Ultimate Guide to Growing Your

YouTube Audience

Hi and welcome to the Ultimate Guide to Growing your YouTube audience:) We

really hope you enjoy our informative video walkthrough, as we’ve taken the time to
select only the best tips and strategies to help you grow your audience and rank
better on YouTube.

In this video, you’ll learn the MOST essential things you need to know if you’re
looking to improve your YouTube SEO strategy, and gain more subscribers, likes
and shares.

Keep watching and you’ll learn:

● The 5 MOST important ranking factors to improve your YouTube SEO game
● Audience Engagement Signals - why they matter, and how to improve yours
● Strategies and tips to attract more shares, likes and subscribes
● Rank better on Youtube - how to up your SEO game on your video title,
description, keywords, and tags, so your content reaches a wider audience
● Easy ways to promote your content - and MAX your YouTube traffic, including
how to use the YouTube End Screen feature to get more views, subscribers,
and traffic!
● YouTube Hashtags - and how they can help boost your content’s visibility
● And more…. keep watching to learn all our pro tips for YouTube success!

If you’re currently struggling to get your content found, or it seems like an uphill
struggle getting people to comment, like or share, this guide is for you! As long as
you’re prepared to put in just a little effort and apply the knowledge we’ll share, we
know you can improve your YouTube audience share - and rank higher on the
platform.

Are you ready to get more views and subscribers on YouTube?

If so, make sure you’re taking notes as we dive straight into our essential guide to
Growing Your YouTube Audience...

Growing your YouTube Audience

AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT SIGNALS
Audience Engagement signals occur when someone engages with your YouTube
content, whether that’s to comment on one of your videos, share, like, or subscribe.
YouTube’s search and discovery algorithm looks at these Audience Engagement
signals, and the company has said it takes these signals into account when deciding
how to rank videos. In short, if you’re looking to perform better in YouTube’s search,
they’re a crucial element that you definitely won’t want to overlook.

Max out your Audience Engagement Signals

Encourage as many comments on your content as possible

The more comments you can attract, the higher you’ll rank, so follow these quick tips
to encourage more of your viewers to interact.

Ask people to share their opinion on your content - If you ask direct precise
questions, you’ll make it easier for viewers to do this, as vague questions
might leave people wondering how to answer.

Actively respond to all comments you receive - If you can’t reply to every single
comment, at least try to respond to the ones that you get within the first 48 hours of
posting your video. It shows you actually read the comments and are engaging with
them, so people know they won’t be wasting their time.

Remind viewers to comment with a pinned comment - By leaving a handy

reminder in the form of a pinned comment, viewers will be confronted with a
persuasive ask that prompts them to interact.

Make sure you moderate your comment section - If people see that your
comments are full of spam, advertisement, or abuse, they will be less likely to want
to engage. Though it can be a little time consuming to weed out all the spam, it’s
worth it as you’ll be actively encouraging authentic viewers to interact.

Cultivate Video Likes as well

Likes aren’t as important as comments, but they still count toward your YouTube
ranking, so you shouldn’t neglect this area either. Just like subscribes, you can ask
people to like your content directly, in your video and in your description. Say
something like “If you enjoyed this video, or found it helpful in any way, I’d really
appreciate it if you’d hit the Like button!”
Create a short call-to-action text overlay - Actively asking people to like your
video by adding in some text over your video that instructs them to do so can be
really effective at encouraging more likes for your YouTube content.

Keep your verbal asks natural - If you include a verbal like or subscribe ask at the
end of your video, make sure it’s in a manner that suits the tone of your content.
Don’t make the mistake of interrupting the flow of your content to ask for likes or
subs in the middle, save it until the end, so you don’t annoy viewers.

Ape other, well-liked videos - By using a similar model for your content as other
videos that have already received a high number of likes, you’re much more likely to
succeed. This is because they have already demonstrated a tried and tested
formula that works with viewers. Don’t make the mistake of copying any of the
content though, you’ll do better to follow the basic structure, so your own video
remains original.

Supercharge your Subscribes

The most meaningful subscribe you can get is a subscribe after watching, as
YouTube interprets this to mean that viewers are loving what you’re putting out.
Subscribes are also important because they have an effect on your rankings, as
research shows that the higher your subscriber count, the better your content will
score in YouTube search results.

If you can get someone to subscribe to your channel after watching one of your
videos, YouTube will definitely take notice as this sends a strong signal that people
are really enjoying your content.

It’s a good idea to find out which of your videos currently attract the highest number
of subscribers, so you can assess what you are doing right and try to replicate it in
your other videos. Luckily, you can do this easily and quickly, in YouTube Analytics,
through your Interaction Report.

If you see that one of your videos is attracting 40% of your overall subscribers for
example, you might want to analyse that video to see what elements you’re using
that might be contributing to its success, whether that’s approach, topic, visuals, or
anything else. Once you’ve got a list of things that you think may be helpful, you can
include these elements in your other videos to have more subscriber success.

Remember to ask for subscribers - It’s best to always include a verbal ask for
subscribers at the end of your video, to remind people who otherwise might just click
out. Make sure you let people know exactly why they should subscribe by briefly
outlining the benefits.
Include a subscribe button on your End Screen - YouTube gives you the option
to add a variety of buttons that direct people to take an action to your End Screen -
and if you want to raise your subscriber count, it’s a good idea to include a subscribe
button here. We’ll go into some detail about the YouTube End Screen later in this
guide, so keep watching for some great strategies and tips!

