How I Got 45K Impressions and 7K Views on My New YouTube Channel (in 28 days)
9 ways to help you repeat the same numbers.
If you have been struggling to rank your videos on YouTube, you aren’t the only one. Every day, new YouTube channels are created with the aim of becoming eligible for the monetization program. But not all of them succeed.
There can be several reasons for that. You might not be uploading videos regularly, your videos aren’t engaging, you didn’t work on your SEO, and so on. You hope to rank your videos on YouTube as fast as you can, but still, no success.
If any of the above reasons remind you of your own actions, think twice. If you seriously want to make something out of YouTube, you have to learn a few things about YouTube and its ranking algorithm.
But you don’t have to worry about the learning process. You just have to follow some rules, I am going to tell you in a while. If you successfully implement them, I can bet, your channel will grow exponentially.
Here are the 9 ways you should follow to rank your YouTube videos fast.
9 Ways to Rank YouTube Videos Fast
These are the same steps I followed to reach 45K impressions and 7K views on my new YouTube channel. You can see the 28-day stats below.
If you want to see the same results on your channel, follow the rules and see your videos rank fast on YouTube.
1. Pick your keywords wisely
The first rule you have to keep in mind while creating YouTube videos is to choose your keywords wisely.
Keyword research is the most important part of creating content online. If you haven’t yet focused on this part, you are missing out on the opportunity to reach a bigger audience.
Most creators often make mistakes in the research part. They don’t know how to find a keyword that is less competitive but has the potential to reach a bigger audience. In that situation, I always recommend taking advantage of a keyword research tool.
Just like Semrush or Ahrefs for Google, YouTube also has a keyword research tool that tells you whether the keyword is worth it or not. You might have heard of VidIQ (affiliate link), a popular keyword research tool for YouTube.
How does VidIQ work?
It’s too easy to use. You just have to add the VidIQ Chrome extension and link it to your YouTube account. The next time you type a search term on YouTube, VidIQ will display all the details of that keyword, like the competition, search volume, overall SEO score, related keywords, etc.
Though you can search keywords and check their details for free, VidIQ also offers a premium version where you can get extra features like — SEO title and description recommendations, suggested tags, trending videos, SEO analytics, and more.
That said, by using the help of a keyword research tool, you can easily pick keywords that actually have the potential to rank on YouTube fast.
2. Create highly-engaging videos
The second rule is to create highly-engaging videos that even God can’t dislike.
Creators often forget that the algorithm, they are trying to manipulate, loves videos that people like. If your videos are engaging, interesting, and informative, which people are sharing like crazy, adding comments, and hitting the like button, that’s what YouTube is looking for.
Have you ever seen a viral video? How do you think videos go viral? Is it by luck or by paying YouTube huge loads of money?
No! It’s because of the content.
The content with which people are actively engaging, taking part in the comments section, liking or disliking (that too counts) the video. If that ever happens to you, you can say you have one viral video in your pocket.
So the best way to rank videos on top is to create content that delivers value to people.
3. Include keywords in videos
Remember the first rule where we talked about keyword research. Once you have done that, now is the time to add those keywords to your videos.
Here’s the fact: The YouTube algorithm can actually listen to what you are saying in your video. That’s how it identifies copyrighted content in a video.
Since YouTube can hear your content, all you need to do is repeat those keywords, you are trying to target, in your videos.
For example, say your keyword is ‘ Best SEO Tips to Rank on Google.’ Repeat this keyword one or two times within 30 seconds of your video and then throughout your entire video while not sounding weird. After all, you are creating videos for a human, not a robot.
Following this rule will help YouTube understand the intent of your videos and spread it across your targeted audience. It increases the chance of getting more views and subscribers.
4. Write SEO-friendly title and description
After you are finished adding keywords to your videos, don’t forget to do the same to your title and description.
YouTube bots are always looking for keywords in the title and description. Don’t give them a hard time trying to figure out those keywords. Instead, follow the simple rule of adding keywords for maximum exposure.
