How to apply Search Engine Optimization on Twitch
The experienced first-hand application of SEO principles for Twitch
There is no proven or confirmed way to use basic search engine optimization techniques on Twitch, to generate an increase in search traffic to your Twitch account. (At the time of this story)
Over the past 12 months, I’ve been monitoring click-through traffic, external traffic sources, and how different mixes of keyword techniques and related SEO strategies may or may not improve traffic to my Twitch channel, or past broadcasts.
In this story, we’ll discuss:
- Why we want search traffic?
- Twitch Discoverability
- Searchability on Twitch
- On-page Optimization on Twitch
- Off-page Optimization for Search
- Final thoughts
Why Twitch streamers want Search Traffic?
Search traffic is what websites strive for, the more people are able to find or discover your content when searching for something, the better for you and your content reach and engagement.
Twitch streamers want this kind of search traffic, because, in a nutshell: it means more followers, subscribers, and engagement.
Search traffic comes from many places, such as social media channels like Twitter or Facebook, and search engines like Google.
Optimization is the means of improving your ability to be discovered in searches (In Twitch and out) that relate to your channel and content. is important for creators, as it drives traffic to our point of engagement over time. This is what SEO does for websites and videos in Google searches.
Twitch Discoverability
It’s a known fact that Twitch’s discoverability on-site isn’t as effective as search on other platforms like YouTube or Instagram, but it does offer basic search for your account.
…you must be live to be discovered, or “ranked”, in discoverability.
Not so much algorithmic-based search like Google, where Google will show you stuff based on interest, quality, relevancy, or affinity; Twitch is far more rudimentary.
Discoverability (The browse tab) on twitch provides the basics: categories, some live channels relevant to you, and that’s about it.
This is fine, but when we’re trying to be discovered and increase discoverability on the platform, the Browse tab gives you little to work with as a creator. Essentially, you must be live to be discovered, or “ranked”, in discoverability.
Based on this understanding of the way twitch “ranks” content, the best practice would be to use the correct category to attract the viewers that want to see that content and include an engaging and relevant title for your stream.
No, your previous streams on Twitch won’t rank unless someone searches specifically for you, and you’ve saved your Highlights and Clips in a similar way to the practice mentioned above, but while live, this helps. (Take the time to save and create your Clips)
Search on Twitch:
If you want to search for me on Twitch, simply, search Hyachso, and I’ll appear.
But, you may find it more difficult to find a list of streamers, broadcasts, or clips you’re looking for related to your stream or that may be relevant to you if you were a viewer if you simply searched: “BioShock 2” on twitch search. (A broad search I admit but as an example)
Twitch provides less in a way of relevant or popular historical data like Google search and more an index of current live channels, a category mention, and channels that had broadcasted in that category for the past 24 hours.
Less ideal for a creator putting a lot of work into their keywords and text-based content on stream.
The best practice in this context remains using the correct categories, tags, and engaging headline, but, doing this won’t improve your historical search ranking, as it’s simply not ranked, to begin with, more like a most recent list.
This is why creators like Harris Hellar suggest using YouTube for discoverability.
On-Page Optimization:
While it doesn’t directly index on Search Engines like Google or Twitch for that matter, developing an interesting and engaging home page for your Twitch profile is not only fun but also, helps sell your first impression in a named search on Twitch.
Remember when I said search Hyachso and I’ll appear, well this is what you’ll find:
Pretty neat. None of this content is anything Twitch or Google is crawling, but you need to sell yourself.
While this is less an SEO tip, and more a general optimization tip, make sure your account includes:
- A succinct and engaging description, while providing keywords for users to understand easily, in my case: “Retro” or “Indie”.
- Use Twitch’s stream schedule feature. With descriptions.
- Make sure you’re saving or making clips to be found. Using the same engaging headlines you’d have in your live stream.
The above suggestions currently won’t add to discoverability by Google, but, they do make for a more optimized account, which can mean the difference between a follow or not.
Search Engine Crawling on Twitch:
Search engines crawl websites. It’s how the search engine finds new websites and pages that could be of interest to searchers.
When it comes to Twitch, Google seems to love the idea of Clips, provided they’re based on the specific keyword search that it reflects. There’s little room for broad matches.
For example: Search: “Hyacsho Twitch”, and you’ll be flooded with the Hyacsho Clips directory:
We can see that Google does indeed index Twitch content, but not live streams. Not a bad thing, because Twitch does that on its own.
What Google does seem to do, is index a mix of popular vs recent content, with popularity seemingly defined by views on the said Clip.
In my case, we find a highly popular Twitch Clip made by J1nnygirl, generating the highest-ranking, next to other popular clips from my Outlast 2 playthrough a few months ago.
The condition here though is specifics.
To find this content on a Search Engine like Google, a user would have to search specifically for “Hyacsho” and “Twitch”. This is important because search drives long-term traffic to your Twitch account, which is what we want.
Alternatively, if we just used keyword search: “Hyacsho”, we simply don’t get content hosted on twitch in the same way, outside the primary home page account, and even then, the Twitch bio isn’t indexing, your most recent stream is.
We can conclude that while optimizing Twitch content, such as headlines, live stream categories, Clips, Highlight, and accounts, is important, it counts dramatically less to your discoverability off-twitch than other websites or platforms.
Final Thoughts:
Twitch hosts an amazing community platform for streamers and viewers, and many streamers, like myself, have found a warm and welcoming home on the platform.
However, if growth on the platform is important to you, not only will you have to create an engaging stream while live, you’ll also need to utilize other channels to improve your searchability and discoverability; directing interested users to you.
My hope is that Twitch does eventually adopt a better method of discoverability and provide better means for search engines to crawl their site, but until they do, plan your content and promotions accordingly.
I’d love to know what you think about the future of Twitch, live streaming, and optimization on those channels. Message or Tweet me!
