Amplify Content Reach: Essential Strategies to Skyrocket Views

5 Tips to Get More Views with YouTube Optimization [Free Checklist]

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a

In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.

How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention
2. Do Keyword Research
3. Engage Your Audience
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:

Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.

Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.

Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access to Analytics
3. Select the video you want to review
4. Click into engagement
5. See where a dip in watch time

What is Good Audience Retention?

If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.

If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.

In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.

There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.

If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.

How to Improve Audience Retention

Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:

- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)

- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)

- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)

- Edit out the unimportant stuff

- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.

If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.

Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.

2. Do Keyword Research:

Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.

Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?

- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.

- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.

- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.

Why Keywords Matter

keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.

Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.

That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.

Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access Analytics
3. Select Reach
4. Click into Traffic Source
5. Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search

If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.

1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.

2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.

3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.

Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.

Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.

Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.

4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.

3. Engage Your Audience:

It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.

While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.

Here is an example of how it would work:

- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it

- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.

- Boom! Domino effect!

- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.

Get engagements with a call to action:

- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.

- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.

- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.

It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.

4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:

YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.

Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.

Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.

If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.

However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.

If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.

End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .

Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
2. Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
3. Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
4. Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
5. Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.

Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking

Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.

For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.

However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.

- Subscribers know the moment your video is published

- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)

- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers

Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .

Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.

How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>

10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a

In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.

How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention
2. Do Keyword Research
3. Engage Your Audience
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:

Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.

Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.

Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access to Analytics
3. Select the video you want to review
4. Click into engagement
5. See where a dip in watch time

What is Good Audience Retention?

If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.

If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.

In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.

There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.

If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.

How to Improve Audience Retention

Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:

- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)

- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)

- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)

- Edit out the unimportant stuff

- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.

If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.

Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.

2. Do Keyword Research:

Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.

Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?

- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.

- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.

- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.

Why Keywords Matter

keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.

Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.

That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.

Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access Analytics
3. Select Reach
4. Click into Traffic Source
5. Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search

If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.

1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.

2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.

3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.

Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.

Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.

Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.

4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.

3. Engage Your Audience:

It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.

While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.

Here is an example of how it would work:

- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it

- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.

- Boom! Domino effect!

- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.

Get engagements with a call to action:

- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.

- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.

- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.

It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.

4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:

YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.

Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.

Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.

If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.

However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.

If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.

End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .

Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
2. Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
3. Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
4. Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
5. Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.

Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking

Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.

For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.

However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.

- Subscribers know the moment your video is published

- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)

- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers

Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .

Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.

How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>

10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a

In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.

How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention
2. Do Keyword Research
3. Engage Your Audience
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:

Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.

Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.

Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access to Analytics
3. Select the video you want to review
4. Click into engagement
5. See where a dip in watch time

What is Good Audience Retention?

If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.

If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.

In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.

There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.

If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.

How to Improve Audience Retention

Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:

- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)

- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)

- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)

- Edit out the unimportant stuff

- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.

If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.

Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.

2. Do Keyword Research:

Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.

Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?

- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.

- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.

- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.

Why Keywords Matter

keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.

Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.

That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.

Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access Analytics
3. Select Reach
4. Click into Traffic Source
5. Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search

If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.

1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.

2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.

3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.

Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.

Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.

Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.

4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.

3. Engage Your Audience:

It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.

While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.

Here is an example of how it would work:

- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it

- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.

- Boom! Domino effect!

- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.

Get engagements with a call to action:

- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.

- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.

- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.

It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.

4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:

YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.

Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.

Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.

If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.

However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.

If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.

End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .

Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
2. Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
3. Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
4. Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
5. Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.

Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking

Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.

For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.

However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.

- Subscribers know the moment your video is published

- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)

- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers

Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .

Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.

How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>

10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a

In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.

How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention
2. Do Keyword Research
3. Engage Your Audience
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:

Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.

Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.

Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access to Analytics
3. Select the video you want to review
4. Click into engagement
5. See where a dip in watch time

What is Good Audience Retention?

If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.

If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.

In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.

There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.

If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.

How to Improve Audience Retention

Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:

- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)

- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)

- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)

- Edit out the unimportant stuff

- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.

If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.

Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.

2. Do Keyword Research:

Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.

Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?

- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.

- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.

- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.

Why Keywords Matter

keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.

Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.

That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.

Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access Analytics
3. Select Reach
4. Click into Traffic Source
5. Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search

If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.

1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.

2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.

3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.

Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.

Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.

Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.

4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.

3. Engage Your Audience:

It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.

While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.

Here is an example of how it would work:

- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it

- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.

- Boom! Domino effect!

- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.

Get engagements with a call to action:

- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.

- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.

- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.

It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.

4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:

YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.

Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.

Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.

If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.

However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.

If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.

End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .

Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
2. Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
3. Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
4. Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
5. Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.

Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking

Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.

For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.

However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.

- Subscribers know the moment your video is published

- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)

- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers

Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .

Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.

How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>

10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Rapid Rendering of Epic Battle Royale Tiles

How to Make Fortnite Thumbnail for Free and Easy in 2024

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

To grow a Youtube channel, you need to focus on several different factors and elements. Having an attractive and eye-catching thumbnail is one of those top factors that contribute to the growth of your channel. No matter how good your content is, if you cannot attract users to click on your videos, it will not benefit your channel. In this article, we are going to show you how you can make a Fortnite thumbnail in few simple steps using Filmora X. If you are a content creator and love to make Fortnite videos, then this article will be very helpful for you.

Filmora has recently introduced a new feature named AI Portrait that uses Artificial Intelligence to remove the background from a portrait or image. This feature doesn’t require any green screen to do that. Filmora also contains a wide range of elements and titles that help you enhance the Thumbnail and make look stunning and eye-catching.

---

Step 01: To start making a Fortnite thumbnail, it is important to have a screenshot of your gameplay. We can make a perfect screenshot using Fortnite Replay Mode. If you have recently played a Fortnite match, you can access its replay under the Career tab. Under the Career tab select Replays.

Step 02: If you are using a console, the game will only store 10 recent gameplays, but if you are using a PC, it will store 100 recent gameplays in this section. From all these gameplays, select the one that you want to use for the Thumbnail. Once you choose gameplay, you can control everything in it. The angle, speed, and camera mode.

Step 03: For creating a perfect thumbnail, select “Drone Free Camera” mode from the camera mode located on the bottom right corner of the screen. It will allow us to change the angle the way we want. Choose an angle of your choice and take the screenshot.

Step 04: Open Filmora X, make sure to select the 16:9 screen ratio. Import the screenshot using the import button.

Step 05: Drag and drop the screenshot into the timeline.

Step 06: Now, let’s separate the background and character. Go to the Effects, then AI Portrait, select Human Segmentation, and drop it into the screenshot.

Step 07: Filmora will ask you to purchase it, but you can now hit “Try it” to use it.

Step 08: It will remove the background of the screenshot.

Step 09: To add a background, go to the media and navigate to “Sample Color.” Drag a color of your choice and drop it below the screenshot.

Step 10: To add titles in the Thumbnail, go to the Titles tab. Here you can find several categories of titles. Find your preferred title and drop it above all the layers. You can choose titles, lower thirds, and other texts depending upon your need and requirement.

Step 11: We can make this Fortnite Thumbnail look more attractive by adding elements such as stickers and icons. Filmora contains a wide range of stickers. To access them, navigate to the Elements tab. Here you can find so many categories of elements. Choose any elements according to your need and drop them in the timeline above all other layers. If you cannot find a suitable sticker, you can download one from the internet and use it by importing it into Filmora.

Step 12: Once you are satisfied with the final results, you can take the screenshot of the Thumbnail using the Snapshot icon located below the preview panel. It will create a screenshot in the media panel of Filmora.

Step 13: To access the directory where this screenshot is saved, right-click on the screenshot and click on “Reveal in Explorer.” It will open the folder that contains all the screenshots you take through Filmora. Your Fortnite Thumbnail is ready to be used on your Youtube videos.

Conclusion

With Filmora, there are no limits. You can use your imagination to create amazing Fortnite thumbnails or thumbnails for other purposes. This article is just a demo teaching you how you use Filmora X to develop free and astounding thumbnails. Explore other options and elements of Filmora to take your thumbnails to another level.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

To grow a Youtube channel, you need to focus on several different factors and elements. Having an attractive and eye-catching thumbnail is one of those top factors that contribute to the growth of your channel. No matter how good your content is, if you cannot attract users to click on your videos, it will not benefit your channel. In this article, we are going to show you how you can make a Fortnite thumbnail in few simple steps using Filmora X. If you are a content creator and love to make Fortnite videos, then this article will be very helpful for you.

Filmora has recently introduced a new feature named AI Portrait that uses Artificial Intelligence to remove the background from a portrait or image. This feature doesn’t require any green screen to do that. Filmora also contains a wide range of elements and titles that help you enhance the Thumbnail and make look stunning and eye-catching.

