YouTube Video Search Ranking Factors: A Closer Look - Interpretation of Results
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At 76% accuracy (other optimization engines might find a better solution or increased accuracy), the following are the surprising results:
First, note that keywords in title tag is the most important YouTube ranking element in their search. According to the analysis results, it has around 82% importance.
This is crucial, because the first thing that the YouTube user will see in the search results is the title tag of the video. Keywords are also bolded in the title tag, indicating their importance.
The next important factor is "number of years as a YouTube member," at 16%. YouTube just started in 2005, but with the exponential growth of video owners and some just-created channels for spamming, one of the best factors to use for checking user trustworthiness is the length of membership.
Old members tend to be authoritative because of their experience and reputation as YouTube video owners.
The third most important video ranking element in YouTube search is the number of favorites for that specific video. A higher figure here indicates that the quality of the video content is high.
This is also a more reliable measure of quality than "likes" or the "star" system because YouTube users are actually "adding" the videos to their own channel if they tagged them as a "favorite."
The last factor with an importance value is the number of channel subscribers for that video owner. Along with age of membership, a high number of subscribers is a good indication of being an "authority" and a trusted source of information.
Surprisingly, "number of comments," "number of likes" and "total channel views" did not turn out to be factors in the YouTube video search ranking. Why? Perhaps YouTube does not trust user engagement factors too much.
User engagement only comprises an estimated 2% importance in YouTube video ranking system. It is obvious that:
YouTube might not be trusting factors that can be manipulated easily (for example the "likes," "number of comments" and "total channel views." This will prevent spammers from promoting their video to the top of YouTube search results using artificial methods.
YouTube places more trust in the "authority" of the video owner by determining the number of subscribers as well as the number of years as a YouTube member.
Recommendations to achieve the best video ranking performance in YouTube
Based on the data analysis results, it is recommended that you do the following:
1. Create original and high quality video content. This will increase the number of users that will add your videos as their "favorites." This will also increase the number of subscribers to your videos. Both of these factors can have a significant effect on how your video is being ranked in the internal YouTube search.
2. Stay longer and consistently submit videos to YouTube. This will attract more subscribers in the long run, and while you "age" in YouTube, it will earn you some reputation and authority that will help your videos to rank better in YouTube search result.
The real/exact algorithm used by YouTube is not publicly known or published. The analysis results and recommendations discussed in this article will be a good start to help you effectively promote/market video in YouTube.
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