Why YouTube Matters for AI Visibility
As we know already, ChatGPT and AI search engines focus on authentic content sources. This means getting as close as possible to what real people say about products. No surprise that YouTube is among the top citations for e-commerce and product questions. Let's dive into how YouTube affects ChatGPT and what you can do today to get your store ranked higher on ChatGPT with this channel.
YouTube appears prominently in ChatGPT citations for e-commerce and product-related questions
Did You Know ChatGPT Can Watch YouTube Videos?
How? Every video uploaded to YouTube is transcribed into a text version - which is also used for the subtitles. Similar to turning a video into a written blog post. After the transcript is ready, that post is read and indexed by ChatGPT and other AI search platforms. This means it's not just the video title and description which are read, but also the actual video content. This then becomes new data for ChatGPT to pull information when someone asks a relevant question.
ChatGPT reads YouTube video transcripts, making the actual spoken content searchable and quotable
How to Get Our Brand Mentioned on ChatGPT?
In order to get our brand promoted, we need our brand name to be mentioned in YouTube videos. This could be either in our own channel, or mentioned in another channel. It's a reasonable assumption that ChatGPT would favor other people's channels over your own brand channel, just because it would be more authentic and unbiased. But your own channel would also have an impact.
The two most common options here:
Record Videos Yourself and Upload to Your Own Branded Channel
Publishing your own videos is a solid idea even beyond ChatGPT promotion. But talking about topics that could be relevant for both organic YouTube consumption and also ChatGPT is hitting two birds with one stone.
Suggestion: Make a list of common bottom of funnel questions your audience might ask, and record videos answering each one.
Example for the coffee machine example:
- "Does the Breville Barista Express produce consistent shots?"
- "How easy is it to clean and maintain day-to-day on the Breville Barista Express?"
- "Should I buy a separate external grinder for the Breville Barista Express?"
Pros: Control the narrative, more affordable
Cons: Takes time/skills, no external validation, not scaleable
Sponsor YouTube Creators to Talk About Your Brand on Their Channel
Find and sponsor existing YouTubers in your niche. Most creators work with brands and can handle all the leg work of scripting, recording, editing and publishing content that mentions you. The level of control you have over what they say may vary.
Two methods to work with creators:
- Research using YouTube.com and reach out to them
- Use popular creator marketplaces to facilitate such as #paid or PassionFroot
Pros: Easy to scale, external validation
Cons: Cost, need to review their content
My suggestion: If your budget allows, opt for option #2. This will have a higher chance of success since you're outsourcing the work to those who do this on a daily basis. Running 3 months of 3-4 creators a month would give you 12 videos. That is sufficient as a first experiment to see how well these videos impact ChatGPT. You can use the Am I On AI tool to track the impact these videos have.
Summary
To summarize: YouTube is important for e-commerce buying patterns. Don't wait on it. Start getting videos uploaded that mention your brand — either doing it yourself or paying creators. This will also compound overtime, as many YouTube videos get more popular after a few months/years.
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