Post a subscribe link in your YouTube description - Make sure you add in a
subscribe link at the end of your YouTube description, after a short call to action that
tells people why they should subscribe. This link pushes people to your channel
page and will include a pop up that asks them to subscribe to your content.

Include a branded watermark - This is another easy way to up your subscriber

count. It’s not as visible as the subscribe button you should include on your End
Screen but it’s still a great way to encourage more people to subscribe.

Up your Video Embeds

Video Embeds don’t happen on YouTube, they happen off the platform, but they can
still be tracked, and they certainly count as an Audience Interaction signal.

When people embed your YouTube video content onto a webpage YouTube takes
this into account and analysis has shown this can boost your YouTube video
ranking.

Embed your own content first - Yes, your embeds will count as well, so make sure
you embed ALL your published videos onto your website, blog, or any existing
appropriate place you can.

Suggest your video to publishers - Just the same as you’d send an article pitch,
you can pitch your video to publishers, editors, bloggers, and journalists in relevant
fields. A good way to do this is to look for articles on similar topics to your video, then
identify a specific place in the content where your video could compliment the piece.

Increase your Shares

Shares are an important ranking factor on YouTube as the platform knows that
people typically don’t share content they don’t enjoy or find interesting.

Ask people to share your stuff - You can include this as a verbal call-to-action at
the end of your videos and let them know they can do this quickly by using the share
button at the end of your video.

Include an ask in your video description too - It’s best to include a share ask
higher up in your copy, as then it will always be visible. Just make sure to remind
people to share your video with their social circle, if they enjoy what they see.
Focus on creating content that’s shareable - Informative guides, new or unique
information, and even hot takes that are mildly provocative can all help to encourage
more shares. Remember people don’t like to share boring videos, or videos that
repeat the same tired old things everyone knows. If you want the maximum number
of shares possible for your videos, bring something new to the table, and add value -
whether that’s a fresh take on a topic, or a helpful in-depth guide.

Keyword Research

To maximise your SEO strategy on YouTube, you have to start with solid
keyword research, so you can pick the most appropriate terms for your Title,
Tags and Description.

YouTube Search Suggest

YouTube’s own search engine can be a massive help here, and it’s one of the first
places to discover relevant suggestions for keywords to use in your metadata.

When you type into the search bar on YouTube, the platform suggests other related
keywords that are searched for, and if they are a fit for your content, you can include
these to improve your rankings.

You should select the words and phrases that have a lot of people searching for
them but not much competition - i.e not many other people are using these terms. To
find out which terms have a good search volume but low competition, you can put
the terms YouTube’s search suggest feature throws up into Google Adwords
keyword planner tool, which will show you these stats. Remember to select your
target location, so you bring up the correct data, as competition and search volume
can vary from country to country, and even area to area.

Google Trends for Keyword Research

Google Trends is another tool you can use to find quality keywords, as it lets you
enter any location and discover popular terms and topics that are being searched for
there. This is helpful if you are trying to target a particular region, as you can not only
get keyword suggestions that are being searched for by a large number of people,
but you also get topic suggestions that people are interested in for your videos too.

Check out your competition

Did you know your competitors on YouTube can help you find keywords that will get
your content found and raise your ranking? By checking out what terms your rivals
are using on their most watched videos, you can discover what words and phrases
attract your target audience.
3-step guide to checking out your competitor’s keywords

1. First, visit their video playlist and filter their videos by most popular.
2. To make the process quicker, and view the keywords your competitors have
used automatically, use a Chrome plugin like VidQ or Tubebuddy. These tools
will display all the keywords that have been entered on any page you visit,
without you having to pull up the source code.
3. Once you’ve discovered what keywords your competition has included in their
SEO, you can use the most relevant terms for your own metadata on
YouTube!

Keyword optimisation

Once you’ve selected some suitable keywords, you need to switch the focus to
optimisation - including your title, tags, and description, so you get the
maximum CTR (ClickThrough Rate) possible.

Optimising your YouTube video title

Pick your best keyword and make this the main focus of your video’s title, as this
helps YouTube know what category your content fits into, which aids you in ranking.
When you come to create your title, create a sense of urgency or excitement, and
make people feel intrigued. Don’t be boring, make them feel like they’ll be missing
out on something amazing if they don’t click through to watch.

Using questions i.e “Do you struggle with this No1 diet hurdle?”, can help to provoke
interest on YouTube, and research has shown that including numbers helps to
attract even more viewers. You could also try including a short call to action in the
title i.e “See if you can beat this Mario score”, as people often respond when they are
directly asked to do something.

Optimising your description

Make it sharp and be honest - Your video description should be as clear as

possible and needs to let people know exactly what they’ll get if they take the time to
watch. Don’t be tempted to exaggerate, as this will backfire, and people won’t trust
you. Instead lay out clearly what to expect if they watch and tell them why they need
this information.

Focus on the benefits - Your video description should focus on outlining the
benefits to your viewers, not how great you are, though if you have particularly
relevant experience, you can still mention that briefly. You should always include a
short call to action at the end, reminding people why they should watch and asking
them to subscribe to your channel.

Give some detail - The ideal YouTube description should be 200+ words or more,
so YouTube can get some important context on your video. There’s another reason
why your description needs to be at least this length too, so potential viewers have
enough information to be able to decide whether or not they want to watch.

Make your title between 5-8 words - The ideal YouTube title is between 5-8 words,
which gives you enough space to include your most important keywords. This length
helps you to give people enough to attract their interest, so don’t be tempted to go
too short, or any longer. Don’t be tempted to overstuff your title with keywords either,
including your main one or two at most is much better.

