Big data is at the core of any competent marketing strategy. We have talked before about the importance of merging big data with SEO.
However, we mostly talked about using data-driven SEO to drive traffic to your money site. Big data SEO strategies can also be very effective with YouTube marketing.
Big Data is at the Core of Your YouTube SEO Strategy
With as many as 300 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute, there are literally thousands of videos on just about any topic you can think of. That’s a lot of competition!
How will visitors find your videos? And, why should they choose your videos over someone else’s? If you’re already considering these questions, you are already way ahead of the curve.
Most videos on YouTube only get a handful of views. But the good news is, by learning how to search engine optimize your videos, you can break through the noise and get just as much traffic as larger brands. You can use data analytics to get more value out of your YouTube marketing strategy, especially you understand SEO.
Let us tell you how it’s done! Here’s how to use data-driven SEO in your YouTube marketing strategy and maximize your views. This is just one way that big data and AI are necessary for YouTube marketing.
Why You Need to Use Data-Driven SEO for Your YouTube Videos
Search engine optimizing your YouTube videos is much easier than SEO for a website. That said, YouTube is a search engine, just like Google, so SEO is key. When implemented correctly, it’s a highly effective way to promote your YouTube videos and target the right audience without spending any extra money.
YouTube’s search algorithm ranks videos much like other search engines. It shows people the videos it thinks are most closely related to their interests and what they’re searching for. Since YouTube uses big data in its search algorithm, you can reverse engineer the process by using big data to reach more viewers.
By learning how to optimize for YouTube’s algorithm by understanding its dependence on big data, you’ll have a major leg up over creators who simply upload and hope for the best.
Here are the ranking factors that matter most on YouTube:
- Viewer Retention
- Titles
- Video Descriptions
- Tags
- Video length
- Subscribers
- Click-Through-Rate
- Comments and Reactions (likes/dislikes)
It’s also important to note that YouTube creates a transcript of most videos using Speech Recognition Technology. That means the algorithm understands spoken keywords as well as written ones. So, the keywords you say in your videos are just as important as the ones you type into the title, tags, and description.
How to Apply SEO to Your YouTube Videos
Start with Keyword Research
Keyword research is one of the most important uses of data analytics for YouTube marketing. You can use a lot of data mining tools to find out more about the keywords that can drive traffic to your videos.
Not only do YouTube videos show up when someone searches on the YouTube platform, but they also show up in Google SERPs. That means you can gain a lot of organic traffic by optimizing for the right keywords.
One great place to do free keyword research for your videos is on the platform itself. Simply type a keyword into the search box and make note of the suggestions that appear in the dropdown. These are the terms that are most frequently searched.
You can also use Google’s related search queries and People Also Ask boxes to find more related keywords and queries. Optimize each video for one primary keyword phrase, and then include related keywords to help the algorithms understand what your video is about.
Optimize Your Descriptions
Your YouTube description should be long enough to include your primary keywords and a few supporting keywords. A couple of short paragraphs should be sufficient. Use this space to get people excited about the video’s content, too.
After your main description, include a short blurb directing people to a related content piece on your website. Use the Geniuslink shortener for YouTube Channel links to add affiliate links to related products and ensure that they don’t look spammy.
It’s also important to include links to your social media profiles. And finally, be sure to add appropriate hashtags to help users find your videos.
How does data analytics come into play here? You can use data mining tools to research other YouTube videos and look at their descriptions. This can help you reverse engineer your own descriptions for more traffic.
Optimize Your Script
Be sure to include your primary keyword and supporting keywords throughout your video script. Incorporate them naturally so that your script sounds authentic. If your script is well written, you’ll probably find that it incorporates keywords without you even thinking about it.
Create Compelling Titles and Thumbnails
Click-through-rate, or CTR, is a major influencing factor in how YouTube ranks your videos. If people regularly skip over your videos, your rankings will drop. But if lots of people are clicking on them, YouTube will rank them higher.
So, creating compelling titles and custom thumbnails is crucial for attracting clicks and boosting SEO. Your title should include your primary keyword, but also be interesting enough to grab attention.
This is another area where data technology can help. A lot of design tools like Canva use machine learning to create higher quality YouTube thumbnails that are shown to drive more clicks.
Choosing Your Tags
Your tags should be your primary keyword plus a few supporting keywords. Google and YouTube will penalize your videos if you use misleading tags, so always make sure they’re relevant to maintain trust.
You can use data mining tools to discover new tags and see which perform the best. You can also look at the tags that you have used with data analytics tools that will see which drive the most traffic.
Encourage People to Interact with Your Videos
You’ll also want to encourage people to interact with your videos in other ways, such as liking, sharing, commenting, subscribing, and clicking on links in your description. Always remind people to interact by including clickable annotations in the video itself as well as in the video description.
Pay Attention to Video Length
Viewer retention is key, so keep your videos as engaging and interesting as possible. You want your videos to be substantial enough to provide value, but short enough that people watch all the way to the end.
People are more likely to watch shorter videos all the way through. If you need more time to cover your topic, consider whether you might be better off to create a series of shorter videos rather than trying to include everything in one long one.
That said, if a 30-minute video makes the most sense for your topic, go for it. Testing different video lengths and paying attention to your video analytics will give you a lot of insight into what works for your particular audience.
Use Big Data Effectively with Your YouTube SEO Strategy
Big data is very important in modern video marketing. You should use the right data analytics tools to get the most value out of it.
When creating new videos, learn to think of your channel as a whole. Optimize your channel page with targeted keywords and create series of videos around related topics using relevant keywords. If the topic doesn’t attract people in your target audience, it doesn’t belong on your channel. You should use big data to get more value from these channels.
When it comes to promoting your videos, always consider SEO first. The benefits of SEO magnify over time, so it’s key for the longevity of your channel. And, although you can go back in and tweak your descriptions, titles, and tags later, you can’t optimize your script without re-filming the video so it’s best to make SEO part of the content creation process.
It’s also important to remember that YouTube can’t measure signals like viewer retention and engagement if you don’t have any views on your videos. Once your video is published, be sure to promote it on other channels like social media and Q & A sites, embed it in a blog post, and send it out to your email list.
