In total, more than 694,000 hours of video are watched on YouTube every minute worldwide . Want to stand out from the crowd and grab the attention of some of these users? Follow our tips.
1. Check that your YouTube account is up to date
Don't put the cart before the horse. Review the basics of YouTube and make sure you haven't missed anything. Check out our list of tips for getting started on YouTube , then come back to this article for our more advanced strategies.
Make sure your YouTube channel checks the following boxes:
A consistent visual identity (for your icon, YouTube channel banner , etc. – like in the Architectural Digest magazine example below)
A well-filled and relevant About section (no need to introduce yourself if you're a YouTube star like Lena Situations )
Up-to-date contact details (so your potential customers and future business singapore phone number data partners can contact you)
Architectural Digest YouTube channel page reflecting the magazine's identity
2. Focus on your market segment (and your ideal audience)
If you're looking to optimize your YouTube marketing strategy , be clear and rigorous about your goals—and the type of content that will help you achieve them.
Remember that your videos don't necessarily have to appeal to everyone, but to very specific people: your audience.
For example, the YouTube channel L'œil du paddock focuses exclusively on Formula 1—nothing on Formula 2 or other motorsports. The videos cover various topics related to the F1 championship (technological innovations, driver performance, controversies, etc.). The channel seems to have found its audience, with over 60,000 subscribers in just a year and a half of existence.
Pro tip: Have you identified the different profiles that make up your audience ? These profiles are like Dungeons & Dragons characters, but in professional versions.
3. Do your research and improve your video rankings
It's true, YouTube is a social network. But it's also a search engine. One of the best strategies for getting more views on YouTube is to focus on YouTube SEO—optimizing your videos for search.
In other words, when your ideal viewer types in your chosen keywords, your video should be among the top results. To achieve this, you need to know what your audience is looking for. Tutorials? Inspirational videos? Just plain entertainment?
example of searching for recipe ideas on YouTube
Ranking high in search results is the best way to attract new viewers, not just your subscribers and people already interested in your channel (we'll cover them a little later).
Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. How can you improve your video rankings on YouTube?
It's simple: do your research. Use a tool like Google's Keyword Planner (you'll need to create a Google Ads account for this) to do two things:
Draw inspiration for your next video from popular searches. Examine search behavior and identify keywords that are frequently requested but generate few results (i.e., low-competition segments).
Use these keywords in your metadata, i.e. video title, tags, description text, and subtitles.
Pro tip: If you haven't already, now's the time to learn how YouTube's algorithm works. This AI not only decides search results, but also the recommendations displayed in the sidebar.
Remember, it all comes down to your ideal viewer. The algorithm doesn't care about the quality of your video. It only cares about one thing: does the user want to watch your video or not? Obviously, users are generally looking for quality videos.
4. Use metadata to be included in recommendations at the end of popular videos
If your goal is to get more views on YouTube, take inspiration from the top trending videos in your market segment.
Start by looking at your main competitor's most popular video. Go to their video list and sort them by popularity by clicking on Popular .
YouTube's main goal is to keep users on the platform as long as possible (so they watch as many ads as possible). To achieve this, its algorithm suggests a new video at the end of each video that is likely to keep the viewer's attention.
But how does the platform know what users like? Its algorithm is based on the following information:
Videos often watched together
Videos already watched by the user
Videos on a topic related to the video just watched (hence the importance of choosing your keywords carefully)
As you can see, you only have control over the third point.
When choosing your keywords, imagine yourself as a librarian who needs to categorize their latest acquisition. Describe the topic of your video and its primary category, then think about the terms someone might use to search for that topic.
Need some inspiration? You can discreetly check the keywords associated with a competitor's video. Right-click on the video's page, then click View Page Source . Then search (CTRL+F) for "keywords" to find the list.