Repeat your keywords - You should repeat each of your most relevant keywords
throughout the copy about 2-3 times, so YouTube understands your video relates to
these terms. Just make sure you do it in a natural way that fits in seamlessly with the
rest of your description and doesn’t seem forced.

Put the important stuff high up - Your main keywords need to appear high up in
your description, in the first 2-3 sentences. YouTube pays a lot of attention to the
keywords that show up earlier in your copy, so make sure your primary keywords are
included here. The first 2-3 sentences also appear in YouTube search results and on
Google as a snippet, so bear this in mind when you’re creating your description, as
this section needs to make sense on its own.

Mention your publishing schedule - If you have a publishing schedule, you should
mention this in your description - but only if you’re going to stick to it. If you don’t, or
you think you might not, it’s better to leave it out, as otherwise people may think
you’re inactive, so they will be less likely to subscribe.

Push traffic to your other platforms - Remember to include your website and
social media links to push traffic to your blog or other online platforms as well, so you
get even more value from your YouTube description.

Sample YouTube Video Description

First, your snippet - this should start out strong and be angled to catch your
target audience’s attention. It needs to let them quickly know what they will get
from watching your video. Try kicking off by asking a question, as this
provokes interest, make a bold statement, or set a challenge. Remember to
use your main keywords and repeat them 2-3 times throughout your copy in a
natural way, i.e in this sample the keywords are “Sales Funnel”, “close on
leads”, and “quality leads”.

The No 1 Sales Funnel method to double your leads in 2 weeks! If you’re having
trouble getting or working quality leads this video is for you. We’ll take you through
EVERY stage of the sales funnel, so you can close on leads with ease.

Then go into a bit more detail - make sure you focus on clearly outlining the
benefits here.

Watch and you’ll discover the FOUR core stages of the sales funnel and how to set
them up so you can:

● Find and attract more quality leads

● Get them into your sales funnel & qualify them so you don’t waste your time
● Prime your leads so they are ready to say YES!
● Close on leads with ease!!

You’ll also learn powerful strategies to help you overcome common customer
objections - and even use them to your advantage.

With my help you’ll cut down on the amount of time you waste hunting down quality
leads and attracting them into your sales funnel.

Once you know how to get the good leads you want into your sales funnel, we’ll
show you how to prime your leads, before moving in and sealing the deal. Learn to
close on leads effectively, overcome customer objections to purchase, and double
up on your pipeline of highly qualified, quality leads.

No more chasing up stone cold leads trying to get them to convert. I’ll teach you how
to get the best out of your sales funnel and make super effective sales closes - so
you close on leads FAST.

Next your call to action - keep it short, sweet, and snappy but remember to
remind people why they should watch.

Would you like more leads that convert? Sick of wasting your time grinding through
piles of leads that turn out to be uninterested?

Watch my No1 Sales Funnel strategy and find out how to get quality leads into your
funnel, then learn how to prime and qualify prospects, so you can close on leads
effectively. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to double your prospects - and profits
and remember to give me a like if you enjoy my content. Make sure you and drop
me a comment below too - I reply to every single one.
Don’t want to miss out on all my powerhouse sales strategies? Subscribe to my
channel, so you always get the latest episodes before everyone else hears about
them.

Finally, you’d include your links.

Facebook, Twitter, etc…

BONUS TIP: Speak your main keywords IN your video -

YouTube auto can now translate your video’s audio - and it does this transcription
well. If the YouTube algorithm “hears” that you’ve mentioned the keywords your
video is optimised around IN your video, it helps it understand that your content is
about that topic.

This gives you more chance of ranking for that term - and ranking better - so say
your main keyword out loud in your video where you can and where it is appropriate.
If you upload a transcript of your audio, you can make sure YouTube gets every
word right and this can help to give even more of a boost to your ranking score.

Don’t forget about Tags

Tags aren’t as important as some other elements - like your keywords, title, and
description - but it’s important to pay them some attention as they can help your
ranking score.

● Use your keywords - Not every tag has to be a keyword but it’s a good idea
if most of them are.
● Use tags your high performing competitors are using - This also helps
improve your chances of showing up in YouTube’s Suggested Video sidebar.
● Use relevant keywords that accurately match your content - YouTube
must be able to link your content to your tags.
● Use variations of your keywords - If you need tag suggestions, try entering
your keyword into YouTube search and see what other, related terms search
suggest throws up.
● Don’t use too many tags - This will confuse YouTube and it won’t be able to
properly categorise your video. More than 10 tags are way too much.

BONUS TIP: USE THE YOUTUBE STUDIO TO IMPROVE YOUR VIDEO SEO

Check the YouTube studio to see what keywords your videos are already ranking
for. A lot will be terms you are trying to rank for, but you may find you’re scoring for
terms you hadn’t even thought of. You can use these extra terms as keyword
suggestions, as YouTube sees them as relevant to your content.
When it comes to the keywords that you are already trying to rank for, if your videos
ARE scoring - but not as well as you want for those terms, it means you haven’t
optimised your video well. To score better, try including the keyword as a tag too,
and make sure you’ve mentioned it in your description 2-3 times.

YOUTUBE RANKING FACTORS

AUDIENCE RETENTION - THE MOST IMPORTANT
YOUTUBE RANKING FACTOR
Creating High Retention Videos

The No1 most important factor to rank well on YouTube is Audience Retention.
Creating high retention, watchable videos is guaranteed to keep people watching -
and it will also get them coming back for more and more.

