What we do on YouTube

What does YouTube advertising and channel management cover?

Visibility on YouTube is made up of three layers: paid video ads, the content the brand publishes on its own channel, and collaborations with creators. Ads are bought through Google Ads and the channel is managed in YouTube Studio, yet both speak to the same audience and draw on each other's data.

We do not treat these layers as separate jobs but as parts of a single video plan. We explain which platform to use for which purpose, alongside LinkedIn and TikTok, on our LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube service page; this page focuses on YouTube's own tools.

Which ad formats are available on YouTube?

YouTube ad formats differ according to whether the viewer can skip the ad and where the ad is shown. Which format to choose depends on how long the message is and on the objective of the campaign.

Most of these formats are bought through Video and Demand Gen campaigns in Google Ads. The campaign objective (reach, views or conversions) also determines which formats can be used, so we choose the objective first and the format second.

Video campaign or Demand Gen?

If the goal is reach and awareness, a Video campaign is the better starting point; if the goal is conversions and clicks, Demand Gen is. Video campaigns bring options such as reach, target frequency and ad sequencing to the fore, so the same person can first see a longer introduction and then shorter reminders.

Demand Gen, by contrast, uses Discover and Gmail as well as YouTube, runs video and image assets together and is managed with bidding strategies that learn from conversion data. Google has largely brought conversion-focused video campaigns under the Demand Gen umbrella. We summarise where each campaign type sits within the Google ecosystem on our Google page.

How should the opening seconds of a YouTube ad be built?

With a skippable ad, whether the viewer stays is decided in the first few seconds, so the brand and the main idea need to appear right at the start. Ads that try to build curiosity with a long introduction are wasted, because viewers skip them before the real message arrives.

• Early branding: the logo, product or brand name appears on screen and in the audio within the first moments.
• Silent viewing: captions and on-screen text are used so the message is clear even with the sound off.
• One message: each ad focuses on a single idea and a single action.
• Format variations: horizontal, vertical and square edits are cut from the same shoot; a vertical edit for Shorts is planned separately.
• The big screen: because YouTube is increasingly watched on television, text is kept large enough to read from across the room.

The testing tools highlighted in YouTube's recent announcements, and the growth of viewing on television, make these principles even more important; we covered the details in our article on the Made on YouTube announcements.

What is YouTube SEO, and how are videos found in search?

YouTube SEO is the work on titles, descriptions, structure and content that helps videos be found in YouTube search, in recommendations and in Google's video results. YouTube's recommendation system cares about whether viewers click on a video and how long they watch it, so SEO is not just a matter of choosing words but of how well the video holds attention.

• Title and thumbnail: a pairing that contains the search phrase and sparks curiosity without misleading; where possible, testing more than one thumbnail.
• Description: the opening lines state what question the video answers, followed by relevant links and context.
• Chapters: timestamped chapters guide both the viewer and Google's key moments feature.
• Captions and language: accurate captions improve accessibility and help the content be understood; translated captions are added for international audiences.
• Playlists: grouping related videos under one topic lengthens the viewing session.

How is targeting set up on YouTube?

Targeting on YouTube falls into two groups: audience targeting based on the person, and content targeting based on the subject of the video. On the audience side, the most valuable signal is the brand's own data: site visitors, channel viewers and customer lists collected with consent. Alongside these, you can use custom segments built on search behaviour on Google, in-market audiences showing purchase intent, and life events.

On the content side, topic, keyword and placement choices narrow down the videos an ad appears on. In conversion-focused campaigns we allow the system to broaden targeting to a certain extent; in awareness campaigns we keep the audience tighter and control frequency. Showing the same ad to the same person more often than necessary wears down both the budget and the brand's image.

Which businesses should make YouTube a priority?

YouTube is a priority channel for any business that needs to show, explain or make its product or service open to scrutiny. Products that require installation or instruction, tourism and hospitality, education, real estate and health tourism lead the way. In these areas, users want to see, listen and compare before they decide.

For businesses that sell through a single product page and have a weak visual story, we recommend first trying YouTube for remarketing and reminders, with a small budget. If the test produces meaningful movement in brand searches and remarketing conversions, we widen the scope together.

How do channel content and advertising work together?

Channel content and ads feed each other once the YouTube channel is linked to the Google Ads account. People who watch your channel, subscribe or engage with your videos become remarketing lists, and later views on the channel by viewers who arrived through an ad also show up in the reports.

That is why we build the advertising plan alongside the channel calendar. A video that performs well organically is the first candidate to test as an ad, and a message that works well in advertising becomes a new content idea for the channel. We tie collaborations with creators into the same plan with our influencer management team.

How is the impact of YouTube ads measured?

YouTube's impact is not measured by the last click alone; many viewers search for the brand or visit the site later, after watching the ad. So alongside view rate and watch time, we read the change in brand searches after the campaign, direct traffic and Google Ads' view-through conversion data together.

When budget and scope allow, we use Google's brand lift studies to measure the difference between groups who saw the ad and those who did not. When interpreting the results, we also take seasonal effects and other channels running at the same time into account.

How are brand safety and content suitability managed?

On YouTube, content suitability settings determine which videos your ad appears alongside. We keep ads away from content that does not suit the brand through the choice of inventory type, the exclusion of sensitive topics, and placement and channel exclusion lists.

Personalised advertising is restricted on content made for children, and in areas such as health and finance ad copy is checked separately against Google's policies and the regulations in Türkiye. Throughout the campaign, we regularly review the placements where the ad has been shown and update the lists.

What are the most common mistakes on YouTube?

• Uploading a television commercial to YouTube without cutting it down, and leaving the brand until the end.
• Judging every campaign on cost per view alone.
• Not linking the channel to the ad account, and so not using viewer data for remarketing.
• Cropping a horizontal video to use in Shorts.
• Leaving content suitability settings at their defaults and never reviewing placements.