Once you have decided to dedicate the time required to optimize your Youtube Tags in the best way possible, you’ll want to make this process as painless as possible.
The reality is that Youtube Tag research and optimization requires a bit of dedication; however, once you get the hang of it, it becomes a habit that shouldn’t use up too much of your time.
In this blog post, we’ll show you how to optimize your Youtube Tags for your videos in a few easy steps and how a free tool will help you understand if you are on the right track.
Do I need to optimize Youtube Tags?
Optimizing your tags can help improve the visibility of your videos and make it more likely that they appear in the Youtube search results. Having said that, Youtube tags are not the end-all, and engagement with your videos is much more important.
But Yes, every little bit helps, and you should optimize your Youtube Tags, yet at the same time, never forget that content quality is much more relevant when it comes to ranking in the Youtube search algorithm. Youtube tags are an essential part of the ranking algorithm but not the only ranking factor.
Best practices for optimizing your Youtube Tags
Here are some of the best practices for optimizing your Youtube tags.
- Choose appropriate tags relevant to your content – Viewer engagement should be the primary goal of your Tag.
- Also include misspellings as Tags.
- Use synonyms of your main Keyphrase – For example.
- Stay in close range of the actual content of your video. Don’t use the keyword-stuffing technique, as there are enough excellent keywords for your videos.
- Concentrate most Youtube tags around 2 to 3-word Keyphrases depending on the type of niche and competition.
- However, also don’t be afraid to use longer keyphrases. (especially if you use a ‘long-tail Youtube SEO strategy )
- Rule of thumb: Ask yourself if you would ask it that way in the Youtube search bar.
- Choose your Youtube Tags based on your overall Youtube SEO strategy.
- The second-page ranking doesn’t help! You must rank within the top results for as many Youtube Tags as possible. Target high volume, low competition Youtube Tags first.
How to optimize Youtube Tags like a Pro
Step One: Decide on your optimal Youtube Tag SEO strategy before optimizing your Youtube Tags.
Whenever you set out to optimize anything, it is of the utmost importance that you clearly understand the exact goals! The Youtube Tag (SEO) strategy that works for someone else might not be the ideal strategy for you. So, how do we decide on a good Youtube Tag strategy for our Youtube videos?
Your Youtube Tag strategy should be part of your overall Youtube SEO strategy.
When we talk about Youtube Tags, we can easily think of them as ‘keywords and key phrases. These targeted keywords and key phrases should be part of your SEO keyword research and strategy.
(If you want to learn more about Youtube SEO & Keyword research, feel free to read about it in detail here. )
Youtube SEO strategy essentially revolves around optimizing keywords and key phrases to get a better rank in the Youtube search engine.
In other words, for which search terms should Youtube display your video thumbnail and send you free traffic?
Choose a keyword strategy based on your channel type and niche. So, if you are not sure yet, how do you decide on your particular angle before getting started?
Two different- but equally good- Youtube Tag strategies!
1) Aggressive Youtube Tag SEO strategy
You are positive that your content will soon stand out, and you will optimize your SEO strategy immediately on the highest-ranked keywords and key phrases.
You do this because you’ll identify the keywords and key phrases that will bring the most traffic regardless of how competitive the Youtube Tags are. You will DOMINATE your competition and go for a winner takes all strategy!
2)Long-tail Youtube Tag SEO Strategy.
A long-tail Youtube Tag SEO strategy is best if you are not ready to dominate the competition in your niche. You will use this long-tail strategy to grow your Youtube channel, audience, and reputation little by little. Over time you will attack the top keywords and key phrases.
Which Youtube Tag Strategy works best for you?
Before you optimize your Youtube Tags, you should know which of those strategies fits best with what you are doing.
The following questions might help you figure out which type of strategy would be better for your channel:
What kind of Youtube channel am I building?
- Are you building out a Youtube Channel and have a lot of resources? You might have a team of content creators working on the project, and you know that you’ll be pushing out a lot of content. You might have other traffic sources ready to promote your content, etc.
- Are you building out your Youtube channel alone, or with fewer resources, and you’ll need to compete with larger Youtube Channels, and you need your Youtube Tag strategy to help you get free Youtube traffic to get your channel kickstarted?
How competitive is your niche?
- Imagine the following scenario! You wish to rank a video about soccer bloopers or funny pet moments. Both of these topics are highly competitive! Top videos get millions of views but getting ranked will not be easy! If your keywords and tags stay around funny pet moments, you might have difficulty getting ‘ranked’ if you are not a big Youtube Channel with an established audience. Not that you can’t do it, but getting ranked might be extra hard. So you should be ready to throw a lot of resources into it if you want to get ranked!
- Are you creating Youtube videos about a very niche topic with little competition? Example: The lifespan of crickets. A bit of a joke here, but you can see how this topic will not be competitive and very easy to rank for. So even if you are not a big Youtube Channel with many resources, you have a good chance of ranking in the top results for this Keyphrase.