YouTube looks at this extremely favourably and has specifically stated that
“Audience Retention is a huge ranking factor.” It’s not hard to understand why - the
platform wants you to keep people on YouTube, so they watch and click through on
adverts. When you do this, YouTube rewards you by boosting your ranking score.

Optimising your SEO will definitely help more people connect with your content - but
they won’t keep watching if it’s poor quality or unoriginal. That’s why you must also
focus on creating the BEST quality content you can, content that is tailored to your
target audience.

If you’re providing useful information in a format that your target audience wants,
you’re almost guaranteed to boost your Audience Retention stats. So, think about
the following things before sitting down to create your videos:

● Who is my target audience? - age, gender, income, goals etc...

● What are they interested in? - workouts, marketing, gaming, celebrity gossip
etc...
● What type of videos do they prefer? - How To Guides, Interviews, quick tips
etc…
● What are their desires and fears? - what do they want most and what do they
worry about?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you should have a much clearer idea of the
kind of content you should be creating to achieve maximum audience satisfaction
and retention.

THE 5 OTHER MOST IMPORTANT RANKING FACTORS ON YOUTUBE

Although Audience Retention is massively important to rank well on YouTube there
are other 5 other vital factors that count towards your search position too.

The 5 most important YouTube ranking factors APART from Audience

Retention are:

1. Video Comments
2. Subscribes after watching
3. Click Through Rate
4. Likes or dislikes
5. Video length

We’ve covered comments and subscriptions already in this guide but let’s take a
more in depth look at the other 3 factors starting with…

YouTube Ranking Factor - Click Through Rate

Every time a YouTube user searches a keyword, YouTube looks at who they click on
and takes this into account when assessing ranking scores. The videos that have a
higher clickthrough rate get boosted in search, whereas if people are always passing
over your content and choosing other options, you’ll drop down in the rankings. To
be successful on the platform, you want to get as many people to click through to
your content as possible.

The top 3 ways to boost your CTR (ClickThrough Rate) on YouTube are:

1. Eyecatching Thumbnail
2. Engaging Title
3. Appealing Description snippet

1) Thumbnail
One of the most effective ways to do this is to create an eye-catching thumbnail that
stands out and is highly engaging to your audience. It shouldn’t be too graphic as
YouTube frowns on this, and it must sync well with your title.

Try and create a thumbnail that encapsulates what your video is about at a glance.
Make sure your thumbnail is under 2mb and is optimised to display well at 1280
pixels by 720 pixels.

2) Title
Your title is another element you can tweak to help boost your ClickThrough Rate
and there are important Do’s and Don’ts to be aware of if you want to get it right.

● Don’t be graphic or obscene - or your video might get delisted by YouTube.

 ● Create a title between 5-8 words long - Studies show this length works the
best.
● ALWAYS include your main keyword early on - This helps YouTube
categorise your video.
● Make sure your title precisely fits the content of your video - No false
promises!
● Include numbers if you can - Research shows YouTube videos titles with
numbers perform better.
● Ask a question or set a challenge - People respond better to an interactive
approach.
● Your title and thumbnail should be complementary - They must match, not
compete.

3) Description snippet
The first 125 words of your video description will show up in search results and are
another important factor in whether people decide to click through. This snippet
needs to tell viewers exactly what your video will give them - and it should persuade
them why they can’t miss out.

YouTube Ranking Factor - Likes and Dislikes

This one’s fairly obvious - YouTube scores videos with lots of likes higher than ones
without - BUT did you know it also penalises videos with lots of dislikes.? If you get a
lot of thumbs down interactions, it’s worse for your rankings than if you never got any
engagement at all!

Even though YouTube has done away with the public dislike counter, people can still
thumb down your content - and it WILL count towards your YouTube ranking. You
should definitely do what you can to create content you know your audience likes, so
you avoid getting the thumbs down.

YouTube Ranking Factor - Video Length

YouTube looks more favourably upon longer length videos, and statistics also show
that longer videos perform better than shorter ones. You can see this for yourself by
typing any topic into the YouTube search bar - many times YouTube will suggest
longer length videos in the top 1-3 search results.

But how long is the ideal YouTube video length and is there such a thing as too
long?
It all depends upon the topic and ultimately, it’s far more crucial that your content is
high quality and appealing than it is that it’s long. Here are some general guidelines
you can follow, if your goal is to create YouTube videos that rank well in search.

Ideally, your YouTube video should…

● Be at least 20 minutes long - Like Google prefers longform articles, longer

length videos perform better and score higher with YouTube’s algorithm
● Not be too long - As a general rule, it’s probably not ideal to go over 1 hour
long - unless it’s a really deep dive or your niche specifically seeks this much
longer type of content
● Be awesome - Even if your video is shorter than 20 minutes it WILL get
viewers and it WILL do well if it’s engaging.
● Have a blow your mind first 15 seconds - This is what hooks people and
convinces them to keep watching.

Remember you can view how all your videos are performing in the YouTube Studio -
where you can see ranking factors like your ClickThrough Rate, subscribes after
watching, and your Audience Retention rate for specific videos. This is super helpful
as it allows you to identify videos that aren’t doing so well, so you can tweak them
and perform much better.

BONUS TIP - Optimise for Session Watch Time too!

There’s another ranking factor that you might not be aware of that also influences
your overall ranking score - Session Watch Time. This one’s a little tricky - as you
can’t measure it like many of the other ranking factors, but if you optimise for it, it will
give you a boost on the platform.

So, what IS Session Watch Time?

Session Watch Time is the amount of time viewers spend on YouTube AFTER they
view your content. YouTube has confirmed this as a ranking factor stating that your
channel will directly benefit if “your videos drive more viewing across YouTube.”

