You can optimize your videos during upload (recommended) or through the video edit page on YouTube. Below we will walk through two examples:
"Auto Racer" - During Upload Example
Start by uploading your video like normal adding in the title, description, and a few keywords that best fit your content. Here is the metadata we'll be using for this example:
2. Click the "Boost this Video" button towards the bottom of the screen:
Boost will examine the metadata and compare it to our proprietary database of keywords as well as trending videos. An optimized list of keywords and trending videos will appear on the same page like this:
3. Add in the keywords one by one by clicking on the "+". Remember to start with the most specific keywords first before moving on to more general topics. You should target 20-25 keywords for every video. There's no penalty for adding more, just make sure they all pertain to the content.
Note: When adding tags pay special attention to the numbers next to each. The first (and larger) number is "relatedness" -- how related the tag is to your original tag. The second, smaller, number is the amount of shared keywords. You can see those shared keywords by hovering over the keyword being suggested.
4. Back to the example! After reviewing both the recommended tags and trending videos, we have added the following keywords:
vidIQ Tip:
*Using Trending Videos to Draft* You can also use the trending section to identify popular videos which can be used to piggyback on to increase your own views. We call this "drafting". Like a sports car in a race you can leverage the slipstream behind popular videos to jump ahead. Once you find a video very similar to your own you can reuse it's keywords so that YouTube will evaluate and potentially associate your video with the popular one.
"Climate Change" - Video Edit Page Example
Use the Creator Studio to navigate to the video you want to optimize and click on the "Edit" button.
You will now be able to edit your video's metadata. Here's what we started with:
3. Just like the upload page, click the "Boost This Video" button. Same as before, vidIQ Boost will examine the metadata that you have already input and compare it to our proprietary database of keywords as well as trending videos. The optimized keywords and trending videos appear on the same page:
4. Add in the keywords one by one. Remember to start with the most specific keywords first before moving on to the more general topics. You should target 20-25 keywords for every video, however there's no penalty for adding more. Just make sure that they all pertain to the content! As you add more keywords vidIQ will find more words that fit, so keep on clicking!
5. You can also improve your video's title and description using the "Enable Suggestions" button. vidIQ recommends strong keywords that you should work into your title and description. The general rule of thumb is that you use your strongest keywords in both your title and description. Consistency is key!
vidIQ Tip:
Recommended tags help new uploads much more than older content, so we recommend using your optimization credits for new content.
If you're a first time user and you're not familiar with vidIQ Pro or Boost, we recommend you look at the Getting Started Guide to learn about all of the great features included with your account.
Happy YouTubing!!