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​Case studies

​​​Case study: How The Hood (Short film) amassed over 2 million views with YouTube SEO

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The Hood went viral organically, by the algorithm suggesting my film. What helped was the strong word of mouth, as lots of people were searching The Hood. I also DM thousand of people the direct link to my film I did this on all plaatforms, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. I also made sure the tags were relevant to short films. Also my description was very detailer and my video title included my film title, format, film school and name. It didnt go viral straight way it took around 5 months to get 30k views. At the time this was a lot, also what made it spike was a Million Youth Media film called Deep It, when that got released that propelled the views for my film. I also played around the tags and tailored it to short films that are doing very well that have similar themes as mine, this turned out to be effective. I eventually achieved 1 million views after 4 years.

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​​​​​​Case study: Boosting Glodi Wabelua podcast "Glo Talks" to 90-100 SEO scores

on YouTube​

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Project Overview

• Channel Name: Glodi Wabelua

• Niche/Topic: Personal Development, Entrepreneurship, Lifestyle, Interviews

• Target Audience: Aspiring entrepreneurs, lifestyle enthusiasts, podcast listeners

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Objective

• Improve SEO scores for Glo Talks podcast episodes, elevating them from an SEO score of 10 to 100.

• Increase visibility and engagement on YouTube by improving keyword targeting, video metadata, and overall search ranking.

 

Pre-Optimization Metrics

• Views (Before SEO Optimization): Low engagement and visibility

• CTR (Click-Through Rate): Low

• Average View Duration: Shorter than ideal

• SEO Score (TubeBuddy/VidIQ): 0-55

• Ranking on YouTube Search: Low for keywords like "entrepreneur podcast," "lifestyle podcast"

 

SEO Strategy & Actions Taken

• Keyword Research:
  I conducted keyword research, focusing on high-volume terms like “entrepreneur podcast,” “lifestyle podcast,” “business advice,” and long-tail keywords specific to Glodi’s niche, such as “Glodi Wabelua business tips.”

• Title Optimization:
  I changed the titles to be more clear and SEO-friendly, emphasizing key topics discussed in each episode and including relevant keywords:
  From: THE SECRET GARDEN [GloTalks Ep10]
  To: DANNY THE JEWELLER - THE SECRET GARDEN [GloTalks Ep10]
  This helped make the title more searchable and keyword-rich.

• Thumbnail Revamp:
  I created new custom thumbnails for each episode, ensuring they were vibrant, consistent, and visually appealing.

  • The thumbnails included different photos of Glodi from each podcast episode also with each guest in a high-quality, professional setting, ensuring brand recognition. I also included the podcast microphones in the majority of thumbnails so viewers can clearly see it's a podcast.

  • I used bold, legible text that highlighted the main topic of each episode and employed a clean design and a red rectangular box with white text overlay. This was done to highlight the thumbnail title keyword to make the thumbnails stand out in both search results and recommended video sections.

  • This new thumbnail strategy significantly boosted the click-through rate (CTR), as the images were much more eye-catching and aligned with successful YouTube trends for podcast content.

• Description & Tags:
  I expanded the description to include a detailed overview of each episode, timestamps for key segments, and relevant keywords for each topic discussed.
  I optimized tags to include high-ranking podcast and entrepreneurial keywords.

• Cross-Promotion & Engagement:
  I actively engaged with Glodi’s followers on social media, encouraging them to share, comment, and participate in the conversation around each episode. This helped drive traffic to the channel and improved the SEO performance for each podcast episode.

 

Results

• Views (After Optimization): Significant increase in views across episodes

• CTR: Improved by 50%, with more people clicking through due to optimized thumbnails and titles

• SEO Score: Increased from 30 to 90-100 per episode

• Search Rankings: Achieved higher visibility in YouTube search results for keywords.

• Engagement: Improved audience retention and higher watch time as viewers were more likely to discover the content through YouTube search or recommendations.

 

Key Takeaways

• Consistently optimizing titles, tags, and descriptions for each episode is essential for maintaining visibility.

• Thumbnails play a key role in increasing CTR and improving SEO scores. Creating custom thumbnails that align with the brand and stand out visually led to a noticeable improvement in viewer engagement.

• Engaging with the audience on social media and encouraging interaction helps drive traffic to the channel, which in turn boosts SEO.​