YouTube Question Can Google Ads be used to rank for a YouTube keyword?

[Quack Quack #HHBMV]

I can't figure this one out, even after several months of experimenting and Googling. I'm hoping someone can help.

Using TubeBuddy, I've identified several keywords I'd like to rank for. However, to rank, I believe my vids titled, tagged and described with the associated keywords need more views to be competitive based on Tubebuddy's weighted results i.e. the "You vs Top Ranked Videos" avg view count.

Question 1: is that an appropriate assumption?

Question 2: if I use Google Ads to promote my vid containing the keyword I want to rank for, will the views that come from Google ads improve my rank for that keyword?

 

[Real Truth]

great question

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Man, solid question. I love this. I don't know that answer, but I am going to take an educated guess and see how the other guys react.

For starters you are correct; your ranking for certain keyword terms is based on how well your videos perform against the videos it is competing against. But they do not do this based on views (if that were the case the algorithm would only favor ten year old videos). There are several key factors that YouTube uses to determine which is the 'better' video.

Click Through Rate - If you aren't getting clicks it isn't competing, hand's down.
Watchtime/AVD - Simply put YT wants people watching longer. 'Longer' doesn't just mean 'hey I made a 50 hour video let's rack up as much watchtime as we can.' If you make a video that encourages a string of watched videos this watchtime also counts towards the success of that video. This is where AVD comes into play; the longer someone watches a video the more chances they will see an endscreen and the next video will pop up and continue the viewing experience. So while an hour video will gain watchtime a ten minute video which encourages an additional 50 minutes of binge-watching works equally as well.
Shares - Also an important and underrated metric. Like the AVD correlation if you get shared out a LOT then you are bringing eyes onto the platform and that is adding to the overall watchtime credited to that video (even if this is not a metric that YouTube shows you they do see it).

In regards to question 2: I presume that ads are not going to benefit you, for a variety of reasons. In particular a couple of years ago YT shut down the value of ads counting towards video watchtime etc for music artists. I can't find an article on that so I can't cite a source but YT is aware that you could game the system with ads and they have removed that as an ability. Now, I admit I can not remember the specifics of this case other than the fact that they were specific to music artists but the key takeaway is that YT recognizes ads as a traffic source and that they are not going to allow someone to game the system with ads.

 

[Quack Quack #HHBMV]

Thanks for that response. I figured as much. Youtube is a dastardly game.

 

[Beanie Draws]

Question 2: if I use Google Ads to promote my vid containing the keyword I want to rank for, will the views that come from Google ads improve my rank for that keyword?

What I've been hearing is unless you have a product you're selling, not just a video you want ranking for views, google ads are a waste of money. I suggest asking Roberto Blake on twitter because he's used google ads in the past for products, but warns channels not to use them to promote a video.

 

[Quack Quack #HHBMV]

What I've been hearing is unless you have a product you're selling, not just a video you want ranking for views, google ads are a waste of money. I suggest asking Roberto Blake on twitter because he's used google ads in the past for products, but warns channels not to use them to promote a video.

Thanks for your response. IΓÇÖm a beatmaker; the main reason I use Google Ads is 1) for subs and 2) to determine which beat styles are most appealing to viewers, which itΓÇÖs very useful for (the beats are also for sale, so itΓÇÖs technically a product ad as well). The problem in my business is that itΓÇÖs ULTRA saturated, and thereΓÇÖs no such thing as a good keyword because beatmaking has a very limited set of possible keywords which are all overly used, even for brand new artist type beats. ThereΓÇÖs virtually no way to get a leg up otherwise that IΓÇÖve been able to figure out. IΓÇÖve set up about 40 ads for the purpose of figuring out which beat style attracts the most listeners. I have some ads that yield subs for 50-60 cents each, which is an INSANE sub rate off of an ad. IΓÇÖd be curious to know the arguments against using ads (perhaps not specific to my niche).

 

[amisclinic]

in simple terms its just an add on and will increase the ranking .. defenitely not a sole factor..

 

[TubeBuddy]

It's not going to help, since you're trying to use ads to boost in an organic way. If the video delivers it will deliver ads can get it views, but will it keep people watching? WIll it do what you want it to? That's up to the ad.