YouTube undoubtedly has solidified its status as the go-to video streaming platform, with over 2.7 billion active monthly users globally.

With over 122 million search queries and around 1 billion hours of content being watched daily, YouTube has emerged as the second-largest search engine in the world after Google.

Yet, what most marketers and even established brands don’t know is that you can actually use YouTube to build high-quality backlinks to boost your website’s SEO. According to a recent report by Outreach Monks, websites with backlinks from YouTube, rank 157% higher in the SERPs than those without YouTube backlinks.

Still confused on how to create impactful YouTube backlinks?

In this guide, we will walk you through the process on how to create high-quality YouTube backlinks to boost the performance of your website SEO effortlessly.

What are YouTube Backlinks?

YouTube backlinks are incoming links to your website that originate from a YouTube video or other areas within the YouTube platform. Having YouTube backlinks in your website’s SEO strategy distinguishes it from other websites. These links are not just links, they are your golden opportunity to reach prospects on YouTube. YouTube backlinks look something like this:

What are the Benefits of Incorporating YouTube Backlinks into Your SEO Strategy?

A YouTube backlinking strategy, also known as a link building strategy, is the method a website employs to obtain valuable backlinks. Using YouTube backlinks is a fantastic choice for companies that are already producing content on YouTube.

1. Authority Score

YouTube has the highest authority score of 100 according to Semrush’s Authority Score. This tool grades a domain’s authority from 0 to 100. Due to these particular authority scores, a backlink from YouTube is considered the most valuable.

2. Improve SEO

Your website can rank higher in search engines when it is more authoritative. Acquiring backlinks from authoritative websites such as YouTube will improve your website’s authority score and its performance on SERPs (search engine results pages).

3. Diverse Backlink Profile

A diverse backlink profile means that there are many other credible and relevant resources on different online platforms. Hence, YouTube backlinks complement your overall backlink portfolio with links coming from social media and other trusted sites.

4. Referral Traffic

As far as referral traffic goes, YouTube is ranked third as the largest search engine, which shows that it serves as an excellent source of this type of traffic. Therefore, an increase in referrals and sales through this medium would result in more leads and sales because many people start looking for products or services on YouTube.

5. Creating New Connections with Audiences

Backlinks from YouTube serve as online representatives that help you access previously untapped markets. They act as intermediaries between various viewers and the brand, giving rise to a new audience for your content. By plunging into its broad range of users, you are able to reach potential customers who are actively searching for information or amusement.

6. Increasing awareness and Equity in Branding

Developing a robust YouTube presence not only increases exposure but also enhances the brand equity of your enterprise. Every single backlink acts as a brands point of contact; hence, it increases brand recognition and underpins your market positioning. As consumers stumble upon these links, they start associating your brand with the value contained in such pieces of information, thereby developing trustworthiness bit by bit.

7. Enhancing the Value of your Brand and its Credibility

In digital marketing, trust is money. YouTube backlinks validate your work and raise the value people perceive in it. When you receive a link to your website via a credible site like YouTube, users immediately feel that they can rely on you or buy from you because such actions are necessary for them to turn their viewers into loyal customers.

How To Build Different Types of YouTube Backlinks?

Building different types of YouTube backlinks is crucial to promoting your business and improving your website’s search performance and reach. Below are five excellent strategies to build backlinks from YouTube.

1. Video Description Backlinks

The video description is a high-impact place for SEO. Naturally, you can insert a couple of backlinks here:

• Start with Value: Introduce your backlink with value or something interesting to the target audience, related to the video.
• Embed Your Link Early: Insert a backlink somewhere within the first 100 characters. Even if the description is truncated, your backlink will be viewable.
• Use full URLs: embed a full URL with the protocol (http:// or https://) to make a backlink clickable and trackable;
• Call to Action: Add a simple CTA right next to a backlink to prompt the viewer to click. E.g., “Want to learn more about [topic]? Find the truth here: [URL]”.

2. Profile Backlinks

Another great place to put a backlink is to complete your YouTube channel’s About section:

• Complete Your Profile: Fill in every field of your profile because you want it to be as informative and engaging as possible.
• Add your website: In the Links field, before selecting Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media platforms to insert, decide to paste your website. Once you do, it will appear as a hyperlink embedded in your channel.
• Branding Consistency: Just make sure that all of the information and imagery are exactly the same as it is on your website as well.

