Do you want to be on top of YouTube, but can't even get 100 views? Have you already done ten videos, but the result is zero? Take it easy and remember one simple rule: there are no quick results on YouTube.

The specificity of YouTube is a dedicated work in advance. With or without investments, you should expect to develop your channel from at least six months to a year. Previews, optimization, analytics, negotiations, scripting: all of these affect your ranking.

Why to optimize your YouTube ranking

As soon as your video hits the top YouTube results, you begin to receive organic video views. The longer it stays there, the more money you can save on promoting your video. The output of the video to the top YouTube optimizes the cost of viewing and speeds up the approximation of the payback point of the video with further earnings on it.

For entrepreneurs, this is an additional sales channel, with the ability to build communication with clients. If you don't aim to monetize your videos, do everything possible to "close" the viewer to purchase.

Key YouTube video ranking factors

We all know that YouTube has video ranking algorithms — indicators that allow you to bring the video to the top, get a lot of views, get on the main page, and in related videos.

All authors know about this algorithm, but few understand how it works. The creators of the video have to conclude on their own based on their observations of the indicators, their interaction, and the impact on the issuance of the video in the YouTube search results.

Leading SEO Specialist Brian Dean conducted analysis. He explored 1.3 million videos to understand the relationship between videos and their delivery to YouTube. Some influencing factors included:

1. Comments: The more comments the video has, the higher it is in the SERP (search engine result page). This is an indication that people are passionate about your video.
2. Video length: Long rollers are higher in output than short ones. The average duration of a video on page 1 is 14 minutes and 50 seconds.
3. Social distribution: The fact that people share your video speaks to its value. The more reposts the video has, the higher it is in the SERP.
4. Views: YouTube continues to give high positions to videos with a large number of views, although for a different reason. Views generate other signals to evaluate the quality of the content — total viewing time and comments.
5. Subscriber numbers: New and small channels can get around big brands in the ranking. The number of channel subscribers has minimal effect on the overall rating.
6. Likes: YouTube loves videos that engage the audience, so your position in the delivery depends on the number of likes.
7. Generating subscribers: Videos that generate subscribers signal quality. The more subscriptions the video has, the higher it will rank.
8. High-resolution video: Video in HD quality is three times more likely to be at the top than a video with standard resolution.
9. Tag optimization: Very weak ranking factor. Targeted "keys" in the tags will help with sorting the content, but will hardly affect the delivery.
10. Headline Optimization: The minimum result, as with tag optimization.
11. Optimization descriptions: This factor does not affect the ranking, but keywords in the description increase the position of the video for relevant queries. The video appears in the block recommendations.

Focus on retention, traffic dynamics, and customer engagement to increase your YouTube ranking. Do not spend much time optimizing headings, descriptions, and tags for search results.

Main recommendations:

Test different formats and see which videos best hold your users' attention. Compare the quality and content of your videos with competitors' videos, then make yours even better!