YouTube is a gift that keeps on giving 📈. When you post a video on FB or IG, for instance, it’ll get nearly all its lifetime views in the first day or two as it circulates through the feeds. But after that:  it’s crickets 🦗

On YouTube, however, a well optimized video will amass views for days, weeks, months, or even years into the future. It’s a snowball effect! Fundamentally, the more people watch your video, the more YouTube promotes it—in the search results, explore pages, recommended next videos, and so on.

#TomFerry coaching member, @the.real.brad.mccallum, for instance, averages 22 minutes of cumulative watch time EVERY minute that passes—24 hours-a-day, seven days a week 🤯 Now, for starters, Brad’s videos are amazing—so it’s no surprise that they perform well. But besides that, if you analyze his top 10 videos in terms of most views month-after-month, for example, you’d notice many of the same videos make the list over and again. Why? Because on YouTube, it only get’s better w/ age!

Hence, it’s mission-critical to properly optimize your videos when uploading! Swipe through the images above for FIVE practical tips and PLEASE tag someone in a comment who could benefit from this post 🙏

1. Keyword-Rich Video Title: YouTube is a search engine. Search engines analyze “keywords” in a searcher’s query in order to rank the most relevant results. The title of your video is critical to its SEO. Use tools like TubeBuddy or VidIQ to assist or just start typing phrases into the search bar and analyze YouTube’s suggestions. Point is, whatever search term you want your video to rank on, that keyword (or phrase) needs to be in your video’s title.

2. Vocalize Your Keyword(s): YouTube listens and transcribes your videos. In other words, the platform knows the words you are (or aren’t) saying and can thus analyze whether or not the actual substance of your video aligns with the keyword(s) in its designated title. So... make it super easy for YouTube! Say your keyword(s): at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of your video.

3. Embed Video Chapters: YouTube is practically the only platform where long-form videos still prosper. Naturally, long videos tend to have more content packed in than short ones. Consider adding timed markers (like a table of contents) in the description of your video. Simply Type, “00:00 - Introduction” or “02:34 - First-Time Home Buyers” and it'll divide your video into chapters. This’ll give your video extra chances to rank on more search phrases.

4. Optimized Filename: This one’s super easy! Before you upload your video to YouTube, modify its filename to support your keywords. If the auto-generated filename is something like “1234567890.mp4,” rename it to something like “First-Time-Home-Purchase-2022.mp4.” Remember, YouTube is a search engine, so the clearer you are about your target search term or phrase, the greater YouTube’s confidence in your video’s relevance.

5. Clickable Thumbnail: Once published, your video may appear in the search results page, the Home feed, the Explore tab, the Subscriptions section, as a recommendation, or elsewhere. Whether or not prospective viewers click to watch your video is conclusive evidence of its relevance. If they click, great–if they don’t, YouTube may curb its reach. Your video’s thumbnail (i.e., the viewable image associated with it) is the primary factor to entice viewers to watch.