Rise in the Rankings: Essential SEO for Video Creators

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

Essential GIF Tool Guide: Tips From the Experts

10 Best YouTube To GIF Makers: How to Create GIF from YouTube Video?

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) is an image file format supporting both uniform and animated images. Before, GIF was a basic 8-bit colored image until PNG image format was introduced as a more feasible alternative. Today, you can find them being used on all the trending social media applications like WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and various others.

The good thing here is that you can make GIFs from YouTube videos or any of your favorite videos for that matter which you think can help express your sentiments or ideas in an enhanced manner. There is a huge market available of apps and web software that can help create GIFs from YouTube without much trouble.

In this short guide ahead, we’ve brought for you the best YouTube to GIF maker available in the digital market. Let’s go GIF-ing!

Part 1: Best Online YouTube to GIFs Makers

Here is our curated list of the best 11 YouTube to GIF Maker that you can use to make GIF from YouTube video.

1. GIFS

Gifs.com is one the best GIF maker site that makes crafting GIFs from YouTube videos incredibly easy and quick with no time. If you’re looking for some straight and simple video to gif converter to help you convert YouTube videos into GIFs, this is the smoothest editor that will do the job and craft interesting gifs for your blogging platforms.

All you have to do is enter the URL of the video you want to convert into a GIF. At this point, the site accepts Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Vine links. In addition to that, there is also an option that allows users to upload from the desktop computer.

Once you’ve entered the YouTube video URL, it prompts a basic video editor wherein you select the frame and durations for your GIF. If you want to customize it further, you can add stickers, captions, and tools like blurring, cropping, and others.

Once you’re done exploring the filters and editing the GIF, you can directly share the URL on different platforms or just download it and store it on your device.

Note: If you want to remove the watermark and get full access to extra features, you may need to pay $1.99/month.

You can check the gif that I made from our YouTube video How to Edit Galaxy Effects with Green Screen | Wondershare FilmoraPro Tutorial on gifs.com here: https://gifs.com/gif/36RNn9 .

2. GIPHY

Giphy, as we all know, is the most used search engine for GIFs due to its limitless collection. Giphy here maintains its own GIF maker to create your customized GIFs effortlessly. The Giphy online GIF maker is quite simple and easy to use; it also has steadfast mobile applications for both Android and iOS devices.

To begin converting YouTube videos into GIFs, click the Create button at the top and then you can either enter the URL or upload images/videos from local files. This GIF maker only accepts JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4, and MOV for people uploading images or videos.

Then, trim the part from the video you want to convert into a GIF. Later, you can embellish your GIFs by adding filters, tags, text captions, and stickers to make them look eye-catching. If you’re looking for a clean and simple GIF maker, then Giphy GIF maker is the perfect choice for you.

Here is the gig that I made with Giphy: https://media.giphy.com/media/2Dtlp2MAXtoC0EyMsx/giphy.gif .

3. GIFit!

GIFit is a well-known online extension available on the Chrome Web Store for free that aids in making GIFs from YouTube videos. The GIFit extension has been recently updated to work with the new YouTube interface to help you craft Gifs smoothly. One thing to remember about GIFit is that with YouTube HTML5 mode only.

To use this Chrome extension, install it from the Chrome Web Store. Now, run the attachment and visit any video on YouTube that you would like to convert into GIF. Once decided, simply press on the GIFit icon in the YouTube toolbar. Then, edit according to your requirements and hit the red button with GIFit on it. After a few minutes, your GIF will be ready to be shared and saved. Currently, it offers convert YouTube to GIF feature only, so you can’t add stickers nor captions.

4. Make A GIF

Makeagif is an ideal online GIF maker for you that can convert videos into animated GIFs in no time. It allows you to create GIFs using local images, YouTube, Facebook, and Webcam. Makeagif even will enable you to develop new GIFs using the already existing ones.

The GIF maker also comes with a variety of free GIFs to download and add to your collection. Moreover, it allows you to edit existing GIFs by enhancing their quality, speed and adding filters to them. It offers functions that can enrich the standard of your GIFs.

To create GIFs using this, first, create your account on the site. Next, select the ‘YouTube to GIF’ option from the drop-down menu, among other alternatives. Then, enter the link to the YouTube video that you wish to transfigure into GIF, after which you can tailor-make the gifs by adjusting the configuration settings, such as adding captions and sticker. Once done, simply download and share your newly crafted GIF.

