What Are YouTube Backlinks?
Probably, “backlinks” and “YouTube” are two words that speak for themselves. That’s to say, you can probably guess from the name what it’s all about. But anyway, before diving into our topic any further, let’s have a brief overview of YouTube backlinks’ essence to ensure we’re all on the same page about what it means.
Let’s say you’re interested in live links in SEO, and type it into the YouTube search bar to see what kind of content is out there. Then, you click on the video you want to watch. Under the description, you find a link to a blog that offers more interesting insights on the topic.
That’s a vivid example of YouTube link building. The content creator placed one or several links in the video description, guiding their audience to a blog or another desired platform.
Core Benefits of YouTube Backlinks
Now that we have a solid understanding of YouTube link building, let’s zoom in on its core benefits you can reap from it.
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Improve SERP Ranking
YouTube has a 100 domain authority according to Semrush, so you can imagine how reputable backlinks from YouTube are. You see, Google owns YouTube, which means that links from this social media platform are highly trustworthy.
That is to say, getting links from this platform may significantly improve your website’s ranking on search engines. As a result, you may also significantly boost your website’s organic traffic. So, why let this powerful opportunity go to waste?
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Elevate Your Sales
Since YouTube is considered the third-largest search engine, you can probably picture how much potential this social media platform has to:
- Attract a large audience
- Drive your sales
Sure thing, if you want to truly elevate your sales through YouTube backlinks, make your content engaging and attractive. It’s the only way to ensure your audience will tap the links you’ve dropped in the description.
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Boost Brand Awareness
According to Statista, YouTube has 2.49 billion users. That is to say, with such a huge audience, your brand has a great chance of getting noticed. As such, this social video platform can not only improve your search engine results but also significantly increase your brand awareness.
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Saves Your Budget
Link building is not a cheap pleasure; especially in recent years, prices have been going up. For example, a couple of years ago, I was charging around $50 per link, but today I charge at least twice as much. You may face other limitations as well. Most platforms have restrictions, whereas with your own channel and your own content, you’re free to build links as you wish.
How to Build YouTube Backlinks?
Having discussed the core pros you can expect from YouTube link building, you may feel inclined to tap into this endeavor. If so, then it’s the right time to tell you about the core technical aspects and how to get there.
Use Video Descriptions
This one is at the top of our list, as it’s probably the most common method. Typically, people tend to check links in the description. Overall, they tend to scroll through the description, which elevates the chances of your link being noticed. But do you know what I personally love most about this category? The possibility of dropping more than one link.
So, let’s say I created an interesting and short video about link building. I give the essence in the video, but don’t dive into the nitty-gritty details like pricing, strategies, etc. I can’t let this content go unnoticed. Meaning, I’ll simply place the links with a short caption under the description, letting my viewers decide which topic they find most intriguing. And the more links they click, the better it is for me.
As for limitations, you can add as many links as you want. Just note that the description length is limited to 5,000 characters.
Put Links on Profile
Profile backlinks are common for any social media. Unlike the previous option, here you have a limitation on YouTube. You are allowed to add up to 14 profile links. Let’s admit that’s pretty much it, and most likely you won’t use them all.
Typically, businesses tend to add their website, online store (if you have one), and other social media accounts like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, etc.
Utilize Card Links
This one is more about external linking. You will likely have many interesting and related videos in your YouTube profile, so by leveraging card links, you can connect them all. You can both give links to playlists and individual videos.
Well, this option is good to drive and elevate your other videos’ visibility on the platform. But if you noticed, I said it is mostly for external linking. This means you may use this kind of link for external sites like your website or online store. However, to get there, you should belong to the YouTube Partner Program.
Leverage Comments
Whether it’s adding external, internal, or even affiliate links, YouTube comments may serve best. People love reading comments, especially when the topic is pretty engaging, so use the comment section to put some additional links.
Yes, it’s not preferable to have the same link both in the description and the comment, you can do so, but it’s better to try to differentiate the content you share through the same video. For example, you may answer users’ questions or give some additional recommendations with links to your website or specific blog posts.
Plus, it’s worth pinning the comment with links to ensure it won’t get lost among many comments.
Use End Screen Links
And last but not least, an important type of YouTube backlink is end screen links. As you can guess from the name, these links appear at the end of the video. They act like a call to action, encouraging viewers to take steps like visiting your website or shopping for something.
It looks a lot like a card link, but unlike card links, end screen types can be internal and are placed at the end, as we have noticed.
Final Thoughts
You see, YouTube can be quite a useful and cost-effective tool for link building. So, if you haven’t yet made it into your list of robust link building strategies, start using it to boost your brand awareness and stay competitive.
If you bump into any issues along the way, GoPeak is here to help. Contact us for more details.