Hitting the Sweet Spot: Top 5 Tips for Channel Growth

5 Tips to Get More Views with YouTube Optimization [Free Checklist]

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

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We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a

In this article, we will give you a checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.

How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention
2. Do Keyword Research
3. Engage Your Audience
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length

1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:

Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.

Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.

Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access to Analytics
3. Select the video you want to review
4. Click into engagement
5. See where a dip in watch time

What is Good Audience Retention?

If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.

If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.

In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.

There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.

If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.

How to Improve Audience Retention

Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:

- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)

- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)

- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)

- Edit out the unimportant stuff

- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.

If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.

Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.

2. Do Keyword Research:

Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.

Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?

- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.

- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.

- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.

Why Keywords Matter

keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.

Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.

That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.

Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:

1. Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
2. Access Analytics
3. Select Reach
4. Click into Traffic Source
5. Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search

If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.

1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.

2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.

3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.

Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.

Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.

Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.

4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.

3. Engage Your Audience:

It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.

While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.

Here is an example of how it would work:

- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it

- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.

- Boom! Domino effect!

- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.

Get engagements with a call to action:

- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.

- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.

- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.

It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.

4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:

YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.

Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.

Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.

If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.

However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.

If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.

End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .

Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.

Key Takeaways:

1. Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
2. Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
3. Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
4. Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
5. Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.

Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking

Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.

For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.

However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.

- Subscribers know the moment your video is published

- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)

- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers

Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .

Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.

How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>

10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.

Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Expert Tips: Extracting Audio From YouTube Video Playback

How to Record Audio from YouTube

Max Wales

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

It happens several times when we are watching some videos on YouTube and the background music of the videos appeal us the most. We go online and start searching for that unknown but heart touching song. Unfortunately, the song is not available online. But it doesn’t mean that you cannot add that song to your playlist. The great news is that there are so many advanced audio recording software tools that allow users to record audios directly from YouTube videos.

Sometimes, we are interested to play our favorite music during a long hour journey, but the missing internet connectivity does not allow us to stream it online. In such a situation also, you can get your free music easily on your iPad, iPhone, or any handheld device and it can be later burnt into CD as well. Now you might be interested to know how all this can happen without the “Record Audio” button on YouTube. Don’t worry! Below we have highlighted three simple methods to do this task:

• Method 1: Capture Audio from YouTube with Online YouTube2MP3 Converter
• Method 2: Recording YouTube Audio with Audacity
• Method 3: Recording Sound with Streaming Audio Recorder
• Method 4: Record Audio with Filmora

Note: We resolutely oppose all forms of copyright-infringing downloads. This tutorial is only for downloading YouTube videos/audio materials from your own channel.

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Method 1: Capture Audio from YouTube with Online YouTube2MP3 Converter

The simplest technique to record audio from YouTube videos is to use a trustworthy online application that can perform the conversion from video to MP3 file . In this article, I am going to show you how to capture audio from YouTube with the assist of a free online convert tool named YouTube to MP3. To do this, simply follow these simple steps:

• Visit the YouTube video page and copy the URL of the video whose audio you want to get in form of an MP3
• Go to the internet and open the online YouTube to MP3 converter tool.
• Paste your video URL in the text field available at the top of the website page.
• Choose your output file format as mp3.
• Hit the Convert conversion button.
• When the conversion is done, you will get a download button on the screen. Hit the Download button and soon your file will be saved to your device.

If you think using YouTube to MP3 Converter to capture audio from YouTube meets your needs, you can visit this online converter: youtubetomp3music.com . While, if you find need a better solution, then keep reading.

Method 2: Recording Sound from YouTube with Audacity

In case if you are interested to record yourself or want to capture just a small portion of the video’s sound, it is good to start with the Audacity program. Following simple steps will assist you to complete your recording process with this handy tool:

• First, download the Audacity program on your system. Note that it is available for free, so anyone can get it easily from the internet.
• Run the setup to begin the installation process and follow on-screen guidelines to finish the process.
• Open Audacity software on your system and from the top menu bar hit the Edit option and then go to Preferences.

• In the Device section of Preferences window, switch to the Recording section.
• Choose Stereo Mix option. In case if it is disabled by default, you may need to enable it first. To do this, go to the control panel of your computer, go to Hardware and Sound section and then switch to Sound section. Now go to Recording tab and right click with the mouse on the blank space of the screen. From the drop-down menu choose Show Disabled Devices option. You will find Stereo Mix Device option on the screen; right click on this device and hit Enable option.

• Hit Ok to save the new sound settings. After these settings, you will have to open the Audacity program again to work with Stereo Mix option.
• It is time to open your YouTube video and hit the record button. Make sure the connection is fast enough to play video without any interruption, otherwise keep it loaded in advance. Play the video and when done, hit the stop button on Audacity program.
• This file can be exported and saved to a device with the MP3 file format.

Method 3: Recording Sound with Streaming Audio Recorder

The third choice for recording YouTube audios is using Streaming Audio Recorder . The great news is that this software cannot only record audios for you rather at the same time it is loaded with advanced editor tool that allows easy cutting and splicing of sounds for the creation of customized videos. With Streaming Audio Recorder, you can also convert your videos into various file formats.

You will be happy to hear that this recorder is not just dedicated to YouTube platform only rather it can also work perfectly with Grooveshark, Jango, and Spotify. Below are few simple steps that you can use to complete the audio recording task with Streaming Audio Recorder:

• Go to the internet and download Streaming Audio Recorder. Install and open the program.
• Hit gear icon on the main interface and then move to settings. Set source of the audio input as System Sound.
• Start playing your desired YouTube video and on recorder, hit the record button instantly.
• As soon as the recording task is complete, hit the Stop button and your recorded audio will be soon saved to the targeted folder.

Recommended: Record Audio and Save to MP3 Format with Wondershare Filmora

You can also use Filmora to record your YouTube audio and then save the recorded audio or the video to MP3 format at exporting and then you can listen to the recorded audio and music even when there is no network connection.

With these advanced tools, the audio recording task becomes quite simple and easy. Even beginners can handle with without any trouble. If you are interested to capture your favorite tracks from online videos, it is right time to choose any of the above suitable methods and start recording your audio.

You can change the voice in audio , or add fade in and fade out effects, or edit the recorded audio file with more tools. The recorded media files can be further customized as well as shared on other social media platforms. It is a great idea for today’s creative young generation. These handy tools can make your audio recording task quite easier and resultant files can be saved in a variety of file formats for further sharing.

If you want to edit the record audio further, like adjust the audio pitch, remove background noise, mix the audio balance, equalize the audio, you can also try Filmora. It allows you to record the audio, webcam and desktop screen automatically . And it works on 64-bit Windows7/8/10, and Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan and late.

Max Wales

Max Wales is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Max Wales