5. Imgur

Imgur might not be the best application to be included in the list. But it is definitely an amazing site where you can go looking for all kinds of images, Gifs, memes, or other digital stories. Imgur’s wide collection of visuals can never disappoint you, no matter what you’re searching for, from funny to sad, inspiring to aspiring, everything can be discovered in this treasure.

Now, this might not be the best YouTube to gif maker, but it does have the potential to provide you with great ideas for GIF-making. Besides, you can download all the interesting GIfs from here and save them for future reference.

6. GiFRun

Are you worried about searching for a gif converter with no prior experience in editing? Don’t worry; this GiFRun Maker is the simplest online service that requires minimum to zero skill for creating GIFs. GifRun is an easy enough site to navigate through and produce quality GIFs for your blogging sites.

To convert a YouTube video to GIF, simply enter the link. After that, it will prompt you to the editing page, where you can set the start/end time, duration, and resolution for your gif. You can preview your edit before finalizing it, making necessary changes, and then downloading it on your device.

7. Free Gif Maker Me

Free Gif maker is one of the straightforward and easily manageable GIF-making applications. It offers YouTube to gif, reverse gif, and gif effects tools to enhance your GIF quality and make it effortless to create your own GIFs.

To make GIF from YT Video on free Gif Maker, copy the video link in the input text field in the middle of your screen and then tap on ‘Load YouTube Video.’ Within seconds you will be redirected to the video preview and GIF editing page. Now, set the duration, start time, resolution, output, and other details. Then, click on the ‘Make A GIF’ option and save it on your device once ready.

8. Imgflip

Another website is known for creating and sharing visual content on different social media channels. Imgflip allows you to make customized animations from YouTube and other digital platforms. The site is completely safe to use and produces good-quality memes and GIFs quickly without incurring a dime.

Imgflip supports all the popular video formats such as AVI, MP4, 3GP, OGG, FLV, MOV, and various other video formats. To produce a high-quality GIF, make sure your video is at least 480P or higher. More so, the Imgflip supports GIF with audio features of all the videos with audio that can only be accessed using the Imgflip Pro at a minimum price of $9.95/ month.

9. GIF Maker

GIF Maker is a pretty basic application that everyone can navigate with or without any expertise in the tech department. Along with GIF maker, it also has other tools such as GIF resizer, GIF compressor, and GIF cropper, all specifically designed tools to help you create riveting GIFs ever!

GIF Maker provides two options; one video to gif and second Images to gif that you can use as per their need. One simply is to enter the YT video link/upload video to the upload box. Next, alter the animation, filter, speed, duration, and set start and endpoint in the editor. You can upload files in all the popular formats and upload up to 25Mb image files and 30 Mb for animated GIFs.

Another point to remember while using this GIF Maker, it only supports YT videos that have not been copy-righted by the creator.

Part 2: Best YouTube to GIF Maker on Windows and Mac: Wondershare UniConverter

It happens so that you stumble upon a video that runs the hippocampus of your brain rigid with ingenious abstractions about converting the video into GIF to delineate those ideas through digital content on your blogs.

Now, you will require the best-quality GIF maker that is easy to navigate without any complications. Despite the plethora of GIF makers being available at hand, it could be a strenuous task to search for the ideal GIF maker for yourself.

Presently, Wondershare UniConverter is one of the best and easy-to-use YouTube to GIF makers for you. It is the handiest tool to help you accomplish your conversion, customization, compressing, and revamping goals like a professional with its effective editing features. Wondershare offers many benefits, from converting files in hundred different formats to crafting your one GIF out of videos along with other fundamental editing attributes.

How to User UniConverter Video to GIF Maker?

Step 1: Download and install the Wondershare Converter on your device. Now, run the app and launch the Wondershare GIF Maker by selecting the GIF Maker Icon on the toolbar.

Step 2: Click on the Video to GIF option before tapping on the Add File option to upload YT video for GIF conversion.

Step 3: Next, you can customize your uploaded video by setting the start and end time. In addition to that, you can enter the frame rate and output size according to your requirement.

Step 4: Once finished with all the customization, convert the YouTube video into a GIF by tapping the Create GIF option.

Step 5: Ta-da! UniConverter will transform your YT video into a GIF within a minute or two. You can now export and share the GIF further.

That’s right, with five easy steps, you can convert all your favorite YouTube video into GIF with this YouTube to GIF maker.

Without any doubt, I can say that usage of GIFs during your regular texting and socialization can make your conversations more interesting. GIFs are the best shortcuts to express your mood, emotions, and humor without having to type much. No other digital medium provides an avenue that offers such proficiency in demonstrating your emotions, possibly the reason behind its escalating popularity.

