6 YouTube Trends 2018 - Which Ones Do You Know?

If you have been doing any training here, you should already know that YouTube is important in any type of marketing. And YouTube strategies are always changing and evolving. So it is important to know about the latest YouTube Trends 2018 released by Think with Google.

But before we discuss these new trends, let’s talk about the trends you should already know.

6 YouTube Trends 2018

The 3 YouTube Trends You Should Already Know

1. Google Search and YouTube Are Important

Google is the most used search engine. Google Search accounts for 90% of the searches of all search engines and handles 3 billion searches each day. Wikipedia statistic.

YouTube is the second most used search engine. 1 billion hours of video content are watched on YouTube every day. Statistic.

Google owns YouTube.

You have the two most popular search engines owned by the same company. I mean what company does not want to dominate search? Well, Google does.

So your efforts for Google Search and YouTube are equally important for any online business.

2. YouTube Videos Help Content Rank

Based on experiences with getting content to rank, Jay, Jerry Huang and other WA members here have talked about their successes by including videos within blog posts.

Along with the usual SEO stuff: keywords, meta title, meta description, etc., you should have an embedded YouTube video in your post. You can find a relevant video that already exists or you can create your own.

Either way, establishing a process for your content to include a YouTube video is a good next step, if you are not there already.

3. YouTube Allows Affiliate Links

While social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are good for driving traffic to your website, they can be difficult to navigate for affiliate marketing.

Because they don’t really like you to link to Wealthy Affiliate with your affiliate links and have been known to shut ads down that didn’t fit within their ad policies and guidelines without any explanation of why.

But YouTube allows you to include affiliate links? Yes.

WA member Dylan Rieger mentions this in one of his recent blog posts. I researched it and found a review video with a bunch of “cloaked” amazon links.

Cloaked links are just masked affiliate links that use your own website domain. You learn to do this with the Pretty Links plugin in Affiliate Bootcamp Training Phase 2, Lesson 2. (Don't worry, I provide reference links below. Just keep on reading :)

I confirmed this is true. So while you are concerned with the popular social networks above, don’t forget about YouTube which has social components as well. And they allow masked affiliate links. And it is the second largest search engine owned by Google.

So these first 3 trends are a good start. Now, let’s talk about the latest trends released in the September YouTube Trends 2018 report by Think with Google.

The Latest YouTube Trends Happening Right Now

4. Virtual YouTubers

Virtual YouTubers have generated a half of billion views in less than 2 years.

A YouTuber is a human personality, celebrity or simply a content creator who creates a name for them self from their YouTube videos.

A Virtual YouTuber is an animated character that played by the actual human video creator. Virtual YouTubers are also referred to as VTubers.

Virtual YouTubers are made with software. VTubers are popular in Japan right now.

As this software becomes more available, this trend is expected to rise. Something to watch to see if this gains popularity in where you live.

5. Classroom Set-Ups

Around this time of the year, teachers use YouTube to give video tours of their classrooms and set-ups. They can show parents and kids what to expect and what to plan for before they start their class.

Well, this idea is very well-received. In August 2018, classroom set-up videos received 2 million views and were watched for 300,000 hours.

Just to put this into perspective, 300,000 hours is a lot of time to happen in 1 month alone. It takes 1 person 34 years just to reach 297,840 hours of time.

This trend coincides with the fact that YouTube is widely used for educational purposes. Learning related YouTube videos currently receive 1 billion views a day.

As Kyle mentions to show people what you are talking about or what you are reviewing, simple educational YouTube videos are an easy way to do this.

Many WA members have created videos showcasing Wealthy Affiliate. Just go to YouTube and search for Wealthy Affiliate.

6. Relaxation Videos

An interesting trend, more people are watching videos related to "relaxing" to help them decompress. Watch time for relaxing videos has increased 70% in the past 12 months.

Some obvious videos for relaxation would be mediation and yoga videos. But other videos gaining popularity are aquarium and slime videos. Videos to help manage stress are also on the rise.

In the health niche, relaxation and stress management videos could be a way to promote your health related products. And give you additional products to recommend from a network like amazon. Just be creative and think of products like an aromatherapy eye mask, DVDs, aromatherapy products, sound machine, etc.

That's 6 very interesting trends. I think it is safe to say that YouTube is not going anywhere. And Google certainly isn't either. So keep YouTube trends in mind when you plan your next steps with your affiliate marketing websites.

Learn how to do some of these trends:

How to mask your affiliate links with Pretty Links
Jay's SERP Ranking Blueprint
Google Ranking Tips
How To Make Money On YouTube
How Do I Get Free Traffic To My Website
Youtube Affiliate Example

Got Questions?

Would love to hear your input. What trends you were aware of. And what YouTube trends work for you.