Free YouTube Monetization Course – Lesson 10
You have reached Lesson 10 of the Free YouTube Monetization Course. In this section of the course, YouTube SEO begins and you will learn YouTube SEO step by step. In this lesson, I will talk about the “recommended videos” section, which is a part of YouTube SEO and is the source of nearly the majority of YouTube video views. First of all, what are recommended videos? Let’s answer this question.
While watching a video on YouTube, the videos that automatically play after the video you are watching or the other videos that come after it are considered recommended videos. In addition to this, your video appearing on the YouTube homepage of users who are not subscribed to your channel can also be counted as a recommended video.
What needs to be done to appear among recommended videos on YouTube
Appearing among recommended videos on YouTube is one of the most important factors for YouTube channel owners. A large portion of YouTube video views comes from recommended videos. In order to appear in the recommended videos section on YouTube, you should keep the following 7 golden rules in mind.
- Using the correct keywords
- Using hashtags correctly
- Placing links to your other videos in the video description
- Adding an end screen to the video
- Adding cards to the video
- Adding your videos to playlists
- Choosing the correct video category
Using the correct keywords
By using the correct keywords related to your video, you can increase your chances of appearing both in searches and among recommended videos. For this, when sharing your YouTube videos, you should do keyword research and add titles (the video name), descriptions, and tags using these keywords. In our YouTube SEO lessons, you will receive more detailed information about keyword research for YouTube videos. Let’s assume that you shared a comedy video. Let’s look at how the algorithm works for this video to appear among recommended videos.
A user enters YouTube and opens and watches any comedy video. If the keywords of the video the user watched overlap with the keywords of your video, your video may appear among the videos that come after that video. The main issue is not only the overlap of keywords. The videos the viewer watched until reaching your video (YouTube history) and the viewer’s interests also play an important role. If you read the lesson until the end, you will learn more clearly how this algorithm works.
Using hashtags correctly
Do hashtags affect video views? This is one of the most frequently asked questions. And the answer is yes. They do. By using the correct hashtags, you can increase your chances of appearing in front of people who follow those hashtags. A hashtag is not only a tag that can be followed; it is also accepted as a separate keyword. YouTube allows 30 hashtags to be written for a video. Writing more than 30 hashtags can put the channel or the video into spam. However, according to many YouTube SEO experts, and in my opinion as well, even writing 30 hashtags in a video can put the video into spam. Rarely do videos that use this many hashtags become popular. I recommend that you use 6–7 hashtags. I definitely recommend that you do not use more than a maximum of 10 hashtags.
Avoid using irrelevant hashtags. Using hashtags that are suitable for your video’s topic will provide you with more benefit. If a hashtag is followed by millions of users but does not overlap with your video’s topic, using it will not provide you with any benefit. Hashtags with fewer followers but that are exactly compatible with your video will increase your video performance. As I said, hashtags are accepted as separate keywords. This also applies to the example hashtags in the paragraph about using keywords above. In addition to this, using the correct hashtags will also increase the likelihood of your videos appearing on the YouTube homepage of people who are not subscribed to your channel.
Placing links to your other videos in the video description
Including links to the other videos you shared on your channel in the description section of your videos is one of the factors that will increase your channel’s performance. By doing this, you essentially give references to your own videos. Just like on websites, such reference links are indispensable traffic sources for YouTube videos as well. If a viewer is watching your video, such links increase the probability that the next video will also belong to you. In other words, the algorithm may recommend your video again to a person who watched your video.
Adding end screens and cards to the video
Through end screens and cards, you can also recommend other videos on your channel to the person watching your video. The videos you add to the cards section appear as notifications in the upper right corner of the watched video. However, let me reveal a secret that no one tells you. If you also include the links of the videos you provide in the end screen and cards in the description text, you slightly increase the likelihood that your video will again be recommended to viewers. Let me explain with an example.
Let’s assume that you shared videos A, B, and C on your channel. Now you are sharing your video D. While sharing video D, you write the links of the other three videos (A, B, C) in the description text of video D. In addition to this, you also add these three videos to the cards and the end screen. Now the algorithm sees that these four videos are associated with each other and recommends one or three of these videos to the viewer.
If you do not know how to add cards and end screens to your videos, I recommend that you read the official YouTube Help Center articles “Add info cards to videos” and “Add end screens to videos” and watch the official video within the article.
Adding your videos to playlists
Adding your videos to playlists is one of the very important factors. Let’s assume that you share comedy videos. Here, by creating different playlists such as “funny kids videos, funny animals, interesting moments,” you can direct people to those playlists and thus increase your view performance. In addition to this, the probability of that playlist being shown to the viewer who watched your video is very high. If you share lesson videos or similar videos, you must definitely use playlists. In this way, you can ensure that your videos are watched consecutively. In the video below, you can learn how a playlist is created and how videos are added to that playlist.
Choosing the correct video category
The video category is an option that determines which audience your video is suitable for. There are 15 video categories in YouTube Studio. If you use these categories correctly, you can increase your video’s view performance. If you do not know which category your video is suitable for, you can look at the categories of other videos similar to your video. I explained how to do this in more detail in our YouTube SEO lessons. As you read the course lessons sequentially, you will both learn better and your learning order will not be disrupted.
We have learned the 7 golden rules of appearing among recommended videos on YouTube. However, remember that appearing in the recommended section does not mean that the video will be watched automatically. After a video is recommended, there are a few more important factors that affect the view count. I will explain these factors in detail in the following lessons. Keep reading and keep learning.
