I always hear a lot about ranking YouTube videos but not so much about how to build authority and rank for a YouTube Channel. It’s important to build the rank of your YouTube Channel in order to rank well in YouTube and Google Video Searches. In addition, the steps you take will increase the online buzz and notoriety of your video content.

Think of your YouTube channel as a website because it is a website. There are some critical differences between your YouTube Channel and your website though.

While you have complete control over the linking structure and the channelling of the SEO power of your back links on your website, on your YouTube channel you have absolutely no control over link structure.

This is because the “follow” attributes of links you place on your channel are controlled by YouTube. YouTube does this to discourage SPAM and encourage useful interaction with YouTube content.

“No Follow” links are read but not followed by the Search Bot. This means that the link is recognized but does not pass much in the way of SEO value or “link juice” to the linked to content.

On the other hand a “Do Follow” link is followed by the Search bot and the bot records the relevancy of the page to which you are linking. This is where the SEO value is obtained.

When ranking any website the most important factor by far is the relevancy and authority and quantity of back links. There are many other factors but if you get your back linking right, the lions share of the work is done.

I generally drive most of the link value for websites that I build to the home page. I do this by linking to the home page on site and off site. I link on site by placing a link to the home page at the bottom of other pages and articles.

You don’t have this kind of control on your YouTube Channel. Two powerful ways to build the page authority of your YouTube Channel home page are as follows:

1. Off site back linking – get high authority, relevant back links being careful to control your anchor text structure and the quality of your content

2. On site link building – link to your channel by commenting on high authority YouTube channels related to your audience

There are two prominent places on YouTube where you can place comments that will give you Do Follow links back to your channel. Video comments and the Channel Discussion area. When you place a comment, your channel name is displayed and linked to your channel and you can also link to your channel in the body of your comment using a special method.

This is exciting isn’t it? Think about this. Google rewards your YouTube Channel with powerful back links when you engage with high authority channels relevant to your niche! This is something it makes sense to do anyway in order to reach your audience. (Link to related post)

Here’s an Inside Ninja Tip. Instead of just interacting with authority channels in your niche, find those that have authority channels that also follow your competitors and interact with them. Think, with what types of channels are my potential customers interacting.

By doing this you get a rank building knock out punch. Great back links and more customers. Yeah, this is a High Value use of time and a crucial way of demonstrating expertise to your Subscribers. (link to related post)

When commenting I suggest picking a video with a low view count, watch it and then ask a specific question. Videos with a lower view count have fewer comments and it’s easier to stand out. Take a few minutes and give the question some thought. A good question about a specific piece of content shows you’re interested in engaging with the channel and not promoting spam.

These comment links are Do Follow which means if you place them on authoritative channels they will pass significant SEO power to your channel which builds your page rank. This automatically passes authority to your other Channel pages and content.

Follow these steps to build your channel authority, ranking performance and increase traffic to your content on YouTube.

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