How to optimise your videos for better ranking on YouTube

With more than a billion users, and billions of daily video views, gaining user attention on YouTube may seem a daunting prospect. 

However, the sheer size of the audience (a third of all web users) means that the rewards are there if you get it right.

In this post, I’ll look at some of the factors which determine YouTube video rankings, some tips to help improve visibility, and some of the factors behind how Google chooses to show videos in its search results pages.

On-site YouTube ranking factors

I’ve split this into visible and invisible factors, i.e. those that can be seen by general users and those used for internal purposes.

Thanks to PI Datametrics for their help in compiling these ranking factors.

Invisible ranking signals

• Video file name. This is used when attempting to categorise the content, so be sure to label it using target keywords.
• View density. We can all see how many views videos attract over time but view density matters to YouTube. If your video receives a lot of views in a short space of time, it’s more likely to be pushed up the rankings. This can be visible, but most brands don’t show this. John Lewis does, and here are the stats for the last Christmas ad.
• Meta tags. YouTube’s spiders rely on tags to interpret a video’s content. This is thought to be a big factor in determining the positions a video is able to achieve in YouTube. When you upload a video to YouTube you can tag it with your keywords. 6-8 tags are thought to be the ideal amount. Look at the most popular/top tags on YouTube for your topics, and learn from them.

• Watch time. YouTube used to use view counts and comment volumes as factors, but changed this to watch time in 2012 as the previous factors could be gamed relatively easily.
• Flags / reports. These are negative factors which could harm your video’s visibility.

Visible ranking signals

• Title. The maximum character limit is 100 characters. Use them well, place keywords towards the front of the title. As with a writing a good headline, titles need to be descriptive and compelling. The video should also deliver on the headline. If you over-promise, people won’t spend time with the video, share it etc.
• Description. There are 5,000 characters to play with here, but only the first (roughly) 150 will be visible to people when they land on your page, so these have to work well. This is also an opportunity to add a link back to your site or target landing page.
• YouTube subtitles, closed captions and transcripts. These make the videos accessible to a wider audience.
• HD videos. HD quality videos are preferred to lower picture quality ones, though this does not mean that lower quality homemade videos don’t work at all.
• In-video annotations/YouTube cards: Annotations allow you to add linkable text to a video; including notes, calls to action, and links to related video assets. This serves to build greater authority and encourages CTR, views and shares. YouTube developed ‘annotations’ in 2015 to include ‘Cards‘ which are better looking version of annotations. The big difference is they work better across screens, and especially on mobile.

• Thumbnails. Not a ranking factor, but a well-chosen thumbnail should help to improve click through rates and increase views. The ideal size = 640 x 360 pixels minimum, 16:9 aspect ratio.
• Likes and dislikes. These provide an indication of the engagement around a video.
• Comments. These provide a way for YouTube to gauge the authority and relevance of videos. Not as significant a factor as before, perhaps because the comments on many YouTube videos are likely to test your faith in humanity.
• View counts. Again, not as influential a factor as in the past, but still an important indication of popularity.

YouTube channel factors

A distinct YouTube channel can help give brands (or anyone) a longer term and more effective YouTube presence. There are some useful tips on this from YouTube.

• Focus on content. Content needs to match the brand and give customers a clear indication of what to expect from your channel.
• Keep it simple. Branding should communicate the message behind your channels, so make sure videos, channel trailers etc align with this.
• Make it discoverable. Your branding should help people to find your videos and channel. This means consistent titles, tagging, descriptions and themes.
• Channel views. As with video views, the channel stats will contribute towards your rankings.
• Vanity URLs. Not a ranking factor, but something that should help improve other ranking signals by making your channel more easily discoverable.For example, Sainsbury’s has https://www.youtube.com/user/Sainsburys. This helps to give the brand nice and neat results in Google:
• Subscribes. If people have subscribed to your channel after watching your video, this indicates to YouTube as well as to Google that your video is authoritative.
• Bookmarks. Another factor is the number of people who add your video to their ‘watch later” list.

