As an entrepreneur, it’s just as important to understand search engine optimization (SEO) as it is to understand your industry market. If you don’t, you could launch a business successfully but have a hard time reaching your target customers organically.
To break it down, SEO is a process for creating and optimizing content that your prospective customers are searching for on search engines like Google, Bing, and, you guessed it, YouTube.
Because it’s highly effective, SEO is a digital marketer’s go-to method for driving more new traffic to a business’s website. (It’s 1,000%+ more effective than organic social media, to be exact).
Since YouTube is the second most popular search engine in the world, this is a platform that you definitely shouldn’t neglect or ignore when marketing your business.
What is YouTube SEO?
YouTube SEO is an optimization process specific to the YouTube platform. It involves video keyword research, optimizing video titles, and creating the type of content that people want to click on and keep watching.
The more optimized a YouTube video is, the higher it ranks in search results. The higher it ranks in search results, the more engagement the video gets on a daily basis.
To put this in context, check out the top three results from a YouTube search for the “best YouTube SEO tool” below:
Not only are these videos relevant to you (since you’re reading this blog post), but you’ll also notice the amount of views each video has gotten so far — 62K, 91K, and 115K.
So, if you found a popular search term for your customer base and then created a video that ranked in these top spots — well, you can see how that video could quickly generate a ton of engagement.
If you’re still on the fence about creating a YouTube channel and tapping into this SEO traffic, here are five reasons why you might reconsider:
5 reasons why entrepreneurs should care about YouTube SEO
1. Odds are that your target audience is on YouTube.
One of the golden rules of digital marketing is to meet your audience where they are.
If your customers are interested in video production or SaaS products, then you create and optimize content related to these topics.
And if a majority of your customers are searching for this type of content on YouTube, then you should make your content accessible to them there.
Since there are more than two billion active users on YouTube, it’s more likely than not that the prospects you’re trying to reach are using this platform. So, why not meet them where they’re at and share content in a different way?
By researching popular search terms and making videos about these terms, you’re in a better position to connect with these prospects organically.
2. The more people that know about your business, the better.
After putting in so much work to develop a business plan, secure funding, and launch a business, the last thing you want to see is plateaued growth.
You want as many people as possible to know about your business, whether they have immediate purchase intent or not. And that’s where creating and optimizing YouTube videos can work to your advantage.
When your YouTube videos rank highly in search results (on and off YouTube), more people come across your content every day. Not only does this lead to more video views and engagement but also more brand exposure, website traffic, and conversions.
The only caveat is that there are 500 other videos published each minute — some of which are directly competing for your target audience’s attention. Fortunately, you don’t need years of video production experience to make standout content, which brings us to Reason #3.
3. You don’t need to be a production expert to make great content.
One of the most common reasons why entrepreneurs and business owners might not embrace YouTube SEO is that they feel underqualified.
Maybe you don’t have years of production experience and a reservoir of expensive filming equipment. Maybe you have minimal, if any, experience using video editing softwares.
But here’s the thing: You don’t really need any of these things.
It’s easier and more affordable now than ever to plan and produce videos for YouTube. As long as you have some type of video recording device (even just a smartphone) and access to a free editing software, you can learn as you go and start uploading engaging videos.
4. There’s potential for cross-channel growth.
When you share optimized videos on YouTube, you’re adding one new channel to your business’s content marketing strategy.
As new viewers come across your content organically and enjoy what they see, they’re more likely to subscribe to your channel. If this happens consistently, you could see a continual improvement in engagement with your business on and off YouTube.
Another great thing about video content is that it’s shareable — 1200% more than text and images, in fact.
So, when you make videos that are engaging and relevant, your viewers are then more likely to embed one of the videos in their blog post, repost it on Instagram, or share it on some other platform.
The possibilities for cross-channel growth are practically endless with some strategic optimization and marketing on your part.
5. Video marketing is highly effective on or off YouTube.
The last reason why you should care about YouTube SEO is that it’s a statistically sound investment. Here’s what we mean:
The majority of people (86%) report that they want brands to produce more video content, and a slightly higher percentage of marketers (87%) affirm that video is directly responsible for lifts in website traffic.
By embedding one of your own videos (or someone else’s) on a landing page or blog post, you could see an 86% increase in conversions. Not to mention, video delivers the best ROI for 52% of marketers.
That’s a lot of statistics to sort through, but what this ultimately means is that 1) there is a demand for video content and 2) YouTube SEO can send your content to the top of the search results while also helping boost your rankings on Google as well.
With the right SEO strategy, you can use this demand for video to your business’s advantage while also connecting with your audience on a new platform where they already spend time.
Mackenzie Scott is a copywriter at Soundstripe, a stock music company that provides filmmakers, creators and advertisers with royalty free music such as medieval music and folk music (and many more genres).
