Why YouTube SEO requires a different strategy than blogs

If you publish videos to YouTube using the same approach you use for blogs, you’re not alone. At first glance, it makes sense. YouTube and Google Search seem like close cousins. 

• The same company owns them. 
• They both have algorithms. 
• They both surface content based on relevance.

Many B2B content teams take what works for blog SEO (keyword research, metadata, titles, etc) and apply it to video. However, YouTube follows an entirely different set of rules. Where Google rewards topical depth and authority signals, YouTube focuses on behavior: 

• What gets clicked.
• What gets watched.
• What keeps people engaged. 

That means the usual SEO playbook isn’t enough to get your content discovered, let alone build a subscriber base or move people through your funnel.

If your videos aren’t getting traction, it’s usually not because of bad content. It’s because the strategy behind it is built for the wrong platform.

YouTube’s algorithm optimizes for behavior, not keywords

YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes signals that indicate whether people enjoy the content. And with recommendations driving 70% of what gets watched on the platform, understanding how that algorithm works is essential to building a successful strategy.

While Google rewards topical authority, backlinks and structured content, YouTube’s discovery system is driven by viewer behavior, such as:

• Click-through rate.
• Watch time.
• Retention.
• Session duration.

While there’s no single metric that YouTube uses to rank videos, these metrics all impact recommendations:

• Click-through rate (CTR): When your video is recommended, are viewers choosing to watch it or ignore it?
• Viewer retention: Do viewers stick around to watch all or most of the video, or do they move on right away? YouTube uses average view duration and average % viewed as signals to inform ranking.
• Viewer feedback: Likes, comments and shares are all signals of audience interest and engagement worth paying attention to.

The algorithm is trying to determine whether viewers like what they’re watching so YouTube can recommend more of what they might like.

According to Todd Beaupré, YouTube product lead for growth and discovery:

“We’re trying to understand not just what [viewers] do, but how they feel about the time they’re spending.”

That means YouTube’s goal isn’t just to surface keyword-matched videos — it’s to recommend content viewers will likely enjoy, engage with and return for.

Takeaway: You’re not just optimizing for what people search, you’re optimizing for what YouTube suggests.

Dig deeper: How to use video to bolster your GTM strategy

Thumbnails are a primary discovery lever

In blog SEO, you lead with a strong title and keyword match — but when it comes to YouTube, you should optimize for thumbnails.

Up to 90% of top-performing videos use custom thumbnails, according to YouTube’s Creator Help Center. Thumbnails and titles influence viewing decisions far more than keywords. The thumbnail is often the first, and sometimes only, visual cue a viewer sees while browsing. In that split second, it can be the difference between getting the click or getting skipped.

Thumbnails that feature clear visual contrast, a single focal point and an element of curiosity tend to outperform generic branded slides or overly text-heavy graphics. Consider:

• Human faces with visible emotion.
• Clean composition and contrast.
• Visual cues that hint at the value of the video.

Many B2B brands default to using webinar screenshots or static slides. Instead, treat your thumbnail like an ad for your content. It’s the first (and sometimes only) chance to earn the click.

Retention > Intros

YouTube’s algorithm gives more weight to how long viewers stick around than a video’s keywords, tags or perfect title. If your video loses most viewers in the first 15–30 seconds, it’s unlikely to be recommended further, even if the content is valuable later on.

B2B videos often start with long intros, branding animations or agenda slides. While that might make sense for a live webinar, it doesn’t work for an audience browsing YouTube between meetings.

Some simple adjustments you can do include:

• Opening with a compelling hook (problem, question or value proposition).
• Eliminating unnecessary intros or “we’ll get started in a few minutes” segments.
• Structuring your videos to re-engage viewers every 15–30 seconds (e.g., visual or tonal shifts, examples, speaker changes).

Descriptions, tags and metadata are supporting players

While it’s still smart to write clear video descriptions and include relevant keywords, YouTube has repeatedly shared that metadata plays a minimal role in ranking performance.

“Tags play a minimal role in your video’s discovery. They are mainly helpful if your content is commonly misspelled.”

— YouTube Help Center on tags

Descriptions do matter for:

• Giving viewers additional context.
• Appearing in related searches.
• Helping with accessibility and engagement through timestamps and chapters.

But they won’t carry your video to discovery on their own. Whether your video keeps viewers watching and encourages them to watch another is more important than description length.

Dig deeper: What is a video marketing channel and why you can’t afford to miss

Don’t stuff videos with CTAs

It’s tempting to drop a demo CTA 30 seconds into every video, but for top-of-funnel content, that can short-circuit trust. YouTube advises creators to build a relationship before asking for anything.

What often works better:

• Use soft CTAs in-video (like “subscribe for more tips” or “check the link in the description”).
• Add value before making an ask.
• Use pinned comments or end screens for next steps.

Another idea is to link to supporting content, like a template or report on the topic of your video. Give them something to explore further that ties to what they were interested in in the first place.

You can retarget engaged viewers later with paid campaigns once they’ve watched multiple videos. The goal of organic YouTube content is often credibility, not conversion — at least not right away.

Look at what winning brands are doing

Some of the most effective B2B channels treat YouTube more like a media brand than a corporate archive.

• Paddle puts audience needs first, focusing on topics SaaS founders care about, like pricing, product-market fit and go-to-market strategy, instead of just promoting its billing platform. 
• Ahrefs has built a loyal audience by making educational content practical and personality-driven, even while teaching technical SEO.
• Todoist’s YouTube channel blends product education with real-world productivity strategies, helping knowledge workers get more out of their day, not just their to-do list. 

Each of these brands has invested in creator-led content or internal subject matter experts who consistently appear on camera. They also design videos for YouTube, not just as extensions of webinars or gated content.

A new playbook for YouTube

If your YouTube content isn’t gaining traction, it may not be your content but the framework you use to evaluate and publish it. By shifting from a keyword-first to a behavior-first strategy, B2B marketers can tap into a high-leverage channel that rewards engagement, not just optimization.

Start by:

• Redesigning thumbnails for clarity and curiosity.
• Rewriting your first 10 seconds to prioritize value.
• Swapping hard CTAs for trust-building signals.
• Studying your audience retention analytics and improving pacing.
• Treating YouTube like its own channel — not just another upload destination.

YouTube can be a discovery engine for B2B. But only if you learn its language.

Dig deeper: Your top B2B YouTube ads questions – answered