With the help of this little guide, you can create gif from YouTube videos with a wave of your hand! I hope you’ve fun GIF-ing!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) is an image file format supporting both uniform and animated images. Before, GIF was a basic 8-bit colored image until PNG image format was introduced as a more feasible alternative. Today, you can find them being used on all the trending social media applications like WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and various others.

The good thing here is that you can make GIFs from YouTube videos or any of your favorite videos for that matter which you think can help express your sentiments or ideas in an enhanced manner. There is a huge market available of apps and web software that can help create GIFs from YouTube without much trouble.

In this short guide ahead, we’ve brought for you the best YouTube to GIF maker available in the digital market. Let’s go GIF-ing!

Part 1: Best Online YouTube to GIFs Makers

Here is our curated list of the best 11 YouTube to GIF Maker that you can use to make GIF from YouTube video.

1. GIFS

Gifs.com is one the best GIF maker site that makes crafting GIFs from YouTube videos incredibly easy and quick with no time. If you’re looking for some straight and simple video to gif converter to help you convert YouTube videos into GIFs, this is the smoothest editor that will do the job and craft interesting gifs for your blogging platforms.

All you have to do is enter the URL of the video you want to convert into a GIF. At this point, the site accepts Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Vine links. In addition to that, there is also an option that allows users to upload from the desktop computer.

Once you’ve entered the YouTube video URL, it prompts a basic video editor wherein you select the frame and durations for your GIF. If you want to customize it further, you can add stickers, captions, and tools like blurring, cropping, and others.

Once you’re done exploring the filters and editing the GIF, you can directly share the URL on different platforms or just download it and store it on your device.

Note: If you want to remove the watermark and get full access to extra features, you may need to pay $1.99/month.

You can check the gif that I made from our YouTube video How to Edit Galaxy Effects with Green Screen | Wondershare FilmoraPro Tutorial on gifs.com here: https://gifs.com/gif/36RNn9 .

2. GIPHY

Giphy, as we all know, is the most used search engine for GIFs due to its limitless collection. Giphy here maintains its own GIF maker to create your customized GIFs effortlessly. The Giphy online GIF maker is quite simple and easy to use; it also has steadfast mobile applications for both Android and iOS devices.

To begin converting YouTube videos into GIFs, click the Create button at the top and then you can either enter the URL or upload images/videos from local files. This GIF maker only accepts JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4, and MOV for people uploading images or videos.

Then, trim the part from the video you want to convert into a GIF. Later, you can embellish your GIFs by adding filters, tags, text captions, and stickers to make them look eye-catching. If you’re looking for a clean and simple GIF maker, then Giphy GIF maker is the perfect choice for you.

Here is the gig that I made with Giphy: https://media.giphy.com/media/2Dtlp2MAXtoC0EyMsx/giphy.gif .

3. GIFit!

GIFit is a well-known online extension available on the Chrome Web Store for free that aids in making GIFs from YouTube videos. The GIFit extension has been recently updated to work with the new YouTube interface to help you craft Gifs smoothly. One thing to remember about GIFit is that with YouTube HTML5 mode only.

To use this Chrome extension, install it from the Chrome Web Store. Now, run the attachment and visit any video on YouTube that you would like to convert into GIF. Once decided, simply press on the GIFit icon in the YouTube toolbar. Then, edit according to your requirements and hit the red button with GIFit on it. After a few minutes, your GIF will be ready to be shared and saved. Currently, it offers convert YouTube to GIF feature only, so you can’t add stickers nor captions.

4. Make A GIF

Makeagif is an ideal online GIF maker for you that can convert videos into animated GIFs in no time. It allows you to create GIFs using local images, YouTube, Facebook, and Webcam. Makeagif even will enable you to develop new GIFs using the already existing ones.

The GIF maker also comes with a variety of free GIFs to download and add to your collection. Moreover, it allows you to edit existing GIFs by enhancing their quality, speed and adding filters to them. It offers functions that can enrich the standard of your GIFs.

To create GIFs using this, first, create your account on the site. Next, select the ‘YouTube to GIF’ option from the drop-down menu, among other alternatives. Then, enter the link to the YouTube video that you wish to transfigure into GIF, after which you can tailor-make the gifs by adjusting the configuration settings, such as adding captions and sticker. Once done, simply download and share your newly crafted GIF.

5. Imgur

Imgur might not be the best application to be included in the list. But it is definitely an amazing site where you can go looking for all kinds of images, Gifs, memes, or other digital stories. Imgur’s wide collection of visuals can never disappoint you, no matter what you’re searching for, from funny to sad, inspiring to aspiring, everything can be discovered in this treasure.

