Oldie but goodie! This post was originally published in May 2015 and updated in August 2017 as part of an on-going series highlighting popular past posts.

How to Tag Videos in YouTube
Generating YouTube Traffic for your Healthcare Practice

Did you know thatt 18-49-year-olds watch more YouTube than any broadcast or cable network combined? In fact, it is estimated that by the end of 2017, video will account for 74 percent of all online traffic. It’s obvious—video is one big way to reach potential patients.

So you’ve made a sweet video and uploaded it to YouTube. Now what? How do you get people watching it? According to YouTube, tagging is one of the most effective ways to boost the ranking of your video in YouTube search results. After creating a video you want to put on YouTube, tags will help your patients find your videos online. Many people are familiar with tagging their blog posts, but some don’t realize that you can tag your videos as well. This will ensure current and potential future patients and search engines locate your channel and videos easily and is by far the best way to give your practice and videos maximum online exposure.

A quick background on keywords

When users search out a practice online, they may pick a phrase such as “best pediatrician in Oakland.” That phrase are your keywords. Come up with a list of keywords or phrases that a patient might search and incorporated that as tags for your video. Doing so will will ensure that your video will populate within their search results. Even more effective in ensuring that your practice pops up before competitors, is incorporating unique and creative keywords, as after your prospects view one of your videos, any other videos you may have created that include those same unique keywords, will auto-populate immediately as suggested videos to watch.

Using effective keywords when tagging YouTube videos can increase web traffic

This will keep your viewers engaged and on your site learning more about your practice, product and services.

For a quick overview of some simple action steps you can take to get started and maximize your YouTube marketing efforts, start with some video basics.

How do I tag my videos in order for them to be found?

Here are a few steps to successfully tagging your videos:

  • Create default tags- These are keywords that relate to your brand such as channel name, tagline, what industry you are in, general terms related to your services.
  • Video specific tags- These are words that sum up the topic or content in your video and not covered in your default tags.
  • Don’t use misleading tags- If you get people to your page this way, it will jack up your bounce rate as people quickly leave realizing you misled them. Be straight-up. It will create better long-term success.
Use specific tags to highlight what your video is about
  • Don’t use misspelled or synonymous keywords- Don’t waste valuable tags by including misspellings–Google already uses search conventions that will locate your videos regardless of keywords being spelled incorrectly.
  • Use YouTube’s suggested keyword tags- YouTube suggests keywords based on what other people are typing in to find similar videos. Trust them and use them!
  • Use the same tags your competitors are using- This just makes sense so do it

There are different schools of thought about how to tag your videos, but for a trusted, reliable approach and for optimal tagging results, refer to the 10 Steps to Create Optimal Tags For YouTube Videos.

YouTube is an important part of the social media marketing efforts for healthcare practices

YouTube can be an incredibly effective marketing tool if you use it wisely. Implementing good tagging strategies will improve your ranking in the mad YouTube search for information about products and services and assist you in creating successful relationships between multiple videos which is the key to an effective YouTube presence. Don’t forget to link your video to your website and all social media platforms for best success!

Ready, set, video!