Last updated on July 12th, 2020 at 07:47 pm
On this week’s TubeTalk podcast, we discuss how to help older videos rank better in search results, how to use the YouTube video enhancements tool, and talk about the four pillars to optimizing your video on YouTube.
HOSTS:
- Dane Golden: VidAction.tv | Twitter | LinkedIn
- Tim Schmoyer: VideoCreators
- Matt Ballek: VidiSEO
THIS WEEK’S TIPS:
Tip #1: How To Help Older Videos Rank Better in Search Results
Tim Schmoyer says that sometimes you have older videos on your channel that you know should be getting more views from search results than they are. Don’t be afraid to go back and update the metadata of those videos, including new titles, description, tags, and thumbnails. Consider giving it a captions file, too, so YouTube and Google have more information about the video. Tim has done this several times with some of his own videos and now some of those videos are now the most popular videos on his channel.
Tim thinks he’s heard that with new videos, YouTube re-indexes them a couple of times rather quickly, then re-scan them every few days. But with older videos, they do so every couple weeks or months.
Matt says that at Magnet Media they will go through a client’s entire archive to find under-utilized videos from which they could extract more business value, including keywords, links, and more. Dane says to monitor the success of these videos by using YouTube Analytics.
Tip #2: How to use the YouTube video enhancements tool
Dane Golden says that if you ever want to edit a video after it’s already uploaded, you might try the YouTube enhancements tool. Perhaps you shot and uploaded the video on the fly from your phone. Maybe it’s dark or jerky. Unfortunately, you can’t overwrite a video by re-uploading – it’s not like FTP.
You find YouTube’s enhancements tool by clicking on the little magic wand icon under your video. The tool is a bit of a hack, but it just might provide the solution you’re looking for in a pinch.
The features:
- Auto-fix: This has a one-click fix button to enhance lighting and color. You can also manually adjust fill light, contrast, saturation and color temperature.
- Stabilize: If the video is too shaky.
- Slow Motion: You can slow the video down all the way to one-eighth speed.
- Trim: To change the start or end time.
- Pre-Set Filters: To stylize the video.
- Face Blurring: To anonymize one or more person in the video.
- Rotate: This is for when you shot the video in a profile orientation but it looks better with landscape orientation.
With these tools you can modify an old video that already has a lot of views. Or you can create an entirely new video using these features with the “Save as” button.
Matt says he only really only uses the trim feature if he wants to edit a client’s long, unneccessary intro. Tim only uses the trim feature for Hangouts on Air.
Dane adds that if in addition to your produced videos you also do some on-the-go business vlogging, like ScottEvest, the enhancement feature might work for you.
Here’s the YouTube Help page on Using Enhancements.
Tip #3: Four pillars to optimizing your video on YouTube
(Go 1:43 in to this video)
Several years ago Matt Ballek developed his four pillars or quadrants to YouTube optimization for clients. The tools and tactics have changed over time but the principles remain the same.
Matt says that each of these optimization areas should inform the other. To get the best possible traction on your video, it’s best to consider each of these areas before you write your script or hit the record button.
- Content: The style and type of video you’re going to create with the platform in mind.
- Metadata: What sort of keywords or searches are you trying to align your video with? This also informs the promotion techniques.
- Promotion: This takes place after the upload.
- Community: While community interaction takes place after the upload, thinking about the community in advance can change the style and type of video you create.
Tim points out that the community factor is often under-valued in discussions about SEO and optimization, but perfectly-optimized means nothing if you’re not getting any watch time.
