Important features of YouTube:

• Video platform (“social media platform”) from Google
• YouTube target groups are diverse and very broad. Marketing on YouTube means being present where your target audience is and delivering the type of content they expect.
• The recommended YouTube video length from an SEO point of view would be 3 – 5 min. The average length of the most popular YouTube videos is 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
• On YouTube, content is created through subscriptions and likes from other accounts. There’s something on every topic imaginable, from entertainment to advice.

YouTube algorithm

When evaluating the relevance of videos and other content, algorithms consider a variety of factors. This includes information about user behavior such as search queries, click behavior, playlists, likes, comments and subscriptions. This data serves as indicators of what users like and see as relevant.

Business relevant keywords for YouTube videos

The well-optimized YouTube videos can increase the overall traffic of a website. If you search for a term on Google, you will also see corresponding YouTube videos in SEPRs. A good, well thought-out keyword strategy could lead to YouTube SEO success.

A detailed keyword research should be carried out, as with a normal article creation. Keyword research can be done with various online tools (Google Trends, Google Ads Keyword Planner, Keywordtool, AnswerThePublic, Ahrefs or SISTRIX).

Here are the recommended steps:

• Conduct keyword research with Google Ads Keyword Planner and Google Trends. Keyword research can alternatively be done with Keywordtool, Ahrefs or SISTRIX
• FAQ with AnswerThePublic – Collect the important FAQs and check them by search volume
• Analyze Keyword Density and Search Term Density – Use Seobility’s free WDF*IDF tool or use LSI keywords with HARPA AI
• Check auto suggest
• SERPs Competitors Check – Have the LSI keywords lists created with HARPA AI from the top three competitors
• Set topic – identify structures and content
• Keyword prioritization
• Creation of video briefing with SEO specifications

Keyword prioritization is done after identifying relevant topics, SEPRs competitor check, keyword density analysis and keyword research. The important points when creating video briefings with SEO specifications are:

• Main keyword in the file names – This is taken into account by the YouTube algorithm and supports the algorithm in recognizing and correctly classifying the content. It should look similar to the search engine optimization of images.
• Video Title – Grab users’ attention
• Descriptive text with business-relevant and topic-oriented keywords
• Thumbnail – (The thumbnail preview that appears in search results) should already convey the tonality of the video.
• Tags that describe the content. YouTube offers the possibility to add SEO tags to videos. This allows the algorithm to know exactly where to place the video.
• Subtitles – It is not recommended to rely on YouTube’s auto-generated subtitles as the translations are often incorrect. From an SEO point of view, it would always be better to touch up manually. If that’s too much effort, it’s essential to check the YouTube subtitles for accuracy. If the video deals with several topics or sub-topics of a topic, an index with jump labels is very helpful.
• Content as timestamps – It is recommended to create the important topics of the video as timestamps.
• It is only considered a view on YouTube from a watch time of 30 seconds: the video must be watched for 30 seconds in order to generate a complete view. However, it is not necessary to watch the video for 30 seconds at a time. On YouTube, not only the number of views, but above all the playback time (“Watch Time”) is decisive for the ranking.

What does perfect video optimization on YouTube look like?

1. Title length: Title should be a maximum of 100 characters Next to the preview image (thumbnail), the title is the first thing users see. Optical markers such as brackets like [] and () or | can generate additional attention.
2. Placement of the main keyword in the title: The main keyword should be placed as prominently and early in the title as possible. Important: do not use keyword stuffing.
3. Length of the description text: The description text offers a volume of 5,000 characters, whereby 100 to 120 characters are displayed in the directly visible area (“above the fold”).
4. Links in the descriptive text: It is recommended that the links in all video descriptive texts should only be used on your own channels, e.g. B. News, blogs, newsletters and website articles.
5. Social Media Links: Social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest) should be linked in the social bar so that viewers can easily access them.
6. Placement of the main keyword in the description: The main keyword should be included in the description as early as possible and in a natural way. The beginning should be designed in an appealing and “catchy” way and definitely include the most important keyword. Anything beyond that is ideal for embedding long-tail or secondary keywords.
7. Tags: There should be a good mix of generic and specific keywords here, including brand tags. The first tag should correspond to the main keyword. Then come the tags that perfectly describe the topic of the video (synonyms and variants of the main keyword) and also the related LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords. Too many tags should be avoided and around ten to twelve are recommended. With the right YouTube tags, the chances of being displayed in the sidebar under the topic-related videos improve.
8. Hashtags: A maximum of 3 hashtags (business-relevant keywords) are to be used in the description text in order to be able to improve the video ranking.
9. Thumbnail: Thumbnail or preview image in YouTube search results – Always uses only high-resolution images. The format should be 16:9 and the resolution should be 540 × 360 pixels; Arouse the interest of the user with the selected image – Important: do not make any false promises; Mentions the main idea of the video; Each video should have a unique thumbnail, e.g. B. Make each thumbnail unique with Photoshop.

