Playlists are an often overlooked aspect of YouTube that can actually make as big difference in how your video is found.  If you want to get more views, then it pays not to neglect the power of the playlist.

I have found that you can improve your rankings on YouTube search results pages (SERPS) by adding your videos to multiple playlists with keyword rich titles.   So for example, if you were trying to rank a music video for the search term “rockabilly”, you would make a couple of playlists and name them “Best Rockabilly Songs of All Time” or “Rockabilly Videos” or “Rockabilly Music Videos”. Then start adding videos to those playlists.

What I like to do is put extremely popular videos with tons of views as the first couple of videos in my playlist. My video, the one I’m optimizing for comes 2nd, 3rd, or 4th, depending on the term. The reason for this is that if someone does a playlist search and my playlist comes up, I want them to feel confident clicking on it. If the first or first two thumbnails are recognizable videos that they are familiar with, they will be more likely to click on it.  In this way, you can use the popularity of the first videos and piggyback on their success.

Here is something else to keep in mind. When choosing the opening video of a playlist, pick one that not only has a lot of views, but one that contains the term you are trying to rank for in its title. You could just do a search for that keyword and see what videos are occupying the top spots. For whatever reason, YouTubes algorithm has determined that those videos are associated with that term. So if you include them in your playlist, which has that same term in the name, then your playlist will start probably start ranking for that term.

For more information on YouTube Playlists and how you can use them to maximize your views on YouTube, check out the Premium Post, Advanced Playlist Optimization (coming soon so be sure to subscribe to the feed).