How to optimize your video on Youtube – instructions for beginners

You create content, and of course you want as many people as possible to see it. Optimization is a great tool to help viewers find your video. Before we talk about how to optimize a video on YouTube, let’s first understand what video optimization is. It is the proper design and filling in the following elements when uploading a video to YouTube

• File name;
• Video title;
• Description;
• Tags;
• Preview (splash screen);
• Tips.

Why optimize your video for YouTube?

By learning how to optimize your videos for YouTube, you can significantly increase your reach, get clicks, gain subscribers, and thereby successfully promote your channel while saving money

Factors that affect the ranking of videos on YouTube

YouTube algorithms respond to viewer reactions – likes and dislikes, comments, reposts. This is how YouTube realizes that the content is interesting and useful and is more willing to promote it

• Relevance of the search query and the text related to the video. Before you optimize your video for YouTube, you need to choose keywords that best match the content and check their frequency. Use them in the name of the uploaded file, in the title of the video, and in its description. Optimization of YouTube tags is a wide field for using search queries, including up to 500 characters. Enter search queries here separated by commas.
• Average viewing time. The longer a viewer watches a video on average, the higher in the search results list YouTube will offer it.
• Subscribers. The regularity of your subscribers’ viewing of new videos increases the chances of getting into recommendations.
• Recommendations. You can get into recommendations based on the relevance of interests, demographics, viewing history, and subscriptions to similar channels. Analyzing your competitors, their most popular videos, and topics can help.

Video optimization options

1. Competitor analysis. Study what content they publish, how often, and how they optimize their videos. See how they engage their audience and boost their assets;
2. Playlists. Serialized content increases the overall viewing time and makes it easier to navigate the channel;
3. Previews and titles. Try to make the preview contrasting, with 2-3 large elements, a minimum of text that clearly reflects the essence of the video. The title should also be as relevant to the content as possible and arouse interest;
4. Subtitles. The presence of subtitles increases the channel’s status and convenience for the viewer;
5. Tooltips and final screensaver. Insert tips that are relevant to the topic and at the right time. In the splash screen, add links to a playlist or similar videos, a link to the website or the “Subscribe” button.

How to track the effectiveness of optimization?

We’ve figured out how to optimize videos for YouTube, but how do you check how well everything is working? There are several indicators for this.Viewer activity – if a video receives likes and dislikes, new comments and subscribers appear, and the number of views grows, you have attracted the attention of the audience. You can encourage viewers to be active by offering interesting discussions or a contest for the best comment.New subscribers – with each new video, the number of subscribers should increase.Viewing duration – ideally, the average viewing duration should be as close to the total length of the video as possible

What tools do you need to optimize YouTube videos?

For beginners, standard features are enough to learn how to optimize videos, you just need to open the video settings for YouTube. But to expand the possibilities, you will need additional services

YouTube Studio

The creative studio allows you to manage your channel, optimize online videos, edit comments, and analyze performance. There is a mobile app for iOS and Android

Keywordtool.io

A service for searching for keywords. A convenient and free way to find the right tags for YouTube

Canva

A service for creating previews and design for your channel. It offers a large library of templates, animations, and designs for video design

VidlQ

An analytical service. It analyzes the audience, provides channel analytics, and has promotion functions such as keyword search and recommendations for video optimization

Rival IQ

A useful tool for analyzing competitors. It will help you analyze their popular videos, see statistics on channel development, audience engagement, and compare your channel with competitors’ channels.Knowing how to optimize videos on YouTube, you can achieve your desired goal without unnecessary costs and efforts, whether it is channel popularity or attracting traffic and new customers to your resource. We advise you to periodically update your knowledge of the relevance of optimization methods to stay one step ahead of the competition.