Now, this might not be the best YouTube to gif maker, but it does have the potential to provide you with great ideas for GIF-making. Besides, you can download all the interesting GIfs from here and save them for future reference.

6. GiFRun

Are you worried about searching for a gif converter with no prior experience in editing? Don’t worry; this GiFRun Maker is the simplest online service that requires minimum to zero skill for creating GIFs. GifRun is an easy enough site to navigate through and produce quality GIFs for your blogging sites.

To convert a YouTube video to GIF, simply enter the link. After that, it will prompt you to the editing page, where you can set the start/end time, duration, and resolution for your gif. You can preview your edit before finalizing it, making necessary changes, and then downloading it on your device.

7. Free Gif Maker Me

Free Gif maker is one of the straightforward and easily manageable GIF-making applications. It offers YouTube to gif, reverse gif, and gif effects tools to enhance your GIF quality and make it effortless to create your own GIFs.

To make GIF from YT Video on free Gif Maker, copy the video link in the input text field in the middle of your screen and then tap on ‘Load YouTube Video.’ Within seconds you will be redirected to the video preview and GIF editing page. Now, set the duration, start time, resolution, output, and other details. Then, click on the ‘Make A GIF’ option and save it on your device once ready.

8. Imgflip

Another website is known for creating and sharing visual content on different social media channels. Imgflip allows you to make customized animations from YouTube and other digital platforms. The site is completely safe to use and produces good-quality memes and GIFs quickly without incurring a dime.

Imgflip supports all the popular video formats such as AVI, MP4, 3GP, OGG, FLV, MOV, and various other video formats. To produce a high-quality GIF, make sure your video is at least 480P or higher. More so, the Imgflip supports GIF with audio features of all the videos with audio that can only be accessed using the Imgflip Pro at a minimum price of $9.95/ month.

9. GIF Maker

GIF Maker is a pretty basic application that everyone can navigate with or without any expertise in the tech department. Along with GIF maker, it also has other tools such as GIF resizer, GIF compressor, and GIF cropper, all specifically designed tools to help you create riveting GIFs ever!

GIF Maker provides two options; one video to gif and second Images to gif that you can use as per their need. One simply is to enter the YT video link/upload video to the upload box. Next, alter the animation, filter, speed, duration, and set start and endpoint in the editor. You can upload files in all the popular formats and upload up to 25Mb image files and 30 Mb for animated GIFs.

Another point to remember while using this GIF Maker, it only supports YT videos that have not been copy-righted by the creator.

Part 2: Best YouTube to GIF Maker on Windows and Mac: Wondershare UniConverter

It happens so that you stumble upon a video that runs the hippocampus of your brain rigid with ingenious abstractions about converting the video into GIF to delineate those ideas through digital content on your blogs.

Now, you will require the best-quality GIF maker that is easy to navigate without any complications. Despite the plethora of GIF makers being available at hand, it could be a strenuous task to search for the ideal GIF maker for yourself.

Presently, Wondershare UniConverter is one of the best and easy-to-use YouTube to GIF makers for you. It is the handiest tool to help you accomplish your conversion, customization, compressing, and revamping goals like a professional with its effective editing features. Wondershare offers many benefits, from converting files in hundred different formats to crafting your one GIF out of videos along with other fundamental editing attributes.

How to User UniConverter Video to GIF Maker?

Step 1: Download and install the Wondershare Converter on your device. Now, run the app and launch the Wondershare GIF Maker by selecting the GIF Maker Icon on the toolbar.

Step 2: Click on the Video to GIF option before tapping on the Add File option to upload YT video for GIF conversion.

Step 3: Next, you can customize your uploaded video by setting the start and end time. In addition to that, you can enter the frame rate and output size according to your requirement.

Step 4: Once finished with all the customization, convert the YouTube video into a GIF by tapping the Create GIF option.

Step 5: Ta-da! UniConverter will transform your YT video into a GIF within a minute or two. You can now export and share the GIF further.

That’s right, with five easy steps, you can convert all your favorite YouTube video into GIF with this YouTube to GIF maker.

Without any doubt, I can say that usage of GIFs during your regular texting and socialization can make your conversations more interesting. GIFs are the best shortcuts to express your mood, emotions, and humor without having to type much. No other digital medium provides an avenue that offers such proficiency in demonstrating your emotions, possibly the reason behind its escalating popularity.

