Content
How to Optimize your Youtube Channel?
February 9, 2023
15 min
Pursuing more views in 2023, few video content creators embrace YouTube’s potential in full. The question of ‘how to optimize your YouTube channel’ is at the core of today’s digital marketing agenda.
With a lack of a holistic digital marketing strategy, most YouTube bloggers quit their channels in a short while.This means that the path to YouTube success is a tough nut to crack.
At Promodo, we are facilitating more and more businesses unable to optimize their YouTube channels all alone. Contrary to popular belief, long-term success on YouTube is not about merely using popular hacks or following trends.
Like other social media, YouTube is rapidly evolving and it is simply impossible to catch up with all the updates underway. Simply put, there are too many YouTube metrics to cover. YouTube is a complex logical algorithm that excludes emotions. The rules are set strictly and are fair to everyone. The system decently pays its contributors for 1000 views.
According to Statista, in 4Q 2022 YouTube’s global advertising revenue reached USD 7.96 b.
With too many things to focus on and fads to let go of, we will help you create and optimize your YouTube channel. So, what does it mean to optimize a YouTube channel?
It does not take a rocket scientist to see that video will top all other content types in 2023 and beyond. The most recent stats indicate that people are watching up to 20 hours of video online a week.
This is why video content is now your must-have for a digital marketing strategy. As many as 83 % of video creators are serious about expanding their digital marketing budgets in 2023.
A win-win solution here is to synergize video content with social media marketing.
While Google will bet on visually rich content in short-form videos, longer video content of 15 minutes and more will still be in trend.
Take YouTube trends as a strategic sticking point for your channel growth.
Short-form storytelling bounced to 15 b. daily views in 2022.
YouTube takes it to drive leads and keep neck and neck with Instagram Reels and Tik Tok.
Take shorts as a splendid opportunity to earn more on YouTube.
Integrated into YouTube Monetization Fund, in 2023 short videos up to 1 minute is trending today.
Responsive creativity will be trending in 2023 and beyond.
In its Trend and Culture Report 2022, YouTube emphasizes responsive creativity as a proper way to suit people’s psycho-emotional needs.
Being stressed out, we all need wider comfort zones for ourselves.
Think about filling one of your YouTube channels with soothing content and chill vibes to make people relax.
People want to see live action, preferably in real-time.
Drive your YouTube channel following that most appeals to your target audience.
Bet on live videos to
A properly optimized YouTube channel is an art in itself.
YouTube business is mostly about self-discipline usually downplayed by YouTube channel owners.
Jumpstart your new channel journey with YouTube Creator Academy. Right from scratch, you’ll get pro tips that will save you from sleek pitfalls.
Install VidIQ service on your browser to dive into the basics. Their free version is just enough to save your videos from major flaws.
Our analysis of startup YouTube channels indicates that few owners follow the discipline of video content creation at least once a day.
You may choose your schedule, but that will fall behind the rhythm set by the algorithm.
Primarily, YouTube wants to deal with your channel as a reliable and persistent partner.
Furthermore, as an advanced AI system, YouTube prioritizes continuous cooperation without fail.
The good news is that YouTube settings help you schedule videos at the required time, preferably in prime hours when you are sure to reach your target audiences.
Our YouTube marketers suggest downloading the Chrome extension YouTube Upload Time to check out the content posted by competitors.
Ideally, you should generate a new daily video an hour before your closest niche rival.
Few startuppers are aware that the new YouTube channel requires a heating-up period of 10-14 days before you upload your first video.
At this point, you may already feel that an effective YouTube channel is far beyond making a creative name or uploading a bunch of random videos.
But there is so much more to it, so keep reading…
If you are serious about getting views and channel subscriptions, spend a fair amount of time doing your homework.
While many promote YouTube business as an easy-come source of passive revenue, you’ll never sit back and watch your channel grow automatically.
With more than 1 billion unique YouTube visitors a month, be sure to target your best niche and loyal customers.
Focus on YouTube mobile users as the main consumers of in-app videos.