How to optimise for Session Watch Time

Create Playlists - The best way to optimise for Session Watch Time is to create
playlists, as your Session Watch time will automatically increase whenever someone
views a video that’s in one of your lists. This is true whether it’s your own content
listed in your playlist, or someone else’s because Session Watch Time only refers to
the amount of time people spend on the YouTube platform!

Link to your videos and channel - Use the YouTube End Screen to add a link to
one of your other videos at the end of your content and add in your channel link too.
This will increase your Session Watch Time as it encourages people to stay on
YouTube and go on to discover more of your content. In a bit, we’ll go into detail on
how to use the End Screen to promote and get more views, subscribers, and traffic!

YOUTUBE HASHTAGS

YouTube Hashtags work in the same way that Twitter and other social tags do,
helping people to discover content on a particular tagged topic. On YouTube
hashtags can be added to video descriptions and titles to signify what category a
video fall into.

Hashtags can be displayed in two places on any YouTube video page either:

1. Above your video’s title

OR

2. Inside your video’s description box

They can boost your video’s discoverability on the platform - and YouTube even
admits this, though they also add that they are not a guarantee for success. There
are more important key ranking factors than hashtags but as they can give you a
boost, it’s worth considering using them as a promotional strategy for your content.

There are three main ways hashtags can lead to more views for your content:

1) Increase your content’s discoverability - They can help people find your
videos when they click on a hashtag someone else is using, that you’re also
using to promote your video. So, if you’d added the hashtag #keto to some of
your videos, and someone else used that tag to promote their video, when
people click on the tag your video will be shown in the search results they get.
How high up in search results depends on how well you rank on YouTube.
2) Rank for Hashtag Searches - The second way hashtags can help get you
more views are by ranking for hashtag searches. Did you know people also
perform hashtag searches on YouTube, as well as normal keyword searches?
If you optimise your content around a hashtag, you can show up for these
searches - and it’s as simple as adding your chosen tag into your video title
and/ or description.
3) Give YouTube more context - The last way you can boost your views with
hashtags is by including them to give YouTube more understanding of what
your videos are all about. Just like with normal tags, using hashtags like
 #promo, #marketing, or #sales let YouTube’s algorithm know that your
content is all about promotion.

Remember hashtags won’t give you the dramatic kind of boost that improving your
Audience Retention rates will, but they can definitely help, so they are well worth
your consideration.

Adding hashtags to your YouTube Videos

First choose where you want to add your tags. You can choose to add them
to:

1. Your video description - If you do this they will be linked inside your
description and the first 3 tags you include will also automatically show up
above your video’s title.

OR

2. Your video’s title - Choose this option and your hashtags will be displayed
as part of your title. Hashtags are always clickable, and so no matter where
you include them, people will always be able to interact with them.

Finding YouTube Hashtags to use

Trending videos

To find suitable hashtags to include in your content, navigate to YouTube’s trending

videos category. Many of the videos you’ll see won’t be related to the type of content
you publish, so you’ll need to perform a search for trending content on subjects you
cover. When you pull some up, check out what tags they are using - and include
some of these in your own content!

To find new and trending content using YouTube search, just enter your hashtag
keyword and filter search results to this week. That way you’ll only see content that
was published over the last 7 days, and you can check whether any of these videos
have hashtags you can use.

Competitor hashtags

You can also find suitable hashtags by checking out popular videos your competitors
have put out and you can do this by viewing a channel’s best performing content.
Just navigate to the channel page of your competitor and use the filters to view their
highest performing content, then look to see if they are using any hashtags to boost
their video visibility.

YouTube Suggest
YouTube Suggest is another great way to discover popular, trending hashtags
simply by typing in # to YouTube search. YouTube will display the hottest hashtags
that are currently trending and if you want to refine your search further you can try
searching by letter i.e, #c, #b, #d.

REMEMBER - Hashtags come with a downside too!

Before you include hashtags as part of your YouTube SEO strategy, there is one
thing you need to bear in mind - they can also direct people away from your content.

Think about it, if you include 3 hashtags in your description, they are displayed
conspicuously right underneath your video - and people may well click on them and
get taken to search results for that hashtag term.

Because of this, you’ll want to weigh up the benefits of the boost in discoverability
hashtags can bring against any potential lowering of your Audience Retention rate. If
you DO decide to include hashtags, it’s a good idea to monitor your audience
retention rate in YouTube analytics for a while, to see if you suffer a drop.

There’s a really smart way you can navigate this problem though - by creating your
own branded hashtag....

Creating your own Branded Hashtag

If you want to lower the chance of losing viewers by including hashtags but you still
want to use them, you can create your own branded tags that are full of your own
videos.

The hashtags you use will have to be fairly unique, as otherwise other people’s
videos will show up too, so why not try using your brand name, or the name of one of
your products or services, or anything else unique to you or your channel.

When people click on your branded hashtags, they’ll be shown a list of videos from
your channel that have these hashtags. This is a good strategy, as even if you lose
Audience Retention on any one particular video because of people clicking on your
hashtags, you’ll get a boost in views on your other content, as well as a boost to your
Session Time.

PRO TIPS FOR USING YOUTUBE HASHTAGS

Use Hashtag finding tools - Tools like Hashtagsforlikes.co help you discover more
hashtags you can include in your YouTube videos. All you need to do is enter the
topic of your video and the tool will display a list of suitable hashtags.
Don’t overuse hashtags - Just like tags and keywords, it’s best not to overdo it, and
if you include more than 15, all your hashtags will be ignored. YouTube views using
more than 15 hashtags as “overtagging”, so as a general rule stick to 3, or 4 at most.

