YouTube Tips
My recent blog on the use of YouTube for Business is the perfect forerunner for this article. It’s all well and good telling you that it represents an opportunity for online business visibility, but a few handy YouTube tips will probably help you more.
However, I’m not going to do the traditional “YouTube SEO guide”. Instead, this blog focuses on a range of YouTube tips that are based on the best performing content on YouTube at the time of writing (and that’s important, because trends and user behaviour change quickly in this sector).
How long should a YouTube video be?
This is probably one of the most asked questions. To begin with, let’s clarify that we’re talking about standard YouTube videos – not YouTube Shorts. If you don’t know what the difference is, take a look at this official guide on YouTube Shorts.
This is rather like the “How long is piece of string?” question, but there is a way to definitively answer it with some context.
The best performing YouTube videos are between 8-9 minutes in length. The context here is that they’re the videos that appear higher in searches and have most views and engagement. What better way is there to gauge how long a video should be?
If you’d like that to be more precise, the median length is 536 seconds according to a recent survey. You can trust that statistic because it is based on an analysis of over 1.6 million videos across a range of search phrases and sectors.
That said, please don’t fall into the trap of over-stretching a video for the sake of reaching 8-9 minutes in length. There is, however, an argument for looking at ways to reduce longer videos to fall into this length. Don’t compromise on the quality of content, but if you can save time on the non-essentials, reduce the padding out of videos, etc., do it.
What resolution should a YouTube video be?
Nine out of ten of the top-ranking YouTube videos are shot in HD or 4K resolution.
The split is that 68% of them are in HD with 22% shot in 4K.
Video quality matters today and you should shoot in the highest resolution possible. If you look at YouTube now you’ll find that the rise of the 4K video is obvious. It has surged in the last 12 months.
How long should a YouTube video description be?
When focusing on the best performing videos, there is an interesting statistic on video descriptions. They have an average word count of 222.
That is shorter than you might expect. However, I’m well aware that most video publishers don’t put the time and effort they should do into curating a catchy, informative and SEO sensitive description.
Spend time on your description and bear the above word count in mind.
Should you use YouTube Transcripts?
Yes, you should use YouTube Transcripts whenever possible. I’d strong advise you to consider doing so on all content.
A staggering 94% of the top ranked YouTube videos include full transcripts.
If you’ve read other content I’ve written you’ll know all about Google placing emphasis on accessible content from an SEO perspective. Think about it. Google owns YouTube and transcripts are essential if you want to make videos as accessible as possible.
Do Closed Captions perform well on YouTube?
This is another firm yes. As with Transcripts, 94% of the best ranking YouTube videos contain closed captions.
It falls into the Google Accessibility policy again and you’re making the right choice if you put the time and effort into closed captions.
Should you use a Timestamp in YouTube descriptions?
You don’t need a Timestamp in your videos, but I find it interesting that 63% of the top performing videos contained timestamps in their description.
A timestamp is a link in the description that takes the viewer to a particular part of the video. This is a great tool for avoiding early drop out viewers, when a user can’t be bothered to wait or scrub through your video to find the thing they’re really interested in.
I’ve heard someone argue that a Timestamp reduces the viewing time on videos, but the truth is that they do the opposite. Would you rather lose the viewer completely because they leave?
The statistic speaks for itself. If more than half of the top ranked videos use a Timestamp, you should be using them.
Use a custom thumbnail on YouTube videos
When you’ve finished uploading a video, YouTube will choose a section of your video as thumbnail to show as a static image prior to video being played.
However, it only does this if you’ve not uploaded a custom thumbnail. You should always do this. Firstly, it gives you an opportunity to brand the thumbnail or show overlaid text on it that attracts attention. Secondly, videos that use custom thumbnails make up 89% of the top-ranked YouTube content.
Should you use hashtags on YouTube video?
If you were to do a Google search now about optimising your YouTube videos, you’ll find lots of people telling you how important hashtags are.
This isn’t necessarily a myth. However, their value is hugely overstated.
Fewer than 40% of the top ranked videos on YouTube use hashtags. That is, any hashtags whatsoever. The YouTube algorithm is far more focused on your content, title, description and other factors than it is the hashtags you use.
On many social media platforms this is becoming a familiar story. Hashtags may well have been a staple part of optimisation in the past, but they’re far less important today. I’d like to clarify that I’m not saying you shouldn’t use them, but don’t get wrapped up in them or consider them vital.
Using external links in YouTube video descriptions
If anything on this blog is likely to surprise most readers, this will be it. You should try to use at least one external link (to an external website) in your video description.
Why? This is where the basics of SEO come into play. Google and most associated channels like to see references to other channels or sources of information. You shouldn’t force a link in that isn’t relevant to the content, but it loves to see external links when they add value.
That’s why almost 80% of the top ranked videos that were in the 1.6 million assessed contained at least one link.