• Social shares. This is another factor which indicates the quality and engagement around your video.
• Backlinks. Links back to your channel or embeds of your video carry weight, and are a further ranking factor.

Branding example: Sainsbury’s

Though John Lewis is better known for its Christmas ads, rival retailer Sainsbury’s manages to out-perform it in terms of YouTube visibility.

This detailed post from PI Datametrics explains in more detail, but Sainsbury’s is more consistent with branding, produces more content, and seems to work harder to optimise it.

Tips for improving YouTube performance

Learning from the ranking factors listed above will do a lot, but here’s a few more tips:

• Promote videos through your own channels. Using your YouTube videos in emails, promoting on social sites, and embedding on your own website will all help to build momentum around your video content.eSpares is a great example of this. It creates videos around fixing DIY problems, posts them to its YouTube channel and uses them onsite by embedding them. This way it gets full value from its video content.
• Create video content which addresses user needs. Think about the questions customers will have around your product and service. Do some keyword research to find out the relative popularity of these terms.This is what eSpares and others do, this helps them attract views from target audiences, and a side bonus is that videos will often appear in the SERPs.
• Encourage comments. As comments contribute to your ranking, it’s a good idea to do as much as you can to encourage a discussion underneath your videos. This could be by creating content which is likely to attract comments, or simply by asking people to comment.
• Use YouTube analytics. Data is your friend, so use it to see how your videos are performing, which are performing better than others, which attract most comments / likes etc.

All this data can help you to learn from what does and doesn’t work, and to improve the effectiveness of your video content.

from https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/07/29/how-to-optimise-your-videos-for-better-ranking-on-youtube/

From http://kateninablog.tumblr.com/post/148166297799

source https://jessicaevieblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/how-to-optimise-your-videos-for-better-ranking-on-youtube/

Google’s power of censorship: who controls the controllers of the internet?

Imagine a world where Google has no secrets, where all search engines play fair, and where SEO doesn’t have to be synonymous with “page one.” Sound like a fairy tale?

The Internet is often cast as the great democratizer, and Google its noble gate-keeper. There’s no doubt that search engines help us easily navigate the web, but we have to remember that Google is a corporation, not a public service.

Our faith in its wisdom and guidance is based on little more than a carefully planned PR scheme. Behind that curtain, few of us really have any idea what’s going on. That kind of blind trust may be dangerous for content creators and consumers alike, both in terms of what we see and what we get.

In a recent column for U.S. News & World Report, artificial intelligence expert Dr. Robert Epstein detailed 10 different ways Google uses blacklists to censor the Internet. Some of them seem perfectly within reason – noble, even: banning weapons sales through its shopping service, for instance, or blocking payday loan sharks from AdWords.

Few are going to argue with these measures. In fact, it’s nice to see a little corporate responsibility every once in awhile.

At the same time, though, how can we know when and where to draw the line? At what point does “corporate responsibility” become a catch-all phrase for “Google does what Google wants”?

The point Epstein makes is that with virtually every case of good Samaritan censorship practiced by the “do no evil” company, similar tactics have been used to justify some pretty blatant power grabs or downright bullying.

When media sources in Spain began demanding that aggregators pay fees for content, for example, Google News simply pulled out of the country altogether, and Spanish-based digital news sources have taken a serious hit since.

Consider too, the case of E-Ventures Worldwide, an SEO service website that had all 365 pages of its site blacklisted from search engine results because Google deemed them “pure spam.”

True, these revelations are not shocking for people who deal in SEO. Our line of work more or less entails tracking and following every algorithm-scented footprint or bit of guano we can find that might lead us to the keys of Google’s ranking systems, even while we live in constant fear of punishment from its all-knowing servers.

It comes as no surprise that Google harbors a tremendous power to influence, say, the results of a certain upcoming political election, or even to sway public opinion on the latest Taylor Swift/Kanye West escapade. The question is – and it’s a contentious one – where does it all end?

