You already know that the title of a Youtube video is a ranking factor...
But is the placement of the keyword in the title tag important?
Do you rank higher if you put the keyword at the front, middle, or end of the title?
Is it possible to optimize YouTube titles just by changing where you put the keyword in the title?
Back in 2016, we ran some tests and discovered that YouTube always gave higher rankings to exact match titles.
So that's what we've advised for 5 years...
But I saw something recently that indicated that the YouTube algorithm might have changed, and that putting the keyword at the end of a longer title ranked higher.
So, I decided to run a scientific test to find out...
The YouTube Title Test...
First, I created 3 fake keywords.
Jispfresten
Zyxcplrylyz
Loquremniso
Now, as I explained in the previous case study, "Do YouTube Tags Matter", YouTube always tries to return some search results.
But, when YouTube has no idea what your keyword is about, they reluctantly serve up the "No Results Found" screen.
Like this...
As you can see, YouTube has no idea what these words mean.
That's important, because YouTube has no underlying context that will affect their search results.
And, it means that we won't be competing against any existing YouTube videos.
We're going to use these three fake words to run three different tests.
And, if all three tests have the same result, then we'll consider our hypothesis confirmed.
Now, to keep this scientific, the title tag needs to be the only factor that changes.
So, I also created some fake descriptions.
To make sure that YouTube doesn't try to add context using artificial intelligence, the videos are just random scribbling in Microsoft Paint with typing sounds in the background.
All the videos are the same length and style, but they've been randomized in a way that they look and sound completely different.
For each test, I put the keyword either at the front, middle, or end of the YouTube title tag.
The YouTube Title Test Results...
After all 9 videos were uploaded (3 tests with 3 videos each), I waited for them to be indexed in YouTube.
Then, I searched for "Jispfresten".
Take a look at this first test result...
Honestly, I was a bit surprised.
In this result, putting the keyword at the front (#1) ranked above the keyword at the end (#2) or the keyword at the middle (#3).
So, my hypothesis was already falling apart at this point.
But let's continue anyway...
Here was the second test result...
In this test result, putting the keyword at the front (#1) ranked above the keyword at the middle (#2) or the keyword at the end (#3).
That's not what I expected either.
The results of the first two tests don't match.
But, let's look at the third test...
In this test, putting the keyword at the end (#1) ranked above the keyword at the front (#2) or the keyword at the middle (#3).
That's weird.
No two tests were exactly alike.
At this point, my hypothesis was proven wrong.
Putting the keyword at the end of the title tag was not the highest ranking version for all three tests.
So, after seeing these results, I decided to test the exact match keyword again.
As I mentioned earlier, while we were creating VidSpyPro in 2016, we discovered that putting the exact keyword as the title resulted in the highest rankings.
To test this hypothesis again, I created three new videos, and put the exact match keyword as the title for each of them.
Once these were indexed, I checked the results.
Take a look at this...
As you can see, for all three tests, putting the exact match keyword as the title of the video ranked #1.
All three tests had identical results and confirmed that YouTube still gives higher rankings to exact match titles.
I went ahead and waited 20 more days to see if these results would change over time.
But the results were still the same...
How To Optimize YouTube Titles In 2021...
Based on these scientific test results, putting the exact match keyword as the title of your video still allows it to rank higher in the YouTube alogorithm in 2021.
And that's a very easy optimization you can use to rank higher in the YouTube search results and get more views, likes, and clicks from every video you upload.
More Ways To Rank Higher On YouTube In 2021...
Recently, I ran more tests and put the results in this new book, Decoding YouTube: 6 Scientific Experiments That Reveal How YouTube Really Works In 2021.
You'll see detailed scientific experiments that reveal how to get your videos to rank higher so you can get more clicks and sales.
- The most important YouTube SEO ranking factor, and exactly where you should put your keyword to push your videos to the top of the search results (Hint: Adding more words just dilutes the power of this ranking factor)...
- The free Google A.I. tool that reveals how to setup your YouTube thumbnail correctly so you can rank for even more keywords...(Use this tool before you upload your video, so you can be sure you'll be able to rank for specific keywords)...
- How to create the best YouTube descriptions, so your videos are on the first page as soon as you upload them. (We found 3 really strong versions, but you'll see the ultimate winner on page 69)...
Click here to get the book (it's free)...
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If you have a question about this experiment, or an idea for additional experiments, I'd love to hear from you below...
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