Plenty of great videos get uploaded to YouTube every day, but most of those stay unseen. Usually, the reason for this is the video not being SEO optimized for YouTubes crawlers and they being unable to determine what the video is about. Following these 10 simple steps of our YouTube video SEO Optimization Checklist will get your video ranked super high in Youtube search results from the beginning!

Before Uploading

1. Choose a good filename

Did you know YouTube also checks the name of the raw file? Now you do! Lets say you plan to upload our new remix of Calvin Harris track “Summer”. Never name the video you plan to upload “dddffff.mp4”, better go for the video title you plan to use later. Calvin_harris_summer_instasound_remix.mp4 would be a good choice instead.

2. Make sure your video is HD

YouTube likes HD videos and it will rank you better in search results if you upload a video file which is at least 720p, Always make sure to export in HD quality, even if your content is actually not high definition.

While Uploading

3. Use a meaningful title

Name your video after the file name. In our example, we would name the video Calvin Harris – Summer (InstaSound Remix)

4. Choose good tags

This chapter is very important for YouTube video SEO optimization: This is what users type in the youtube search bar to find you! Choose 4-10 video specific tags. Make sure to include your video title in them and they are all related to your video – otherwise they will not help at all. Use both short- and longtail keywords (e.g. calvin harris summer instasound remix, calvin harris summer remix, calvin harris). Put the most important keywords first.

After these, put a few general keywords (like electronic music, house music,…)

Personally, I like to put some additional general tags at the end which I use on every video I upload. This helps to have your own videos shown under “Recommended videos”, but this is optional.

5. Write a relevant video description

Never ever let the video description empty! Write a short text about your video taking up your keywords (tags) and your video title. Do not put “extra tags” in the description, because it might get your video banned.

6. Add recording date and location

Set recording date to today and choose a recording location (most likely the city you are living in or the city your target audience lives in).

7. Add a transcript

If there is voice in your video, add a transcript. If you do not want to write a transcript yourself you can let Youtube automatically generate one. YouTube loves transcripts!

After Uploading

8. Linkbuilding

Now that the video is online & optimized, YouTube Video SEO Optimization is all about getting some links that show YouTube that your video is high in demand. Do you have a website or a blog where you can post it? Do you know any forums where you could post your content? Be creative, but do not spam. YouTube is smarter than you think and will penalize your video if you spam your link everywhere.

9. Social Signals

Social Signals are basically Links on Social Media. Spread your video on various social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. Maybe ask your friends to share your link. This is essential to get some first views that will snowball your video. NEVER use view or like exchange services – those will completely ruin your search rankings!

10. Embed the video on your website or blog

Youtubes search algorithm also counts how many times your video is embedded on other websites. So embed your video on your website or blog if you have one.

Thanks for reading through!

If this checklist was helpful for you, consider sharing us on social media to help other YouTubers out!