At what point (and sooner or later, there must come a point) will the authorities and powers-that-be have to reign in Google’s master controls over internet content and searchability?

After all, the FCC’s net neutrality ruling last year made internet service practically a public utility – in regulation, if not in name. And after broadband service providers, no one has more influence and control over the flow of the web than Google does.

“If Google were just another mom-and-pop shop with a sign saying ‘we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone’, that would be one thing,” Epstein writes. “But as the golden gateway to all knowledge, Google has rapidly become an essential in people’s lives – nearly as essential as air or water. We don’t let public utilities make arbitrary and secretive decisions about denying people services; we shouldn’t let Google do so either.”

The day of reckoning for Google may come sooner than you might think.

Despite a long line of similar cases that have, without exception, ruled in Google’s favor – giving them free range to rank and rate content in whatever way they please – the E-Ventures case in Florida is actually making some headway.

Back in May, the federal judge on the case ruled that Google had “anti-competitive, economic” motives for blacklisting E-Ventures’ pages: the better SEO companies are at their jobs, after all, the less businesses need to pay for AdWords, which is how the search engine makes most of their revenue. It’s not, as Google argues, simply a matter of “free speech” anymore.

On a larger scale, the European Union is also trying to crack down on Google’s Internet monopoly.

Google claims 90% of the search engine market across the continent (compared to just 64% in the US), and while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, the European Commission’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, says the company is unfairly using that leverage to promote its own advertising materials over that of the competition’s.

This is the third shot the EU has fired at Google in less than two years. Previously, Vestager & co. have filed antitrust complaints against the company over their search engine dominance and over the mandatory Google apps that come pre-loaded with every Android phone. “Google’s magnificent innovations don’t give it the right to deny competitors the chance to innovate,” Vestager says.

All three charges will likely come to a head before the summer’s through. So far, Google has, of course, denied any wrongdoing. But if the Commission succeeds in making a case, Google may have to pay as much as 10% of its revenue (i.e., in the neighborhood of $7 billion per annum) to the European Union to foster a more open, inclusive market.

It all begs the question: what would an SEO world look like where Google wasn’t necessarily the prime target of our efforts? Furthermore, what would happen to SEO analytics if Google’s criteria was for page rankings were completely transparent?

Experts have been saying for years that SEO strategies should be thinking outside the Google search box, but few other engines have been able to make so much as a dent in the web.

Bing, by comparison, is still only a tiny blip on the radar, with 14 billion indexed pages to Google’s 45 billion. The fastest-growing search engine on the scene is DuckDuckGo, a service that brags enhanced privacy and security.

While they manage to pull in 100 million visits every month, it’s still not much compared to Google’s 100 billion. Meanwhile, social media is trafficking more content than ever, and other search services like Yelp and Flickr have cornered markets where Google lags behind.

If the European Union has its way, more competing search engines might be able to increase their power, size, and scope – and forever change the internet landscape as we know it.

The bottom line: There is a world outside of Google. But will we know what to do with it once we’re there?

from https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/07/29/googles-power-of-censorship-who-controls-the-controllers-of-the-internet/

From http://kateninablog.tumblr.com/post/148166297384

source https://jessicaevieblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/googles-power-of-censorship-who-controls-the-controllers-of-the-internet/

Eight most interesting search marketing news stories of the week

Welcome to our weekly round-up of all the latest news and research from around the world of search marketing and beyond.

This week we begin with a bounty of up-to-date search marketing stats, then we end with some bizarre Google searches and a quiz. A perfect Friday round-up I’d say. Maybe I can find a cat gif somewhere too. No promises though!

Google search spending growth has slowed to 22% as CPCs fall 9%

We have a bumper load of search marketing stats from Merkle this week, all of which plot the various search trends of Q2 2016.

