Do you want to learn how to increase your watch hours on YouTube?
As the biggest platform for video content on the internet, YouTube can help your business reach tons of new customers.
But keeping people engaged with your YouTube videos can be tough. With over 500 hours of video content uploaded every minute, you’ll need something special to stand out.
This is why we’re bringing you our list of the best ways to increase your YouTube watch time. These tried-and-tested hacks will make sure your viewers will keep watching your content.
How to Increase Watch Hours on YouTube (9 Ways)
In this article, we’ve got 9 awesome hacks that’ll show you how to get more watch hours on YouTube. That way, you can kickstart your monetization with ease.
The best part? These are all super easy to do and are proven to get results.
Let’s get started!
1. Regularly Post Engaging Videos
If you want better engagement for your YouTube content, you need to post videos that are engaging.
This means your YouTube videos need to be at least one of these 3 things: informative, entertaining, or interesting.
To get started, you can ask yourself these questions before making new YouTube videos.
- What is your video about?
First, you need to have a clear and specific idea for your video.
A good start is to pick something that you’re familiar with. Plus, this video should also be relevant to your brand.
- Who is this video targeted to?
You also need to decide your target audience before making new videos. After all, 20-year-olds and 60-year-olds are likely to be interested in different types of content.
For the best results, remember to keep your target audience in mind while planning your YouTube videos. That way, you can make content that fits their age, gender, occupation, location, and more.
- What does your video have that people can’t find anywhere else?
Your videos should offer something unique for your viewers as well.
For that, you can check out YouTube videos from your competition and see how you could improve their content. You can also look for topics that they don’t cover and focus on them for your own videos.
Once you’ve done all this, you can start posting your video content regularly. After all, channels that post at least 1 video per week get better results.
And if you want even more people to see your engaging videos, you can also embed them on your website.
So, your website visitors can check out your videos and increase your watch time. Since they’re on your site, these people are also likely to be interested in your content.
To do that, you can use the best YouTube feed plugin, YouTube Feed Pro.
Using this plugin, you can post feeds of your YouTube videos on your site in a few clicks — no coding needed.
You can embed single videos, multiple videos, playlists, YouTube search results, YouTube channels, and much more.
Plus, all the feeds you create with YouTube Feed Pro will also automatically copy the design of your site. That way, you can have YouTube feeds that perfectly match your branding.
What’s more, YouTube Feed Pro also comes with a ton of customization options. So, you get total control over how your YouTube video feeds look.
The best part? You’ll get a team of WordPress experts with this social media feed plugin, and they’ll make sure you have a smooth experience.
Just grab your copy of YouTube Feed Pro right now, and you can turn your website visitors into YouTube subscribers and viewers.
To get started, take a look at our guide on how to embed a YouTube video in WordPress.
2. Optimize Your Videos for SEO
Another great way to increase your watch time on YouTube is to improve the SEO for your videos.
With a better SEO, your videos will rank higher in search engine results. So, interested people can easily find your videos whenever they search on YouTube.
It can be super easy to optimize your videos for YouTube SEO. For a start, you can follow this step-by-step guide:
Step 1: Find the Main Keyword
First, you’ll need to decide which search term your video should rank for, and that will be your main keyword.
If your video is a WordPress tutorial targeted towards newbies, your keyword can be something like “wordpress tutorial for beginners.”
So, people searching for that term can find your video and watch it.
Step 2: Include Your Keyword in the Video
The next step is to say that keyword out loud in your YouTube video.
That way, YouTube can detect the keyword while processing your video. And since YouTube’s algorithm can see that your content fits the keyword, it will rank your video higher.
Step 3: Add the Keyword in the Video Title
When you’re uploading your YouTube video, you can also try adding that keyword to the title.
So if your keyword is “wordpress tutorial for beginners,” your title can be something like “WordPress Tutorial for Beginners (No Coding Required).”
Step 4: Add the Keyword in the Video Description and Tags
After that, you can also add different versions of your keyword to the description and tags for the video.
As a result, YouTube will see that the video targets that keyword and helps you rank higher. And by ranking higher, more people can find your content.
Just like that, you know how to get more watch hours on YouTube by optimizing your videos.
You can check out our guide on how to improve your keyword research and get started.
3. Embed Your YouTube Channel on Your Website
Embedding your YouTube channel can be a great YouTube watch time booster.
Once you do that, anyone visiting your site can check out your YouTube videos. So, you can convert your site traffic into viewers and subscribers.
Plus, there’s a great way to embed your YouTube channel with ease: YouTube Feed Pro.
You can embed all of the content from your YouTube channel in a few minutes with this plugin. And there’s no need to touch a single line of code!
Whenever you add a new YouTube video to your channel, this plugin will automatically add it to your website as well.
Also, YouTube Feed Pro only loads a video after someone clicks on it. As a result, you can embed as many YouTube videos as you want, and your feeds will still be lightning-fast.
And a faster site means much better SEO as well.
This plugin is also trusted by some of the biggest brands in the world. So, you’ll be in good company here.
All in all, YouTube Feed Pro gives you an easy way to boost your YouTube watch hours.
Want to get started? Just take a look at our guide on how to embed your YouTube channel.
4. Create Playlists of Your Videos
YouTube playlists can be a simple but effective way to get more hours of watch time on YouTube.
When people visit your YouTube channel, they can see all of your videos in the same place. If they’re looking for a specific type of video, finding it here might be difficult.
But with YouTube playlists, people can easily find what they’re looking for.
For example, let’s say you have a YouTube channel with tutorials on managing a website. You can then divide your tutorials into different YouTube playlists.
Now, when a person visits your channel to learn about landing pages, they can immediately find that specific playlist and start watching.
Plus, instead of a single video, they can now check out all of your videos on that topic.