With the help of this little guide, you can create gif from YouTube videos with a wave of your hand! I hope you’ve fun GIF-ing!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) is an image file format supporting both uniform and animated images. Before, GIF was a basic 8-bit colored image until PNG image format was introduced as a more feasible alternative. Today, you can find them being used on all the trending social media applications like WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and various others.

The good thing here is that you can make GIFs from YouTube videos or any of your favorite videos for that matter which you think can help express your sentiments or ideas in an enhanced manner. There is a huge market available of apps and web software that can help create GIFs from YouTube without much trouble.

In this short guide ahead, we’ve brought for you the best YouTube to GIF maker available in the digital market. Let’s go GIF-ing!

Part 1: Best Online YouTube to GIFs Makers

Here is our curated list of the best 11 YouTube to GIF Maker that you can use to make GIF from YouTube video.

1. GIFS

Gifs.com is one the best GIF maker site that makes crafting GIFs from YouTube videos incredibly easy and quick with no time. If you’re looking for some straight and simple video to gif converter to help you convert YouTube videos into GIFs, this is the smoothest editor that will do the job and craft interesting gifs for your blogging platforms.

All you have to do is enter the URL of the video you want to convert into a GIF. At this point, the site accepts Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Vine links. In addition to that, there is also an option that allows users to upload from the desktop computer.

Once you’ve entered the YouTube video URL, it prompts a basic video editor wherein you select the frame and durations for your GIF. If you want to customize it further, you can add stickers, captions, and tools like blurring, cropping, and others.

Once you’re done exploring the filters and editing the GIF, you can directly share the URL on different platforms or just download it and store it on your device.

Note: If you want to remove the watermark and get full access to extra features, you may need to pay $1.99/month.

You can check the gif that I made from our YouTube video How to Edit Galaxy Effects with Green Screen | Wondershare FilmoraPro Tutorial on gifs.com here: https://gifs.com/gif/36RNn9 .

2. GIPHY

Giphy, as we all know, is the most used search engine for GIFs due to its limitless collection. Giphy here maintains its own GIF maker to create your customized GIFs effortlessly. The Giphy online GIF maker is quite simple and easy to use; it also has steadfast mobile applications for both Android and iOS devices.

To begin converting YouTube videos into GIFs, click the Create button at the top and then you can either enter the URL or upload images/videos from local files. This GIF maker only accepts JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4, and MOV for people uploading images or videos.

Then, trim the part from the video you want to convert into a GIF. Later, you can embellish your GIFs by adding filters, tags, text captions, and stickers to make them look eye-catching. If you’re looking for a clean and simple GIF maker, then Giphy GIF maker is the perfect choice for you.

Here is the gig that I made with Giphy: https://media.giphy.com/media/2Dtlp2MAXtoC0EyMsx/giphy.gif .

3. GIFit!

GIFit is a well-known online extension available on the Chrome Web Store for free that aids in making GIFs from YouTube videos. The GIFit extension has been recently updated to work with the new YouTube interface to help you craft Gifs smoothly. One thing to remember about GIFit is that with YouTube HTML5 mode only.

To use this Chrome extension, install it from the Chrome Web Store. Now, run the attachment and visit any video on YouTube that you would like to convert into GIF. Once decided, simply press on the GIFit icon in the YouTube toolbar. Then, edit according to your requirements and hit the red button with GIFit on it. After a few minutes, your GIF will be ready to be shared and saved. Currently, it offers convert YouTube to GIF feature only, so you can’t add stickers nor captions.

4. Make A GIF

Makeagif is an ideal online GIF maker for you that can convert videos into animated GIFs in no time. It allows you to create GIFs using local images, YouTube, Facebook, and Webcam. Makeagif even will enable you to develop new GIFs using the already existing ones.

The GIF maker also comes with a variety of free GIFs to download and add to your collection. Moreover, it allows you to edit existing GIFs by enhancing their quality, speed and adding filters to them. It offers functions that can enrich the standard of your GIFs.

To create GIFs using this, first, create your account on the site. Next, select the ‘YouTube to GIF’ option from the drop-down menu, among other alternatives. Then, enter the link to the YouTube video that you wish to transfigure into GIF, after which you can tailor-make the gifs by adjusting the configuration settings, such as adding captions and sticker. Once done, simply download and share your newly crafted GIF.

5. Imgur

Imgur might not be the best application to be included in the list. But it is definitely an amazing site where you can go looking for all kinds of images, Gifs, memes, or other digital stories. Imgur’s wide collection of visuals can never disappoint you, no matter what you’re searching for, from funny to sad, inspiring to aspiring, everything can be discovered in this treasure.

