A very common question we get is: how long should my videos be?

The mantra of shorter is better actually doesn’t apply here, at least not the way you’d think.  And the real answer is, that it depends on which platform you’re posting your videos.

If you want your YouTube videos to start sending you organic search traffic from Google, then the longer the video the better.  Or, to be more accurate, Google and YouTube will rank your videos based on your channel’s “total watch time”. Which is the number of people times the average minutes each of them watched. This implies that longer videos tend to do better, but only as long as you have strong content and they’re to-the-point so people will actually watch enough of them AND subscribe to your channel.

Think about it: if you make your videos too short, say only 1 minute each, then even if you get 1,000 views for a video, your total watch time will go up by 1,000 minutes.  But, if your average video is 5 minutes long and your 1,000 viewers watch on average 2 minutes of each video, then your total watch time is 2,000 minutes and your videos will rank much higher!  

In fact, at the end of this video, I’ll include a tip to help you increase the watch-time of your videos, and get your viewers to watch them until the end!

The key is to post your videos regularly, say once a month, and try to post them around the same day and time each week.  This will signal to YouTube that you’re a serious, sophisticated publisher and they will push your videos even more.

You also want to see what other videos are ranking for your target keywords.  If they’re typically 3-4 minutes long, then start posting 5 minute videos to leapfrog the competition.  But again, make sure that your content is strong and you’re not adding any fluff. The downside of fluff is that people will watch a lower percentage of your videos and your total watch time will go down.  But even worse, they won’t subscribe to your channel if either your production quality isn’t good, or they get the sense that you will be blabbing with fillers and waste their time.

And subscribers are key for YouTube.  Because whenever you post a new video, YouTube will send your subscribers an email with a link to your video.  And just as a very rough ballpark, you can count on about 10% of your total subscribers watching your videos. So the more subscribers you add, the bigger your viewership, and the faster your “total watch time” will grow.  It’s like a flywheel that you want to get started and keep going with consistent, high quality content, and no fluff at all.

Of course, what works on YouTube doesn’t work EVERYWHERE.  For example, Facebook videos have to be shorter, and definitely need captions.  Though frankly, you should have captions on your videos on YouTube too. We’ve come across folks who just won’t watch a video if it doesn’t have captions!  So for Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you may want to edit the same 4-5 minute video down to 1 minute. Think of it like a preview or trailer, and try to funnel your viewers to YouTube to watch the rest of the video.

A key thing to remember here is that on each platform you want to upload the videos natively.  You don’t want to simply post a YouTube link. Because each platform wants to keep you on there as long as possible, so they penalize you if you post links that will take a user outside the platform, and reward you when you upload content through their platform.

And now, for the tip that I promised you earlier, about making your viewers watch your videos until the end.  And guess what – it just worked, didn’t it! Somewhere in the first half of your video when you’re dropping some high-value advice, promise a great tip at the end of the video.  As a reward for the more loyal viewers. It’s similar to asking for people to like your video or subscribe to your channel. Only more subtle and organic. You’re not asking for anything, you’re giving a reward.  And it works!