Make sure your hashtags are relevant - Your hashtags need to closely match your
content, otherwise you can get penalised by YouTube, as this will be seen as
“misleading metadata” and is a direct violation of the platform’s policy. Even though
you’ll want to include trending tags to up your chances of getting discovered, the
hashtags you use still need to relate to the content they are paired with.

RANKING ON GOOGLE
As well as getting your videos ranked on YouTube, you should also try and boost
their ranking in Google, as a lot of people watch video content via the search engine.

To rank well on Google, you need to optimise your content around Video Keywords,
as when people search for certain terms, Google returns video results.

It’s MUCH easier to rank with the search engine if you optimise your YouTube video
around an already existing Video Keyword that Google recognises, as opposed to a
word that doesn’t return video results.

But what’s the best way to find out which terms Google views as Video Keywords?

The simplest way to discover these kinds of keywords is to enter the keyword you
are planning to optimise around into Google. If your term is recognised as a Video
Keyword then out of the first 10 recommended results returned, Google should show
at least one video result.

If Google doesn’t show any video results in the top 10 for your searched term, it’s
probably a good idea to choose another word or phrase that Google does recognise
as a Video Keyword.

BONUS TIP: Pick terms with Videos in Google’s Top 3 - The best Video
Keywords are those that have video results in the top 3 of Google results, whenever
that term is searched. These results attract 55% of all click throughs, so try and pick
a keyword that returns video results in the top 3 and you’ll be maximising your
video’s chances of ranking better on Google.

Promoting Your YouTube Content

By now you know that to do well on YouTube, you should be trying to increase your
Audience Retention rating and attempting to improve your user engagement signals.
You should also understand that to do this you need to give your viewers a good
user experience and create high quality content that’s easy to understand and
targeted to your audience.

The next step is to get YouTube to measure your performance on the platform- and
to do this you’ll need to get eyes on your content. Keep watching as we dive into
some solid promotional strategies that you can use to amplify your YouTube
presence and attract 1000’s of views, likes, and shares…

Link to your videos on Quora

Quora is a popular question and answer forum, and it’s also one of the most visited
sites on the whole of the web. You can’t directly promote on the platform, as you’ll
receive a ban, but you CAN link to relevant YouTube videos when answering
questions - including your own.

This is a great way to get those high retention views as people visit Quora to find out
information on a particular subject. Providing your video is linked to the subject
being discussed, it’s likely that many people will watch a significant portion of it, so
they can find out more about the topic.

5 steps to getting more YouTube views with Quora

1. First sign up for a Quora account.
2. Fill out your profile. Make it as complete as you can.
3. Spend a little time answering 3-5 questions first, before you promote any of
your YouTube content.
4. To find appropriate questions to link your video to, search Quora using a key
word or phrase that describes your video’s main subject. Just search for a
keyword that describes your video’s topic. Then, find a question that you can
answer.
5. Have you found a suitable question? Great! Now answer it as well as you
can, then link to your relevant video at the end.

REMEMBER: Don’t mention anything promotional or spammy in your Quora answer,

like “See my video”, or “Visit my website to buy my products”. Just post your
relevant, text-based answer, with a related video link at the end.

Promote your YouTube videos in your Email Signature

This is a great way to get more people to watch your content, as you will have
already formed some kind of relationship with most of the people you email. The old
saying is true - people buy (or buy into) people, and they are MUCH more likely to
click to view if you already have a connection.

The best approach is to add your latest video to your signature, so people always get
your most up-to-date content. The other good thing about this technique is it’s likely
that most of the views you’ll get will be high retention - i.e., people will spend a fair
portion of time watching.

Embed your YouTube Videos in Blogs

Do you have your own blog or guest blog for other people?

If so, you have a golden opportunity to push more traffic to your YouTube content,
providing the subjects you write about are related to your videos.

People LOVE reading blogs with images and videos that break up boring walls of
texts, so it’s a natural fit to include your YouTube videos. Think about the best places
to embed as you’re creating your blogs - and if you’ve already published blogs, you
can go back and look at where it might be best to embed.

If you’ve authored a lot of Guest posts on other people’s sites, it might also be worth
going back and reviewing where embedding might work, if the site your blog appears
on gets a lot of traffic. You can then send a quick email to the person who published
your original post, mentioning that you have a relevant video, and where it might
work in the piece.

Your email might look something like this:

Hi [THEIR NAME],

It’s [YOUR NAME], from [YOUR SITE], you published a blog of mine on [TOPIC] in
[MONTH/ YEAR]. The piece was called [TITLE] and as I’ve just produced a
YouTube video on this subject, I thought it would be a good idea to include it in the
article I wrote for you, in [MENTION WHERE IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO
EMBED YOUR VIDEO].

In case you wanted to embed my video, here’s the link to the original content:
[INSERT YOUTUBE LINK]

And here’s the embed code in case you wanted to grab it quick: [INSERT EMBED
CODE]

Let me know if you need any more info from me on this, take care and speak soon,

[YOUR NAME]

[YOUR WEBSITE]
Make use of Playlists
If your goal is to get more views for your YouTube content, you definitely should be
making use of the playlist feature that’s freely available on the platform. Playlists
auto play EVERY video that’s added to them, so they can dramatically increase your
Session Watch Time. YouTube counts this as how many people stay on the platform
AFTER they view your content.

That’s not all - playlists of your own videos directly translate to more views of your
own content. This is because they give people the opportunity to play a list of related
videos that are organised around a theme or topic.

