its visibility and generate leads and sales on the video platform. They consistently publish valuable content to bring in new leads and support customer retention.

Salesforce ranks for keywords like “sales CRM”…

Sales CRM YouTube search

…And “CRM analytics,” which are relevant search terms potential customers may want to learn more about on YouTube. It even hs a CRM analytics playlist that ranks underneath its video in the top spot.

CRM analytics YouTube search

Speaking of playlists… Salesforce also develops playlists with a curated selection of videos around a common theme. Here’s an example of its created playlists:

Salesforce YouTube playlists

Brian Dean

Brian Dean YouTube channel

Brian Dean is an SEO expert and the founder of Backlinko, one of the most popular marketing blogs online. He regularly publishes new video content around SEO, YouTube marketing, and entrepreneurship.

Dean ranks for relevant keywords like “link building,” which can bring more people to his channel from YouTube search.

Link building YouTube search

He also regularly publishes new YouTube shorts. These videos are often less than 60-seconds and that teach businesses to boost visibility and engagement in Google.

These short videos are often repurposed from longer videos, giving new viewers a taste of the information presented. But you can also create unique content just for the format.

Brian Dean YouTube Shorts

Lyfe Accounting

Lyfe Accounting YouTube channel

Lyfe Accounting is a small business accounting firm that offers bookkeeping, accounting, and tax services. Its team is active on YouTube, publishing helpful videos on a range of topics surrounding small business finance.

The company’s channel ranks for several broad, yet relevant, YouTube SEO keywords like “small business accounting”…

Small business accounting YouTube search

…and “small business tax write offs.” These topics are important for the company’s target audience.

Small business tax write offs YouTube search

Another thing this channel does well is create scroll-stopping thumbnails that are engaging and on-brand. The thumbnails all feature emotive faces and eye-catching text, drawing your attention to these videos in search.

All of the thumbnails use the brand’s color palette (green and yellow) and on-brand graphics, offering a cohesive look to the channel.

Lyfe Accounting YouTube thumbnails

How the YouTube algorithm works

The YouTube algorithm delivers recommended video content based on the user’s interests and watch history. YouTube’s goal is not to bring you the most popular or most recent video based on your query. Instead, YouTube wants to deliver the video you specifically will find most useful.

That doesn’t mean you don’t have to create great video content to rank on YouTube. In fact, it’s the opposite. The better, more engaging your video content is, the more likely YouTube will be to recommend it.

Video ranking on YouTube

YouTube doesn’t favor any particular topics or video formats. Instead, it takes its cues from viewers. Video ranking is based on the video’s performance (engagement rates, watch times, etc.) and viewer personalization (a viewer’s watch history and search history).

How YouTube personalizes recommendations

When it comes to recommending videos, YouTube doesn’t take into account the actual content of the video, but rather the ways that viewers respond to it.

In addition to viewer activity like watch history, YouTube also considers the following when recommending videos:

  • If people are watching the video
  • How long they watch it (duration and average percentage viewed)
  • If viewers like it (based on engagement rates)
  • Regional context like the time of day and language spoken

Best YouTube SEO Tools

From keyword research to SEO tracking, these are some of my favorite tools to use for YouTube SEO.

YouTube Studio

YouTube Studio is a space on YouTube where you can analyze, edit, schedule, and upload videos. On the dashboard, you’ll see relevant channel analytics, latest video comments, and other stats on published videos.

The Content tab houses all of your channel content. This is where you’ll upload videos and create titles and descriptions. Plus, you can add chapters, add your video to a playlist, upload your thumbnail, and more.

YouTube Studio dashboard

YouTube studio also has an Analytics tab that gives you an overview of your channel performance. After you choose the time period, you’ll see statistics like views, watch time, and subscribers.

After choosing a specific video, click on the Reach tab to see impressions, traffic sources, YouTube search terms, and other content that suggests your video.

YouTube Studio Analytics

There’s also a place to view and respond to video comments. You can filter for the comments you haven’t responded to yet, making it easy to engage with your viewers.

YouTube Autocomplete

Another free YouTube tool is autocomplete. Much like Google, YouTube’s autocomplete reveals additional keyword opportunities and content topics.

Start by typing in the keyword you want to rank for, and YouTube will show you additional search terms with that keyword. Use this to find inspiration and see what people are searching for.

YouTube autocomplete example

TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy is one of my favorite YouTube SEO tools because it makes keyword research easy. TubeBuddy’s Keyword Explorer pulls data from YouTube and provides a score for each keyword, making it easier to choose the best keywords for your videos.

