THIS is what works on YouTube in 2022

If you have been trying to grow on YouTube, you have probably heard the advice to focus on SEO optimization and make videos that people are searching for … but I have a secret.

It might not be as helpful as you think.

Or at the very least, it’s not the whole picture.

It’s important to note that YouTube is about slow and steady growth - but, there are some strategies (some that I’ve recently been implementing) that can really help accelerate your growth, if you know how to use them.

So today I’m going to share the strategy that helped me go from getting about 5K views per video back in March and April, to now getting more like 20K views per video and sometimes, even more. Let’s do this!

Does SEO really work for Youtube growth?

The usual advice you hear about growing a YouTube channel is all about SEO and search… and it is true. YouTube is a search platform - and actually, it’s part of the biggest search engine platform in the world - yep, that’s right … Google. An article by Omnicore said that in 2021, there are over 122 million daily active users on YouTube - who consume more than a billion hours of video every day, making this platform one of the most widely used social media platforms (and search engines) in the world. So, yes - targeting FAQs and search keywords can help you grow a slow and steady audience interested in your expertise. But… unfortunately, there is a problem.

I did a little digging in my analytics and found that more than half of my own traffic on YouTube is not from search - and I’ve heard more generally that about 80% of all YouTube traffic is NOT search-based. I can tell you that personally, I don’t spend a lot of time typing away in the top search bar - instead, YouTube knows what I like and delivers it to me on a beautifully laid out, white platter (or black if you use dark mode). The only time I do search for something is if I need to learn a very specific skill, like how to do something in Adobe After Effects or Premiere Pro, or if I want to see some reviews on a product I am interested in. That’s it. This just further proves my point that though “search” is effective in helping you slowly build an audience, it is not the way to go viral - you’ll only find people who are looking for you.

The biggest question is…

How do you find the people that never even knew they needed what you’re offering?

That’s where the home page comes in … and is something so many people forget about when trying to grow a YouTube channel.

How can the HOME PAGE help me grow?

If you want to see faster growth, you need to get your videos in front of those people who would be interested, but don’t really know that they need them yet. The best way to do this is by having YouTube recommend your videos on the home page and suggested sections. This is key to getting more views, reaching a new audience, and gaining subscribers. And who doesn’t want that?

I saw this so clearly with a recent video I posted called, why you need to start a YouTube channel, which really blew up. This video got SO MANY more views within the first week than I am at all used to getting. On average, my videos range around 4k-8k views in the first week of being live - whereas this “why you need to start a YouTube channel” video received a whopping 43,336 views in just 7 days. Yeah, let that soak in a bit. That’s nearly 40k more than the lowest number in the range I gave you. Even now, a month later, this video has reached 87,525. Do you think that’s from search? Absolutely not.

Also, if you’re not sure how to find details about where your views are coming from - go to your YouTube studio and click on the video you’re wanting to look into. Make sure you go to the analytics tab and at the top of the analytics page, you will see the option “reach”. There you will scroll down and one of the first sections says, “How viewers find this video”. This section will tell you the percentage that comes from YouTube search, Browse Features (which includes traffic from the homepage/home screen, the subscription feed, and other browsing features), and Suggested Videos (which are the views from suggestions appearing alongside or after other videos). There are more traffic sources listed, but these are definitely the three you will normally see on the top of the list.

But HOW do you get on the Home Page?

Before really diving into how you can get on the home page, you need to understand the YouTube algorithm. It really works the same way as any other recommendation algorithm on social media. YouTube will take your video, and test it with an initial small audience to see what the click-through rate on your title and thumbnail are and what the watch time of your video is. Don’t worry, if you are unfamiliar, we are about ready to dive into these topics in more detail. But the whole idea is that YouTube wants to see how interesting and engaging your video is and if they find your video performed well with the small test audience - they will distribute it to more, and if it continues to perform well, they will keep showing it to more and more people.

Let’s break down the metrics that matter most when it comes to helping you get on the homepage.