Now, this might not be the best YouTube to gif maker, but it does have the potential to provide you with great ideas for GIF-making. Besides, you can download all the interesting GIfs from here and save them for future reference.

6. GiFRun

Are you worried about searching for a gif converter with no prior experience in editing? Don’t worry; this GiFRun Maker is the simplest online service that requires minimum to zero skill for creating GIFs. GifRun is an easy enough site to navigate through and produce quality GIFs for your blogging sites.

To convert a YouTube video to GIF, simply enter the link. After that, it will prompt you to the editing page, where you can set the start/end time, duration, and resolution for your gif. You can preview your edit before finalizing it, making necessary changes, and then downloading it on your device.

7. Free Gif Maker Me

Free Gif maker is one of the straightforward and easily manageable GIF-making applications. It offers YouTube to gif, reverse gif, and gif effects tools to enhance your GIF quality and make it effortless to create your own GIFs.

To make GIF from YT Video on free Gif Maker, copy the video link in the input text field in the middle of your screen and then tap on ‘Load YouTube Video.’ Within seconds you will be redirected to the video preview and GIF editing page. Now, set the duration, start time, resolution, output, and other details. Then, click on the ‘Make A GIF’ option and save it on your device once ready.

8. Imgflip

Another website is known for creating and sharing visual content on different social media channels. Imgflip allows you to make customized animations from YouTube and other digital platforms. The site is completely safe to use and produces good-quality memes and GIFs quickly without incurring a dime.

Imgflip supports all the popular video formats such as AVI, MP4, 3GP, OGG, FLV, MOV, and various other video formats. To produce a high-quality GIF, make sure your video is at least 480P or higher. More so, the Imgflip supports GIF with audio features of all the videos with audio that can only be accessed using the Imgflip Pro at a minimum price of $9.95/ month.

9. GIF Maker

GIF Maker is a pretty basic application that everyone can navigate with or without any expertise in the tech department. Along with GIF maker, it also has other tools such as GIF resizer, GIF compressor, and GIF cropper, all specifically designed tools to help you create riveting GIFs ever!

GIF Maker provides two options; one video to gif and second Images to gif that you can use as per their need. One simply is to enter the YT video link/upload video to the upload box. Next, alter the animation, filter, speed, duration, and set start and endpoint in the editor. You can upload files in all the popular formats and upload up to 25Mb image files and 30 Mb for animated GIFs.

Another point to remember while using this GIF Maker, it only supports YT videos that have not been copy-righted by the creator.

Part 2: Best YouTube to GIF Maker on Windows and Mac: Wondershare UniConverter

It happens so that you stumble upon a video that runs the hippocampus of your brain rigid with ingenious abstractions about converting the video into GIF to delineate those ideas through digital content on your blogs.

Now, you will require the best-quality GIF maker that is easy to navigate without any complications. Despite the plethora of GIF makers being available at hand, it could be a strenuous task to search for the ideal GIF maker for yourself.

Presently, Wondershare UniConverter is one of the best and easy-to-use YouTube to GIF makers for you. It is the handiest tool to help you accomplish your conversion, customization, compressing, and revamping goals like a professional with its effective editing features. Wondershare offers many benefits, from converting files in hundred different formats to crafting your one GIF out of videos along with other fundamental editing attributes.

How to User UniConverter Video to GIF Maker?

Step 1: Download and install the Wondershare Converter on your device. Now, run the app and launch the Wondershare GIF Maker by selecting the GIF Maker Icon on the toolbar.

Step 2: Click on the Video to GIF option before tapping on the Add File option to upload YT video for GIF conversion.

Step 3: Next, you can customize your uploaded video by setting the start and end time. In addition to that, you can enter the frame rate and output size according to your requirement.

Step 4: Once finished with all the customization, convert the YouTube video into a GIF by tapping the Create GIF option.

Step 5: Ta-da! UniConverter will transform your YT video into a GIF within a minute or two. You can now export and share the GIF further.

That’s right, with five easy steps, you can convert all your favorite YouTube video into GIF with this YouTube to GIF maker.

Without any doubt, I can say that usage of GIFs during your regular texting and socialization can make your conversations more interesting. GIFs are the best shortcuts to express your mood, emotions, and humor without having to type much. No other digital medium provides an avenue that offers such proficiency in demonstrating your emotions, possibly the reason behind its escalating popularity.

