For small business owners who want to reach their audiences online, Google remains the priority. Once you have begun optimizing your website, however, you then need to turn to the second largest search engine: YouTube. Optimizing videos for small business allows organizations of all sizes to experience the platform’s potential.

To the surprise of many, the video hosting platform has risen to be the second most popular search engine, billion users and billions of views every day. With this large of an audience, it is a powerful place to engage with prospective customers and invite them to learn more about your business. Just like content needs proper optimization to rank highly on the search engine result pages (SERPs), there are also steps that need to be taken to optimize videos for YouTube to help them get in front of the right audience.

How does YouTube rank videos?

YouTube focuses on a few different factors when determining the order that videos should appear in their search results. The algorithms consider the number of people who have watched the video, how much of the video they watched, and their reactions to it - such as the ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ buttons and whether they shared the video. The platform also looks at the business’s channel as a whole to see how many subscribers it has to better gauge the quality of the content produced. Of course, YouTube also considers the keywords used in the title and description of the video for clues as to what the video contains.

How can videos be optimized for small business?

1. Watch keyword placement. YouTube cannot ‘watch’ the video, so it is important that businesses take the time to use appropriate keywords in important areas, including the title and the description of the video. There is considerable flexibility with the length of the description, so feel free to write thoroughly about what the video contains to give the algorithm a better idea of your topic.
2. Tag and categorize the video well. After uploading, videos can be tagged and categorized to help YouTube see where this video fits within the platform. Use a variety of tags describing key points about the video. Tag the topic and if there is anything unique about the speaker, the brand, or the location then tag them as well. Include any factors that might point people towards the video.
3. Make sure the content is engaging and the right length. YouTube pays close attention to not only how many people watch the video, but also how far they make it through the video. Businesses should carefully orchestrate the opening parts of their videos to capture the viewer’s attention and pull them in. Most of the top videos on YouTube run about three minutes long.
4. Promote the video. Since views and watch time matter with YouTube rankings, promoting the video can be a valuable way to bring more people to the page. The video can be embedded on the company website or blog while also being posted to social media sites, such as Twitter.

YouTube provides a fantastic platform for businesses of all sizes to actively engage with prospective customers and demonstrate the human side of their business. By following these suggestions, you can increase your exposure and see what YouTube can do for you.