While about 80% of people rely on YouTube as part of their purchasing decisions, video content is decisive to the buyer journey.
With optimization tricks down the road, customize your YouTube channel to both regular search engine audiences and in-app users.
YouTube is second to none following Google in terms of user searches online. This means that every video adds up your web presence and Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings.
Choose a short and memorable name for your YouTube channel to highlight your identity and achieve the best association with your target audience.
Use an 800×800 image as a channel icon to best fit multiple resolutions.
Add channel header atop. A 2560×1440 image in the inner 1546×423 area will come as the best visual association with your brand on all possible devices.
Rather than a boring brand logo, the channel art should emphasize your identity.
Interlink the About tab with your website and other social media platforms.
In the Featured Channels section, add other channels you run to engage people with your products, services, or projects.
Advanced settings on YouTube allow you to categorize your video once you upload it.
By mentioning a specific category, you are bringing your content closer to your viewers.
You also synchronize your video with similar YouTube content.
Gaining wider exposure will make more viewers associate with your target audience.
In other words, your belongingness to a particular category is your niche.
Analyze it diligently before even setting up your YouTube channel.
For starters, you should generate video content just like top niche players.
Or, even better, to rock them.
Similar channels across your niche or category will show you the best video-making practices you should follow to catch up with the competition.
While YouTube belongs to Google, the machine-learning algorithm requires quality videos to rank your channel content.
It is high time you got familiar with how to optimize YouTube channel ranking.
Among the core features is a user watch time. It is crucial for YouTube you make people want to watch your videos. The more they do it, the higher the system ranks them.
A further feature is video length which varies from shorts (videos up to one minute) to video content of more than 10 minutes.
On average, the latter shows higher rankings because of its relevance to user intent.
Over time, the more subscribers you get on your channel, the higher your authority for the YouTube search engine is.
Always be sure to interact with your target audiences by subscribing, liking, commenting, sharing, and linking options.
While Video watch time is a core ranking factor, your videos must achieve audience retention.
Along with click-through rate (CTR), watch time is second to none in terms of YouTube optimization, so the more the better.
This is the surest indicator that the video content you produce resonates with people’s needs and interests.
The magic of long videos is in sustaining users on your channel. The more valuable content you generate, the more viewers will watch your videos.
Videos above 10 minutes are ranked higher than shorts that are unable to cover a topic in full and are not enough to retain the audience.
Our experts suggest making videos of not less than 15 minutes that would dive into the subject matter of your offer.
If your content is informative, be sure to answer a single question in a release.
A longer watch time is a prime indicator that your video content is valuable.
In this vein, most startup YouTubers rely on innately informative ‘How-to’ videos as a win-win strategy.
Many achieve longer watch time optimization by hooking viewers with a promise or surprise at the beginning of the video.
Your YouTube channel name should include a keyword. With that, you will match your website metadata with your YouTube presence.
A keyword should associate with your industry or better niche where you get your customers.
Alternatively, you may keyword your products or services.
A specific keyword term will help users recognize your brand name and come to you organically.
By matching your website and YouTube channel with a strategic keyword term, you are sure to level up in YouTube ranking.
At this point, be sure to synergize your YouTube marketing strategy with keyword optimization approaches like SEO and PPC.
Use Google Analytics and your YouTube channel analytics as the best-fit tools to guide you.
You may simply check out keywords used by your competitors owing to VidIQ and similar services.
What you say throughout your video matters to YouTube and Google search engines.
That is why mentioning keywords in your videos will add much to your rankings.
Keywords in subtitles and annotations will also benefit your ranking signals.
See, keywords are essential beyond your video titles. Using keywords throughout the video helps viewers get your purpose.
Do not bite off too much, though…
Unfortunately, many folks downplay the About Us page on their channels.
Again, YouTube is a complex AI algorithm that counts it all.
Mind that the system accounts for the first 48 characters through which YouTube shows your channel in the search results.
As succinctly as you can, generate the best snippet of content to tell users who you are.