The full report covers paid search, organic search, social media, display advertising, and comparison shopping engines, but for now here’s a handful of the most interesting revelations…

• Advertiser spending on Google paid search grew 22% Y/Y in Q2 2016, a slight deceleration from 25% growth in Q1.
• Click growth increased slightly to 34%, but CPCs fell 9%.
• Spending growth for Google text ads slowed to 10% Y/Y as CPC growth for brand keywords fell from 10% in Q1 to 0% in Q2.
• Google Shopping Ad spending growth rose to 43% as an influx of partner traffic bolstered total click volume.
• Organic search visits fell 7% Y/Y in Q2, down from 11% Y/Y growth a year earlier, as organic listings face increased competition from paid search ads, particularly on mobile.
• Mobile’s share of organic search visits rose to 46%, but that still lags behind the 53% of paid search clicks that mobile produces.

Social media ad spend up nearly 50% fuelled by mobile and dynamic product ads

Spend on social advertising has increased by 47% year-on-year (YoY) in Q2 2016, with social ads attracting a 21% higher cost-per-click (CPC) according to the latest global data from Kenshoo.

Growth continues to be driven by mobile, which accounts for 64% of spend, with retailers’ Dynamic Product Ads on Facebook and Instagram, as well as video, playing an increasing role in paid social.

Budgets directed to mobile search ads and Product Listing Ads (PLAs) climbed 63% and 71%, respectively, leading to a rise in overall search advertising spend of 10% YoY.

Paid search spend increased by 4% in Q2 2016

AdGooroo released its quarterly paid search report which examines all US Google desktop text ad activity on the top 50,000 keywords across 14 of Google’s industry categories in Q2 2016 vs. Q1.

Here are some of the findings:

• Paid search spend increased by 4%
• Total impressions and clicks dropped by 19% and 3%, respectively
• The average cost per click increased by 8% quarter-over-quarter, while the average clickthrough rate increased by 18%
• The number of advertisers decreased from Q1 to Q2 in all 14 categories, dropping by a total of 12%

Google brings programmatic to native ads

As Al Roberts reported this week, Google announced that DoubleClick publishers can make all or some of their web and app native ad inventory available through the service, and advertisers can purchase that inventory programmatically through DoubleClick Bid Manager.

Al goes on to report:

“DoubleClick native programmatic asks advertisers to supply creative components, such as headline and body text, and DoubleClick automatically formats the content for the publisher’s site and the device the viewer is using. The native ad units come in two flavors: a traditional banner slot and a responsive fluid ad slot.”

There are more than 200 publishers already signed up to offer programmatic native ads through DoubleClick.

Verizon acquires Yahoo’s operating business for $4.8 billion

As Sophia Loras reported this week, Verizon has agreed to acquire Yahoo’s operating business in a $4.8 billion cash deal, sealing the fate of one of the internet’s pioneers.

Under the deal Verizon will amalgamate Yahoo’s search, email, video, mobile, digital and advertising assets with it’s AOL entity. Verizon acquired AOL in a $4.4 billion deal last year to enhance its programmatic offerings.

Marissa Mayer, chief executive officer of Yahoo stated:

“As one of the largest wireless and cable companies in the world, Verizon opens the door to extensive distribution opportunities. With more than 100 million wireless customers, a shared view of the importance of mobile and video ad tech, a deep content focus through AOL, Verizon brings clear synergies to the table.”

Google AdWords unveils three new mobile ad innovations

According to a Google blog post, three new mobile ad features will begin rolling out in AdWords to all advertisers this week.

Expanded text ads

These are optimized for the screen sizes of the most popular smartphones and feature two headlines, each with 30 characters, and one long 80-character description line. That’s nearly 50% more ad text for you to highlight your products and services.

Responsive ads for display

Google will now help you build your own responsive ads for display. Just provide a 25-character or 90-character headline, a 90-character description, an image, and a URL, and Google will design ads that fit perfectly across more than two million apps and websites on the Google Display Network.

