Why YouTube Video Rankings Differ from Google's A new report shows that the probability of your video appearing on the Google search results and also ranking well in YouTube search results at the same time are low

By Komal Nathani

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If your video ranks high on YouTube, doesn't mean it will take the top spot on Google searches too. A new report by search engine optimization company RankRanger shows a major difference in the algorithms of Google's and YouTube's way of ranking videos on desktop.

Google's recent replacement of video thumbnails with a desktop carousal on the search engine results pages has affected the business of both Google and YouTube.

The team of RankRanger conducted a study where they took 155 video carousal keywords, and then compared the rank of the top six cards in each carousel to the URLs rank in YouTube search results.

The results showed that the first carousal of video card had an average rank of position 14 in the YouTube search results, while the second and third card showed an average rank of position 27 and 32, respectively. Below given is the screenshot of it.

The report says on YouTube, only the top three or four videos will appear above the fold on the average laptop and or on a monitor. And if you're banking on creating videos specifically for the carousel, then know that on average, they will not appear above the fold on YouTube itself. This states that even if we group the video carousals by the pack of three, then the first three videos, and the next three will appear, but the probability of your video showing in the first three cards and also ranking well in YouTube search results at the same time will be low.

Here's a glimpse of data that shows the percentage of times each Google video carousal ranks within the certain ranges of position in YouTube.

This report confirms that the two platforms have a significantly different approach to rank top videos on its platform.

While Google takes a note of its video carousal to rank a particular video, YouTube follows its common keyword and Google's video carousal method. Some keywords seemed to be highly attuned to YouTube's pecking order, while others had video carousel cards that ranked quite poorly on YouTube across the board.

Komal Nathani

Former Correspondent, Entrepreneur Asia Pacific

A firm believer of hard work and patience. Love to cover stories that hold a potential to change the momentum of business world. Currently, a part of all-women web team of Entrepreneur’s Asia Pacific edition to jig the wheel of business journalism!

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