With the help of this little guide, you can create gif from YouTube videos with a wave of your hand! I hope you’ve fun GIF-ing!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

GIF (Graphic Interchange Format) is an image file format supporting both uniform and animated images. Before, GIF was a basic 8-bit colored image until PNG image format was introduced as a more feasible alternative. Today, you can find them being used on all the trending social media applications like WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, and various others.

The good thing here is that you can make GIFs from YouTube videos or any of your favorite videos for that matter which you think can help express your sentiments or ideas in an enhanced manner. There is a huge market available of apps and web software that can help create GIFs from YouTube without much trouble.

In this short guide ahead, we’ve brought for you the best YouTube to GIF maker available in the digital market. Let’s go GIF-ing!

Part 1: Best Online YouTube to GIFs Makers

Here is our curated list of the best 11 YouTube to GIF Maker that you can use to make GIF from YouTube video.

1. GIFS

Gifs.com is one the best GIF maker site that makes crafting GIFs from YouTube videos incredibly easy and quick with no time. If you’re looking for some straight and simple video to gif converter to help you convert YouTube videos into GIFs, this is the smoothest editor that will do the job and craft interesting gifs for your blogging platforms.

All you have to do is enter the URL of the video you want to convert into a GIF. At this point, the site accepts Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and Vine links. In addition to that, there is also an option that allows users to upload from the desktop computer.

Once you’ve entered the YouTube video URL, it prompts a basic video editor wherein you select the frame and durations for your GIF. If you want to customize it further, you can add stickers, captions, and tools like blurring, cropping, and others.

Once you’re done exploring the filters and editing the GIF, you can directly share the URL on different platforms or just download it and store it on your device.

Note: If you want to remove the watermark and get full access to extra features, you may need to pay $1.99/month.

You can check the gif that I made from our YouTube video How to Edit Galaxy Effects with Green Screen | Wondershare FilmoraPro Tutorial on gifs.com here: https://gifs.com/gif/36RNn9 .

2. GIPHY

Giphy, as we all know, is the most used search engine for GIFs due to its limitless collection. Giphy here maintains its own GIF maker to create your customized GIFs effortlessly. The Giphy online GIF maker is quite simple and easy to use; it also has steadfast mobile applications for both Android and iOS devices.

To begin converting YouTube videos into GIFs, click the Create button at the top and then you can either enter the URL or upload images/videos from local files. This GIF maker only accepts JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4, and MOV for people uploading images or videos.

Then, trim the part from the video you want to convert into a GIF. Later, you can embellish your GIFs by adding filters, tags, text captions, and stickers to make them look eye-catching. If you’re looking for a clean and simple GIF maker, then Giphy GIF maker is the perfect choice for you.

Here is the gig that I made with Giphy: https://media.giphy.com/media/2Dtlp2MAXtoC0EyMsx/giphy.gif .

3. GIFit!

GIFit is a well-known online extension available on the Chrome Web Store for free that aids in making GIFs from YouTube videos. The GIFit extension has been recently updated to work with the new YouTube interface to help you craft Gifs smoothly. One thing to remember about GIFit is that with YouTube HTML5 mode only.

To use this Chrome extension, install it from the Chrome Web Store. Now, run the attachment and visit any video on YouTube that you would like to convert into GIF. Once decided, simply press on the GIFit icon in the YouTube toolbar. Then, edit according to your requirements and hit the red button with GIFit on it. After a few minutes, your GIF will be ready to be shared and saved. Currently, it offers convert YouTube to GIF feature only, so you can’t add stickers nor captions.

4. Make A GIF

Makeagif is an ideal online GIF maker for you that can convert videos into animated GIFs in no time. It allows you to create GIFs using local images, YouTube, Facebook, and Webcam. Makeagif even will enable you to develop new GIFs using the already existing ones.

The GIF maker also comes with a variety of free GIFs to download and add to your collection. Moreover, it allows you to edit existing GIFs by enhancing their quality, speed and adding filters to them. It offers functions that can enrich the standard of your GIFs.

To create GIFs using this, first, create your account on the site. Next, select the ‘YouTube to GIF’ option from the drop-down menu, among other alternatives. Then, enter the link to the YouTube video that you wish to transfigure into GIF, after which you can tailor-make the gifs by adjusting the configuration settings, such as adding captions and sticker. Once done, simply download and share your newly crafted GIF.

5. Imgur

Imgur might not be the best application to be included in the list. But it is definitely an amazing site where you can go looking for all kinds of images, Gifs, memes, or other digital stories. Imgur’s wide collection of visuals can never disappoint you, no matter what you’re searching for, from funny to sad, inspiring to aspiring, everything can be discovered in this treasure.

