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Introduction
Growing a YouTube channel is becoming more and more challenging these days as more and more creators are joining the platform, at least that is how it looks. While it is getting harder to grow it doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot grow on YouTube, that is far from the truth. There are a lot of “hidden” strategies that not many small YouTubers know about. Posting videos mindlessly expecting a return is an average YouTubers journey until they quit and forget about their channel.
This doesn’t have to be your strategy. YouTube is far more than just a platform, it’s an actual growth machine that can not only grow your brand but also your business if done correctly. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from managing and growing clients' channels it would be to stick with what works. In this blog post I will break down 7 organic YouTube growth strategies that you can apply today to see incredible growth in the next couple of months on your YouTube channel. But before that let's cover some well known strategies first.
Popular YouTube Strategies
Google Trends
Let's dive deeper into a hugely effective YouTube strategy that many successful creators are using: tapping into current trends. This method involves using tools like Google Trends and MeetGlimpse.com to pinpoint what topics are catching fire right now.
Why Use Trending Topics? By aligning your content with what's currently popular, you dramatically increase your visibility. Trending topics are more likely to appear in searches and recommendations, pulling more viewers to your channel.
How It Works:
- Research: Use Google Trends to see what keywords or topics are gaining traction. This tool shows you what people are searching for right now all over the world.
- Analyze: Platforms like MeetGlimpse.com go a step further by breaking down these trends into actionable insights, showing you which trends are worth pursuing based on your specific audience or niche.
- Create: Once you've identified a trend, create content that ties in with it. Whether it’s a video discussing the trend directly, offering your unique perspective, or incorporating the trend into your existing content style, make sure it resonates with your target audience.
- Optimize: Use the keywords you've researched in your video's title, description, and tags to optimize it for search engines and YouTube's recommendation algorithms.
Benefits:
- Increased Engagement: Videos about trending topics can lead to higher engagement rates, as they're more likely to cater to the interests of a larger audience.
- Subscriber Growth: Trend-focused content can attract new viewers who might subscribe if they find your perspective or presentation style appealing.
- Brand Relevance: Staying on top of trends keeps your content fresh and relevant, which can help strengthen your brand image over time.
Using trends is an excellent way to ensure your content has a better chance of performing well on YouTube. It's about being quick to react and using the right tools to guide your content strategy. Give it a try, and you might just see your channel grow in ways you hadn't imagined!
Tactic That No One Talks About
Today, I want to share a super effective but often overlooked YouTube growth strategy that no one talks about—focusing on your video analytics, specifically average view duration (AVD) and click-through rate (CTR). Achieving a 50% AVD and a 10% CTR might sound tough, but videos hitting these metrics often go viral.
Why These Metrics Matter:
- Average View Duration: If people watch at least half of your video on average, it signals to YouTube that your content is engaging. This can help boost your video in the platform’s algorithm.
- Click-Through Rate: A high CTR means your video thumbnail and title are compelling enough to make people want to click. This is crucial for standing out in a crowded feed.
How to Aim for These Metrics:
- Content Quality: Make sure your content is engaging right from the start to keep viewers watching longer.
- Test Different Thumbnails and Titles: Experiment with various thumbnails and titles to see which ones get more clicks. This involves a lot of testing but finding the right combination can really pay off.
Reaching these metrics isn't easy and requires continuous testing and tweaking. However, focusing on these can significantly increase your chances of going viral and growing your channel. Let's put this strategy into action and see how our videos perform!
7 Organic YouTube Growth Strategies
Now that we have covered two main strategies that a lot of big YouTubers are leveraging let’s talk about 7 organic YouTube growth strategies that you can use to grow your channels views and subscribers. You don’t have to be an expert or professional to grow on YouTube, you just need to pick one strategy and stick with it until it starts working for you. YouTube is all about testing and in order to test you will need to produce more videos than you can imagine but in the end it will all be worth it. Let’s start with the rundown of the best organic YouTube strategies that we used for our clients and that big YouTubers use to grow fast.
1. Producing SEO Driven Content
One of the most underrated strategies on YouTube is producing SEO driven content. You've probably noticed how certain videos, especially tutorials like "how to slice an apple," often pop up at the top of your search results. That's because they are optimized with specific SEO keywords that people commonly search for. These are your golden tickets to consistent, long-term views and engagement.
