This video will show you everything you need to know about video SEO. Specifically, you’ll learn how to optimize your videos around YouTube’s top 5 ranking factors.

In fact, these are the same five factors that I focus on for every video that I publish. They’re the main reason that my videos rank in the top 3 for keywords like “YouTube SEO”, “keyword research”, “get more views on YouTube” and more.

So what are these five YouTube SEO ranking factors?

The first is called Total Watch Time. This is simply how many minutes of watch time your video has accumulated since you published it. The more Total Watch Time your video has the higher it will rank in the search results (in general).

Next up we have mastering the hook. This is simply making sure you hook your viewer in the first 15 seconds of your video (which is HUGE). I’ve found that — once you get someone to watch the first 15 seconds — you’ve pretty much hooked them for good. And in the video I show you how I use “The PPP Formula” to create intros that keep people engaged.

Our third video optimization ranking factor is making sure that your title is keyword optimized. This is pretty basic YouTube SEO stuff, but it’s important to do on every video that you upload to your channel.

Once you’ve optimized your title, it’s time to optimize the video itself. As you’ll see, this is something that you’ll need to do before you shoot. Trying to optimize an old video for doesn’t work very well (trust me, I’ve tried it). Instead, you want to plan your keyword optimization well before you hit “record”. That way, your video SEO is good to go on day 1.

Finally, we have maximizing user engagement signals (likes, comments, subscribes etc.). This shows YouTube that people are interacting with your video. As it turns out, videos with high levels of engagement rank higher in YouTube search.

Last up, we have a bonus tip: optimize your video for CTR. This ranking factor is becoming more important for video SEO. And this is a trend that’s not likely to end anytime soon. After all, a high-CTR shows Google and YouTube that your video is a great result for that search.

And towards the end of this video you’ll learn how to quickly boost your CTR.

If you’re looking to get more actionable SEO videos like this one, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel right here: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=backlinko

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