Some of the reasons behind this tie into the general approach Google has to content. I wrote What Type Of Content Does Google Like around 6 months ago and it contains a Google Content Checklist you can download and it explains a lot more on this subject.
What keywords should you use on YouTube videos?
This gets slightly more into the area of SEO for YouTube, but again I’m basing this off the best performing YouTube videos from the recent survey.
Keywords aren’t the critical factor
Believe it or not, just over 5% of the top ranked videos contain titles that exactly match keyword searches. Instead, the top videos tend to use keywords that address what is known as search intent. In other words, what was the intent of the user – are they looking for information, is a question that can be answered with a fact, are they seeking supporting reviews for a purchase choice, etc.
Think about the users search intent
75% of the top videos used keywords related to search intent. Think of this as them broadly addressing the thing that the user wanted to achieve.
A great example of this comes in the fact that only 7% of the best ranked videos included all the keywords the user went looking for, but in a different order.
YouTube is looking to match content that is relevant to what it believes the user is looking for, rather than what they’ve actually typed. That’s the same type of matching that is used in search algorithms such as Google Search.
Improve your YouTube Channel authority
YouTube channel authority is a factor that considers how many subscribers you have, the views you’ve received, likes, comments and many other elements.
All these factors combine in a way that gives you a far higher chance of your videos being ranked highly. That might seem somewhat unfair for new channels, but none of it stops your videos being found. Furthermore, think about this from YouTube’s perspective – you’d send visitors to your most trusted sources or to content you know people engage with, wouldn’t you?
Channel age
This brings me nicely to the value of channel age. The longer your channel has been active, the better chance you stand of achieving higher rankings in YouTube searches.
The extent to which this is important becomes clear when you discover that the top ranking videos are most likely to be on channels that are over 9 years old.
This isn’t a YouTube tip as such, it’s a lesson in the fact that persistence pays off.
Subscriber count
Subscribers are another area in which YouTube places a lot of trust. The top ranking videos have a median subscriber count of a whopping 520,000. That is huge. However, it shouldn’t put you off. Remember, it is one of several factors.
Building your subscriber count is important. Ask people to subscribe in your description, in your channel branding and at the end of videos.
Brand v personal YouTube channels
The popularity of brand/organisation channels versus personal channels is an area I am intrigued by. Despite the rise of social influencers and the perception that they’re personal accounts by many of their viewers – a lot of them can be classed as brand accounts. If YouTube is their primary source of income, they’re a brand.
You then come to the trust viewers put into mainstream brand accounts, such as laptop or lifestyle product manufacturers. They tend to get a lot of subscribers, have been active for longer and achieve more views.
Brand channels occupy around 63% of all top ranking positions, with the remaining 37% coming from personal channels.
Verified accounts
If you don’t verify your YouTube account, you’ll hit limits in respect of the length of YouTube content.
Verifying your YouTube account is easy. You should do it, especially as over half of the best ranked videos come from verified accounts.
Channel profile
One of the simplest things you could ever do to improve your channel authority is to finish your channel profile.
There are several areas you should pay attention to:
- Add an About description – and put time into it
- Engage in the Community area, posting frequent updates
- Complete the website links section, either to a traditional website or other social media channels
None of these are rocket science, but they’re easily overlooked. The links represent a small SEO opportunity too.
How long does it take to rank highly on YouTube?
In an age where everything is super-fast, super-accessible and everyone seems to want everything NOW, you need to be patient on YouTube.
There will always be videos that go viral or shoot up the rankings when they capture public attention in a big way. However, I’m not going to lie to you – that is far from the norm. It is not how most of your videos are going to perform.
Videos that occupy the top ranked positions on YouTube are 29 months old, on average. If you’ve just breathed a huge sigh of despair, don’t. The channels that persist will reap rewards. Don’t become one of the channels that joins YouTube and then stops posting after a few months because your yacht in the Bahamas hasn’t been delivered.
Only 9% of the top videos are fewer than 6 months old. You should take some optimism from that – it is possible.
Summary
There are a lot of things that top ranking YouTube videos do that you can replicate. Follow their habits and ways of working, and stick to some of the often missed tricks such as transcripts, closed captions and thumbnails.
Shortcuts rarely work. However, many of things I’ve mentioned are very easy to implement. There’s plenty to take motivation from, including the fact that the best performing videos only have 220 word averages for descriptions. That one surprised me.
Above all else, try to dismiss any personal opinion you have on things like this. I’ve got a mantra that all my clients would tell you I repeat frequently – follow the data, not opinion. Data tells you what a lot of people are doing. Personal opinion tells you what one person does. They’re often very different.
Feedback
If you want to ask a question or offer feedback on this blog, please do! I like to hear from readers and will publish more of what you want to see if I know what it is.
Finally, please bear in mind that data and trends change. What the world does today is not necessarily what it’ll be doing in 3, 6 or 12 months from now.
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