3-step guide to creating YouTube playlists:

1. Look through the videos you have published and try to find at least 4-5 that
share a common topic or theme. If you’re finding it hard to group your content
together into playlists, try thinking out of the box - if they don’t share the same
subject, it might be that they are all interviews, or all in-depth guides.
2. Now create a playlist of these related videos and pick an appropriate name. If
you were bunching together a set of How Tos on Marketing for example, then
you might call it Marketing Step by Steps.
3. Got your playlist? Good, now you need to add it to your channel page. You
should try to include at least 3 playlists on your page, to give people variety
and maximise your chance of getting views.

Optimize Your YouTube Channel Page

When you’re looking to promote, as well as optimising your video metadata, you also
need to optimise your YouTube channel page. This is so you attract as many
subscribers as possible, and your videos have the best possible chance to rank well.

Not only that, by optimising your page and making sure it’s the best it can be, you’ll
be giving your channel a chance to rank in YouTube itself.

Did you know channels can rank on the platform as well as videos?

Quick guide to optimising your YouTube Channel Page for

promotion:
Make sure you have an appropriate Channel Name - It either needs to describe
what you do, or, if your channel will be used to market a brand, you can use your
brand name. If your brand is centred around you, i.e., you’re a guru or a coach, you
can use your own name. Bonus points if you can include your main keyword in your
Channel Name but remember, it’s not essential.
Create an attractive Channel Header - Your channel art is one of the first things
people will see when they visit your page, so keep it smart and try and get the vibe of
your content across. If you are a workout coach, you could include a banner with a
picture of you working out, along with some text, or you can opt for a straight logo
with no photo if you’re not going to be featured in your videos. Your header should
ideally be 2560 x 1440 px for YouTube, but the absolute minimum dimensions you
can use are 2048 x 1152 px.

Choose a Channel Tagline that communicates your message - The goal here is
a short, snappy, slogan that gets the point across, as your tagline should let people
know what you do in a unique way.

Pick an eye-catching Channel Icon - You can use a personal picture if your
channel will be about you, or, you can go for a professional looking logo that
encapsulates the persona of your brand. Whatever icon you choose, it needs to
display well on the platform at 800 X 800 pcx.

Work on your Channel’s About section - The first 150 words are the most
important, so make these the best they can be. Remember to be specific and outline
the benefits of your content to your audience - and always include a short Call to
Action at the end, asking them to subscribe. If you are going to keep to a regular
publishing schedule you can include it here as well.

Include relevant keywords you want to rank for in your Channel’s About
Section - Use the YouTube search suggest feature to find terms people are already
searching for in your niche and include these in a natural way throughout your About
section, repeating them 2-3 times.

Don’t forget to include a Channel Trailer - If you can, include a short trailer that
welcomes people to your channel, gives an overview of your content, and has a call
to action, asking people to subscribe. Keep your trailer in the style of your other
videos and consider using highlights of your best content to add interest and make
people want to sign up. If you’re really stuck, or you don’t have time to create a
trailer, you can use one of your best performing videos instead.

Promote to Your Email List

Do you have a mailing list? If so, you have a prime YouTube promotional tool in your
hands!

Promoting to your mailing list is one of the MOST effective ways to get more views
for your videos, as you have already established a connection with your audience,
who’ve expressed interest in what you do. As long as your videos are about the
same subject, or closely related, you should definitely use your mailing list to
promote.
Just send out an email blast letting your subscribers know when you have just
published a new video on YouTube, with a brief teaser and a link to your content. If
you get a lot of people to click at around the same time you can get a big boost on
the YouTube algorithm and your content can even appear on YouTube’s Homepage,
which will get you even more views!

To do really well on YouTube, it’s important to try and get on people’s YouTube
homepages as that’s where the platform suggests similar videos to content, they’ve
recently watched. This feature is now such a major factor, it creates more video
traffic than YouTube search and YouTube Suggested Video lists combined!

2-step check to see if your videos are showing up on viewer’s homepages:

1. Go into the YouTube Studio, then navigate to YouTube Analytic.

2. Now select Reach Viewers> Traffic Source Types> Browse Features

BONUS TIP: MAX your chances of getting on the YouTube Homepage - Create
high quality videos and follow the tips in this guide to optimise their metadata well
and you’ll be maximising your chance of appearing on the YouTube homepage. After
you’ve published and optimised your content, wait a few days, then check YouTube
Analytics and you should start to see them appear on the homepage.

Using the YouTube End Screen to promote and get

more traffic
The YouTube End Screen, or End Card, is displayed during the last 5-20 seconds of
YouTube videos. After you upload your video to the platform, YouTube lets you drag
and drop a variety of End Screen elements to the last 5-20 seconds of your content.
This feature can be used in a variety of ways to boost your views and subscribers,
and it can also help you get more traffic to your website, e-commerce store, or blog.

There are a variety of options you can add to your End Screen that help you achieve
a number of goals - from promoting your videos or playlists, to encouraging people to
subscribe, and directing traffic to your website or ecommerce store.

Why should you make use of the YouTube End Screen?

Every time a person comes to the end of one of your videos, there are a number of
actions they can choose to perform next.

They could leave the YouTube platform or select another video from the Suggested
Video list shown in the sidebar, or they could return to YouTube’s homepage and
carry out another search.
If you include an End Screen at the end of your published videos, you maximise the
chance that they will take an action that will benefit YOU, like watch more of your
content, or subscribe to your channel.