3. Card Links

When it comes to YouTube Backlinks, YouTube cards are a very powerful instrument for backlinking to your site, and they can boost organic traffic greatly. Here is how to use them well:

• Strategic Placement: It is all about positioning; place your cards at times in your video when you have the attention of the viewers. This may be immediately after you have presented a captivating concept, demonstrated a product, or as per your video analytics, when viewership typically peaks. Make certain that the placement is such that it appears in context with the rest of the content.
• Use teasers: The purpose of a teaser should be to arouse curiosity among viewers. When you mention this card in your video, offer just enough details to make people wonder what it’s all about. For example, if you are talking about an issue and there is an in-depth guide on your website, you could say, “Find out more on this topic by clicking on the card above.”
• Monitor Analytics: YouTube has analytics features for a reason; do not forget to keep an eye on how these cards perform over time. Check click-through rates and consider whether they are positioned at optimal points within the video or not; however, feel free to change their positions from one section of the footage to another if it doesn’t yield any results for them, thus making them remain invisible.

4. Comment Backlinks

Viewers can get involved in the YouTube community, where comments are made to form a network of backlinks. The following are some important rules:

• Provide Value: Make sure that any comment you leave with a backlink adds value instead of being irrelevant. A good comment may be one that relates to the video, gives insight, or even puts the video into context. It is necessary that you keep away from such general and spam comments.
• Avoid spam: Do not spam your links in other people’s comment sections, as this will not help at all. This will not only frustrate other viewers but also make them hate your brand name. YouTube has ways of recognizing spam; thus, over-posting links might cause penalties.
• Answer Questions: Check for questions from viewers about the video’s topic. This way, if someone asks a question that your content answers, you can point them to it with a link. Give them a well-thought-out response answering their query, which includes a backlink pointing to your website if needed. Always aim at being real and helpful in all social media communications, and as such, this should be no exception to that rule!

5. Backlinks on the End Screen

Retaining viewer engagement and guiding them to more of your content is achievable through end screens. Below is how to optimize end screens for backlinks:

• Create Captivating Visuals: Make end screens that are visually appealing and catch the eye of viewers. Use concise calls-to-action (CTAs) that will urge them to do something—whether it is visiting your website, subscribing, or watching another video.
• Link to Content: Send people to other parts of your site from where they can access related materials of interest. You can link a specific topic in your video with an article or guide on your website that provides more details.
  • Demonstration products or services could be linked to a relevant product page or case study.
  • Consider landing pages, blog posts, or resources that relate to the theme of the video you have made.
• Keep it Short: Since the end screen comes at the closing moments of a movie, ensure you keep messages very brief. Use both text and visuals in order to convey this message as concisely as possible. People’s attention spans tend to be shorter after watching a video, so you should make each second count.

Common Mistakes to Avoid While Building YouTube Backlinks

These mistakes can sabotage your SEO efforts and undermine the effectiveness of your YouTube backlink strategy. Here are the main ones to avoid:

1. Irrelevant to the Content

When the backlinks from a video don’t match the content, they’re supposed to be irrelevant, which can confuse your audience.

So, it is advisable to only link to related content. If the video is about some particular topic, use the backlinks that either enrich your viewers’ knowledge and experience or provide some context.

2. Spamming Backlinks

Spamming backlinks, that is, overloading YouTube comments, video descriptions, or community posts with numerous backlinks, can be characterized as a mistake. If marked as spam, it will significantly influence the reputation of your channel and website.

In other words, pay attention to sharing backlinks sparingly and only when they significantly contribute to the discourse or content. Secondly, contribute meaningful comments and discussions. If you decide to share the backlink, make sure it is highly relevant and beneficial. Moreover, make sure to understand and abide by YouTube’s community guidelines since violations may contribute to penalties such as the deletion of your content or suspension of your account.

Final Word

Creating a robust and strong backlink profile through acquiring high-quality links from diverse yet authoritative sources can aid in substantially boosting your brands visibility and position in the SERPs. Additionally, YouTube backlinks can further boost your SEO efforts, by providing your brand a new avenue for acquiring relevant organic traffic.

Therefore, it is best to take a more measured approach by opting for either 1 or 2 of the above-mentioned YouTube backlinking strategies. Once you become more familiarized with the process, you can then proceed towards implementing more advanced YouTube backlinking strategies. However, backlink creation is a consistent process, and demands time and efforts, therefore instead of adding an additional marketing responsibility on your shoulders it is best to hire a professional SEO agency in Dubai. They cannot just hunt, curate, and earn high quality backlinks for your website. But they will also propose strategies and tactics that could be used to boost the performance of your website and YouTube channel, helping you to rank on top of the two of the biggest search engines in the world.

FAQs

Q1. How to Check YouTube Video Backlinks?

There are tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz that can be used for analyzing backlinks from YouTube videos to your site.

Q2. How to Get a YouTube Backlink for Your Website?

To obtain YouTube backlinks for your website, optimize your video descriptions with your website URL. This will help viewers find and visit your site easily. You can use YouTube cards as well as end screens to drive traffic from viewers to relevant content on the web page. In this case, there is a greater possibility of generating backlinks.