Look at the image below and see how I am using my main keyword in my title and description.
My main keyword is at the beginning of my title and that’s what you should be doing. While it’s not mandatory, doing so increases the chance of reaching more eyes, quickly.
For description, notice how many times I have repeated the keyword in my description. Does it sound weird? A good rule of thumb is to repeat the keyword two-three times within the first 150 words of your description. That helps your videos rank higher on YouTube.
5. Add related tags
I know most creators go crazy for tags. They all would be like putting tags they can find on the internet and stuffing them into a small box, that can only take up to 500 words.
You don’t have to do that. I know many people say tags are important and can seriously affect your video’s SEO. While it’s true about their importance, I don’t think they have anything to do with your video’s SEO.
From my own experience, I’ve seen that tags only decide whether your videos will appear under the keywords, as a suggestion, you have used as a tag.
For example, if you copy another creator’s tags (yes, you can do that using VidIQ) and add them to your videos, there’s a good chance your videos will appear in suggested videos under his video.
Tags definitely improve your exposure to a bigger audience, but they don’t affect your video’s SEO. I would recommend you to add only those tags that are truly relevant to your videos instead of stuffing irrelevant tags.
6. Create custom thumbnails
What’s the first thing people see when they search for a keyword on YouTube?
Thumbnails.
To attract people’s attention and gain views, a thumbnail should be engaging and attractive. The one which should make them click in an instant once they see it.
When you design a thumbnail, make sure it is high-quality (not blurry), informative (but don’t fill it with text), and no click-bait. The third point can really hurt your videos as people don’t like that.
If you need help designing it, you can either outsource it on Upwork or design it yourself. You can take the help of Canva to design thumbnails for free or Photoshop if you are a skilled designer.
Whatever you do, make sure you are designing attractive thumbnails that you would love to click on yourself.
7. Improve your CTR (Click-through-Rate)
Click-through-Rate or CTR is what defines the growth of your channel. If your channel has over 10% of CTR, it means your channel is growing well.
CTR defines how many people are clicking on average. For example, if your video has received 100 views for 1000 impressions, it means your video has a 10% CTR. The same is true for other videos.
If you can maintain a 10% CTR on average, your videos will have a higher chance of ranking one on YouTube.
But how can you improve your CTR?
It’s simple. Focus on what can make more and more people click on your videos.
If your thumbnail is attractive, more people will click on it. If your title is the exact thing people were searching for, you will get more clicks. Keep on doing this and you will improve your CTR overall.
8. Share your videos
After you are done following the above rules, it means you have finally published your video on YouTube.
The next step is to share your videos across your network. Share it on your social media account, with your friends and family.
The point is that initial traction is important. If you receive a good amount of views within the hour or two of publishing your video, there’s a good chance of getting even more (organically).
Sharing is important. We don’t share to show people what we are doing, but to get the maximum exposure we can initially get.
If you weren’t doing it yet, do it right now! Share your next video as soon as you publish it.
9. Publish regularly
One last rule that I recommend you to follow as long as you are building an online presence (no matter whether it’s YouTube or not), keep doing it regularly.
Don’t stop publishing videos because the last one received 5 views only. Who knows, the next might get over a thousand.
Consistency always helps. People who have millions of subscribers today once started from zero. They are at that point because they never gave up. And neither should you.
Keep posting regularly and one day your channel will grow.
Wrapping Up
YouTube is changing. Google is changing. So is the algorithm.
But the above rules I told you about aren’t going to change because they are the foundation on which the whole concept is built. You can easily rank your videos on YouTube fast (with these rules) and all you need is a will to fight against the competition.
While it’s for sure YouTube is a competitive place, there are still lots of ways to make your way out (like I told you above) and sit at the top. You just need to shift your focus in the right direction.
Originally published at https://thepassivewriter.com on March 17, 2022.
