Youtube Optimization Guide please?
-
I'm trying to do youtube optimization for some videos right now. I wanted to know what the maximum length of a title should be, and what the maximum description should be as well.
Are there any other best practices I should know about?
Thanks,
James -
Hi James,
As far as I'm concerned, this remains the best and most comprehensive post on the topic that i've seen despite being a few years old
http://www.distilled.net/blog/social-media/youtube/youtube-seo/
However, the TL:DR is...
- Description length doesn't really matter, but I'd try to keep it punchy so no more than a few sentences. Include a naked url link in there if you like in order to drive a bit of traffic
- Keywords at the start of the title seems to help. Keep the title normal Page Title length, so... 70 characters ish max
- Make sure you upload a closed caption file (which will be read as akin to page copy for the video)
- Tags do seem to help, so include any that you care about
- Most important thing when optimising for YouTube is actually driving retained views. Make sure people watch the video all the way to the end and don't drop out early on.
- Embeds of the videos count kinda like links and, assuming they drive quality views, they will also help increase your rankings.
-
Hi James,
I've highlighted some resources below addressing this topic. The standard format is 120 Characters for the video title and 1000 characters for the description
There was a cool post recently on Clickz regarding this topic. Link available here
You Tube Ranking Factors - Whiteboard Friday
Cheers,
SEO5
-
-
James, you should use 65-70 characters for the title and 2 or 3 sentences for the description.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Migrating Youtube Channels
Does anybody have any advice for migrating Youtube Channels. In other words there is one account with a handful of videos and another account with a handful of videos and we will want to migrate them to just one account. Is it really just re-uploading them and deleting the older account or is there more to this than that? Thanks,
Branding | | DRSearchEngOpt
Chris Birkholm0 -
Optimizing for a person with two variations of their first name.
Hello, I am wondering if there is best practices or ideas when doing SEO work for someone's personal name and that name has two variations. So for instance, if someone's formal first name is "James" but they go by "Jim" or "Richard" and "Rick." I thought it might be easy as choosing one and going for it, but this person has a lot of info about them indexed and google and for the most part it is two completely different set of SERP's depending on which variation of the named is searched.
Branding | | kevgrand0 -
.land extension or .com extension? Please help!
hi, its me again. I bought 2 domains for my new site I want to build. My keyword is: "BabyHazelGames" babyhazelgames.land ( for me it sounded like "the land of baby hazel" etc ) PlayHazel.com ( short .com domain, still says what the sites about ) If u check first page for this keyword u see most of the sites are EMD-s or filler partial EMD ( on .com-s)Someone told me to buy a EMD since I fight with EMD-s on first page, and its the only way I have a chance! I bought The games license, theme license and all of these. That was alot of money, and I dont want to put all my money and work on the wrong domain name. Please help me decide between these 2; Thanks!
Branding | | Catinas970 -
Redesigning a Site - What Optimizations are "Must Haves"?
I'm psyched - a client has just approved a complete redesign of their site! Feel like a have a little bag of gold in my hand, and want to spend it wisely. My question to you, fellow Mozzers, is what elements would you make sure to include a site to make it as optimized as possible? A few details about the site: 1. It is an informational site, designed to generate leads for a medical product. No products for sale, no e-commerce functionality needed. 2. The site has approximately 250 pages. Last site update was in 2009. 3. Videos are an important part of their marketing strategy. In addition to shortening their URL structure (some URLs have 6-7 folders, ugh), I plan to utilize schemas and incorporate mobile responsive design. What other areas would you prioritize for optimization? Thanks, Allie
Branding | | Allie_Williams0 -
One writer, multiple brands - optimizing rel=author across several blogs
Our company has a few different brands, each with their own domain and site. These are not microsites intended to drive traffic to a main site; they all have independent e-commerce functions, full product lines, etc. Imagine we run Plumbing Widgets Inc, Kitchen Remodeling Company, and Springfield Countertops. It's not immediately obvious to surfers that one parent company operates all of these brands, and we're fine with that. Considering that it enables us to own a lot of SERP real estate for some money KWs, we're more than fine with it. We'd like to create a blog for each of these sites/brands. Here's where it gets tricky. After doing some reading, I am persuaded that using rel=author will help us with SERP CTR and possibly rankings themselves. I am going to be writing all of the blog content, at least to start. I don't think I want to rel=author myself on all of these discrete blogs, do I? And surface the fact that one person is the head writer for the blogs of all these brands? Creating blogging pseudonyms doesn't seem like a good idea, since part of the value of rel=author is genuine social engagement, and creating social personas that seem genuine is probably more trouble than it's worth. (Not to mention icky and dishonest.) Should I choose a customer service rep or manager for each brand and use their names and social identities (with their permission, obviously)? It seems like that would involve challenges of its own. I've ghostwritten for one business owner before, but this is on a larger, more complex scale. Any insights are appreciated!
Branding | | CMC-SD0 -
Youtube video channel
Is there any value in getting a youtube channel without any original video contnt? off course using pre-approved authorized content. I see tha value for the potential clinetelle but I was wondering if there is any SEO value?
Branding | | ciznerguy0 -
Negative Youtube Review - Reputation Management
One of our clients had a negative youtube review which is really hurting their reputation. The problem was solved and not even at fault of our client. The uploader of the video was contacted, but has forgotten the username/password on the account. If you search for the brand name of the company, this video shows up 2nd on organic google results which is pretty embarrassing. What strategies would you all use to minimize the effects of this video? Would you buy an adword for the company name to push the video down?
Branding | | jastos0 -
Video's Pros and Cons - YouTube vs My website or both?
This isn't really a question per say, but more of a request for advise. We are in the process of creating videos for our travel website. They are more informational and do not promote any products as such. I am aware of the options, and I am leaning towards creating a pro account with Vimeo so that the videos are available only on our website. The reason for this is so that we can at least get credit for our work, as when they are on you tube, anybody can syndicate the video without linking to our website. I am also aware that there are allot of searches happening on YouTube, and it may be worse if we choose not to upload our videos there as we would loose out on a big audience. it would be GREAT if we had the best of both options. And i had an idea i want to get your opinions on. Create the video and upload onto our website with "lower competitive" title / meta / body. Submit the video on YouTube with a "Higher competitive" keyword / title /meta and description. When someone finds our video, they might search YouTube to avoid linking back and wont find it, (although it is there getting traffic from a similar keyword) Branding is the number 1 objective for these videos, so you tube + many other video sites would be the way to go. However, i would also like our own "private" video blog on our site so that if web masters like the video, we can give them the option of embedding it on there site (like SEOMOZ do it on there whiteboard Fridays) Your comments and suggestions will be muchly appreciated. Greg
Branding | | AndreVanKets0