---

Step 01: To start making a Fortnite thumbnail, it is important to have a screenshot of your gameplay. We can make a perfect screenshot using Fortnite Replay Mode. If you have recently played a Fortnite match, you can access its replay under the Career tab. Under the Career tab select Replays.

Step 02: If you are using a console, the game will only store 10 recent gameplays, but if you are using a PC, it will store 100 recent gameplays in this section. From all these gameplays, select the one that you want to use for the Thumbnail. Once you choose gameplay, you can control everything in it. The angle, speed, and camera mode.

Step 03: For creating a perfect thumbnail, select “Drone Free Camera” mode from the camera mode located on the bottom right corner of the screen. It will allow us to change the angle the way we want. Choose an angle of your choice and take the screenshot.

Step 04: Open Filmora X, make sure to select the 16:9 screen ratio. Import the screenshot using the import button.

Step 05: Drag and drop the screenshot into the timeline.

Step 06: Now, let’s separate the background and character. Go to the Effects, then AI Portrait, select Human Segmentation, and drop it into the screenshot.

Step 07: Filmora will ask you to purchase it, but you can now hit “Try it” to use it.

Step 08: It will remove the background of the screenshot.

Step 09: To add a background, go to the media and navigate to “Sample Color.” Drag a color of your choice and drop it below the screenshot.

Step 10: To add titles in the Thumbnail, go to the Titles tab. Here you can find several categories of titles. Find your preferred title and drop it above all the layers. You can choose titles, lower thirds, and other texts depending upon your need and requirement.

Step 11: We can make this Fortnite Thumbnail look more attractive by adding elements such as stickers and icons. Filmora contains a wide range of stickers. To access them, navigate to the Elements tab. Here you can find so many categories of elements. Choose any elements according to your need and drop them in the timeline above all other layers. If you cannot find a suitable sticker, you can download one from the internet and use it by importing it into Filmora.

Step 12: Once you are satisfied with the final results, you can take the screenshot of the Thumbnail using the Snapshot icon located below the preview panel. It will create a screenshot in the media panel of Filmora.

Step 13: To access the directory where this screenshot is saved, right-click on the screenshot and click on “Reveal in Explorer.” It will open the folder that contains all the screenshots you take through Filmora. Your Fortnite Thumbnail is ready to be used on your Youtube videos.

Conclusion

With Filmora, there are no limits. You can use your imagination to create amazing Fortnite thumbnails or thumbnails for other purposes. This article is just a demo teaching you how you use Filmora X to develop free and astounding thumbnails. Explore other options and elements of Filmora to take your thumbnails to another level.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

To grow a Youtube channel, you need to focus on several different factors and elements. Having an attractive and eye-catching thumbnail is one of those top factors that contribute to the growth of your channel. No matter how good your content is, if you cannot attract users to click on your videos, it will not benefit your channel. In this article, we are going to show you how you can make a Fortnite thumbnail in few simple steps using Filmora X. If you are a content creator and love to make Fortnite videos, then this article will be very helpful for you.

Filmora has recently introduced a new feature named AI Portrait that uses Artificial Intelligence to remove the background from a portrait or image. This feature doesn’t require any green screen to do that. Filmora also contains a wide range of elements and titles that help you enhance the Thumbnail and make look stunning and eye-catching.

---

Step 01: To start making a Fortnite thumbnail, it is important to have a screenshot of your gameplay. We can make a perfect screenshot using Fortnite Replay Mode. If you have recently played a Fortnite match, you can access its replay under the Career tab. Under the Career tab select Replays.

Step 02: If you are using a console, the game will only store 10 recent gameplays, but if you are using a PC, it will store 100 recent gameplays in this section. From all these gameplays, select the one that you want to use for the Thumbnail. Once you choose gameplay, you can control everything in it. The angle, speed, and camera mode.

Step 03: For creating a perfect thumbnail, select “Drone Free Camera” mode from the camera mode located on the bottom right corner of the screen. It will allow us to change the angle the way we want. Choose an angle of your choice and take the screenshot.

Step 04: Open Filmora X, make sure to select the 16:9 screen ratio. Import the screenshot using the import button.

Step 05: Drag and drop the screenshot into the timeline.

Step 06: Now, let’s separate the background and character. Go to the Effects, then AI Portrait, select Human Segmentation, and drop it into the screenshot.

Step 07: Filmora will ask you to purchase it, but you can now hit “Try it” to use it.

Step 08: It will remove the background of the screenshot.

Step 09: To add a background, go to the media and navigate to “Sample Color.” Drag a color of your choice and drop it below the screenshot.

