How to get more views on YouTube for free

There is one powerful tool to promote YouTube channels and videos –– video advertising. It offers:

• Plenty of targeting options: interests, gender, age, keywords, etc.
• Remarketing –– you can show ads to those who visited your website.
• It is possible to set video displays on particular channels, videos, and devices.
• Various modes: manual setup of Google Ads or automated with Get4Views.

But every view from video advertising costs money. To reduce costs for promoting a video, you have to get more additional free views. Let’s find out how to do that.

Analytics

If you analyze the channels and videos statistics (both your own and competitors’) you create better content. It is the core of successful YouTube promotion.

Suitable tools: YouTube Analytics, VidIQ, TubeBuddy, Socialblade.

The target audience. Using YouTube Studio, you can find out who is watching your videos, their gender, age, geography, and language. You will understand when those people watch videos, what other channels and videos they are interested in, and where they find your content.

Competitors. It is important to study competitors and the ways they promote videos. They are likely to use similar platforms with a target audience similar to yours. You can find competitors manually or using YouTube Studio and special services (VidIQ, Socialblade). Their successful videos show topics, formats, and approaches that are interesting to viewers. If it worked for your competitors, it can work for you too.

Keywords. In YouTube Studio, you can see what queries were used to find videos on your channel. Using third-party services like VidIQ or TubeBuddy, you will understand what keywords and tags your competitors are promoting, and evaluate their popularity. It will give you fresh ideas for topics, videos, and channel optimization.

Performance indicators. It is useful to study the dynamics of various competitors’ indicators: the number of subscribers, engagement, views, watch time, and estimated income. Thus, you understand what to focus on. YouTube Studio does not show information about other channels – you will find it in other tools such as VidIQ, TubeBuddy, and Socialblade.

Design

With convenient navigation and a beautiful design of the channel and videos, you can get more views and subscribers. And vice versa: the poor design prevents the viewer from watching the content, even if it is qualitative and interesting.

Suitable tools: YouTube Analytics, Canva, VistaCreate.

Channel cover and avatar. They do not directly affect the YouTube algorithms but make the channel more attractive. It looks great if everything is designed in the same style and highlights the topic of the channel.

Preview. The video thumbnail seriously affects the number of views – this is the first thing that catches your eye. The more clicks on the preview, the more free views, and the higher other performance indicators you get.

Hints and end screens. These are interactive elements inside the video. Using them, you can invite viewers to open another video or playlist, subscribe to a channel, or visit the website. If you ignore these elements, you get fewer views and subscribers.

Playlists. They structure the videos, improve navigation, help in audience retention, and increase the number of views. If a YouTube user opens your playlist and watches a video, the next video from the same playlist will be played automatically instead of content from another blogger or brand.

SEO-optimization

Channel and video optimization allow you to get more views and subscribers not only from YouTube but also from Google search and other search engines.

Suitable tools: YouTube Analytics, KeywordTool, Ahrefs, YouTube Autocomplete, VidIQ, TubeBuddy.

Selection of keywords. You need to collect a list of popular search queries on your topic. It is possible to find some keywords in YouTube Studio, on your competitors’ channels (through VidIQ, TubeBuddy), and the rest you can find using YouTube and Google search suggestions (in KeywordTool, Ahrefs, YouTube Autocomplete).

Video and channel optimization. When the semantic core (a list of relevant keywords and phrases) is ready, you need to carefully write them into video titles, descriptions, and tags. It is also recommended to optimize the already published videos. The keywords should be relevant to the topic and content. False metadata confuses YouTube algorithms and worsens the channel\'s reputation.

Seeding

You can’t rely only on the algorithms of YouTube and search engines. It is possible to get more free views and subscribers if you use other distribution channels.

Website embedding. Video hosting counts views not only on YouTube and its mobile app but also on other websites. So, if you embed YouTube videos, for example, in popular blog posts, it increases the number of views and attracts new subscribers.

Shares on social media. The success of a YouTube video depends on the audience\'s reaction right after publication. Therefore, it is important to share the videos quickly on your messenger accounts and social networks.

Crowd marketing. This is communication on various platforms (forums, blogs, social networks, comments under other videos) intended to mention the channel or share links to the video. It is crucial to do this as unobtrusively and natively as possible. Otherwise, you can get banned for spam. This method is ambiguous: it requires a lot of time and effort but gives an unpredictable result.

Community

Views and followers are not just numbers – there are real people behind these actions. If you build a community, you will increase the effectiveness of YouTube promotion, boost your channel, and attract a new audience.

Calls to action. If you explicitly encourage viewers to like, comment, share videos with friends, and subscribe to a channel, they are more likely to do that. This technique is used by almost every blogger, but it still works.

Answering comments. YouTube is not just a video hosting – in many ways, it is a social network where people communicate a lot. When the authors read the comments and respond, they show respect for the audience, increasing their trust and loyalty.

Contests and prize draw. A good option to increase the activity and attract new subscribers. But first, read YouTube policies and guidelines.

Collaborations. Joint projects with other bloggers allow you to increase awareness, the number of subscribers and views and exchange the target audience. This method is not suitable for those who have just started promoting on YouTube.