It’s no surprise that Google ranks its own website, Youtube, higher in the search results. However, as part of their constant algorithm changes appear to give Youtube videos higher and potentially unfair positioning, SEO experts will further incorporate Youtube into their overall promotion strategies. With Google constantly changing, SEO experts are always trying to stay ahead of the game. One method they’re using is to buy Youtube views and likes. This in return is negatively effecting search results by placing low quality videos in the first 1-3 slots for many search terms.
Don’t get me wrong, Youtube videos are often times informative, especially in the do it yourself niche. Instructional videos can be a life saver for learning complicated processes. However, I’m starting to see many extremely low quality videos making it to the top of the SERPs, taking the top three sometimes four positions. The videos I’m talking about typically flash between stock imagery and have a few captions that just advertise a certain website. There will typically be some corny music in the background, and a link to their website in the description.
The maker then uses a service that gives the video a boost in views and likes. Typically if you see a low quality video with nearly 100% positive likes, it’s almost certainly a paid advertisement. The strategy is actually fairly effective depending on your niche. The niche I’ve found them most effective in is the How To and DIY niches. I’ve seen Youtube results cover as many as the first four results, and have many more in the top 20.
It’s shockingly cheap to start one of these Youtube campaigns. Some services offer you as many as 5,000 views for only $10. However, the sky is the limit and some websites are confident in offering packages that will give you over 100,000 views in as little as a week!
With all the constant algorithm changes, hopefully one of them will give a little less weight to Youtube videos. At the very minimum, Google needs to find a better way to detect fraudulently promoted videos and start attacking the problem at the source: the bogus accounts. With how easy it is to accomplish, literally anyone can hire someone to make and promote a low quality video which they propel them to the top of the SERPs.