Making high-quality YouTube videos is difficult enough. Getting people to watch your videos is even harder. One way to get people to see your video is to focus on grabbing inbound traffic from searches on YouTube and Google. However, to get this inbound traffic, you need your videos to achieve a good place in Google and YouTube searches. How do you do this? This is where familiarizing yourself with a popular concept comes in handy: YouTube SEO, or YouTube search engine optimization.

Let’s go over the top YouTube SEO tactics being used in 2016.



Create a video people actually want to watch

This seems to be basic common sense, but you would be surprised by the number of people who don’t take heed of this. Your video content is what determines whether people actually want to watch the video or not. Don’t just share a sales video and get upset when nobody watches it.

You need to understand why people come to YouTube. Viewers come to YouTube to either be entertained or to get informed and learn something— generally they don’t come to buy products. When you make a high-quality video, YouTube will recognize this because viewers will be more likely to watch your video all the way through and subscribe. Both these actions will help you rank higher in the YouTube search.

YouTube SEO Tip: You should make your video shorter rather than longer. People want something they can watch and move on. Additionally, shorter videos have been noted to receive more shares, comments and like, which will boost your search ranking.

Use keyword research to write your title

Before you upload your video, do keyword research. Find out what people are looking for that is relevant to your niche, then use these phrases in your title. Using these keywords you can make your video rank higher and grab more hits. Avoid vague titles that don’t explain what your video is about. For instance, if your video is about making cherry martinis, the phrase “how to make a cherry martini” would draw in a lot more traffic than a vague title like “I’m making a tasty drink.” People would likely type the first title in a search engine, while they would be much less likely to type the second phrase.

Write in-depth descriptions

Your video description serves two purposes: it helps your viewers understand the video, and helps the YouTube algorithms to understand what your video is about. This way, the algorithms will be able to rank your video for your target keywords in the suggested videos section and in searches. By using long, in-depth video descriptions, you will make it easier for your viewers and the YouTube algorithms to understand your video.

When writing the description, include your keywords and keep them as close to the beginning as you can. You should also brand your description by including your website and blog URL or a link to your other social media pages. This is also a place to include shoutouts to partners and friends who can use a boost.

Post to online community forums

Once you upload your video, create links on various online communities and forums, such as Quora, LinkedIn and relevant subreddits. Be careful, however, not to spam the communities and follow their guidelines for posting. The best way of doing this is by posting your video link as a solution to some of the common problems faced by members of these communities. Another advantage is that if the members find your video to be informative, they will share it with their networks, thereby helping you boost your video’s relevance and ranking on Google search.

Encourage your viewers to subscribe

YouTube algorithms look at subscriber rates to gauge the viewer experience and to determine the quality of a YouTube video. A high subscriber rate means to them that viewers enjoy watching your videos and are requesting more. By asking your viewers to subscribe, you will encourage more viewers to subscribe and eventually give yourself a kick up in YouTube search rankings.

Apart from boosting your ranking, having people subscribe to your channel will provide you with a source of automatic traffic. Once you upload a new video, your subscribers receive email notifications about your video. Many of these YouTube users will check out your video, because they are already interested in your content, and they are also more likely to watch the video to the end, improving your video’s retention rate.

Consider buying subscribers and views

Although the bought views and subscribers won’t really be engaging with or sharing your video, this will help the video gain real followers faster. This is because viewers use the number of views and likes to decide whether to watch a video. When they find you already have views and likes, they are more likely to watch your video. In addition, buying subscribers and views can improve your search rankings by tricking the algorithms.

Before you buy views and subscribers, it’s important to note that YouTube is against the practice. If caught, your video might get deleted, or worse, your account could get banned. To avoid this, ensure that you buy these services from high-quality providers who will provide views and subscribers from real, genuine-looking users rather than spam and bot accounts. High-quality views and subscribers cannot be detected and are the best option if you want to grow your YouTube channel using this method.

Interested in finding out where to buy high-quality YouTube views? Check out our reviews of the top 5 companies we recommend for buying YouTube views.