In the previous post, I told you about Top 5 Best YouTube Video SEO Tools. Today I will tell you some YouTube ranking factors which will definitely boost your views, subscribers, comments, like etc.
Doing SEO of your video is not enough. It will somehow rank your video in top position but obviously, you want to convert them into subscribers or encourage them to watch your other videos, right? But how to do that? Here is your answer.
Top 5 YouTube Ranking Factors
1. Total Watch Time
If you want to know one of the top YouTube ranking factors than the very simple answer to this question is TWT which is also known as Total Watch Time.
So what is exactly TWT? Well, it is not so complicated to understand. Total Watch Time is a number of watch time minutes that your video received.
Where to check TWT of your YouTube videos?
You can see your video TWT in YouTube analytics. This analytics will help you to create awesome YouTube videos but the question is how to make it? But before knowing it you need to know how to optimize your videos for TWT.
Create Long Videos
Yes, long videos really affect your TWT and come under one of the best YouTube ranking factors. That’s not it if you looking at competitive keywords like SEO ranking then you will find that top ranking videos are pretty long.
Let say you create two videos, Video 1 and Video 2. Video 1 is 12 minutes long and Video B is 4 minutes long.
Now assume that users watch 40% of both videos. Now naturally Video 1 has 3x the watch time in comparison to Video B.
2. Try to Create Awesome YouTube Videos to Maximise Audience Retention Rate
The second most important YouTube ranking factors which you need to consider is audience retention rate. If you make a video and somehow you managed to rank it on the first position then its good but if the video is boring then you will lose the game.
You will get the views on particular video but fail to redirect to your channel page. So always make a video which maximizes audience retention rate. Here’s how it’s done.
3. Focus on First 15 Seconds
No matter how long is your video, first 15 seconds of your video will decide whether the user wants to watch the video or not.
This is also recommended by YouTube also. They say
Pay close attention to the first 15 seconds of every video – that;s when viewers are most likely to drop-off.”
If you still looking for the reason then ask yourself first. When you watch any YouTube video then would you like to close the video which first 15 seconds is boring? Obviously, you will close it without giving a second thought.
Got your answers? So friends equally focus on first 15 seconds of your video.
4. Look for Peaks and Drops
How much time are you giving to explore YouTube Analytics?
I know more than 95% people reading this will say that only 5 minutes that too for watching earnings or view, right?
Well, you are missing a lot if you don’t spend your time on analytics.
Go to YouTube Analytics > Audience retention > Open any video from the list > click on Relative audience retention.
Here understand the behavior of a user, on which part the got engaged more.
Now when you make any video use the tactics which retain your audience and eliminate the drop part.
5. Use “Pattern Interrupts”
Above we recommend you to make long videos now it is very difficult to retain the viewers in long videos. After knowing this tip in YouTube ranking factors you may find it useless but believe me, it really works.
It is a big task that how you can make long videos that too without putting any boring elements. It is an almost impossible task especially if you are making any tutorial video.
So friend how you can keep the things up?
Well, you need to use pattern interrupts. Now, what is this?
Actually, pattern interrupts are those moments which are totally different from your video theme.
Let say you are making a tutorial video and its 10 minutes long. So try to add some funny elements on according to your creativity. Make sure this pattern interrupts should not be longer than 10 or 15 seconds.
6. Session Watch Time
Session Watch Time is YouTuber’s “Uber Metric”.
Now, this is an inbuilt tool in analytics which tells you how long viewers are staying on YouTube after watching your video.
YouTube officially confirmed this as ranking factor, they said:
As with previous optimisations to our discovery features, this should benefit your channel if your videos drive more viewing time across YouTube.
Now, this sounds pretty good but the thing is you can’t directly measure Session Watch Time.
Consider a scenario, one user open YouTube and watch your video and after watching your video start watching another video that doesn’t belong to you, now you can’t see analytics for that video because it doesn’t belong to you but the good thing about this is it will add that time in your Session Watch Time.
Now the question is if you are not able to measure Session Watch Time then how can you use the available data to optimize your video?
Here is the answer:
The first working method creates a playlist. Yes creating a playlist will automatically increase the Session Watch Time whenever someone watches your playlist.
The second thing which is most recommended is to use annotation and link to your other related videos. Don’t do it everywhere unnecessarily because it will annoy the user. Use it in the appropriate place and for linking related video you can use YouTube’s End Screen feature. This is one of the proven methods in YouTube ranking factors which you need to apply from today.
7. User Engagement
Here is another video ranking signal which is most underestimated: User Engagement.
YouTube really don’t want that your user will just sit back and watch the video, instead of this they actually want that people actively engage with your video.
So how those YouTube will decide this, actually they measure it by checking how many people liked your video, made a comment, subscribe to your channel, shared your video and add your video to a playlist.
You can maximize these signals by using these tips:
Ask for Comment
Do you know that People loves to give their opinion but hate thinking? So instead of asking complicated questions, ask something specific which user love to comment.
Don’t Be Shy While Asking For Subscribe
At the end of the video don’t feel shy to ask people to subscribe your channel and moreover add a clear call to action subscribe link or button at the end of the video.
Don’t Forget to Reply To Comment
It can be hectic if you are getting lots of comment in your video but I believe you are at your beginning stage just make sure you reply to every comment. This will encourage the other user to comment more.
So these are proven YouTube ranking factors hope you like it. If you miss the previous part then click on below link and also don’t forget to share this with your friends.