YouTube SEO strategy

To ensure that viewers don’t switch off and watch the YouTube video to the end, there are some proven SEO strategies that can be used in the first 15 seconds:

1. Captivating beginning: Start the video with an interesting and captivating scene or visual element. An unusual event, an exciting question or a surprising statement can arouse interest.
2. Concise preview: Give a brief insight into the content of the video without spoiling the heart of the matter. Show users what to expect without giving away too many details. This creates curiosity and motivates them to watch the entire video to learn more.
3. Quality Production: Pay attention to the visual and audiovisual quality of the video. It is recommended to have the professional shooting techniques, good light and clear sound. A high-quality video inspires trust and shows users that it’s worth sticking around to the end. Better to focus on quality than quantity.
4. Emotional Connection: Creating an emotional connection that engages users and grabs their attention. Emotions can arouse interest and motivate users.
5. Short and concise information: In the first 15 seconds, present relevant information that piques the viewer’s interest but does not get the gist of the matter.
6. Freshness on YouTube: It is also important to regularly produce new content and upload it at regular intervals in order to achieve better visibility. Commitment can only be influenced indirectly. Certain behaviors, such as regular new content and addressing your community directly, usually have a positive effect.
7. Community interactions on YouTube: Many likes, comments and interaction with the community through call-to-action or links to the subscribe button can also improve ranking and watch time. The subscriptions are very important. This is one of the factors that the YouTube algorithm uses to rank the videos in the search results.

Summary

Youtube SEO should not be neglected and any off-page optimization can generate additional traffic. A video analysis would be highly recommended to better assess video views.

If you pay attention to clever wording, interact with the community and use target group-oriented thumbnails, you can also get involved in the top ranking places with a small budget.

Everything done on the website that can improve its ranking is called onpage SEO. content, headings, title links, meta descriptions, internal linking, choice of images, etc. A good URL structure helps with both crawling and page analysis, which also falls under the umbrella of on-page SEO.

Offpage SEO on the other hand, refers to all the measures that we can take outside of the website. This includes a good content strategy, content marketing, directory listings, linkable assets, etc. The goal is to improve your website’s position in the SERPs and attract as many visitors as possible. The most important off-page ranking factor are the inbound links.

Although seemingly separate, onpage and offpage seo really go hand in hand. A great content strategy will help your pages rank for relevant keywords. But something that every SEO expert will tell you is that no matter how good the content, you still need links for it to rank. It is highly recommended to integrate onpage-offpage-optimization into a successful content strategy, to have high-quality content and linkable assets created.

There are chances that your article might rank well on its own, and earn some organic links. If you want to promote it and introduce it to some journalists, your content really needs to have unique value. And in most cases, you need links for that page to rank well. Your articles should support you with strong links and likely your entire site will rank higher for many of the keywords found in that content.

Please remember that just one optimization is not enough if we want to consider onpage offpage SEO. Start by building your content and having your on-page affairs in order. Then, follow up with links to give your content pages a needed push in the rankings. This involves having a content marketing strategy, and we will talk more about that later.

Local SEO and GoogleMyBusiness

While general offpage SEO targets the entire search engine, local SEO aims for your brand to appear in all local searches relevant to your region or city. Some services are very location dependent, and that is why you advertise for your local off page seo slightly different. The anchor text can often include words like your town name. So, if you are a flower shop located in the Bronx borough of New York, don’t invest large amounts of money to rank for a generic keyword like “flower shop”. It is better to market yourself as a “flower shop in the Bronx”. It makes much more sense as this is a business that is very location based.

What you should definitely do is create a GoogleMyBusiness account. Set up your profile to list as a local business. They will then appear when users search for services like yours in your area on Google Maps. You can add your brand name, address, phone number, photos, working hours and also allow ratings. This can help you tremendously to take your local SEO to another level. If you’re a small business that doesn’t have time to also focus on offpage SEO and local search engine optimization, consider hiring a local SEO specialist.

Content Marketing

The first thing you need to decide is what will be the purpose of your content. Do you want to educate, entertain, or use it to promote your services? Depending on your answer, plan a detailed content marketing strategy for your company. You should also know what exactly you want to achieve and what content with relevant links can give you the boost you need. Good content planning also depends on the time of year, and these time-sensitive events require good content preparation. e.g. Black Friday or the holiday season require specific content for your e-commerce business.

You need to know your audience, and what content types you want to create for them. Don’t approach this randomly and expect big results. A status quo on your site can show you where you currently stand and what goals you should be pursuing for your off-page content marketing. The clear KPIs are important so that you can track the results before you start marketing for your sites and investing in advertising. If you are not up to creating engaging or insightful content for your users, hire a content marketing specilaist. Someone who is specifically focused on this side of offpage SEO will surely be able to help any business out there.

Guest Posting

There are some misconceptions when it comes to guest posting. People often say that it does not work, and it’s a thing of the past. It is true to some extent, because Google really values EAT (expertise, authoritativeness, trust) , which guest posts don’t always have. Writing guest posts on various blogs or media, used to be a prevalent offpage SEO strategy some years back, but Google algorithm updates pretty much killed that.

If something is marked as a guest post, and you don’t have a writer’s name underneath the article, you can’t expect the links from that content to have any value. Also, most websites that accept guest posts are blogs, and user generated content is not valued and will have a hard time ranking, compared to expert reviews. Google even said that in terms of offpage SEO value, UGC passes no link juice.

So are there any benefits to guest posting? There still are, but it differs whether you are a webmaster or a guest writer. If you are a website owner, you would want your content provider to be an expert in their field. If you can get someone who would bring EAT to your website, then that article will bring value. If you are a writer, you can use guest posts to write on various websites relevant to your niche, so Google will see you as an expert in that niche. Being featured on many websites that are sources of trust for your field will build up your name and signal Google that your knowledge and insights on specific topics should be valued.

Conclusion

Think about what type of business you are running, and what would be the best way to approach it’s offpage SEO strategy. Consider what you lack the most, and what would be the first thing that needs fixing. If you want to earn organic links, you need a great content strategy. If you are not ranking for important keywords, then your pages probably need some juice links and a content optimization. If however, you don’t feel like you are reaching a large enough audience, turn to social media and influencers. Just make sure not to throw money at everything and expect for it to work. Pick your campaigns or outsourcing agencies carefully.