On top of that, you can even embed your playlists on your website to get even more video views.
Using YouTube Feed Pro, you can create, customize, and embed feeds with your YouTube playlists.
So, you can add relevant video content to your website in a few clicks. This is a great way to increase your watch hours and boost your site’s engagement at the same time.
Since these YouTube feeds are completely responsive, visitors from all devices can see your YouTube videos.
Take a look at this guide on how to embed YouTube playlists to start increasing your YouTube watch hours.
5. Add Engaging and Relevant Thumbnails
Did you know that a custom thumbnail can boost your click rate by up to 40%?
And when more people click on your videos, you get more views. Plus, YouTube will rank them higher in search results, so even more people will then see your videos.
All you have to do is add an engaging thumbnail that fits the content of your YouTube video.
Let’s take an example from this video on how to use Google Analytics with WordPress.
Here are a few things you can use from this thumbnail for your videos:
- Colors that stand out and grab people’s attention
- Large and clearly readable font size
- Text that makes the topic of the video clear
- Visible logo, so people know it’s your video
With these simple steps, you can immediately have YouTube thumbnails that will get you more watch time.
Do you want to design engaging YouTube thumbnails? Take a look at our list of the best visual content creation tools to get started.
6. Organize Livestreams
One of the best ways to increase watch hours on YouTube is by organizing livestreams.
Unlike other YouTube videos, livestreams allow real-time interactions with viewers and are much longer. So you can get more watch hours and build a relationship with your viewers at the same time.
And when you know your viewers better, you can also find out what kind of videos they want from you.
Plus, it’s pretty easy to organize livestreams. To get started, you can try these:
- Q&A sessions
- Announcements and news
- Product demonstrations
- Webinars and training videos
- Behind-the-scenes videos
Give livestreams a try, and you can keep people watching your content for much longer.
Want to reach more people with your livestreams? With YouTube Feed Pro, you can also show your livestreams on your site.
Then, people on your website can also join your streams when you go live. Plus, you can also embed your old livestreams and get more views even after they’re finished.
Get your copy of YouTube Feed Pro here, and you can get a lot more engagement for your livestreams.
For more details, check out this next post on how to embed live streams on your website.
7. Use YouTube Analytics to Track Your Progress
Using YouTube Analytics, you’ll have a much easier time getting more watch hours on YouTube.
This fantastic analytics tool can help you check a lot of useful YouTube metrics and stats, including your watch time.
So whenever you try a new strategy to increase your watch hours, you can check just how effective it is here.
Let’s say you started organizing weekly livestreams on your YouTube channel. With YouTube Analytics, you can clearly see how much your watch hours have improved using livestreams.
And if it shows good results, you can start focusing on livestreams for the long-term growth of your YouTube channel.
You also get lots of other information about your channel here, including data about your viewers. Then, you can know them better and start making content to fit that audience.
Give this social media analytics tool a try and start getting more watch hours for your YouTube channel.
8. Add Teasers at the Beginning
To keep people watching your YouTube video, you can add a short teaser for your main content at the start of the video.
You can just show interesting clips from later in the video as a teaser. That way, you can hook people in after they open your video and get them to continue watching.
After you add a teaser, people will immediately see what your video is about. Plus, you’re also creating a great first impression of your video content.
On top of this, you can post these teasers to other social media sites and link your full YouTube video.
People will then get a taste of your YouTube content and check out your video to see more.
And you can even embed social media posts with these teasers on your site to get more people interested in your videos.
9. Interact with Your Community
By interacting with your YouTube community, you can start building a relationship with them.
And that relationship can help you turn them into dedicated viewers for your YouTube channel. So they’ll check out more of your video content, and you’ll get tons of YouTube watch hours.
To get more comments, all you have to do is ask questions in your YouTube videos. Then, you can like, pin, or respond to these comments to interact with people and take part in discussions.
You can also use the community section on YouTube to post channel updates, polls, and other interactions with your YouTube community.
With these interactions, you’ll have an easy time getting dedicated viewers and brand ambassadors for your YouTube channel.
And that’s it!
That was our guide on how to increase your watch hours on YouTube. All these hacks are proven to get results, so you can start promoting your brand on YouTube in no time.
If you want a simple way to get tons of new viewers and subscribers, you can just use the YouTube Feed Pro plugin to display your videos on your site.
Ready to create YouTube feeds to boost your views? Get started with the YouTube Feed Pro plugin here!
Want to get your YouTube channel off the ground? You can just check out our guide on how to grow your YouTube channel.
And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter if you want more social media marketing tips and tricks.
very inportant information given by you. thanks a lot
Hello, thanks for the tips I almost forgot about these now I’ll start doing these and see some growth on my channel soon.
Thank you so much guys❤️ GOD bless.
Very helpful tips in increasing watchtime on YouTube! All very helpful! Thanks for sharing!
Very inportant information given by you. Thanks a lot
We upgraded to the paid subscription, and it has been everything we needed and more. The customer service is PHENOMENAL!
I love how simple and easy to use this plugin in for embedding Instagram posts.
It’s really helpful
Very happy to have found this article!
Cheers
Insightful article, keep up the good work
👍
Thanks for these important informations !
Awesome!
Great information thanks!
Great!
Interesting. Very interesting.
Really helpful overview. Think more about getting them to youtube rather than how to get them to stay. This makes me think about things a little differently.
That’s helpful
very inportant information, thanks
Phenomenal
Awesome!!!
Simply Amazing.
Thank you! I was struggling with this!
This is very helpful for people who wish to grow their business online via YouTube.
Very helpful! thanks
Great tips. I really need to start utilizing Youtube more. It’s one of my “forgotten” socials and I know there is so much potential over there.
Great tips. Helpful and informative