YouTube is now the 2nd largest search engine, outranked only by its owner, Google, which is why understanding the latest YouTube search trends and emerging SEO best practices are crucial for building your brand visibility.

We recently attended VidCon US’s 10th-anniversary event for fans, creators, executives, and brands that are passionate about online video and building diverse communities.

Here are our top 10 takeaways for YouTube trends from this year’s VidCon conference that can be used to inform your video strategy.

 

What is Vidcon?

 

Vidcon is the world’s largest events for fans, creators, executives, and brands that are passionate about online video and building diverse communities.

Thousands of attendees come for the live performances, panels, fireside chats, interactive experiences, and perhaps most importantly, to discuss the latest YouTube trends shared by the top publishers on the platform.

VidCon US celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019. VidCon was founded by veteran YouTube creator Hank Green and was acquired by Viacom in 2018.

 

Top 10 YouTube Trends of 2019

 

1. Primetime is personal and different for every user; there are now more videos, channels, and overall inventory than ever before on the platform.

 

 

2. Traditional entertainment (TV & movie industry) is converging with digital as movie stars and execs migrate into digital and digital influencers are becoming TV celebrities.

 

 

3. YouTube campaigns can get a comparable reach and frequency to TV at a more efficient rate and can complement TV by skewing toward the younger audience.

 

 

4. Brand Lift 2.0 can be leveraged to optimize in real-time and drive a substantial lift in consideration as seen with Helix.

 

5. Watch time is one of the biggest factors in SERP ranking for video, along with recency.

Videos that engage and hold the interest of viewers benefit most from YouTube’s ranking algorithm.

 

 

6. Google AI can see objects in videos and can listen to the audio to determine the video content and relevance.

 

7. YouTube has become less about one-offs and viral hits and more about a large network of creators who build meaningful audiences.

 

 

8. Trends we see among the creator ecosystem are the ones that are starting to best reflect and shape the culture around us.

“Adulting” is one of the newest genres driven by a demand for the content.

 

9. It may seem like hyper-specific content appeals to hyper-specific interests of one audience. But in 2019, going niche can be the path to going mainstream.

 

10. Fashion beauty and sustainability are merging into one of the fastest-growing conversations.

Creators are using new imaging techniques, microscopes, for close up videos.

 

 

 

Advanced YouTube SEO Strategies to Drive Viewership

 

YouTube’s algorithm changes as much as its social media competitors. With the current algorithm, engagement with your viewers should be the top priority — which also calls for smart SEO practices to implement with each video.

Putting time into the launch of your video by researching proper SEO pays off. Prepare relevant metadata, thumbnails, keywords, and a standard style to your videos to create a consistent experience within your channel.

Here are some of the SEO strategies that creators and publishers remarked on being important for performance:

 

• Keywords are important in the title and descriptions at video launch. This importance begins to dwindle after YouTube has the chance to gather watch data. 

 

• New videos will rank higher right away. This encourages channel creators to consistently create new content to keep their channel visible to new users.

 

• Positive interactions are rewarded (likes, shares, etc.) You will continue to see analytics rise for user engagement and content creators asking for interactions within videos.

 

Want to learn more?

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