Using YouTube for SEO

Using YouTube for SEO

During any initial work with new clients, I often mention using YouTube for SEO purposes. In most cases, this surprises them.

I could never cover all the potential gains from YouTube in this blog. However, some are worthy of explaining why you could be overlooking an immensely powerful SEO opportunity.

More people use YouTube than Google

Back in December 2024, I published the results of the latest UK internet use survey by Ofcom. The data it revealed could be matched with most other countries when it comes to the most visited online platforms.

YouTube tops the list in all major nations and has done for many years. The extent to which it leads might come as a surprise. In the UK, 94% of connected users will visit YouTube at least once a month.

When you look at younger age groups, the amount of time they spend on the channel is astonishing. The time spent on YouTube by middle-aged groups has been growing rapidly too, with it dominating time and viewing figures.

If you think you know what they use YouTube for, some of the data could make you reassess your opinion. I’ve always told clients to follow the data and not their personal opinion, and you should too. Allowing personal habits to form opinion on what others do is a dangerous strategy in SEO.

Users trust YouTube reviews

Using YouTube for SEO tracks back to how the UK population uses the channel. They love performing all manner of research on it.

Yes, they watch funny videos and they watch clips or full shows of their favourite programmes too. All of the things you might associate with YouTube from a leisure perspective are popular with the UK user.

However, consumers highly trust it for reviews, product research, advice, and “How to” guides.

I spoke to a client in 2024 who received more than 80% of traffic for one product from a YouTube review published by a customer. They had no connection to the business. He published the video simply because he liked the product and wanted to show it to others. He included a link to the product on my clients website.

Visitors to YouTube use it in a very similar way to Google search. They spend more time on it, they’re more likely to to trust what they see on it and they like the ‘face’ that YouTube gives to content. They’re more likely to trust the content of a video than they are your average search result.

Referrals from YouTube

The SEO value of YouTube can be transformative. It offers visibility through what others see as unbiased and credible sources (admittedly not all qualify for that).

Users watch manufacturer and retailer videos, from products to services. If you retail products of any kind and haven’t taken the opportunity to publish your own reviews of them on YouTube, you’re missing a huge trick to begin with.

The viewer will very often click through to a business from the video they’ve just watched. It is organic SEO in an incredibly effective form. You need to think of YouTube as a search engine.

You’ve probably already noticed YouTube videos appearing in Google search results. It is no coincidence that they’re one of the most clicked on types of results.

Google, as the owner of YouTube, knows how much trust searchers put into YouTube content. Adding good, high-quality, informative videos to a well-branded and frequently updated YouTube channel enhances your chances of organic search visibility. Be it direct or indirect, the visibility opportunity exists.

YouTube videos get shared more

People are about five times more likely to share a YouTube video on social media than a link to a webpage of text.

Videos are also far more attractive to most users, particularly those using a mobile device. For many, they’re an easier way of absorbing information. It has been proved that video-based information is held by the brain for longer than any other material.

Science backs that up with a swathe of statistics you’ll find on how the brain reacts to video based material 60,000 times faster than other formats. Video is even said to make people feel happier than reading text.

Ask yourself this – if you’re on your favourite social media channel and someone shares a video on a topic and a link to a page of text on the same topic, which are you most likely to click on? Statistically, it will be the video.

On-Page SEO and YouTube

One client told me that the reason they’d not used YouTube was because it offered little or no on-page SEO benefit. If they published their information on YouTube, it would detract the Google indexing and ranking of their pages without the text content on them.

The obvious thing to do is both. Publish on YouTube, but not at the expense of on-page SEO content on your website. You could also embed the YouTube video on a relevant page on your website – and you’ll be impressed at how much your Time-on-Site statistics increase.

These are the basics of using YouTube for SEO, without it compromising your on-page SEO, but the potential re-uses of video content extend far beyond a single channel; each giving you the potential for greater visibility.

Link opportunities on YouTube

There are channel branding options within YouTube Studio and an array of methods for optimising your channel, before you even begin on your content.

YouTube allows you have up to 10 links on your channel that can lead to anywhere of your choosing. These are often to other social channels, but they can just as easily be to your website, products or specific pages on the site.

That’s before you begin thinking of the links you can place directly within videos, related videos and much more; all of these give you additional visibility chances.

YouTube content ideas

You don’t need to be retailer to benefit from YouTube. The type of content your audience will consume is vast, regardless of what it is you do.

From coaching to law services, accounting to gardening services, users will search for and watch videos about any subject on earth. There are countless examples of businesses that have published content on YouTube only for the channel to become their dominant referrer of traffic.

There are even people that have discovered the earning potential of YouTube, become paid-for content creators and made more money from it than their original business did.

Not everyone is comfortable putting themselves in front of a camera, but who said you need to do that? You could be sharing your screen and talking over it, or showing how to do something without ever appearing in the video.

No need for glossy videos

The days of working on a fancy YouTube introduction sequence and spending hours or days editing content are long gone.

I can immediately think back to 2018 and telling a client to drop the 5 second intro-sequence they had on their YouTube content. They were aghast at the thought of doing it, but tried it – and their views and watch times shot up.

People prefer you to get to the point nowadays. They like the realism of a non-glossy video and the much more personal approach to curating content. They want it to look and feel authentic.

Yes, good lighting helps, as does a good smartphone and external microphone, but they’re not essential to begin with. However, if you were to spend as little as £100 (presuming you already have a smartphone) on items such as a phone holder, basic lighting and a microphone, you’ll be amazed at the difference it can make to your content.

If you have a far larger budget, great, your videos will look even sharper, sound better and probably receive more engagement – but the real focus should be on the quality of content rather than the quality of production.

Feedback on using YouTube for SEO

If you’ve found this blog useful, or even if you haven’t, I’m always open to feedback and questions. I openly encourage it because it helps me with future content creation, ideas and publishing content on subjects my readers want.

I’ll always endeavour to reply.