YouTube SEO boot camp - QBN edition
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- cherub0
So the basic umbrella term "SEO" that I'm using as shorthand in this thread, unlike google where you're only trying to rank your website for one thing, google search... On youtube "SEO" really can be broken down into several subcategories of the end result you want.
But even before that, it helps to realize there there are 2 completely different algorithms for youtube shorts (youtube's version of tiktok) and youtube non-shorts (traditional youtube video, pre-short era).
Any time you upload a video that is less than or equal to 1 minute in length from your smart device using the youtube app, it is *automatically* recognized as a short and goes thru a different algorithm and pipeline. Basically, youtube takes your short and dumps it into everyone's "short feed" and your short then gets seen as people scroll thru their feed. That's the primary way they are seen. There are 2 other minor ways:
-they are also reported to be searchable thru keywords
-they can be found on desktop as you scroll the youtube site
But the primary way is thru shorts feed. All I know is shorts uses a different algorithm. If u are awesome at shorts and suck at full size video, the algorithm can give u thousands of shorts views, and little or no full sized video views. Like I said, different algorithm.Getting back to full sized videos, the subcategories of SEO are:
-Browser / Homepage
-Youtube search
-Suggested Videos
Probably there are more, but these can be explained further. I'll try.
Videos from channels that a user is subscribed to will generally show up on that user's home page when they first open the youtube mobile app or go to the website on a desktop. Under the hood, this subcategory of SEO is called "Browsing features" and I'm not sure exactly how to target this subcategory specifically, except to say you want your "total expected watch time" to be high and your "average session time" to be high.
Youtube search. This is the subcategory that cares about how you title your video and how you write your video description. Its the main one we speak of when we speak of how to "rank on youtube" This one could be covered even deeper and I've already started a deep dive in my very first post.
"Suggested videos" this subcategory is the one that can land your video right underneath another video on youtube after the person finishes watching. After a video ends, there are always "suggested videos" that appear just below that video, sometimes from the same creator, sometimes not. You can target this subcategory by naming your title a similar name, and copying their keywords from their video description. The algorithm then concludes your video might be similar, and is more likely to let it appear below it. It is difficult to target this SEO but it is *EXTREMELY* powerful because if it works, it can get you some serious traffic.
Enough for now...
Trooperbill are you still with me?