Step 10: To add titles in the Thumbnail, go to the Titles tab. Here you can find several categories of titles. Find your preferred title and drop it above all the layers. You can choose titles, lower thirds, and other texts depending upon your need and requirement.

Step 11: We can make this Fortnite Thumbnail look more attractive by adding elements such as stickers and icons. Filmora contains a wide range of stickers. To access them, navigate to the Elements tab. Here you can find so many categories of elements. Choose any elements according to your need and drop them in the timeline above all other layers. If you cannot find a suitable sticker, you can download one from the internet and use it by importing it into Filmora.

Step 12: Once you are satisfied with the final results, you can take the screenshot of the Thumbnail using the Snapshot icon located below the preview panel. It will create a screenshot in the media panel of Filmora.

Step 13: To access the directory where this screenshot is saved, right-click on the screenshot and click on “Reveal in Explorer.” It will open the folder that contains all the screenshots you take through Filmora. Your Fortnite Thumbnail is ready to be used on your Youtube videos.

Conclusion

With Filmora, there are no limits. You can use your imagination to create amazing Fortnite thumbnails or thumbnails for other purposes. This article is just a demo teaching you how you use Filmora X to develop free and astounding thumbnails. Explore other options and elements of Filmora to take your thumbnails to another level.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

To grow a Youtube channel, you need to focus on several different factors and elements. Having an attractive and eye-catching thumbnail is one of those top factors that contribute to the growth of your channel. No matter how good your content is, if you cannot attract users to click on your videos, it will not benefit your channel. In this article, we are going to show you how you can make a Fortnite thumbnail in few simple steps using Filmora X. If you are a content creator and love to make Fortnite videos, then this article will be very helpful for you.

Filmora has recently introduced a new feature named AI Portrait that uses Artificial Intelligence to remove the background from a portrait or image. This feature doesn’t require any green screen to do that. Filmora also contains a wide range of elements and titles that help you enhance the Thumbnail and make look stunning and eye-catching.

---

Step 01: To start making a Fortnite thumbnail, it is important to have a screenshot of your gameplay. We can make a perfect screenshot using Fortnite Replay Mode. If you have recently played a Fortnite match, you can access its replay under the Career tab. Under the Career tab select Replays.

Step 02: If you are using a console, the game will only store 10 recent gameplays, but if you are using a PC, it will store 100 recent gameplays in this section. From all these gameplays, select the one that you want to use for the Thumbnail. Once you choose gameplay, you can control everything in it. The angle, speed, and camera mode.

Step 03: For creating a perfect thumbnail, select “Drone Free Camera” mode from the camera mode located on the bottom right corner of the screen. It will allow us to change the angle the way we want. Choose an angle of your choice and take the screenshot.

Step 04: Open Filmora X, make sure to select the 16:9 screen ratio. Import the screenshot using the import button.

Step 05: Drag and drop the screenshot into the timeline.

Step 06: Now, let’s separate the background and character. Go to the Effects, then AI Portrait, select Human Segmentation, and drop it into the screenshot.

Step 07: Filmora will ask you to purchase it, but you can now hit “Try it” to use it.

Step 08: It will remove the background of the screenshot.

Step 09: To add a background, go to the media and navigate to “Sample Color.” Drag a color of your choice and drop it below the screenshot.

Step 10: To add titles in the Thumbnail, go to the Titles tab. Here you can find several categories of titles. Find your preferred title and drop it above all the layers. You can choose titles, lower thirds, and other texts depending upon your need and requirement.

Step 11: We can make this Fortnite Thumbnail look more attractive by adding elements such as stickers and icons. Filmora contains a wide range of stickers. To access them, navigate to the Elements tab. Here you can find so many categories of elements. Choose any elements according to your need and drop them in the timeline above all other layers. If you cannot find a suitable sticker, you can download one from the internet and use it by importing it into Filmora.

Step 12: Once you are satisfied with the final results, you can take the screenshot of the Thumbnail using the Snapshot icon located below the preview panel. It will create a screenshot in the media panel of Filmora.

Step 13: To access the directory where this screenshot is saved, right-click on the screenshot and click on “Reveal in Explorer.” It will open the folder that contains all the screenshots you take through Filmora. Your Fortnite Thumbnail is ready to be used on your Youtube videos.

Conclusion

With Filmora, there are no limits. You can use your imagination to create amazing Fortnite thumbnails or thumbnails for other purposes. This article is just a demo teaching you how you use Filmora X to develop free and astounding thumbnails. Explore other options and elements of Filmora to take your thumbnails to another level.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison

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