Understanding SEO for YouTube: SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, involves using specific keywords that help your videos appear in search results when people look for content like yours. When you focus on SEO, you're essentially making your videos more discoverable.
Finding the Right Keywords: Start by brainstorming what potential viewers might type into the search bar. Tools like YouTube’s own search suggest feature or advanced platforms like SEMRush can be invaluable here. SEMRush’s Keyword Magic Tool, for example, allows you to filter keywords by their difficulty and search volume. This helps you identify less competitive keywords that can still pull in a substantial number of viewers.
Targeting Long-Tail Keywords: Instead of broad terms that face stiff competition, aim for long-tail keywords. These are longer and more specific phrases. For instance, instead of "how to create a blog," a keyword phrase like "how to create a blog on WordPress in 2024" targets viewers with very specific needs and faces less competition, making it easier for your video to rank higher.
Leveraging Less Competitive Keywords: A smart tactic is to look for keywords that smaller channels are successfully ranking for. While a generic term may be dominated by big players, adding specifics—like a year or a unique angle—can help you find a niche that isn’t as saturated.
Why This Strategy Works: By focusing on specific, searchable terms, you create content that not only meets the immediate needs of your viewers but also stands a better chance of being found via search. Plus, targeting SEO effectively means your content could continue to drive traffic and generate views for months or even years after it’s posted, establishing a solid foundation for your channel’s growth.
In sum, leveraging SEO effectively requires thoughtful keyword research and strategic content planning. By focusing on these elements, you can significantly enhance your YouTube channel’s visibility and success. Let’s start optimizing and take your channel to new heights!
2. Using Titles That Worked Before
Another super effective strategy that you can use to grow organically on YouTube is by using the titles that worked before. It sounds simple, but the impact can be huge. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how this works:
Why Reuse Old Titles? When a video title from your channel previously captured significant attention and views, it's proven to resonate with your audience. By reusing or slightly tweaking these titles, you tap into existing interest and search trends, giving your new content a head start in the crowded YouTube space.
How to Implement This Strategy:
Analyze Your Top Performers: Start by identifying your most popular videos. Look at videos that have garnered substantial views, say 50K or more.
Evaluate the Titles: Pay attention to the structure and keywords used in these titles. What made them clickable? Was it a specific format, a particular keyword, or the way it was phrased?
Make Strategic Tweaks: If the video was titled “3 Steps to Grow on YouTube in 2024,” consider how you can update or expand on this for a new video. Perhaps “4 Steps to Grow on YouTube in 2025” or “3 Steps to Grow Your Channel – Updated for 2025.” Changing the year or adding a twist reflects current relevance and taps into the same interest.
Test and Compare: Publish your new video with the updated title. Track its performance in terms of views, engagement, and how quickly it accumulates interest compared to other videos.
Case Study Insight: For one of our clients, we reused a viral video title that initially hit over 100K views. By updating the title slightly for the current year and keeping the content fresh and relevant, the new video quickly surpassed the original in both views and engagement. This showed that not only does the audience appreciate updated content, but they also respond well to familiar cues.
Final Thoughts: This approach works exceptionally well if you’re consistent in analyzing what works for your audience and are smart about updating the elements to keep them fresh. It’s all about understanding the core of what your viewers want and delivering it in a way that’s both new and familiar. Give it a try, and see how reusing successful titles can help boost your channel’s growth!
3. Collaborations With Other Creators
Let’s talk about a fantastic growth strategy for your YouTube channel: collaborations. Partnering with other creators, whether through podcasts or simple shout-outs, can significantly boost your visibility and subscriber count.
Why Collaborate? Collaborating with other YouTubers, especially those in your niche, exposes you to their audience, and vice versa. It's a win-win. You can tap into each other's followers, bringing fresh eyes to your content.
How to Collaborate Effectively:
Identify Potential Collaborators: Look for creators with content that complements yours. They don’t need to be in the exact same niche, but their audience should potentially be interested in your content.
Reach Out: Send a friendly, professional message proposing a collaboration. Explain why it would be beneficial for both of you and suggest some ideas on how you could work together.