Click-Through-Rate:

This is probably one of the more important metrics because if you can’t even get someone to click on your video, well - none of the rest matters. Click-through-rate comes down to two things: your title and thumbnail. This is the biggest area where you need a mindset shift from search to home page traffic focus. Your title doesn’t need to be keyword stuffed - instead, it’s better to write it like a newspaper headline. For example, instead of, “How to grow your Podcast Instagram in 2022 | Best Tips for Growing a Podcast Page” - instead, you could try something like “THIS is why your Podcast page isn’t growing on Instagram” or “the method that got me 10K new followers THIS month”. Do you hear the difference? The first one just tells the viewer exactly what to expect, whereas the other options give a little mystery and intrigue - encouraging the viewer to click and learn more about how they can get this result or learn why their podcast page isn’t growing.

Now, your thumbnails should be curiosity-inducing too… and ideally include a different tag line or text than your title. This is another chance to grab attention and shouldn’t be wasted by making them sound the exact same.

Focusing on this has been a game changer for my channel - and I think the primary thing that’s helped me increase my views over the past few months. I’ve really been trying to write more interesting titles and create thumbnails that grab your attention - and then when I see something that’s worked well, I’ll replicate it.

Watch Time:

Watch time is essential and the next step in the process. You don’t want to work so hard to get someone to click into your video, only for them to leave your video after 2 seconds. If this happens, YouTube will not recommend your video.

But how do you keep people watching your videos?

Cut the fluff.

and by that, I basically mean - make sure it’s not a snooze. To do that, you need to keep your video pacey, moving forward, and make sure to always be providing value. Another way to increase watch time is by focusing on those first few seconds of your video - you need to make sure that your intro is short, grabs your viewer's attention, and teases something you’ll talk about later in the video. Also, make sure that it addresses the title and thumbnail! In my opinion, stop using those pre-created intro trailers - those get so bothersome for your returning viewers and can cause someone to drop off the video before it truly begins. I would keep it short and sweet, jumping right into value.

You need to think about your YouTube video as a story - your title and thumbnail are like the first sentence and your intro the second sentence. You don’t need to repeat yourself in the second sentence, right? You also don’t need to repeat the title or thumbnail in the first seconds of your video either. You need to assume the viewer already knows what you’re going to talk about, so you should avoid saying - “in today’s video blah blah”… they already know what you’re going to talk about - they read the title.

But now what, right? You got them through the first two “sentences” - how do you keep them watching through the entire video. Well, again, keep it high-value and then it’s all about the filming and editing after that - you should include different b-roll clips, graphics, or different scenes to keep the viewer engaged.

High Session Time:

Okay, now we need to chat about what happens after the person watched the full video. Their next step truly impacts your success on this platform and that is session time. Which essentially is how long someone stays on YouTube after watching your video. YouTube’s goal is to keep people on the platform and if your video helps them do that, well … YouTube will be grateful and reward you. 🤣

Once a viewer finishes your video - did they exit the browser immediately or did they binge 10 more, spending hours longer on the platform? YouTube obviously prefers the latter, but how do you increase session time? This also comes down to two things.

Recommending videos at the end of your video. Now, this doesn’t always have to be your own video. YouTube cares about keeping folks on the platform - not as much if they are only watching your videos. So if someone finishes your video and you recommend another creator that you think provides insight on something you talked about, but you don’t have a video on that topic - you can lead them in that direct,ion and YouTube will still be happy. But, of course, you would probably prefer that they watch your videos. This brings me to the second thing…
Which is creating binge-worthy content. This is one of the reasons so many people recommend “picking a niche” and that is because if you can create videos that please one set audience, they are more likely to love ALL of your videos and not just a couple of them. The goal is that if someone liked this video, they will LOVE everything else you created. You can lead them to your channel, a playlist, or a specific video and if they are new, they will have hours of videos to watch on this topic they are super interested in.

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As basic as it might seem - that is what works on YouTube in 2022. And if you’re thinking of starting a YouTube channel, make sure to go to my YouTube which is youtube.com/katie - because I have recently launched a few videos on the topic. If you already have a YouTube channel and you are needing some help with editing or strategy, check out our YouTube services over at Creatorly Media - just visit creatorlymedia.com/services for more details! And with that - thank you so much for listening!