How to successfully optimize and analyze your YouTube content

Perfecting your YouTube content plan

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, and video quickly went from being a suggested part of your digital marketing strategy to a required one – especially with Google MUM favoring multimodal content.  YouTube is the best option for publishing videos due to it being the biggest online video sharing platform.  According to DemandSage, YouTube has more than 2.6 billion active users as of 2023.

That is a massive audience with endless potential, but it shouldn’t be the only reason you decide to add video to your digital marketing strategy.  Video helps capture your target audience much more than text.  It also helps boost your overall sales pitch to clients and strengthens your credibility.

Now that you’ve successfully planned your YouTube content strategy, it’s now time to optimize your videos and set up an analysis process.  Optimization options to consider are both optimizing your videos for search engine optimization (SEO) and exploring your YouTube monetization options.  Both considerations will help with your discoverability and overall success on YouTube.

SEO for YouTube Videos

All videos that you upload to YouTube should be optimized for SEO, no  matter how long or how short the video is.  Normally you should optimize their SEO once they’re uploaded, but you can still go back and optimize older videos if needed.  This is because search engines are favoring video content more and more.

“Photo and video results are increasingly important in search,” said TruStar Marketing’s Senior Analytics Manager Edwin Acevedo. “In some cases, video is the top result.  As Google makes it easier for searchers to find answers, simply ranking well in organic search isn’t enough anymore. Using videos in your marketing strategy improves your chance of getting your content in front of people who are looking for it.”

Writing a great YouTube description with all the required sections filled out is an essential part of your SEO optimization.  Your description should contain at least 250 characters and convey the overall message of the video.  Keyword research also plays a major role in your description.  Avoid keyword stuffing, but ensure you have the correct keywords in your description to strengthen discoverability.

Make sure you also have three hashtags in your description.  These can be keywords, but focus on how much traction they have on YouTube.  When typing in a hashtag, it will show you how many videos and channels use that hashtag.  The higher the number, the more people are searching for it.

Video tags are also important.  Use keywords if you’d like, but be sure to include common phrases from the video or any notable names you think might gain traction and increase discoverability.

Finally, you’ll need to add a custom thumbnail to your video.  Adding a thumbnail can help make your video more appealing to the viewer, therefore making them more likely to click on it.  This is massively important, especially in this current clickbait age we’re in.  In fact, according to Google, 90% of the best-performing videos have custom thumbnails.

Once you’ve completed those tasks, navigate to the video’s transcript (subtitles) and correct any mistakes the automatic transcriber may have messed up.  In some cases, a transcript will not be generated automatically and may need to be added manually.  Your video is now optimized for SEO.

YouTube Monetization

If it can benefit your business, you should also explore YouTube’s monetization opportunities.  With a big enough following, you can take advantage of YouTube’s Partner Program.  The partner program can provide you with:

• Advertising revenue: This is revenue gathered from display, overlay and video ads.
• Channel memberships: Members of your following can receive special perks or benefits by making a recurring monthly payment.
• Shopping: You can create a store on YouTube with your products and make them available for purchase by your fans.
• Super Chat & Super Stickers: During livestreams, fans can show extra support by paying to get animated images or messages highlighted in chat.
• Super Thanks: Like super chat or super stickers, fans can show extra support on your videos as well by paying to get their message highlighted in your video’s comment section.
• YouTube Premium Revenue: If one of your fans decides to pay for YouTube Premium, you can get part of the subscription fee when they watch your content. This is just another way for your channel to generate revenue for your business.

This not only generates additional revenue, but YouTube favors channels that are partnered with them and will continuously promote your content.  This helps you generate new leads for your business and gives you the return on investment (ROI) you’ve been looking for.

YouTube Video Analytics

Once you’ve completed all the steps to optimize your videos, you’ll want to set up an analysis process.  This process will help you review your analytics and adjust your YouTube strategy accordingly. The analytics you should be focused on are:

• Watch time: The total amount of time that a viewer spends watching your video on YouTube.
• Impressions: The number of times a video’s thumbnail is seen on YouTube.
• Click-through rate: The percentage of people who clicked your video after seeing its thumbnail.
• Average view duration: The average length of time a viewer watches your video.
• Average percentage viewed: How much of a video a user has watched on average.
• Traffic sources: Traffic sources include search, browse features, playlists, and suggested videos which are powered to different degrees by the YouTube algorithm.

With these analytics, you should be able to determine what is working and what isn’t. You can then use this information to help map out your YouTube content planning strategy and topics going forward.

Great YouTube optimization and analysis starts here.

Building up a successful YouTube channel can seem daunting, but once started, it can become as easy as the rest of your current content strategy.  TruStar Marketing is committed to being a quality partner when it comes to optimizing and developing your YouTube channel so you can see the results you want.  Contact us today to discuss your YouTube needs.