With over 30% of all mobile search results in the UK, US and France now containing a YouTube video, and this figure even higher in certain countries, reaching nearly 50% in Spain, video SEO is something any digital marketeer worth their salt needs to be aware of in 2021. But how to optimise YouTube videos for SEO in the luxury industry, and what are the key ranking factors to be aware of? Let’s explore below.
How to optimise YouTube videos for SEO in the luxury market
Find the perfect keyword (to rank on both YouTube & Google)
- Type a word or phrase relating to your video into YouTube’s Search Suggest feature. YouTube will do the hard work for you by suggesting lots of terms surrounding this topic that users are searching for, which make for great potential keywords.
However, it’s worth taking into consideration that as a luxury brand, actually adding the word « luxury » may not actually serve you the right audience, since your HNW or UHNW clients would likely not think of your products or service a « Luxury ». Instead, try thinking of titles surrounding the sort of activities, events, experiences they may be interested in. E.g: Supercar driving experience, Exclusive Summer Destinations, and so on. Obviously this depends on the content of your video – you don’t want to entice your audience with a great title only to not provide content that fits it.
- You can also check out other popular luxury videos in your field for extra inspiration – you should be able to see what they are optimised for by looking at the words used in their titles, descriptions and video tags. For example, if you were a luxury hotel group collaborating with a adventure technology company to showcase the beauty of what you can offer together, you could check out this Marriott/GoPro video, taking a look at the title, the description below and the tags.
You can find the tags used by right clicking on the page and clicking ‘View Page Source’, then holding down Ctrl and F to search for ‘keywords’. In this case, Marriott/GoPro has tagged the words: Marriott, Marriott Hotels, Marriott on YouTube, GoPro, Go Pro, Marriott and GoPro, GoPro and Marriott, GoPro Hero4, Camera, GoPro Camera, Partnership, Collaboration.
- If you already have some of your own videos on YouTube based on the same topic, you could try checking your YouTube Traffic Source: YouTube search report. This shows what users have searched to find your previous content, and may offer some keywords you hadn’t thought of previously.
- Check your final list of potential keywords to narrow them down to ones that are low-competition (and so will give your video a chance of being seen by your HNW audience). Do this by doing a YouTube site search for your keyword in Google and checking the About X results number. This will give you the total number of videos currently in YouTube related to that keyword – generally speaking, the lower the better to allow you to carve out your niche.
- Then, do a general search for your keywords in Google (this is where the Google-specific optimisation comes in). Google typically only includes videos in the search results for certain keywords, such as How-to’s, Tutorials, Workouts, Tours and Reviews.
Check which of your keywords bring up video results on Google, and narrow your list down to those ones. Also look out for whether these keywords are bringing up the types of videos you expected, or whether the general searcher intent is different from what you had meant. You want to ensure your keywords align with the searcher intent; for example, if you are showcasing a new summer villa in the South of France for rent, make sure you use keywords that people looking to explore a rental home would search for, instead of people wanting to browse properties for sale.
- Lastly, check which of your final list of keywords has search volume by running them through Google Keyword Planner. Pick the keyword with the highest search volume that matches your video the best, and you’re ready to optimise!
BONUS TIP: If you don’t find any keywords from your original list that work, don’t be afraid to play around with different terms until you find something that meets every criteria. Finding the right keyword is a very important part of how to optimise YouTube videos for SEO in the luxury industry, and is worth spending time on.
Optimise your YouTube video for your keyword
- Be sure to actually say your keyword in your video. YouTube now automatically transcribes videos, and so this will mean the keyword is in your transcript, and will help the platform to better understand your video’s relevancy to that term.
- Your video title is what will grab the attention of your audience, as well as explain your video’s subject matter to YouTube and Google. Include your keyword in your video title – preferably at the beginning – but don’t make your keyword your entire title. It’s better to have a longer title than to seem like you are keyword stuffing.
- Make sure your description clearly explains what your video is about – this will help users as well as YouTube and Google understand it better, ultimately leading to a higher ranking. Write at least 250 words and be sure to include your keyword a few times, including near the start.
- Tags are not as important as the description, but still help make it clear what your video is about. Make your first tag your exact keyword, then include a few variations of that phrase. You could also tag a few topics that are relevant to your video as tags.
Consider other YouTube ranking factors for maximum SEO value
- Audience retention, i.e. keeping people watching your video for as long as possible, is a hugely important ranking factor. Not to mention, people watching your video in its entirety shows how useful has been for your audience. Although glossy production is important in the luxury industry, being authentic is even more important, meaning that a great video can still be created when working with a lower budget.
The most important thing is that your video offers added value and is interesting to watch. How can you achieve this? By getting closer to your audience and asking them what they really want to listen or learn about, so that your video serves the content they really want. Longer videos also seem to rank better despite requiring more attention from the audience, with YouTube’s users typically seeking out longer-form content.
- YouTube also pays close attention to video comments and upvotes, which show that people are engaging with your video. The best way to get these, other than creating engaging content, is to ask those that enjoyed it to interact at the end of the video.
- The same thing applies for asking people to subscribe after watching a video – it sounds too simple to work, but asking is often all it takes, and gaining subscribers after people watch your video shows YouTube how valuable your content is.
- YouTube also pays attention to how many people share your video on social media, so be sure to include links to do so at the end of your video.
- The percentage of people that click on your video is known as click-through-rate, and the higher this percentage, the better your video will rank. The best way to boost this click-through-rate is through creating engaging thumbnails and titles. Take this example from Chanel Beauty as guidance, where the thumbnail image shows a perfect snapshot of the video complete with a clean, bright background, and the title explains the video in full, experimenting with different capitalisation to capture the eye.
BONUS TIP: Want to keep people watching your content even after they finish your video? Add an End Screen at the end of your video, suggesting which of your videos your audience might like to watch next. This allows you to funnel users where you want them and keep them engaged with your content a little longer.
So there you have it – a perfectly optimised luxury brand YouTube video ready to rank highly in the SERPs. Of course, your work isn’t over – you still need to remember to promote your video in order to get the most out of it – but you are ready to put your video out to the world.
Want to find out more about how to optimise YouTube videos for SEO? Get in touch with our luxury marketing team today.