Why Don’t Our Videos Rank On YouTube? Busting The Mystery Behind YouTube Rankings

For someone trying to optimise their businesses videos on YouTube, it may seem as though YouTube rankings are pretty much random. This realisation can be pretty frustrating, but let me tell you they are not! And in this article we bust the mystery behind YouTube’s ranking system.

There are a number of steps you can take to ensure your companies videos do well in YouTube search and producing an engaging video is just part of the equation.

To appear at the top of YouTube involves understanding a little about Video Search Engine Optimisation (VSEO) and combining that knowledge with the right amount of creativity and digital experience. Lucky for you, we have a few pointers.

So let’s look at how to improve your YouTube ranking:

Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of the most important activities in VSEO as it will give you key insights in to what your customers are looking for. Look for phrases, like the one below that relate to what your target audience may be researching before they are ready to make a purchase. These are the phrases that do best for video content optimisation. Look at search volume, relevancy and opportunity for the phrase to generate sales leads.

Here is an example of carefully researching and selecting key phrases to include in the titles & descriptions of a video.

Keyword Research Tools

There are a number of research tools available. I for one do not recommend the YouTube keyword research tool. Utilise both the Google Adwords Keyword Planner and the Google Related Search at the bottom of the Google Results Page.

YouTube Crawlers

YouTube crawlers read words and even videos to detect what your video is about. So when describing your video, using the search phrases you know people are already typing in will help boost your ranking.

Keyword Selection

Pick one to three keyword phrases to target per video, and then put them in your video’s title, description, tags and file name. It is always better to mention the key phrases earlier in the titles and descriptions rather than later.

Embedding Your Video

To increase views of your video, embed them in your website! Not only will this aid in improving engagement and conversion on your website, it can improve your rankings in YouTube! The number of views your video has had is a factor to higher rankings in YouTube, and video views received on your website are included.

Share Your Videos

When you link your G+ and YouTube accounts your videos will automatically be shared to your network. On top of this, share your videos through all your online communication channels; email, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, your blog. You’ve just invested time and money into producing your video, sharing is the fun part; and like embedding, all the extra views add up!

Create Video Sitemaps

With embedded videos, create video sitemaps on your site. If you include a video on your website, then submitting a sitemap for that video is the next step. A sitemap provides Google with detail about all of the videos on your site. By doing this, Google directs visitors to your site instead of directing people to YouTube or similar platforms. It it is then easier for search engines to find and index your videos, and improve the visual presence of your SERP listing with the addition of a video thumbnail.

Getting high rankings for your videos in YouTube could produce significant benefits for your business, leading to greater brand recognition, new website visitors and eventually, higher sales. Better yet, those videos that perform well on YouTube can also make it into Google’s natural search results pages creating an exponential effect. So stop asking yourself why your videos are not showing up, and start improving your YouTube rankings.

Thanks to our guest author Damian for these great tips on video search engine optimisation.