YouTube Is Now Considering “Time Viewed” in Rankings
YouTube Now Utilizing Time Viewed in Their Ranking Algorithm
Creating good content has always been an important part of SEO, especially in light of updates Google has made to its algorithm over the past two years. Now, creating engaging video content has become more important than ever. YouTube, the world’s second largest search engine behind Google, has confirmed that they are now ranking videos based on time viewed. This means that if there is a video that many people click to see, but only watch for a few seconds, it will likely rank below videos that fewer people see, but watch to the end.
In other words, if you create good content that people actually want to watch, you’re likely to rank higher in the search engines.
Through this change in their algorithm, YouTube is trying to prioritize good content in order to keep viewers on the site longer and engage their audience. They are also trying to keep people from gaming the system with tricks like provocative thumbnails or misleading titles that entice people to click, but provide poor or unrelated content. YouTube wins with more satisfied users (and higher ad revenue), and users win with good content that is easily accessible.
What does this mean for you?
If you want your videos to be found on YouTube and expand your audience, there are three things to remember when planning and creating your video content:
1. Be Interesting: Intrigue your audience. Present your content in a unique way or provide a contrary point of view. Create a video that people can’t turn away from. If you provide content that’s average, people will not give it a full view. Stand out!
2. Be Concise: Don’t drone on. Say what you need to say as concisely as possible. Extraneous content doesn’t give you any special bonuses. Adding fluff to a video only gives the viewer the impression that there’s nothing else important to say, and that they can move on.
3. Provide Value: Make the viewer feel like they’ll miss something important if they stop watching. Throughout the video, give information that is going to be beneficial to the viewer, like tips, advice, entertainment, or news. Keep providing value, and the user will keep watching.
User engagement levels are now more important than ever in search. If you want help creating video content that truly engages users, give our video production team a call.
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