Do not stop just there!
Use the remaining part of your About Us page for a broader description of your channel and its purpose. What value do you generate and how does it match the needs of your target audience
Again, your niche-trending keywords will help search engines spot your channel among the competitors.
Along with Market Muse and Moz, SEMrush is among the top miners for highly-competitive keywords.
Our YouTube Analysts suggest segmenting analytics to reveal intent-rich long-tail keywords that are sure to bring you organic rankings.
In addition to General settings, do not omit an Advanced settings section in YouTube Studio.
This is where you can present your channel’s metadata with tags up to 100 characters.
Emphasize meta tags to make Google and YouTube index your channel for search.
Rather than keyword stuffing, rely on input tags to add value to your channel.
Not to go overboard, optimize your YouTube channel the same way you did with your website.
Tagging videos with trending keywords will help YouTube and viewers understand the content and the context of your video.
This is how YouTube associates your content with similar videos.
By striving for more views, you risk going overboard with tags and getting a penalty from Google.
Always rely on long-tail keyword tags, the same as you can see among your closest competitors.
Your channel trailer is your first-sight impression before your visitors.
While your strategic goal is to turn them into subscribers, trailers are vital to YouTube channel optimization.
Only non-subscribers will see your channel trailers, so be sure to win new audiences with quality introduction video trailers.
In up to 60 seconds, introduce your brand, product, or service in the best possible way.
Make sure your trailer hooks viewers in the first few seconds.
Most importantly, emphasize the value of your business!
Add a card at the end of this video to make viewers ‘Subscribe!’ to your channel.
When uploading your video, do not forget to fill in the file name with a target keyword.
Instead of spaces, separate each word with underscores (_).
Theme-focused file names like “car_washing_tips” will best inform YouTube about the relevance of your video to user queries.
Maximize watch time with a strategic focus on the first 15 seconds of your video.
This optimization hack is pivotal while the amount of time is just enough for viewers to decide whether the piece of your video content is the real deal.
A perfect-case scenario is when your video buys viewers in immediately. This means people will want to watch more from you.
The deeper users dive into your channel, the better YouTube ranks you.
Among the best first-15-second approaches is the Preview, Proof, and View to hook the viewers.
At the Preview stage, say what your video is all about and its ultimate value.
At the Proof stage, prove your worth with down-to-earth examples and/or credible arguments. You may use trending data, recent stats, real-to-life cases, proven scenarios, and success stories.
At the View stage, be sure to replicate your Preview though with details and information that would spark interest among viewers and make them keep watching.
The suggested format will best drive watch time for every video on your YouTube channel.
The better you arrange video content by style, genre, theme, or series, the longer viewers will stay on your channel.
Experiment with individual videos and playlists all around to best engage with your present and potential viewers.
Befriend playlists to highlight your overarching topic above all else in your YouTube library.
Clicking from video to video means that viewers are staying longer on your channel.
This is how keyword-based playlists are boosting watch time.
Playlists are a perfect way to focus on prime content throughout your channel.
Unite similar thematic videos into relevant playlists to make your channel look neat.
Place the newest or most essential videos and playlists on the top shelf of your channel homepage.
Optimize YouTube channel ranking by interacting with your viewers.
User engagement signals search engines about high activity on your channel.
The same is true for the authority your channel gains with every new video.
Still, making great YouTube content is just not enough.
You need to ensure high user interaction to sustain an organic search presence.
Ask your viewers to
A tweak of the day by Promodo: pin your video comment to boost activity under your videos.
Leaving a pinned comment on your video is your chance to get in touch with your target audience, drive rankability, and enhance user engagement.
Use customized thumbnail images to let viewers see you.
Along with the title, a thumbnail tells viewers about the content they are about to watch.
1280×720 pixel images with a 16:9 ratio of up to 2Mb is your best multi-platform format recommended by YouTube.
Customized thumbnails let your viewers preview your content, drive CTR, and show your videos to wider audiences.
More to that, animated video thumbnails best align with YouTube SERPs.