Now, this might not be the best YouTube to gif maker, but it does have the potential to provide you with great ideas for GIF-making. Besides, you can download all the interesting GIfs from here and save them for future reference.

6. GiFRun

Are you worried about searching for a gif converter with no prior experience in editing? Don’t worry; this GiFRun Maker is the simplest online service that requires minimum to zero skill for creating GIFs. GifRun is an easy enough site to navigate through and produce quality GIFs for your blogging sites.

To convert a YouTube video to GIF, simply enter the link. After that, it will prompt you to the editing page, where you can set the start/end time, duration, and resolution for your gif. You can preview your edit before finalizing it, making necessary changes, and then downloading it on your device.

7. Free Gif Maker Me

Free Gif maker is one of the straightforward and easily manageable GIF-making applications. It offers YouTube to gif, reverse gif, and gif effects tools to enhance your GIF quality and make it effortless to create your own GIFs.

To make GIF from YT Video on free Gif Maker, copy the video link in the input text field in the middle of your screen and then tap on ‘Load YouTube Video.’ Within seconds you will be redirected to the video preview and GIF editing page. Now, set the duration, start time, resolution, output, and other details. Then, click on the ‘Make A GIF’ option and save it on your device once ready.

8. Imgflip

Another website is known for creating and sharing visual content on different social media channels. Imgflip allows you to make customized animations from YouTube and other digital platforms. The site is completely safe to use and produces good-quality memes and GIFs quickly without incurring a dime.

Imgflip supports all the popular video formats such as AVI, MP4, 3GP, OGG, FLV, MOV, and various other video formats. To produce a high-quality GIF, make sure your video is at least 480P or higher. More so, the Imgflip supports GIF with audio features of all the videos with audio that can only be accessed using the Imgflip Pro at a minimum price of $9.95/ month.

9. GIF Maker

GIF Maker is a pretty basic application that everyone can navigate with or without any expertise in the tech department. Along with GIF maker, it also has other tools such as GIF resizer, GIF compressor, and GIF cropper, all specifically designed tools to help you create riveting GIFs ever!

GIF Maker provides two options; one video to gif and second Images to gif that you can use as per their need. One simply is to enter the YT video link/upload video to the upload box. Next, alter the animation, filter, speed, duration, and set start and endpoint in the editor. You can upload files in all the popular formats and upload up to 25Mb image files and 30 Mb for animated GIFs.

Another point to remember while using this GIF Maker, it only supports YT videos that have not been copy-righted by the creator.

Part 2: Best YouTube to GIF Maker on Windows and Mac: Wondershare UniConverter

It happens so that you stumble upon a video that runs the hippocampus of your brain rigid with ingenious abstractions about converting the video into GIF to delineate those ideas through digital content on your blogs.

Now, you will require the best-quality GIF maker that is easy to navigate without any complications. Despite the plethora of GIF makers being available at hand, it could be a strenuous task to search for the ideal GIF maker for yourself.

Presently, Wondershare UniConverter is one of the best and easy-to-use YouTube to GIF makers for you. It is the handiest tool to help you accomplish your conversion, customization, compressing, and revamping goals like a professional with its effective editing features. Wondershare offers many benefits, from converting files in hundred different formats to crafting your one GIF out of videos along with other fundamental editing attributes.

How to User UniConverter Video to GIF Maker?

Step 1: Download and install the Wondershare Converter on your device. Now, run the app and launch the Wondershare GIF Maker by selecting the GIF Maker Icon on the toolbar.

Step 2: Click on the Video to GIF option before tapping on the Add File option to upload YT video for GIF conversion.

Step 3: Next, you can customize your uploaded video by setting the start and end time. In addition to that, you can enter the frame rate and output size according to your requirement.

Step 4: Once finished with all the customization, convert the YouTube video into a GIF by tapping the Create GIF option.

Step 5: Ta-da! UniConverter will transform your YT video into a GIF within a minute or two. You can now export and share the GIF further.

That’s right, with five easy steps, you can convert all your favorite YouTube video into GIF with this YouTube to GIF maker.

Without any doubt, I can say that usage of GIFs during your regular texting and socialization can make your conversations more interesting. GIFs are the best shortcuts to express your mood, emotions, and humor without having to type much. No other digital medium provides an avenue that offers such proficiency in demonstrating your emotions, possibly the reason behind its escalating popularity.

With the help of this little guide, you can create gif from YouTube videos with a wave of your hand! I hope you’ve fun GIF-ing!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett