Do you use paid traffic to rank your content on Google? If not, you’re missing one of the best benefits of creating content, especially YouTube videos. YouTube videos rank based on their number of likes, shares, views, and duration viewed. If you don’t have many followers, paid traffic gives you an opportunity to analyze your video’s data to optimize keywords for organic search. It’s not the best data because you’re using paid ads over organic; however, it’s important to start. So, where do you start? In Google AdWords. When creating a new Campaign, you want to click Video.  Before we go further, know the tips to create a great YouTube ad whether video or text.

1. Your Thumbnail should be eye-catching because it’s the first thing people will notice and has the potential to make people stop and read your headline. Excellent thumbnails include action to intrigue viewers.
2. Your headline and description are the most important parts of the In-Display ad. Write a headline and description that will make people click using action verbs and words relevant to the places you’re advertising.
3. You have the option in YouTube to put call-to-action button on video ads. This will get the person off YouTube and onto your website.  If you do send them to your channel, then link your channel to your site. You are creating a path for people to follow to become a customer.
4. Choose to place your videos in search results.  People pay more attention to videos when they pop up in search because they are not pre-occupied watching another video.
5. Do not have In-Display ads and In-Stream in the same campaign.  Separate them into two campaigns. They are two different media types. This will make it easier to analyze your Google AdWords campaigns.

Once you understand the type of media for YouTube ads, it’s time to dial-in on your targeting and optimization. Start by optimizing your ad for views. Limit how often a person can see your ad (around 3-5 times a week). You want viewers to become customers; they won’t do that if they are annoyed by your ads. A little trick: First target low-cost countries for many views. This will provide social validation for your videos resulting in cheaper engagement for quality views when you go after more expensive countries. Now you want to decrease your mobile bid by 50% - 100%.  Mobile doesn’t convert nearly as well as desktop because the ads (except for cards) aren’t clickable. You end up paying for views, but you need likes, shares, and an extended length of duration watched.   To dial-in on the audience that converts best, you want to find out what search keywords are referring you traffic and subscribers, then optimize for those topics. To get more granular, you can find out what videos are referring you the most subscribers, then optimize for the keywords in the video title and channel. You should also select to have your ads play out evenly over time.  If your ads are all playing at the same time of day, that’s money wasted.  For the most relevant targeting, choose specific videos and channels.  It enables you to use hyper-relevant messaging in your advertising. Imagine advertising on a Tomy Brady highlights video with an advertisement selling his jersey.  By optimizing your YouTube videos for paid advertising, you’re more likely to rank your videos for keywords. In turn, you no longer have to pay for traffic. You’ll receive organic leads through search. Few use YouTube ads to rank which gives you a huge advantage to compete over many different keywords. The barrier-to-entry to create video and advertise is high, but the first-mover advantage is well worth it. If you’re looking for a scalable way to grow your business through content, then add YouTube advertising to your growth list.