Plan Your Collaboration: Whether it’s a guest appearance on a podcast, a co-hosted live stream, or even just promoting each other’s content, make sure there’s clear value for both audiences.
Promote Each Other: Share the collaboration across all your social platforms, not just YouTube. This maximizes the reach and impact of your joint effort.
Real-Life Example: I once partnered with a creator who runs a fitness channel while I focus on healthy eating. We did a series where I prepared meals, and he designed workout routines that complemented the nutrition. This cross-promotion brought new subscribers to both our channels who were interested in a healthier lifestyle.
Collaborations can open up new opportunities and are a powerful tool for growth. Try to connect with other creators, and you'll likely see a positive impact on your channel!
4. Understanding Your Target Audience
You can post all you want on YouTube but if you don’t understand your audience at its core you will simply fail. It’s highly important that you understand who you are targeting when recording and publishing your videos on the platform. The best thing to do when doing your audience research is to use tools such as Answer the public to see what your audience is searching for.
Most of the time you will know exactly what your audience wants but if you’re not completely sure this is a great place to get started. Knowing what your audience wants to hear and what their pain points are will make your video production that much easier. It’s easy to position yourself when you know what your audience wants. There are multiple other ways of how to research your audience in detail such as:
Use YouTube Analytics: Start with YouTube’s built-in analytics tool. It gives you detailed insights into who your viewers are, including their age, location, and viewing preferences. This information helps you tailor your content to better suit your audience’s interests.
Read Comments: Pay attention to the comments on your videos. Viewers often share their thoughts, questions, and feedback that can give you valuable insights into their preferences and expectations.
Monitor Competitors: Look at channels similar to yours. See what’s working for them and how their audience responds. This can give you ideas for content that might appeal to your own viewers.
Surveys and Polls: Don't be shy about asking your audience directly what they like or want to see. Use YouTube's poll feature or external tools like SurveyMonkey to gather viewer opinions and suggestions.
Social Media Trends: Use platforms like Twitter, Reddit, or Facebook to see what topics are trending in your niche. Tools like Google Trends can also help you understand broader market trends.
Applying What You Learn: Once you gather this data, use it to refine your content strategy. For instance, if you notice a lot of viewers are from a specific region, consider creating content that resonates culturally. Or if a particular video style gets more engagement, think about how you can produce more content in that style.
Doing thorough audience research is not just about understanding who your viewers are, but also about adapting and evolving your content to meet their needs and interests. Keep your ear to the ground, and your channel will surely benefit from it!
5. Third Party Traffic Sources
Another obvious way of generating traffic is to use third party traffic sources and platforms. If you have a YouTube channel you most likely have access to other social media platforms where you’re also promoting or posting your content. This not only builds trust with Google and YouTube but it also gives you an opportunity to scale your growth organically on YouTube.
Some of the other platforms and ways you can promote your channel and grow on YouTube are:
Blog Integration: If you have a blog, embed your YouTube videos within relevant blog posts. This not only boosts your video views through your existing audience but also improves the SEO of both your blog and YouTube videos.
Pinterest: Create eye-catching pins that link directly to your YouTube videos. Pinterest is highly visual and can drive significant traffic, especially if your content includes tutorials, DIY projects, or visually appealing thematic content.
Quora: Participate in discussions related to your video content and use your videos as part of your answers. Make sure your responses provide real value; this builds credibility and can direct traffic from Quora to YouTube.
Reddit: Engage with communities related to your channel’s niche. Reddit users value authentic interaction and useful content. Share your videos when appropriate and contribute positively to the conversations.
Email Newsletter: Promoting your videos in an email newsletter can be incredibly effective. It's often easier to get someone to subscribe to your email list than to subscribe to your YouTube channel right away. Once they're on your list, you can regularly update them about new videos, which boosts views and engagement.
Using these platforms helps you reach wider audiences and draw more organic traffic to your YouTube channel. Each platform has its strengths, so tailor your strategy to what best suits your content and audience preferences. Keep experimenting and refining your approach to find what works best for your channel!