Use YouTube thumbnails to best serve your viewer intent and keep ranking high.
Well-crafted thumbnails are about making a great first impression and standing out from the competition.
Customize your thumbnails with a dynamic design, user-friendly colors, and eye-catchy titles.
Custom thumbnails serve as calls to action. It is your best way to make viewers watch other videos available on your channel.
Quality thumbnails are also the surest way to pump up your click-through rates.
Ask your team about an optimal combination of text, video, and design to get the best thumbnails possible.
Watch out for clickbait phrasing in video thumbnails.
This is not your perfect choice after all. The worst mistake you can make is to over-promise or mislead your viewers.
More than one-second-long thumbnails will add more impressions to your videos.
Craft your video titles naturally.
Make titles clear and concise so the viewers get to know what your video is all about.
Again, keywords in titles are pivotal to matching your videos with the most popular searches.
You are welcome to add actuality with dates to your videos to best resonate with viewer intent.
However, relying solely on titles with an exact keyword match will not work wonders overnight.
Still, crafting a keyword-based video title naturally is always the best policy to tell viewers what they will see next.
YouTube allows 100 characters and displays mere 70 characters in search results.
So make your titles up to 60 characters to rank your videos on results pages.
With Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) at stake, YouTubers often omit the content part in their video descriptions.
With the limit of 1,000 characters allowed by YouTube, don’t go too far with textual content even though it includes optimized keywords.
It is your video that matters most!
While video descriptions are limited by characters, every word counts.
Filling in the first two lines of text up to 100 characters is just enough. Anyways, YouTube will not display more in search results.
Further, in the ‘Show More’ section front-load core information like CTAs and links to your products and services.
Mind that some viewers may watch your videos without volume, so adding transcripts to your descriptions sounds good.
Over time, optimized descriptions are also crucial for ranking your content among the suggested videos on YouTube.
YouTube allows you to add thematic hashtags that will appear on the right-hand sidebar of your channel.
This is a way to best associate your content with trending user searches and expand outreach.
Filling hashtags with thematic keywords is a great idea.
Hashtags are also vital at the end of your video description.
We suggest landing up to eight hashtags that best feature your video.
End Screens (or end cards) will perfectly serve your channel as a Call-to-Action.
Within the last 10 seconds of your video, promote other videos or playlists on your channel.
This is the best way to make viewers stay longer on your channel and watch more.
End Screens are also a great way to boost your products and services.
While captioned videos best resonate with search engines, you are sure to improve the engagement rate on your channel by 4%.
Closed captions are also about enhanced video accessibility for viewers with hearing problems.
In the same way, closed captions will add to the credibility of your channel.
So, be sure to optimize videos for YouTube Search rankings.
While ‘set it and forget it’ does not work with YouTube, you should optimize your channel and every video on it.
Develop a content plan and stick to a schedule.
With a complex mathematical algorithm and strict ranking factors, always optimize videos for YouTube searches,
The system wants your videos to match search queries.
The most valuable videos resonate with people’s needs and interests.
So, be sure to produce quality content persistently and a bit sooner than your closest competitor.
Check out when your closest niche competitors upload videos exactly with YouTube Upload Time.
Keywords and phrases will best match your videos with the most preferred and trending searches by your target audience.
SEO tweaks are all important to match the content on your channel with YouTube requirements.
Now you know why YouTube channel optimization is essential to your inbound marketing strategy.
Content Marketing Manager at Promodo
Taras has 16 years of hands-on copywriting experience overseas with 3000+ unique copies.
Accredited with Certificate of Proficiency in English (C2 level) by Cambridge University. Studied at Writing Launch Academy (United States) and owns an Academic Writing Certificate from Oregon University. Author of 12 dictionaries with Apriori Publishers.
You may also like
Choose quality and trusted services to improve the presence of your company on the Internet, and feel free to contact our UK team if you have any questions.
We at Promodo are ready to help you improve your performance across all digital marketing channels.
Get started
.svg){kind=logo}
