25 Expert Strategies to Increase Your YouTube Traffic

With 2.49 billion monthly active users, it’s one of the most promising platforms available. In this blog, Josh Rohr, our Senior Social Media Strategist, will share tips on how to find success on YouTube by increasing your impressions and views.

If you’re thinking about adding YouTube to your strategy or want to increase impressions and views on your existing account.

My Expert Insights on Increasing YouTube Views and Traffic

Create High-Quality, Relevant Content: Focus on content that resonates with your audience’s interests and needs. Videos that provide real value are more likely to attract views and shares.

Optimize with SEO Best Practices: Use targeted keywords in titles, descriptions, and tags. SEO-friendly content will help your videos gain traction both within YouTube and on external search engines like Google.

Engage Your Audience: Encourage viewers to interact through comments, likes, and shares. Audience engagement signals help boost impressions and make your videos more visible on the platform.

Why YouTube Traffic Matters

YouTube is one of the most creator-friendly platforms out there. As a YouTube Creator, you’ll have access to a plethora of information and support, ranging from vlogs and tutorials to in-depth reviews and entertainment designed to help you succeed.

With the massive, global reach the platform has, it’s a great way to monetize your content while also finding new ways to reach broader audiences.

A critical part of cashing in on YouTube’s reach? Increasing visibility, engagement, and conversion across the board. With YouTube, engagement is more than a comment. It takes into account everything – likes, shares, comments, and subscriptions.

The higher your engagement is, the more opportunities you’ll have to monetize your content and expand your reach. The best way to increase your engagement is to increase your YouTube traffic and get your content in front of as many interested parties as possible.

Turning Traffic into Conversions

Increasing your YouTube traffic is one thing, but turning that traffic into conversions is another. Let’s talk about how to increase your click-through rates (CTRs).

Generally, you should aim to produce a 2-10% CTR. However, a good YouTube impressions click-through rate depends on a variety of factors, most importantly the industry that you’re in.

There are a number of things you can do to increase your CTR, including:

Creating visually appealing and relevant thumbnails

Crafting a compelling video title

Writing strong, keyword-rich descriptions and introductions, including timestamps and relevant links

As you work hard to convince YouTube users to watch your videos by optimizing your thumbnails, titles, and other content, don’t forget to monitor your video’s performance. Keeping up with YouTube Analytics will help you see if your strategy works or if you need to tweak your attempts a bit.

Understanding Impressions and Views on YouTube – and Why They Matter

Impressions account for how often viewers see your thumbnail. The more YouTube recommends your video, the higher your impressions will be.

A YouTube impression counts when a thumbnail appears in front of users for longer than one second, and people can see at least 50% of the thumbnail on the screen.

However, it doesn’t count as an impression if:

Content appears as embeds on other websites

Videos play in the background

Content includes end screens or cards in the video player

Ads don’t lead to a YouTube watch page

People don’t see thumbnails for longer than one second or see at least 50% of the thumbnail

YouTube Views

Views on YouTube are very different from impressions. Views count each time someone intentionally plays your video for at least 30 seconds. This shows the platform that people are interested in your content and not just stumbling upon it.

Typically, the idea is that your views will increase when your impressions do. When you work on increasing your impressions, it should generate traffic that turns into views.

25 Strategies to Create Content to Increase YouTube Traffic

Now that you know what you’re looking for, let’s dive into how to get people to view your YouTube videos.

1. Create Better Content

All the promoting in the world won’t save a channel with lackluster content. You need to give the people something worth watching.

You need to design a YouTube content strategy that gives your audience something they want to see while also highlighting your unique selling proposition. Center your product or service in a way that will appeal to your target audience.

Pro-Tip: If you want some help with content development as you learn how to boost YouTube views, consider a tool like VidIQ, which you can use to help create every element of content, from YouTube titles and descriptions to video scripts to inform your video’s actual content.

2. Focus on Quality

To be clear: high-quality video doesn’t necessarily mean high-quality production.

So don’t worry if you don’t have all the top-of-the-line video equipment or thousands to pour into your video strategy, especially when you’re just starting out.

You do, however, need to make sure your videos are professional. That means clean, well-lit, and well-scripted.

So start simple. For example, the classic “floating head” video, which features one person on screen, is an easy and effective strategy. You will want to make sure your on-screen personality is well-rehearsed and engaging with a clean background.

3. Video Length Can Help Increase YouTube Traffic

With the average attention span on the decline, it’s more important than ever to deliver your content quickly. Depending on your audience, that is typically between 2 and 5 minutes.

The more meaningful information you can provide in a bite-sized format, the more you’ll be able to resonate with your audiences. Even though short-form video statistically performs better, that doesn’t mean your specific audience won’t enjoy longer-form content. Experiment with different video lengths to see how long your audience will stay tuned in.

Generally speaking, you’ll want to hook viewers in with a shorter video and present them with more information-heavy, longer videos once they begin exploring your channel.

4. Use Editing Tools to Drive Traffic to Your YouTube Channel

The editing process takes time, but don’t worry. There are tools to help you eliminate fluff and keep your videos engaging and easy to watch!

Try popular editing tools like Adobe, YouTube Editor, and iMovie.

For additional help, you can use tools designed specifically to help you grow your channel, like Tubebuddy.