All in all – So unless you have the resources to tackle highly competitive topics heavily, it won’t be easy for you to get views at all of your tags are centered around the most popular tags: Example: Funny Pet moments,
You’ll have an easier time ranking for less competitive key phrases if you don’t have many resources.
NOTE: If you are creating the type of content with a high chance of getting viral, you might take your chances with highly competitive-high volume tags and should not overcomplicate Tag choices.
Step two: Find an initial set of Youtube Tags for your Video content.
Now that you know which keyword strategy you are confident in pursuing, your can start optimizing your Youtube Tags accordingly!
Youtube allows you to use 500 characters worth of tags for your videos. So you want to ensure you can select the most relevant tags for your video!
Three ways to find an initial set of Youtube tags:
- You can write down a list of potential Youtube tags yourself
As a content creator, you understand your video’s target market better than anyone else, and you can probably create a decent list of Youtube Tags for your videos.
However, sometimes we have so much on our minds that it can help if we get some external input. A series of Youtube Tag Finder tools can help you speed up the process of finding Youtube Tags for your video content.
- You can use a Youtube Tag Generator.
A Youtube Tag Generator tool will help you generate a list of potential Youtube tags for your video content based on a search term or title of your Youtube video.
A Youtube Tag Generator tool is handy to help get some inspiration as to what kind of search terms you might not have thought of yourself.
- You can use a Youtube Tag Extractor.
A youtube Tag Extractor is a tool that allows you to extract Youtube Tags from other videos on Youtube. So, you essentially choose a couple of Youtube videos similar to yours and see which tags they use.
You can use these tags as a starting point for your list of potential Youtube tags or as a way to differentiate your Youtube Tags from your competitors.
- OUR advice! Use the above methods to find an initial list of potential tags.
As you will likely create different videos on the same topic, keeping a list of Youtube Tags in a word or excel document makes sense.
Step Three: Optimize Youtube Tags based on high volume and Low competition!
Optimizing your Youtube Tags based on high volume and low competition is, without a doubt, the most crucial step we discuss in this guide. This is where you can separate yourself from the competition.
Of course, you are not the only Youtube content creator out there taking the time to optimize their Youtube Tags properly, but you are probably in a select group. Most people won’t optimize and use a set of generic tags instead if any at all.
How do we measure the search volume and competition level of Youtube search terms, you ask?
We Measure the competitiveness of the keywords or Youtube Tags you target with a Youtube Tag research tool.
You can use different tools to measure your Youtube Tags’ competitiveness and search volume. While some of these tools are only useful if you pay for the service, some tools allow you to measure the competitiveness of Youtube searches for free.
One of our favorite tools to do this is VidIQ. VidIQ is a free tool that you can use to check the competitiveness of your youtube tags!
Note: VidIQ also has a paid version, but if you are starting out, you can use the free version, which is powerful enough to get you started when combined with the other Youtube Tag finder tools!
The trick is to check your tags with these tools and prioritize those Youtube Tags with a low competitiveness score and a high volume of searches simultaneously.
If your selection of Youtube Tags is full of – low competition, high volume – yet relevant keyphrases- you will likely have a lot of free traffic from the Youtube algorithm.
How do I use VidIQ to check the competitiveness of my Youtube Tags?
VidIQ makes it easy for you to see which tags are best for your videos quickly. Let’s give an example and show you how to use VidIQ!
EXAMPLE
Step four: Apply your keyword research to every aspect of your content
Again, while all this talk about Youtube Tags might have you brainwashed into thinking that Youtube Tags are the only Youtube content ranking factor, it is not. Your Youtube keyword strategy should be reflected throughout your overall content strategy.
Starting with the:
- Title of your video,
- the Description of your video,
- Youtube Tags, and
- Potential written articles on your website or blogs like medium, or forums like Reddit which are linking to your content
- The content of your video. While the youtube algorithm might not ‘watch’ your videos, Youtube surely will ‘listen’ to them. So, make sure all of these items are aligned and thus optimized! In other words, if you speak in your Youtube videos, try using some of the same search terms you try to rank for.
If all of this seems too much work, remember that this is precisely how you can outwork your competition!
Optimize Youtube Tags – Conclusion
Optimizing your Youtube tags will reflect positively on the growth of your Youtube Channel, so it deserves your attention!
While it might be a challenge at first, you’ll see that once you get the hang of the different tools available that can help you speed up this process, you’ll be able to optimize your Youtube tags in no time.
More importantly, once you start seeing your own videos ranking for the keywords (Youtube Tags) that you have optimized, you will be pleased. It is a gratifying feeling!
There aren’t many things you can analyze so easily, but the results of your Youtube Tag optimization are one of them. You can use VidIQ to check your own Youtube channel’s performance!
Final Tip: Whenever you work on your keyword optimization, you will also discover related keywords and keyphrases with high traffic and low competition levels, which can be perfect topics for your next video!
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