What makes Youtube so effective is that people love videos. As a matter of fact, four times as many people would prefer to watch videos about your products as opposed to reading about them. What’s even more important is that Youtube is considered to be the king of video as this platform has over one billion users. This means that there are a lot of people who your content will be exposed to.

The problem is, while Youtube caters to a large audience, it can be difficult to get them to watch your content. Just as is the case with any other type of content, your videos must be SEO optimised.  This way, the right audience will be able to find you within Youtube search.

But how can Singapore business owners make sure that their Youtube content is optimised? Well, the most important thing to keep in mind is that if your content is not engaging, SEO optimisation will not make any difference. People need to find the video interesting enough to keep watching. In this article, we will discuss the elements you need to optimise. But first, let’s discuss what makes a good video.

What are the elements of a good video?

Great sound quality

One thing that a lot of Singapore businesses tend to overlook is sound quality. It’s very important that you pay attention to the sound of your video. While users may forgive the picture quality, they are not ad patient when it comes to what they hear. The better your sound quality, the longer your viewers will stay. So make sure that you edit out any background noises which may act as distractions.

Great message

A great video communicates a clear and helpful message. Keep in mind that your video is content, which meant that you are creating it for a target audience. You need to be able to capture their attention within 15 seconds of the start, so make sure that your present a message that resonates with them.

The best way to do this is to give the user a preview of what the video is all about. Next, you should offer proof that you can actually deliver valuable information about the topic. You should then reiterate what your video was all about and offer specific details that you want the audience to learn. The key is to create a solid plan.

Excellent visuals

Not only should your sound and messaging be on point, you should also ensure that you have great visuals. In the end, visual quality matters. So spend time creating excellent graphics. Make sure that there is plenty of variety so that the audience remains engaged.

Elements to optimise

When it comes to YouTube search, this platform’s search engine is pretty straightforward. In fact, it works just like Google’s search engine. Whenever you optimise YouTube videos, there are three elements that you should pay close attention to:

Identify keywords

One of the best ways to ensure that visual content is found is with the use of keywords. This means that you need to decide which keywords your content should be centered around and then include them in your title. You should also weave them into your tags and meta.

Title

Speaking of titles, it’s a good idea to spend as much time as you can on the headlines for your video. In fact, this is the most important part of your content. And this is because the more eye-catching the title, the more likely people will be to click on your video.  On the other hand, if he title is uninteresting or generic, then you will get less views–even if the content itself is engaging. So create a title that is short, preferably under 66 characters. This ensures that the entire title will fit into the display. Also, make sure that the title is intriguing.

Meta

Another great way to ensure that your audience knows what your video is all about is to create a meta description for it. This is a full description of what your video includes. Remember, your description needs to be short and to the point.

Tags

Tags aren’t necessarily mandatory, but they can help to associate your video with certain text.  Just remember that you should keep your tags to a minimum. Only include words that are the most relevant to the video.  Keep it short and sweet.

Other elements to keep in mind

Thumbnail

A big part of creating a memourable brand is customising your thumbnail.  Not only that, but your thumbnails should be consistent so that your target audience will be able to easily identify your videos. Your account needs to be verified in order to get custom thumbnails.

Closed Captions (CC) and Subtitles

Closed caption has the ability to give your Youtube SEO campaign a boost. In fact, research shows that it can increase your views by more than 7 percent. The best part about the Subtitles and closed captions feature is that they give your viewers the ability to watch your videos in environments that are either very noise or quiet.

Encourage feedback and engagement

One of the most important Youtube metrics is interaction. This is what YouTube uses to judge and rank your videos. When you have a lot of interaction on your video, it tells this social media platform that your content is relevant and valuable.

Youtube also takes the amount o watch time into account. This is the amount of time that the user spends watching your video. As previously mentioned, if you are able to engage the viewer with the first 15 seconds, they are likely to remain engaged throughout the entire course of the video.

If you want to ensure that your viewers interact with you, then you need to encourage action. More specifically, you need to incorporate a good call to action, or CTA. Let them know that they should comment, like and subscribe to your channel.

Use YouTube cards

YouTube cards can be extremely useful. Use your channel cards in order to encourage users to subscribe or like the video. You can even link your cards so that the viewers are sent to your website or other relevant pages.  

Create end screens

Just as is the case with cards, your end screens can also be a great way to drive more engagement. End screens come up during the last 5 to 20 seconds of the video. They can include up to four elements that can be used for promotion. The elements can even expand to show more information when your viewers hover on desktop or tap on their mobile devices.

Conclusion

YouTube can be an excellent platform for your Singapore business. However, in order to get the most out of it, your videos need to properly optimised. Not only does this help with the search, but also with users. And there are multiple elements that you need to be on the lookout for when optimising your videos. The best SEO strategy is to regularly A/B test you techniques to find out which works best for you.