TubeBuddy gives the keyword a score based on:

  • Search volume
  • Competition
  • Optimization strength
  • Number of videos in search results
  • Number of monthly searchers

It’ll also offer related searches that may give you new ideas for keywords.

TubeBuddy Keyword Explorer

Another cool feature TubeBuddy offers is the AI title generator. Sometimes creating an engaging and optimized title is the hardest part of the process. Just pop your topic into the title generator, and it’ll provide many title ideas.

TubeBuddy title generator

My favorite TubeBuddy feature is the best practices checklist that appears near your video when you upload it into YouTube Studio. This checklist tells you what you’ve done well and what you can do to further optimize your video.

TubeBuddy best practices checklist

TubeBuddy also gives you a quick look at analytics when you pull up any YouTube video (yours or someone else’s). The Videolytics feature gives important stats like total views, comments, likes, and an SEO score.

Use this to get highlights on your videos or to spy on your competitors.

TubeBuddy Video Analytics

vidIQ

vidIQ is another one of my favorite YouTube SEO tools. It has many similar features to TubeBuddy, but with its own touch. For example, the Keyword Inspector tool offers a lot of the same data (search volume, competition, overall score), but the UX is more like a traditional SEO tool.

VidIQ Keyword Inspector

One feature I love from vidIQ is the Subscribers data. This shows the other videos and channels viewers engage with on YouTube. It also provides other information like best time to post.

VidIQ Subscriber information

Another cool feature is the ideation tool. You type in your keywords, and the AI-powered tool will provide you with new ideas. You can save the ideas you want to use for later.

VidIQ ideation

Like TubeBuddy, vidIQ has a video analytics highlight that shows basic video stats. You’ll find additional information TubeBuddy doesn’t offer like subscriptions driven, top devices, and top countries, plus general engagement rate based on likes and comments.

VidIQ Video Analyics

Rapidtags

Rapidtags is a simple and easy-to-use tool that’ll create tags for your YouTube videos. Not to mention, it’s totally free!

Just type in the video topic or title, and Rapidtags will provide a list of relevant tags. Simply hit the “copy” button and then paste the tags on the backend of your video in YouTube Studio.

Rapidtags tag generator

Benefits of YouTube SEO services

No part of YouTube marketing is easy, especially SEO. But when it works well, it can drive new leads and sales for your business long after publishing the video.

If you don’t have the time, resources, or desire to do your own YouTube SEO, consider hiring a social media agency that provides YouTube SEO services.

Here are just a few of the benefits of hiring an agency for YouTube SEO services:

  • Avoid costly SEO mistakes. A seasoned team of YouTube marketers are strategic with your YouTube SEO strategy. They won’t make costly mistakes someone new to SEO would.
  • Get faster results. A YouTube SEO expert already knows best practices and has a history of YouTube SEO campaigns to pull from, helping you get better and faster results than on your own.
  • Get support with YouTube ads. SEO isn’t the only way to boost visibility on YouTube. Find an agency that offers YouTube ads, as well as SEO to get the best out of both strategies.

Want support with your YouTube SEO and ads? Contact us today.

YouTube SEO checklist

Here’s a quick checklist to use while optimizing your YouTube channel:

Optimize YouTube channel

  • Choose a handle
  • Upload banner and featured image
  • Choose featured video
  • Write a description for the About section
  • Include relevant details in the description
  • Add relevant links to the description

Do keyword research

  • Choose topics for your videos
  • Use tools like VidIQ and TubeBuddy to research keywords
  • Find keywords with high search volume and low difficulty
  • Create a list of primary and secondary keywords for your videos

Optimize YouTube videos

  • Give videos keyword-rich titles and descriptions
  • Tag the video with relevant keywords
  • Categorize your video
  • Add subtitles and closed captions
  • Add video chapters
  • Use cards and end screens
  • Create custom video thumbnail

Improve engagement and watch time

  • Build playlists to enhance watch time
  • Create and publish new videos consistently
  • Promote your YouTube content in emails, on your blog, and in social posts

The takeaway

Creating a YouTube channel is a great way to get more visibility, grow your audience, and attract new leads and sales. But creating videos is only half the battle.

By following the YouTube SEO tips above, you can better position your content to appear in the search results on YouTube and Google.

Need support with YouTube SEO? The HawkSEM team is ready to help — book a free consultation today.

Sarah Jane Burt

Sarah Jane Burt

Sarah Jane is a copywriter and content strategist with more than 12 years of experience working with everyone from multi-billion dollar tech brands like IBM to local real estate agents. She specializes in creating personality-packed sales content and thought leadership. When she’s not writing words on the Internet, she’s throwing axes competitively or romping around with her two weenie dogs.