Unlock Higher Views: Basic YouTube SEO Explained

The 12-step YouTube SEO Guide for Beginners Who Want More Views

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.

Well, let’s change that!

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.

Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.

Ready?

Let’s Go!

Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors

Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?

Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.

Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.

Step 1: Find Related Videos

Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.

Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:

While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!

Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.

Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:

- To be entertained

- To learn something new

- To be inspired

A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.

So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .

Step 2: Find Keywords

Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.

Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:

Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.

This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.

Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.

How to Read Keyword Suggestions

Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:

- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.

- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.

- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.

The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.

In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!

Step 3: Write Title

I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.

A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.

Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs

But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.

Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…

Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.

Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.

So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?

Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.

You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.

See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?

Step 4: Write Description

You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.

This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.

But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.

Step 5: Write Tags

Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.

Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.

Organize your keywords in the tag as such:

Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:

Specific: How to make scrambled eggs

General: Scrambled eggs

Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs

Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible

It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.

Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.

Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook

The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .

What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.

Step 7: Film B-Roll

One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.

In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.

While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.

So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.

Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video

Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.

While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.

The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.

For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”

Who knows, who will respond.

Step 9: Design a Thumbnail

You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.

Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.

Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.

Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?

You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.

Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .

Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization

Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.

Come on, keep going!

Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets

The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.

Step 11: Add Transcripts

In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.

While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.

You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.

Step 12: Add Video to Playlist

Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.

When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.

So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.

I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!

If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.

Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.

Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.

Well, let’s change that!

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.

Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.

Ready?

Let’s Go!

Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors

Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?

Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.

Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.

Step 1: Find Related Videos

Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.

Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:

While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!

Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.

Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:

- To be entertained

- To learn something new

- To be inspired

A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.

So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .

Step 2: Find Keywords

Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.

Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:

Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.

This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.

Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.

How to Read Keyword Suggestions

Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:

- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.

- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.

- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.

The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.

In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!

Step 3: Write Title

I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.

A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.

Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs

But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.

Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…

Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.

Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.

So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?

Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.

You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.

See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?

Step 4: Write Description

You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.

This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.

But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.

Step 5: Write Tags

Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.

Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.

Organize your keywords in the tag as such:

Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:

Specific: How to make scrambled eggs

General: Scrambled eggs

Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs

Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible

It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.

Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.

Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook

The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .

What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.

Step 7: Film B-Roll

One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.

In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.

While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.

So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.

Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video

Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.

While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.

The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.

For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”

Who knows, who will respond.

Step 9: Design a Thumbnail

You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.

Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.

Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.

Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?

You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.

Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .

Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization

Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.

Come on, keep going!

Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets

The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.

Step 11: Add Transcripts

In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.

While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.

You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.

Step 12: Add Video to Playlist

Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.

When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.

So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.

I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!

If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.

Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.

Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.

Well, let’s change that!

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.

Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.

Ready?

Let’s Go!

Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors

Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?

Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.

Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.

Step 1: Find Related Videos

Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.

Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:

While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!

Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.

Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:

- To be entertained

- To learn something new

- To be inspired

A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.

So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .

Step 2: Find Keywords

Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.

Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:

Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.

This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.

Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.

How to Read Keyword Suggestions

Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:

- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.

- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.

- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.

The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.

In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!

Step 3: Write Title

I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.

A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.

Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs

But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.

Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…

Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.

Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.

So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?

Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.

You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.

See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?

Step 4: Write Description

You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.

This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.

But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.

Step 5: Write Tags

Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.

Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.

Organize your keywords in the tag as such:

Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:

Specific: How to make scrambled eggs

General: Scrambled eggs

Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs

Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible

It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.

Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.

Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook

The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .

What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.

Step 7: Film B-Roll

One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.

In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.

While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.

So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.

Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video

Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.

While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.

The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.

For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”

Who knows, who will respond.

Step 9: Design a Thumbnail

You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.

Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.

Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.

Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?

You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.

Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .

Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization

Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.

Come on, keep going!

Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets

The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.

Step 11: Add Transcripts

In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.

While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.

You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.

Step 12: Add Video to Playlist

Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.

When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.

So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.

I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!

If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.

Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.

Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.

Well, let’s change that!

In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.

Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.

Ready?

Let’s Go!

Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors

Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?

Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.

Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.

Step 1: Find Related Videos

Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.

Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.

Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:

While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!

Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.

Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:

- To be entertained

- To learn something new

- To be inspired

A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.

So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .

Step 2: Find Keywords

Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.

Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:

Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.

This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.

Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.

How to Read Keyword Suggestions

Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:

- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.

- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.

- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.

The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.

In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!

Step 3: Write Title

I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.

A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.

Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs

But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.

Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…

Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.

Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.

So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?

Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.

You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.

See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?

Step 4: Write Description

You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.

This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.

But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.

Step 5: Write Tags

Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.

Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.

Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.

Organize your keywords in the tag as such:

Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:

Specific: How to make scrambled eggs

General: Scrambled eggs

Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs

Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible

It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.

Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.

Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook

The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .

What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.

Step 7: Film B-Roll

One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.

In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.

While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.

So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.

Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video

Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.

While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.

The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.

For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”

Who knows, who will respond.

Step 9: Design a Thumbnail

You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.

Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.

Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.

Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?

You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.

Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .

Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization

Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.

Come on, keep going!

Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets

The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.

Step 11: Add Transcripts

In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.

While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.

You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.

Step 12: Add Video to Playlist

Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.

When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.

So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.

I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!

If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.

Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.

Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Become a Short-Form Video Star with These 10 Proven Methods

10 Expert Suggestions to Make Your YT Shorts Stand Out

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

To make it easier for its audience to find crisp and entertaining content, YouTube has recently come up with a dedicated “Shorts” feature.

Ideally, any YouTube user can find the Shorts option on the app to watch interesting videos of 60 seconds or less. Though, it might take a lot of effort to make your YouTube Shorts videos appealing.

If you also want to go viral, then get to know about these YouTube Shorts tips that every content creator should follow.

YouTube Shorts Feature and Shorts Fund: Things to Know

Before we make you familiar with all kinds of YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, let’s cover some basics. Ideally, YouTube has recently come up with the Shorts feature to focus on short-length videos (and to rival Instagram Reels and TikTok).

You can now find the Shorts icon at the bottom panel on the YouTube app. Using it, you can watch or record short videos on YouTube easily. These are short-form clips of 60 seconds or less that you can create via the Shorts interface of the YouTube app.

The interface would let you record multiple videos at different intervals and add sound to your clips as well. Later, you can post these short clips on your channel to get more views on YouTube.

YouTube Shorts Fund

YouTube Shorts already hosts a massive number of more than 6 billion daily views as of now. To promote it, Google has come up with a YouTube Shorts Fund of $100M that would be rewarded to various content creators each month.

That is, a “Shorts Bonus” would be added to the account of content creators to appreciate their viral content.

Top 10 Tips for YouTube Shorts That You Must Follow

Now when we have covered all the basics, let’s get to know about some effective YouTube Shorts tricks that would help you come up with interesting content and get more audience for it.

Tip 1: Learn How to Shoot YouTube Shorts

Before you start posting videos on YouTube Shorts, you should know how the feature works. Ideally, you can find a dedicated option for Shorts from the bottom panel on the updated YouTube app. From here, you can watch Shorts or simply choose to create them as well.

You can give YouTube access to your smartphone camera before you start recording. To record anything, you can just tap and hold the red button (the recording icon) on the interface.

As you would release it, the recording would be stopped. In this way, you can seamlessly move from one scene to another without worrying about editing in post-production.

Tip 2: Stick to a Selective Niche

To have a consistent growth of audience on YouTube shorts, you should stick to a specific niche. If you search on YouTube, you can find short videos related to funny, inspirational, fitness, romantic, and all kinds of niches.

Most of the prominent content creators already apply these YouTube Shorts tips in which they first identify their target audience. Based on that, you can work on the type of content that you want to create and share to attain consistent growth on YouTube.

Tip 3: Add Appropriate Background Music to Your Short Videos

One of the best things about YouTube Shorts is that it lets us add a snippet of the music in the background, according to our content. Therefore, you must implement these tips for YouTube Shorts to make the most of this free feature of the app.

After recording your videos, you can tap on the “Sound” or the “Add Music” feature from the interface.

Now, YouTube will automatically load all kinds of trending music that you can use for free. If you want, you can enter the name of any song on the search option of YouTube shorts.