6. Short-Form Video Funnelling
YouTube shorts funnelling is an approach where you use your YouTube shorts to send viewers to your long form videos. At the end of each Short, you include a call to action (CTA) that directs viewers to a longer video on the same topic. This is incredibly effective because it taps into the massive reach and engagement of Shorts and guides that audience to your more detailed content.
Shorts are great for catching attention quickly, but their limited duration means you can only go so deep on any topic. By linking to a longer video, you offer viewers the chance to explore the subject more thoroughly, which can significantly boost watch time and engagement on your main channel.
Implementation Tips
Consistency is Key: Make sure your Shorts are directly related to the longer videos they link to. This keeps the viewer's interest and makes the transition natural.
Clear CTAs: Use clear, compelling calls to action. Tell viewers exactly what they can expect from the longer video to motivate them to click through.
This strategy not only increases your video views but also enhances viewer engagement across your channel. Give it a try and see how converting short-form views to long-form views can accelerate your channel's growth!
It has been announced by YouTube that they will enable the feature of adding a long form video link to YouTube shorts in September of this year. This is what they’ve said: “We know that clickable links help creators direct their Shorts audiences to other types of content, like their long-form videos. By the end of September, we’ll start introducing a safer way for creators to direct viewers from Shorts to their other YouTube content – stay tuned!”
7. Crafting Viral Titles
If there is one skill that you need to master on YouTube then this would be it. Crafting viral titles is one of the most essential skills you can have as a YouTuber. Mr.Beast does an incredible job at creating titles that are captivating and unique. Not only that he uses curiosity in the titles and bold claims which makes the title clickbaity but with his own unique style. Not only does he understand his audience he also implements some titles that worked previously by adding a twist to them.
This approach is great but how can you do the same? How can you craft titles that will actually lead others to click on your videos? It’s actually pretty simple. Visit at least 5 channels from your competitors and go to their most popular videos. There you will see their titles, now what I would recommend is to copy what they are doing.
Don’t just copy paste the same title, make it your own and make it curious, this is extremely important. Thumbnails play a big role here as well, you can take a page from Mr.Beast’s book here in order to understand what really makes an impact in terms of titles and thumbnails. This is a very simple approach that still demands testing, so don’t be afraid to test out both titles and thumbnails.
The Most Important Part
To really understand what resonates with your audience, you need to test different elements like titles, thumbnails, and video lengths. Pay close attention to your videos’ average watch duration and click-through rate (CTR). These metrics are key indicators of your content's performance.
When you find a formula that works—say a video goes viral—double down on it. Analyze everything from the script to the thumbnail, and replicate what made that video successful in your future videos. This approach isn't just about repeating what works; it's about continuously refining and optimizing your strategies based on actual performance data. By embracing testing and learning, you set up your channel for sustained growth and success.
Other YouTube Growth Strategies
We covered pretty much every single organic strategy under the sun. Although these strategies can help you grow faster, there are still some strategies that we didn’t cover in this article. Since there are a lot more strategies, we have covered some of the strategies in the video below.
What Doesn’t Work On YouTube
Let's talk about what doesn’t work on YouTube if you're aiming for channel growth. Focusing heavily on tags, for instance, is not the game-changer it once was. Also, generic advice like "just keep posting" or "write engaging video descriptions" often falls short. It's not enough to just fill in the blanks; you need a deep understanding of how YouTube's algorithm works.
To really succeed, you must tap into effective, organic strategies that leverage how YouTube recommends videos. Understanding these elements is crucial. Many creators overlook the importance of analytics like watch time, interaction rates, and the quality of engagement, which are key factors the algorithm considers. So, remember, while basics are important, they must be part of a larger, more strategic approach that aligns with how YouTube works today.
Conclusion
As we wrap up our discussion on organic YouTube growth strategies, remember that success on this platform isn't just about the basics like tags or relentless posting. It's about deeply understanding how YouTube works and leveraging that knowledge to craft strategies that resonate with both the audience and the algorithm. From enhancing video quality to engaging directly with your viewers and analyzing your analytics, each strategy we've discussed is geared toward building a sustainable and growing presence on YouTube. Apply these strategies consistently, keep testing and learning, and you'll set your channel up for long-term success. Let's put these insights into action and grow our channels organically!
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