Maximizing Your Reach: How To Optimize Your YouTube Presence For Music Success
Did you know that YouTube is the second largest online search engine, second only to Google? If you aren’t doing these 5 things every time you upload a new video, your video is not reaching as many viewers as it could!
YouTube: The Basics
The first step to knowing how to optimize YouTube is knowing ABOUT YouTube! So, here’s a quick rundown of the facts:
YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google
YouTube has 3 BILLION searches a month – that’s larger than Bing, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask.com COMBINED
Since Google owns YouTube, video content hosted on YouTube ranks well in Google’s search rankings
Why is this all important? Because optimizing YouTube means search engine optimization. Not only will your audience be able to find your content easier, but if your content meets SEO standards, it means a better user experience and showing your content to your target audience. Not only will it go to your current fans, it’ll go to your future fans!
YouTube Optimization Checklist
How does the YouTube algorithm categorize your content and show it to interested users? Well, the algorithm looks at your video’s metadata (AKA, its title, description, and tags) to determine the content of your video. Using all of this information that you provide, the algorithm will determine what your video is about, the categories it falls into, and the type of users who are most likely to enjoy it.
Here are a few basic tips to optimize your YouTube video metadata for internal YouTube search and external SEO discovery!
Optimization Tip #1: Incorporate Keywords into Video Title
Keywords are going to be your best friend! You’ll want to include keywords that pertain to the content in your video’s title.
For example, let’s say your video is a live performance from The Ryman. You may title it Artist Name - “Song Name” (Live Performance at The Ryman).
If you’re stuck on what keywords to use, you can go back to the source! Go over to Google’s search engine, type in your content, and see what it gives you!
Optimization Tip #2: Create Custom Thumbnails
When you’re uploading a video to YouTube, it’s going to provide you with three generated options for a thumbnail. Instead of choosing one of the three, your best option is to upload your own custom thumbnail!
Don’t forget! To upload a custom thumbnail, your YouTube account needs to be verified. No, not “checkmark next to your name” verified, just verified by YouTube that your account isn’t a robot and adheres to their community guidelines. You can go to www.YouTube.com/verify to get started!
When creating your custom thumbnail, here are some guidelines to follow:
Your thumbnail’s resolution should be 1280 x 720 pixels
Have a minimum width of 640 pixels
Be a JPEG, GIF, or PNG
Be under 2 MB
Use a 16:9 Aspect Ratio
Avoid a thumbnail that’s misleading, click-baity, or that uses censored and inappropriate imagery
Make something that’ll grab your audience’s attention!
Optimization Tip #3: Write A Concise (But Accurate) Video Description
Descriptions give your audience AND YouTube’s SEO feature more information. More information equals more traffic, so you’ll want to include an accurate description.
In your description, you’ll want the following:
An accurate description of your video
A link to subscribe to your YouTube channel
Links to your other social media and streaming platforms
Include the full lyrics to any video about a specific song
Optimization Tip #4: Use YouTube’s Tags, Cards, and End Cards Feature
One of the main goals of your videos is to increase viewer engagement and retention. One way to do this is by using the features that YouTube already provides you! Particularly, you’ll want to utilize the Tags, Cards, and End Cards feature!
Optimization Tip #5: Curate Playlists of Your Videos
Take advantage of the features YouTube already provides you! Using YouTube’s playlist feature, you can sort your video content into song specific or thematic playlists. This will increase the likelihood that a visitor to your channel will consume multiple pieces of content.
For example, a playlist with all the music covers you’ve made or a song specific playlist that will include all the videos you’ve made to support a single release. This may include:
Visualizer Video
Lyric Video
Official Music Video
Live Performance Video
Creating a playlist is easy! All you have to do is head over to the Playlist option on the left-hand side of YouTube Studio, click New Playlist, enter a title for your playlist, and click Create! Curate these playlists around a central theme and you’ll ensure that any viewer of your channel won’t be watching just one video!
Listen, we get it – this is a lot of information! Not to worry, you can book a strategy call with Alchemy Artist Services to get started!
