YouTube ranking – engagement is key.
Have you ever clicked on a video thumbnail that doesn’t turn out to be what you expected? The good news is that YouTube now penalises those who are not engaging viewers.
Because YouTube have changed their video recommendation algorithm, getting loads of hits but not retaining viewers will likely see your ranking plummet.
YouTube (as one of Google’s main goals) wants to deliver relevant, good content to the millions that use the site. So keep your thumbnail and description relevant and all will be fine, right? Not quite so fast. You need to think more strategically than that. Check out our other blogs on our site, especially ‘Content is king‘ for some tips on creating videos that engage.
How to take advantage of this change
Here are a few things that you will want to consider when producing content for YouTube to take advantage of this change:
- Keep your video relevant. This means try not to cover too many different aspects at once. If you start talking about something your viewer isn’t interested in, even if it comes later in your video, you’ll likely lose the viewer and hurt your audience retention.
- If you have several things to cover in your video, consider separating it into different videos and use annotations to link them – giving the viewer the choice.
- Don’t have a long intro and outtro. If you hang your logo on the screen for 20 seconds at the end of your minute video, people are more than likely going to drop off before the end. This will have a big impact on your viewer engagement. See our blog ‘Find out how engaging your videos are‘. Instead, stick to about 5 seconds and direct people to a link in the description. Then they will have watched your whole video and will have the ability to click straight through to an external link. Winner on both fronts.