As you would select a track, it will automatically be loaded as the background music for your video. Though, you can also select a specific segment of the track and clip it accordingly to place it on your videos the way you like.

Tip 4: Insert Captions and Text Effects on Your Shorts

Apart from music, you can also add all kinds of text effects to make your YouTube Shorts videos appealing. After you have recorded a video, you can just tap on the text option from the bottom/side panel of the app.

You can now type anything and place it on the video to make it more interesting. If you want, you can also implement these YouTube Shorts tips to add subtitles or pre/post video captions without any hassle.

Tip 5: Adjust the Playback Speed of YouTube Shorts

Since a lot of content creators are coming up with YouTube Shorts, you would have to walk an extra mile to make them more appealing. In these YouTube Shorts tricks, I would recommend adjusting the playback speed of the video.

After recording the video, you can tap on the speed icon from the bottom/side panel. Here, you can make your videos play in slow motion or fast forward (in a range of 0.3x to 3x). This will add seamless speed control features to your videos without any technical issues.

Tip 6: Consider the Overall Length of Your Shorts Video

Even though the maximum length of the YouTube Shorts videos is 60 seconds, you don’t have to make it so long. If you look at most of the popular videos on YouTube Shorts, then you will find that they are of less than 30 seconds in length.

Remember, your goal is to come up with crisp and interesting content via YouTube Shorts. To implement these YouTube Shorts tips, you can consider the ideal length of 30-45 seconds and only have essential content in your videos.

Tip 7: Use the Timer Feature to Shoot Your Videos Correctly

A lot of people make the rookie mistake of shooting their videos for too long in Shorts. Therefore, if you want to implement these YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, then consider using the timer feature of the app.

Before shooting the video, you can tap on the timer button from the bottom and set up a preferred duration for it (like 10 or 15 seconds). In this way, you can be sure that you won’t go overboard and keep your videos short automatically.

Tip 8: Set a Preferred Target Audience for YouTube Shorts

Great! Now when you have recorded and edited your video by applying these tips for YouTube Shorts, you are ready to post them. While posting your videos, you would be asked whether the video is targeted at kids or not. If the video is made for kids, then you should select the relevant prompt, as YouTube would improve the overall visibility of your videos in this case.

Though, if your videos are targeted at adults, then you should go with the second option instead. This would help you reach out to your target audience on YouTube easily.

Tip 9: Post Your YouTube Shorts the Right Way

Apart from setting the audience preferences of your YouTube Shorts videos, you should also take care of a couple of other things. For instance, you can consider making the visibility of your final video “Public” so that anyone on YouTube can watch it.

Besides that, it is also recommended to have the keyword “#Shorts” in the title of the video. You can also make the title of the video attractive and can even add a short description that would make your audience click on your YouTube video for sure.

Tip 10: Promote Your YouTube Shorts Video on Other Places

Lastly, posting the YouTube Shorts video is not enough, as you should also promote it to get more views. One of the best YouTube Shorts tips for promotion would be posting the snippet of the video as your Stories on YouTube.

You can also post your YouTube Shorts on other popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. by sharing their link. In this way, you can easily redirect your audience from other platforms and increase the visibility of your video.

Bonus Tip: Use a Professional Editor for Your YouTube Shorts Videos

As you can see after going through these YouTube Shorts tricks that the native tool of the app has limited editing options. Therefore, if you want to come up with better videos, then consider using a professional tool like Wondershare Filmora.

The desktop video editing tool has hundreds of filters, transitions, captions, stickers, and other effects to elevate the overall visual appeal of your videos. You can also access numerous AI-integrated features in Filmora and can directly export your videos in YouTube-compatible formats.

Conclusion

That’s a wrap, everyone! I’m sure that after following these expert YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, you can make the most of this newly added YouTube feature. You can consider following the above-listed YouTube Shorts tips to record your videos and make them interesting by adding sound and caption effects.

Though, if you want to make your videos even more appealing, then consider using a reliable and smart video editor like Wondershare Filmora.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

To make it easier for its audience to find crisp and entertaining content, YouTube has recently come up with a dedicated “Shorts” feature.

Ideally, any YouTube user can find the Shorts option on the app to watch interesting videos of 60 seconds or less. Though, it might take a lot of effort to make your YouTube Shorts videos appealing.

If you also want to go viral, then get to know about these YouTube Shorts tips that every content creator should follow.

YouTube Shorts Feature and Shorts Fund: Things to Know

Before we make you familiar with all kinds of YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, let’s cover some basics. Ideally, YouTube has recently come up with the Shorts feature to focus on short-length videos (and to rival Instagram Reels and TikTok).

You can now find the Shorts icon at the bottom panel on the YouTube app. Using it, you can watch or record short videos on YouTube easily. These are short-form clips of 60 seconds or less that you can create via the Shorts interface of the YouTube app.

The interface would let you record multiple videos at different intervals and add sound to your clips as well. Later, you can post these short clips on your channel to get more views on YouTube.

YouTube Shorts Fund

YouTube Shorts already hosts a massive number of more than 6 billion daily views as of now. To promote it, Google has come up with a YouTube Shorts Fund of $100M that would be rewarded to various content creators each month.

That is, a “Shorts Bonus” would be added to the account of content creators to appreciate their viral content.

Top 10 Tips for YouTube Shorts That You Must Follow

Now when we have covered all the basics, let’s get to know about some effective YouTube Shorts tricks that would help you come up with interesting content and get more audience for it.

Tip 1: Learn How to Shoot YouTube Shorts

Before you start posting videos on YouTube Shorts, you should know how the feature works. Ideally, you can find a dedicated option for Shorts from the bottom panel on the updated YouTube app. From here, you can watch Shorts or simply choose to create them as well.

You can give YouTube access to your smartphone camera before you start recording. To record anything, you can just tap and hold the red button (the recording icon) on the interface.

As you would release it, the recording would be stopped. In this way, you can seamlessly move from one scene to another without worrying about editing in post-production.

Tip 2: Stick to a Selective Niche

To have a consistent growth of audience on YouTube shorts, you should stick to a specific niche. If you search on YouTube, you can find short videos related to funny, inspirational, fitness, romantic, and all kinds of niches.

Most of the prominent content creators already apply these YouTube Shorts tips in which they first identify their target audience. Based on that, you can work on the type of content that you want to create and share to attain consistent growth on YouTube.

Tip 3: Add Appropriate Background Music to Your Short Videos

One of the best things about YouTube Shorts is that it lets us add a snippet of the music in the background, according to our content. Therefore, you must implement these tips for YouTube Shorts to make the most of this free feature of the app.

After recording your videos, you can tap on the “Sound” or the “Add Music” feature from the interface.

Now, YouTube will automatically load all kinds of trending music that you can use for free. If you want, you can enter the name of any song on the search option of YouTube shorts.

As you would select a track, it will automatically be loaded as the background music for your video. Though, you can also select a specific segment of the track and clip it accordingly to place it on your videos the way you like.

Tip 4: Insert Captions and Text Effects on Your Shorts

Apart from music, you can also add all kinds of text effects to make your YouTube Shorts videos appealing. After you have recorded a video, you can just tap on the text option from the bottom/side panel of the app.

You can now type anything and place it on the video to make it more interesting. If you want, you can also implement these YouTube Shorts tips to add subtitles or pre/post video captions without any hassle.

Tip 5: Adjust the Playback Speed of YouTube Shorts

Since a lot of content creators are coming up with YouTube Shorts, you would have to walk an extra mile to make them more appealing. In these YouTube Shorts tricks, I would recommend adjusting the playback speed of the video.

After recording the video, you can tap on the speed icon from the bottom/side panel. Here, you can make your videos play in slow motion or fast forward (in a range of 0.3x to 3x). This will add seamless speed control features to your videos without any technical issues.

Tip 6: Consider the Overall Length of Your Shorts Video

Even though the maximum length of the YouTube Shorts videos is 60 seconds, you don’t have to make it so long. If you look at most of the popular videos on YouTube Shorts, then you will find that they are of less than 30 seconds in length.

Remember, your goal is to come up with crisp and interesting content via YouTube Shorts. To implement these YouTube Shorts tips, you can consider the ideal length of 30-45 seconds and only have essential content in your videos.

Tip 7: Use the Timer Feature to Shoot Your Videos Correctly

A lot of people make the rookie mistake of shooting their videos for too long in Shorts. Therefore, if you want to implement these YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, then consider using the timer feature of the app.

Before shooting the video, you can tap on the timer button from the bottom and set up a preferred duration for it (like 10 or 15 seconds). In this way, you can be sure that you won’t go overboard and keep your videos short automatically.

Tip 8: Set a Preferred Target Audience for YouTube Shorts

Great! Now when you have recorded and edited your video by applying these tips for YouTube Shorts, you are ready to post them. While posting your videos, you would be asked whether the video is targeted at kids or not. If the video is made for kids, then you should select the relevant prompt, as YouTube would improve the overall visibility of your videos in this case.

Though, if your videos are targeted at adults, then you should go with the second option instead. This would help you reach out to your target audience on YouTube easily.

Tip 9: Post Your YouTube Shorts the Right Way

Apart from setting the audience preferences of your YouTube Shorts videos, you should also take care of a couple of other things. For instance, you can consider making the visibility of your final video “Public” so that anyone on YouTube can watch it.

Besides that, it is also recommended to have the keyword “#Shorts” in the title of the video. You can also make the title of the video attractive and can even add a short description that would make your audience click on your YouTube video for sure.

Tip 10: Promote Your YouTube Shorts Video on Other Places

Lastly, posting the YouTube Shorts video is not enough, as you should also promote it to get more views. One of the best YouTube Shorts tips for promotion would be posting the snippet of the video as your Stories on YouTube.

You can also post your YouTube Shorts on other popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. by sharing their link. In this way, you can easily redirect your audience from other platforms and increase the visibility of your video.

Bonus Tip: Use a Professional Editor for Your YouTube Shorts Videos

As you can see after going through these YouTube Shorts tricks that the native tool of the app has limited editing options. Therefore, if you want to come up with better videos, then consider using a professional tool like Wondershare Filmora.

The desktop video editing tool has hundreds of filters, transitions, captions, stickers, and other effects to elevate the overall visual appeal of your videos. You can also access numerous AI-integrated features in Filmora and can directly export your videos in YouTube-compatible formats.

Conclusion

That’s a wrap, everyone! I’m sure that after following these expert YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, you can make the most of this newly added YouTube feature. You can consider following the above-listed YouTube Shorts tips to record your videos and make them interesting by adding sound and caption effects.

Though, if you want to make your videos even more appealing, then consider using a reliable and smart video editor like Wondershare Filmora.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

To make it easier for its audience to find crisp and entertaining content, YouTube has recently come up with a dedicated “Shorts” feature.

Ideally, any YouTube user can find the Shorts option on the app to watch interesting videos of 60 seconds or less. Though, it might take a lot of effort to make your YouTube Shorts videos appealing.

If you also want to go viral, then get to know about these YouTube Shorts tips that every content creator should follow.

YouTube Shorts Feature and Shorts Fund: Things to Know

Before we make you familiar with all kinds of YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, let’s cover some basics. Ideally, YouTube has recently come up with the Shorts feature to focus on short-length videos (and to rival Instagram Reels and TikTok).

You can now find the Shorts icon at the bottom panel on the YouTube app. Using it, you can watch or record short videos on YouTube easily. These are short-form clips of 60 seconds or less that you can create via the Shorts interface of the YouTube app.

The interface would let you record multiple videos at different intervals and add sound to your clips as well. Later, you can post these short clips on your channel to get more views on YouTube.

YouTube Shorts Fund

YouTube Shorts already hosts a massive number of more than 6 billion daily views as of now. To promote it, Google has come up with a YouTube Shorts Fund of $100M that would be rewarded to various content creators each month.

That is, a “Shorts Bonus” would be added to the account of content creators to appreciate their viral content.

Top 10 Tips for YouTube Shorts That You Must Follow

Now when we have covered all the basics, let’s get to know about some effective YouTube Shorts tricks that would help you come up with interesting content and get more audience for it.

Tip 1: Learn How to Shoot YouTube Shorts

Before you start posting videos on YouTube Shorts, you should know how the feature works. Ideally, you can find a dedicated option for Shorts from the bottom panel on the updated YouTube app. From here, you can watch Shorts or simply choose to create them as well.

You can give YouTube access to your smartphone camera before you start recording. To record anything, you can just tap and hold the red button (the recording icon) on the interface.

As you would release it, the recording would be stopped. In this way, you can seamlessly move from one scene to another without worrying about editing in post-production.

Tip 2: Stick to a Selective Niche

To have a consistent growth of audience on YouTube shorts, you should stick to a specific niche. If you search on YouTube, you can find short videos related to funny, inspirational, fitness, romantic, and all kinds of niches.

Most of the prominent content creators already apply these YouTube Shorts tips in which they first identify their target audience. Based on that, you can work on the type of content that you want to create and share to attain consistent growth on YouTube.

Tip 3: Add Appropriate Background Music to Your Short Videos

One of the best things about YouTube Shorts is that it lets us add a snippet of the music in the background, according to our content. Therefore, you must implement these tips for YouTube Shorts to make the most of this free feature of the app.

After recording your videos, you can tap on the “Sound” or the “Add Music” feature from the interface.

Now, YouTube will automatically load all kinds of trending music that you can use for free. If you want, you can enter the name of any song on the search option of YouTube shorts.

As you would select a track, it will automatically be loaded as the background music for your video. Though, you can also select a specific segment of the track and clip it accordingly to place it on your videos the way you like.

Tip 4: Insert Captions and Text Effects on Your Shorts

Apart from music, you can also add all kinds of text effects to make your YouTube Shorts videos appealing. After you have recorded a video, you can just tap on the text option from the bottom/side panel of the app.

You can now type anything and place it on the video to make it more interesting. If you want, you can also implement these YouTube Shorts tips to add subtitles or pre/post video captions without any hassle.

Tip 5: Adjust the Playback Speed of YouTube Shorts

Since a lot of content creators are coming up with YouTube Shorts, you would have to walk an extra mile to make them more appealing. In these YouTube Shorts tricks, I would recommend adjusting the playback speed of the video.

After recording the video, you can tap on the speed icon from the bottom/side panel. Here, you can make your videos play in slow motion or fast forward (in a range of 0.3x to 3x). This will add seamless speed control features to your videos without any technical issues.

Tip 6: Consider the Overall Length of Your Shorts Video

Even though the maximum length of the YouTube Shorts videos is 60 seconds, you don’t have to make it so long. If you look at most of the popular videos on YouTube Shorts, then you will find that they are of less than 30 seconds in length.

Remember, your goal is to come up with crisp and interesting content via YouTube Shorts. To implement these YouTube Shorts tips, you can consider the ideal length of 30-45 seconds and only have essential content in your videos.

Tip 7: Use the Timer Feature to Shoot Your Videos Correctly

A lot of people make the rookie mistake of shooting their videos for too long in Shorts. Therefore, if you want to implement these YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, then consider using the timer feature of the app.

Before shooting the video, you can tap on the timer button from the bottom and set up a preferred duration for it (like 10 or 15 seconds). In this way, you can be sure that you won’t go overboard and keep your videos short automatically.

Tip 8: Set a Preferred Target Audience for YouTube Shorts

Great! Now when you have recorded and edited your video by applying these tips for YouTube Shorts, you are ready to post them. While posting your videos, you would be asked whether the video is targeted at kids or not. If the video is made for kids, then you should select the relevant prompt, as YouTube would improve the overall visibility of your videos in this case.

Though, if your videos are targeted at adults, then you should go with the second option instead. This would help you reach out to your target audience on YouTube easily.

Tip 9: Post Your YouTube Shorts the Right Way

Apart from setting the audience preferences of your YouTube Shorts videos, you should also take care of a couple of other things. For instance, you can consider making the visibility of your final video “Public” so that anyone on YouTube can watch it.

Besides that, it is also recommended to have the keyword “#Shorts” in the title of the video. You can also make the title of the video attractive and can even add a short description that would make your audience click on your YouTube video for sure.

Tip 10: Promote Your YouTube Shorts Video on Other Places

Lastly, posting the YouTube Shorts video is not enough, as you should also promote it to get more views. One of the best YouTube Shorts tips for promotion would be posting the snippet of the video as your Stories on YouTube.

You can also post your YouTube Shorts on other popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. by sharing their link. In this way, you can easily redirect your audience from other platforms and increase the visibility of your video.

Bonus Tip: Use a Professional Editor for Your YouTube Shorts Videos

As you can see after going through these YouTube Shorts tricks that the native tool of the app has limited editing options. Therefore, if you want to come up with better videos, then consider using a professional tool like Wondershare Filmora.

The desktop video editing tool has hundreds of filters, transitions, captions, stickers, and other effects to elevate the overall visual appeal of your videos. You can also access numerous AI-integrated features in Filmora and can directly export your videos in YouTube-compatible formats.

Conclusion

That’s a wrap, everyone! I’m sure that after following these expert YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, you can make the most of this newly added YouTube feature. You can consider following the above-listed YouTube Shorts tips to record your videos and make them interesting by adding sound and caption effects.

Though, if you want to make your videos even more appealing, then consider using a reliable and smart video editor like Wondershare Filmora.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

To make it easier for its audience to find crisp and entertaining content, YouTube has recently come up with a dedicated “Shorts” feature.

Ideally, any YouTube user can find the Shorts option on the app to watch interesting videos of 60 seconds or less. Though, it might take a lot of effort to make your YouTube Shorts videos appealing.

If you also want to go viral, then get to know about these YouTube Shorts tips that every content creator should follow.

YouTube Shorts Feature and Shorts Fund: Things to Know

Before we make you familiar with all kinds of YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, let’s cover some basics. Ideally, YouTube has recently come up with the Shorts feature to focus on short-length videos (and to rival Instagram Reels and TikTok).

You can now find the Shorts icon at the bottom panel on the YouTube app. Using it, you can watch or record short videos on YouTube easily. These are short-form clips of 60 seconds or less that you can create via the Shorts interface of the YouTube app.

The interface would let you record multiple videos at different intervals and add sound to your clips as well. Later, you can post these short clips on your channel to get more views on YouTube.

YouTube Shorts Fund

YouTube Shorts already hosts a massive number of more than 6 billion daily views as of now. To promote it, Google has come up with a YouTube Shorts Fund of $100M that would be rewarded to various content creators each month.

That is, a “Shorts Bonus” would be added to the account of content creators to appreciate their viral content.

Top 10 Tips for YouTube Shorts That You Must Follow

Now when we have covered all the basics, let’s get to know about some effective YouTube Shorts tricks that would help you come up with interesting content and get more audience for it.

Tip 1: Learn How to Shoot YouTube Shorts

Before you start posting videos on YouTube Shorts, you should know how the feature works. Ideally, you can find a dedicated option for Shorts from the bottom panel on the updated YouTube app. From here, you can watch Shorts or simply choose to create them as well.

You can give YouTube access to your smartphone camera before you start recording. To record anything, you can just tap and hold the red button (the recording icon) on the interface.

As you would release it, the recording would be stopped. In this way, you can seamlessly move from one scene to another without worrying about editing in post-production.

Tip 2: Stick to a Selective Niche

To have a consistent growth of audience on YouTube shorts, you should stick to a specific niche. If you search on YouTube, you can find short videos related to funny, inspirational, fitness, romantic, and all kinds of niches.

Most of the prominent content creators already apply these YouTube Shorts tips in which they first identify their target audience. Based on that, you can work on the type of content that you want to create and share to attain consistent growth on YouTube.

Tip 3: Add Appropriate Background Music to Your Short Videos

One of the best things about YouTube Shorts is that it lets us add a snippet of the music in the background, according to our content. Therefore, you must implement these tips for YouTube Shorts to make the most of this free feature of the app.

After recording your videos, you can tap on the “Sound” or the “Add Music” feature from the interface.

Now, YouTube will automatically load all kinds of trending music that you can use for free. If you want, you can enter the name of any song on the search option of YouTube shorts.

As you would select a track, it will automatically be loaded as the background music for your video. Though, you can also select a specific segment of the track and clip it accordingly to place it on your videos the way you like.

Tip 4: Insert Captions and Text Effects on Your Shorts

Apart from music, you can also add all kinds of text effects to make your YouTube Shorts videos appealing. After you have recorded a video, you can just tap on the text option from the bottom/side panel of the app.

You can now type anything and place it on the video to make it more interesting. If you want, you can also implement these YouTube Shorts tips to add subtitles or pre/post video captions without any hassle.

Tip 5: Adjust the Playback Speed of YouTube Shorts

Since a lot of content creators are coming up with YouTube Shorts, you would have to walk an extra mile to make them more appealing. In these YouTube Shorts tricks, I would recommend adjusting the playback speed of the video.

After recording the video, you can tap on the speed icon from the bottom/side panel. Here, you can make your videos play in slow motion or fast forward (in a range of 0.3x to 3x). This will add seamless speed control features to your videos without any technical issues.

Tip 6: Consider the Overall Length of Your Shorts Video

Even though the maximum length of the YouTube Shorts videos is 60 seconds, you don’t have to make it so long. If you look at most of the popular videos on YouTube Shorts, then you will find that they are of less than 30 seconds in length.

Remember, your goal is to come up with crisp and interesting content via YouTube Shorts. To implement these YouTube Shorts tips, you can consider the ideal length of 30-45 seconds and only have essential content in your videos.

Tip 7: Use the Timer Feature to Shoot Your Videos Correctly

A lot of people make the rookie mistake of shooting their videos for too long in Shorts. Therefore, if you want to implement these YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, then consider using the timer feature of the app.

Before shooting the video, you can tap on the timer button from the bottom and set up a preferred duration for it (like 10 or 15 seconds). In this way, you can be sure that you won’t go overboard and keep your videos short automatically.

Tip 8: Set a Preferred Target Audience for YouTube Shorts

Great! Now when you have recorded and edited your video by applying these tips for YouTube Shorts, you are ready to post them. While posting your videos, you would be asked whether the video is targeted at kids or not. If the video is made for kids, then you should select the relevant prompt, as YouTube would improve the overall visibility of your videos in this case.

Though, if your videos are targeted at adults, then you should go with the second option instead. This would help you reach out to your target audience on YouTube easily.

Tip 9: Post Your YouTube Shorts the Right Way

Apart from setting the audience preferences of your YouTube Shorts videos, you should also take care of a couple of other things. For instance, you can consider making the visibility of your final video “Public” so that anyone on YouTube can watch it.

Besides that, it is also recommended to have the keyword “#Shorts” in the title of the video. You can also make the title of the video attractive and can even add a short description that would make your audience click on your YouTube video for sure.

Tip 10: Promote Your YouTube Shorts Video on Other Places

Lastly, posting the YouTube Shorts video is not enough, as you should also promote it to get more views. One of the best YouTube Shorts tips for promotion would be posting the snippet of the video as your Stories on YouTube.

You can also post your YouTube Shorts on other popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. by sharing their link. In this way, you can easily redirect your audience from other platforms and increase the visibility of your video.

Bonus Tip: Use a Professional Editor for Your YouTube Shorts Videos

As you can see after going through these YouTube Shorts tricks that the native tool of the app has limited editing options. Therefore, if you want to come up with better videos, then consider using a professional tool like Wondershare Filmora.

The desktop video editing tool has hundreds of filters, transitions, captions, stickers, and other effects to elevate the overall visual appeal of your videos. You can also access numerous AI-integrated features in Filmora and can directly export your videos in YouTube-compatible formats.

Conclusion

That’s a wrap, everyone! I’m sure that after following these expert YouTube Shorts tips and tricks, you can make the most of this newly added YouTube feature. You can consider following the above-listed YouTube Shorts tips to record your videos and make them interesting by adding sound and caption effects.

Though, if you want to make your videos even more appealing, then consider using a reliable and smart video editor like Wondershare Filmora.

Shanoon Cox

Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Shanoon Cox