YouTube Tagging Optimization

Video is one of the cornerstones of the social media revolution, and at the heart of the movement is YouTube. YouTube is by far the most popular video streaming website on the planet. Any serious search engine marketer would be a fool to ignore the potential of this marketing channel.

With that said, being on YouTube, and even more importantly, being found on YouTube are two completely different things. YouTube, like every other information resource, is packed full of content for eager visitors to choose from. So separating your YouTube video from the pack can be a challenge. Here are a few tips that can help do just that:

1. Be Consistent and Relevant in Your Tagging. By this, I don’t mean to use the same tags in every video. Rather, just make sure that your title, description and tags are all in contextual harmony. Also be certain that your video information is relevant to the content of your video.
2. Eye-Catching Titles Get More Clicks. Don’t simply make your title a statement about the video. Treat it as you would a headline to attract interest and catch eyeballs.
3. Write a Compelling Description. Remember that your description serves as a short ad for your video. Don’t neglect the influence it can have on persuading someone to view your content by writing a dull and stoic message. Give your description some flare so visitors have a reason to click your content.
4. Vary Your Tags From Video to Video. Don’t use the same tags for every video. Instead, use keyword variances to increase the scope and reach of your videos. Always make sure these keywords are relevant to your content.
5. Assign Categories. Searching by category is one of the main methods that visitors browsing for videos find what they are looking for. So make sure you assign your video to an appropriate category.
6. The Video Thumbnail is the Mother Lode. Never forget that video is a visual medium. Optimizing the textual elements of your YouTube video are important, but the video thumbnail may be the most important element of all. Be sure to select an image that stands out and attracts attention. When you get deeper into video optimization, you can even begin to test different images to really determine what makes visitors click the most.

The tips above are by no means all there is to optimizing your YouTube videos. But they provide a great starting point in helping anyone in creating some differentiation from the multitude of video content as well as snagging some target visitors.