Tubebuddy

It breaks its tools into five categories:

Productivity Tools

Bulk Processing Tools

Video SEO Tools

Promotion Tools

Data and Research Tools

5. Look Into Livestreaming

Who doesn’t love a live stream?! Instagram and TikTok have made this popular, but YouTube also offers something similar. Live streaming is a great way to connect with your viewers on a real-time basis and is perfect for spur-of-the-moment announcements or big industry news.

According to Restream, 27% of all internet users will watch at least one live-streamed video weekly.

Make your live streaming part of your marketing strategy by scheduling it on certain dates, making sure you promote it on your social media platforms, and keeping your context clear and understandable.

During your live video, be sure to have a loose script to follow so you stay on track and don’t forget to engage with your viewers in the moment.

Want to increase your live attendees? Team up with another YouTuber or influencer in your industry for a collaboration!

6. Draw Inspiration From Your Favorite Creators

Finding it hard to come up with content ideas? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there.

One great way to get over YouTube creators’ block is by visiting some of your favorite channels. Check out what kinds of content they’ve created recently.

Pro-Tip: Be sure to visit channels that promote businesses similar to yours. For example, if you’re running a SaaS company, view the YouTube channels of other SaaS brands. Also, subscribe to channels that routinely crank out quality content. Then, browse through your subscriptions daily to get inspiration.

7. Try Different Content Formats

Try experimenting with different content formats! YouTube has different formats, including:

Regular Videos — Traditional videos can be short- and long-form videos that cover a range of topics. This is typically how most creators capture traffic.

Shorts — YouTube also now has Shorts that garner billions of views on a daily basis. Considerably shorter than traditional videos, they are uploaded vertically and intended for mobile devices.

Community Posts — In addition to videos, you can engage with audiences through Community posts outside of video content using quizzes, polls, images, and more. This will build your audience and drive that traffic to your YouTube videos.

8. Upload 360-Degree Videos

Have you tried uploading 360-degree videos? If not, you should. That’s because 360-degree videos have a 14% higher return on investment (ROI) than regular videos.

Pro-Tip: This strategy does exceptionally well in the travel space. They also work well when promoting sporting events or live entertainment.

9. Choose the Right Upload Times and Frequency

More videos = more views, right?

Right… to an extent. You want to post as frequently as possible without sacrificing quality.

You should also upload your video at times when your viewers are on YouTube. This will help to push your content to the people who want to see it the most.

To see when your viewers are most likely on the platform, take a look at your YouTube Analytics dashboard. Simply go onto your dashboard and click on Analytics, and choose the Audience tab. In this tab, you’ll see the following details, including when your viewers are on the platform and the channels they watch most:

Channel Analytics - How to View Audience Details

Channel Analytics – How to View Audience Details

Use these analytics to set a schedule. Start by choosing whether you want to upload once a week, every other week, or once a month, and stick to it.

Pro-Tip: If you want to effectively schedule your YouTube videos, Hootsuite also offers its own YouTube scheduling tool.

10. Create Eye-Catching Thumbnails

First impressions are everything. Capture your audience’s attention with a quality thumbnail. Use clear pictures with bright colors and easy-to-read fonts.

Example of a Creative Thumbnail to Drive Impressions on YouTube

Example of a Creative Thumbnail to Drive Impressions on YouTube

YouTube lets you choose from three intervals — the ¼ mark, ½ mark, and ¾ mark — so you can choose the one that works best, or customize your own using a design site like Canva.

Add an annotation to your video. An annotation is a text box that appears in your video or thumbnail and allows you to add further detail and improve your click-through rate with a CTA.

Look at these videos below. Which stands out the most?

Pro-Tip: Split-test your thumbnails, which entails using an A/B split test to run two different versions of your thumbnail to see which performs best. You can then determine which to use based on which attracts the most clicks. The best part? You can do it right inside the platform.

11. Optimize Your End Screens

After your video ends, your end screen will guide your viewer to take the next step. Include subscribe buttons or CTAs to drive action or encourage them to stay engaged with your content.

End Screen Options to Increase YouTube Impressions

End Screen Options to Increase YouTube Impressions

Pay attention to the types of content on your end screens that get people to perform the desired action. Does your subscribe button work well? Maybe people are hooked on your content and want to continue, eventually subscribing further down the line.

Test what works and what doesn’t, which will help you better figure out how to boost YouTube views.

12. Optimize Your Tags

YouTube Tags help viewers, YouTube, and other search engines understand what your video is about. This can go a long way in attracting more impressions and views.

Additionally, if you explore YouTube moderator job opportunities, you can gain valuable insights into how tags and other metadata are managed and optimized from the platform’s perspective.

Optimizing your tags with relevant terms (but without going overboard) can help you steal competitors’ thunder on the platform and drive more traffic and engagement.

Example of YouTube Tags for Impressions and Views

Example of YouTube Tags for Impressions and Views

13. Use the “Card Bridge” Technique

Using the “Card Bridge” technique, you can keep people watching your videos when they would normally drop off at certain points. Specifically, you would keep viewers’ attention by directing them to another video of yours using a “card” that appears on the screen when viewers often drop off the current video.

For instance, you might discover that people are stopping your videos at around the two-minute mark. At this point, you might use a card to get users’ attention and entice them to hop to another relevant video to engage them.

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