Set device bid adjustments

New device bid adjustments allow you to maintain the efficiency of managing a consolidated campaign that reaches consumers across devices while giving you more control to set individual bid adjustments for each device type — mobile devices, computers, and tablets.

Top 20 craziest Google queries

As reported this week by Search Engine Journal, Digitaloft has collected data on the most bizarre searches undertaken on Google and the findings should probably be cause for some concern…

1. Am I pregnant? (90,500 monthly searches)
2. How do I get home? (49,500 monthly searches)
3. Are aliens real? (49,500 monthly searches)
4. Does farting burn calories? (49,500 monthly searches)
5. When will I die? (49,500 monthly searches)
6. Why do men have nipples? (22,200 monthly searches)
7. Do penguins have knees? (18,100 monthly searches)
8. Why are we here? (8,100 monthly searches)
9. Is the tooth fairy real? (8,100 monthly searches)
10. Do pigs sweat? (8,100 monthly searches)
11. Does my bum look 40? (8,100 monthly searches)
12. Is the world flat? (5,400 monthly searches)
13. Am I a psycho? (5,400 monthly searches)
14. Why won’t my car start? (4,400 monthly searches)
15. Do men have periods? (3,600 monthly searches)
16. Do worms have eyes? (2,900 monthly searches)
17. Can a man get pregnant? (2,900 monthly searches)
18. What happens if you drink blood? (880 monthly searches)
19. Can I marry my cousin? (880 monthly searches)
20. Why does my boss hate me? (170 monthly searches)

Take our fabulous SEO quiz…

Go on, it’s Friday, and it kinda looks like your doing work right?

How well do you know these 25 SEO abbreviations?

And here’s your reward for a job well done…

from https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/07/29/eight-most-interesting-search-marketing-news-stories-of-the-week/

From http://kateninablog.tumblr.com/post/148166296099

source https://jessicaevieblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/eight-most-interesting-search-marketing-news-stories-of-the-week/

#SEJThinkTank Recap: The Search Marketer’s Guide to Turning Online Browsers into Buyers by @dantosz

This recap of Patrick Hutchison’s webinar is filled with strategies to turn browsers into buyers. If you sell products online, this is one webinar you won’t want to miss!

The post #SEJThinkTank Recap: The Search Marketer’s Guide to Turning Online Browsers into Buyers by @dantosz appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

From http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/4008171

source https://jessicaevieblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/sejthinktank-recap-the-search-marketers-guide-to-turning-online-browsers-into-buyers-by-dantosz/

The 10 Most Important Metrics You Should be Tracking in Content Marketing by @IAmAaronAgius

With content marketing on the rise, it’s difficult to know which efforts are effective. Tuning into a few key metrics can provide the information needed to move forward with your marketing campaign confidently.

The post The 10 Most Important Metrics You Should be Tracking in Content Marketing by @IAmAaronAgius appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

From http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/4006055

source https://jessicaevieblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/the-10-most-important-metrics-you-should-be-tracking-in-content-marketing-by-iamaaronagius/

Kathleen Garvin of Penny Hoarder on Creating Engaging Content and #ChewbaccaMom #MarketingNerds

I sat down with Kathleen Garvin to talk about how to create content your audience will actually want to engage with – which is no easy task!

The post Kathleen Garvin of Penny Hoarder on Creating Engaging Content and #ChewbaccaMom #MarketingNerds appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

From http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/4005538

source https://jessicaevieblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/kathleen-garvin-of-penny-hoarder-on-creating-engaging-content-and-chewbaccamom-marketingnerds/

What to Do When Things Go Wrong in SEO by @stonetemple

Recovering from a Google penalty should be viewed as the first step. Then you can move past survival, and into a world where your traffic keeps growing.

The post What to Do When Things Go Wrong in SEO by @stonetemple appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

From http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/13962/4005539

source https://jessicaevieblog.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/what-to-do-when-things-go-wrong-in-seo-by-stonetemple/