If you are a real estate agents who is trying to break out on YouTube, drop everything you are doing and listen to this episode! I promise it will be worth every second! Despite the fact that YouTube gets more search traffic than Bing, Yahoo!, and AOL, many real estate agents fail to leverage the platform. On today’s episode, TJ Kelly joins me to share several YouTube best practices that real estate agents can use to reach more people.
When it comes to ranking YouTube content, TJ Kelly is the man with a plan. When YouTube first launched, part of the algorithm was based on views. The more views your video got, the higher it ranked. Now, YouTube uses a different approach. While they still count aggregate views they do so in conjunction with engagement metrics, which include number of seconds viewed, comments, likes and social shares. TJ said before it was better to pump out a ton of videos with less focus on content. Now, it's better to create content-rich videos that drive user engagement. The first 15 seconds will determine if a viewer will stay engaged, which TJ says is critical. The other factor is the total amount of minutes and seconds your video has been viewed. This is not per user, but overall. Therefore, having longer videos will add more seconds to your count and increase your rankings.
TJ recommends using the PPP method when producing content for YouTube. Here’s what that looks like...Preview: First, give the viewer a hint of what the video is all about as soon as the video starts. Proof: Then, establish proof that you know what you’re talking about and can deliver on the topic. Preview: Finally, reiterate what the video is about, this time adding a specific detail that the viewer will learn.
The latest algorithmic changes to Google’s search engines now take into consideration a more dynamic field of content types. As such, videos, images and transcriptions are now crawlable. Anything you say in a video (especially one that includes subtitles and annotations) can technically impact your ranking signals. Putting your keyword into the title of your video while also saying your keyword throughout the video is a great way to drive home the point of what your video accomplishes, to both viewers and search engines. In line with Google’s shift toward natural language search and high-relevancy content, matching auditory keywords within a video with those utilized in video titles signals that you’re not spamming users and that your video follows through on its title.
A newer differentiator that is becoming more common on YouTube is creative video thumbnails. Just last year, thumbnails were static images, but they now automatically animate when cursors hover over them. If your video is featured on page 1, it’s likely facing stiff competition from other videos that may better serve viewer intent. So how do you get users to click on your video despite being ranked lower? The key is to make a great first impression by having a customized thumbnail that stands out visually from everything else on the page. Customization can take many forms, including appealing color schemes dynamic banners or design patterns, and Intuitive splash screen/video title combinations.
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