The YouTube End Screen lets you link to specific videos or playlists, and it also lets
you include a large subscribe button on-screen, to remind people to perform this
action. TheEnd Screen can also be a handy traffic aid for your website or store as
you can use it to direct people anywhere you want!

YouTube End Screen Tips

Decide what action you want people to take

First you need to choose what you want people to do after they finish watching your
videos.

YouTube currently gives you four ways to promote in your End Screen:

● A Subscribe Button - This is a large clickable button that reminds people to

sub to your channel and lets them do so easily inside your video’s End
Screen.
● Promote a Video or Playlist - You can use this option to direct people to a
particular video you want them to watch, or a playlist of your content. You can
even direct them to another creator’s video or playlist, but you’ll likely use this
feature for promoting your own content.
● Promote your channel - You can use the End Screen to link to any YouTube
channel you want to direct your viewers to, including your own.
● Promote an external website - Direct people to any website you want,
whether that be your blog, store, or anywhere else on the web. Alternatively,
you can also choose to recommend a set of YouTube approved websites.

YouTube allows you to include as many of these End Screen options as you want,
up to 4, but it’s best to use only 2 or 3 elements, otherwise your End Screen will
seem too fussy.

There’s another solid reason for keeping elements at a max of 3 - research has
shown that if people are presented with too many options, they typically choose
none!

Promote a Video or Playlist

Including the promote a video option in your End Screen can give a significant boost
to your monthly channel views. Having a recommended video in your End Screen is
a solid way to persuade people to view more of your content - and the more people
watch, the more they are likely to subscribe.
If you’re going to include the promote a video or playlist option, you should make
sure you select a video that falls into one of two categories.

Your video should be….

A high-converting video

OR

A closely related video

High-Converting Videos - If you need more subscribers, try featuring one of your
videos that has already proven to convert a larger than average percent of viewers
into subscribers. To find your high-converting videos, go to the YouTube Watch
Page in your subscriber report, where you can pull up detailed stats on your content.

Related Videos - Maximise your chances of getting people to watch more of your
content by promoting a video that’s closely related to the one they just watched, or
that follows on from it. This could be a video that goes into more detail on a subject,
or it could be part of a series on a particular topic or theme.

Promote a Subscribe Element

If you want more subscribers to your channel, it’s a great idea to include a subscribe
element to your End Screen, as it makes it easy for people to sign up. You can’t edit
or design your subscribe element, as YouTube just pulls your Channel Icon, though
you should make sure your icon displays well in this format.

Whenever someone hovers over your subscribe element it morphs into the typical
looking subscribe button. Some people find this confusing, as it doesn’t make it
immediately obvious that people need to click to subscribe. To remind people to
subscribe and draw attention to this button, you can include text around it that makes
it clear what to do, like “Subscribe here” or “Subscribe to my Channel”.

Push Traffic to Your Site

You can also use your End Screen to send viewers to your website, but don’t just
push them to your homepage, direct them to perform a specific task, like
downloading an ebook, or signing up for a free course. If you prefer, you can also
push them to one of your store pages, where you could link them to relevant
products you sell that are related to the video they just watched.

REMEMBER: Track Your Progress in YouTube Analytics!

The YouTube End Screen feature lets you quickly change out elements if they aren’t
working for you, so it’s worth checking your stats to see what is delivering.
The End Screen report in YouTube Analytics shows you how each of your End
Screens are performing, so you can take out elements that aren’t converting, or add
in new ones. If one of your YouTube End Screens is doing really well, try repeating
what you’ve done with the elements you’ve chosen for your other videos. If you have
End Screens that aren’t performing as well, try deleting the elements you’ve chosen
and trying something else.

YouTube End Screen BONUS Tips

Use appropriate text to label your elements -

By adding accompanying text around your End Screen elements, you can let
viewers know the element is interactive and clickable. This helps them understand
the action they’ll need to take if they want to subscribe, view another of your videos,
or visit your website.

Include Social Icons -

Just like you can include accompanying text with each of your elements, you can
also include icons. These won’t be clickable, but they will let people know you’re
active on other platforms, so it’s a good idea to include them for all the platforms you
are on.

Include a spoken call to action -

Your End Screen doesn’t have to be silent, as YouTube lets you include audio here
too! Use this opportunity to ask people to take the action you want, whether that’s
subscribing to your channel, or watching a video you recommend. You can even tell
them exactly how to do this, to optimise your chances of success.

Keep Your End Screen Fuss free -

It’s important not to overstuff your End Screen, so try and streamline it as much as
possible. If you are including a lot of accompanying text for example, it might be
better to use fewer elements, and as a general rule you should never use more than
3.

Consider promoting Playlists -

By featuring a playlist in your End Screen instead of just one video, you’ll be
boosting the chance of getting more views. This is because all the videos in that list
will play automatically, whereas when you link just one video, it will stop after it’s
finished.

Thanks for watching!

Did you enjoy watching this Video Guide to Growing your YouTube Channel
Audience?

We’ve tried to bring you the most essential information you need to know to start
ranking better on the platform and getting more views - and n we’d love to know what
you thought!

Was there a strategy you found particularly useful, or a piece of advice that helped
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Now you have the key pieces of information you need to start growing your YouTube
Channel - and if you ever need a quick refresh, you can always watch this video
again.

It’s now time to go and put all our advice into practice, and we know that with just a
little bit of effort, you can be tremendously successful on the YouTube platform.

Thanks so much for watching and remember to keep an eye out for more helpful
content from our team, as we are always working on new Guides and Courses to
help you succeed online.

Stay prosperous and keep learning,

Ing. Tomas Moravek and the Team