YouTube SEO is Dead.

I've been doing a super deep dive into YouTube strategy as I'm preparing to relaunch my channel and a video segment of my podcast, and a few things are really standing out to me with YouTube strategy in 2023. I know I'm not alone in my YouTube aspirations, so I thought I'd share with all of you the top things I've discovered about what's working (and what isn't) on the platform.

Now, I'm not a YouTube expert. I've spent half a dozen years or so trying to identify ways to really make it on the platform, but have yet to commit myself to actually making enough content to use these strategies effectively.

That being said, ***I've spent half a dozen years or so researching and identifying key ways to really make it on the platform.*** So I may have some insights here worth listening to.

If you **ARE** an expert, please do enlighten or add to any of these points - I'd love to learn from you!

Okay. Here are the top things that I'm integrating into my YouTube strategy for 2023:

1. Search is still driving traffic, but not loyalty.

Yes, SEO is still very important on YouTube for a lot of channels. But something interesting is happening. Most of the channels I've followed for years that use SEO as their primary strategy are now seeing less than 10% of their subscriber base actually watch their videos. And this is actually pretty universal - I'm not seeing a lot of SEO-primary channels throwing those big numbers lately, especially from their own subscriber base.

Now I think this is the convergence of a few things, one of which I'll talk about in a minute, but another is what some people are calling "The Death of SEO".

From the minute businesses figured out they could get in front of millions of eyeballs with no ad costs if they rammed 100x keywords into a poorly written article, search engines have been battling against poor quality content that doesn't actually help the people who are searching to find answers.?

And people are, frankly, getting tired. *Especially* early adopters, and techie types (which are some of the primary consumers of YouTube content in the how-to space - the main driver of SEO-focused channel traffic.)

Go ahead and search for something on Google, and watch how quickly Google suggests adding the word "Reddit" to your query.

That's no accident, it's because people are tired of filtering through endless amounts of useless content to find real answers, so they're turning to places like Reddit (one of the few social platforms to open their content to crawling by search engine crawlers)?to get an actual answer to their question.

If people are turning to other people (including influencers), and other platforms (like IG, TikTok, and Reddit) to get answers, they're not searching. So SEO traffic will naturally drop.

For more in-depth info on this, I highly recommend this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48AOOynnmqU - not mine, of course.

It'll have several interesting points, including the fact that a large percentage of Gen Z and newer are using social search vs. Google search to find what they're looking for. Especially locally (which is good to know, for local marketing agency types.)

2. Suggest traffic is increasing - rapidly.

People used to search for topics on YouTube because it was primarily a search engine, and let's face it, for a lot of years their algorithm sucked. It had no idea why you were watching a piece of content, so the suggestions it gave were hardly relevant at all.

However, in October of 2022, their Suggest and Browse algorithms had a major overhaul - and now they actually work.

To the point where you can hop onto your home screen at any point and see videos related to what you've been watching, what you're subscribed to, and specifically, whatever you're really into *right now* in the style of video you're really into *right now.*

I'm getting a lot of science communicators explaining architecture to me on my home screen at the moment because I've been watching those videos.

And because the Suggest and Browse algorithms finally work, people are no longer searching for videos - they're browsing for them. Like they do on TikTok, scrolling through the feed until they find something interesting. And the more they watch, the more similar videos they get suggested.

This is a MASSIVE opportunity for those who can create attention-grabbing thumbnails and video titles that appeal to people on similar content topics to what is out there, and also a huge blow to anyone relying on keyword stuffing their video titles, counting on SEO wins.

It's ALSO a huge win for anyone who can create binge-worthy content.

This means that content you can watch any time, in any order (so no need to follow your "narrative arc" so to speak) and content that doesn't repeat itself (unlike some of the SEO-focused channels, rehashing the same content with 10 different keyword focused titles) will get more watch time.

More watch time, more priority in the algorithm, more of your videos suggested on your own videos, more subscribers, more views, and more success.

This is also likely why some vloggers are seeing a bit of a dip. Even though they don't create SEO-focused content and they check off point 3 on this list, there is a story arc to their content, and when people miss a few episodes or start watching things out of order? They lose the plot.

This is no good for retention, which sinks them in the suggestion algorithm, and you'll see videos from other vlog channels suggested on their videos.

Want to see someone who does this whole "timeless, binge-worthy, non-repetitive content that is easily suggestible" thing really well? Watch what happens to your algorithm after you watch 2-3 of this guy's videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/joescott

3. People are tired of hunting out accurate information.

Especially accurate information that understands their context and explains things through the same moral and ethical lens they have.

Yeah, it's the whole societal division thing.

Companies and brands have avoided taking sides in many cases, which means their content essentially skims over people's core values when attempting to answer their questions.

Safe move, sure.

But do you know who doesn't do that? Influencers.

People used to gather in places, search for things, join groups and communities, self-organize, etc.

Now they find a person who aligns with their ideals, values, and moral compass, and then they create a community around them of like-minded individuals.

If you thought the age of the influencer was over, this is your wake-up call.

Influencers are avatars that we can latch onto, fictionalized and curated versions of the people we all want to be - and people are buying in.

They WANT to hear what their favourite business blogger eats for breakfast, why their parenting expert shops at Costco, and where the Herman Miller chair in their productivity person's office came from.

They want stories and shared experiences with these symbols of their own core values, and they're willing to bend and shape their lives to be one of the community in order to fit in and feel understood.

Oh, and they're willing to pay for this, too. This is why online courses are currently doing really well for a lot of influencers.

So if you don't have binge-able content, and even somewhat if you do, you're going to need to have a personality and have a viewpoint on things if you want people to pay attention.

Yes, even brands.

Recommended reading: We Are All the Same Age Now by David Allison, and the updated version I have not read yet from November of last year, The Death of Demographics by David Allison.

That's enough for a far, far too-long post.

Credit to Katie Steckly on YouTube who created this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V_ibRy7nK4) which set me off on a bunch of research to confirm what she was saying, combine it with what I knew, and come to these conclusions.

My plan for this year is to optimize my videos for personality, storytelling, binge-ability, suggestion, and sharing.

Almost like a micro-viral strategy - not wanting every video to get 1M views by going viral, but using elements of virality to incrementally increase my reach over time.

I'll also be re-reading Contagious by Jonah Berger to assist with this process, which I highly recommend to anyone else doing the same.

What do you think? Do you agree with the above? Is there still a place for SEO optimization? (I think there is, I just also think it isn't enough anymore. It's an entry point, not a sustainable retention strategy.)

Share in the comments and if you liked this piece, please pass it around.