You may not have noticed, but YouTube will be changing their channel layout (again). All YouTube accounts will be automatically upgraded to the new YouTube layout on Wednesday, June 5th. YouTube has dubbed this new layout the “YouTube One Channel” design.
If you haven’t already, you can manually upgrade your Facebook channel before June 5th. Whether you make the switch yourself or wait for YouTube to do it, the fact remains that all YouTube channels will be undergoing a makeover.
One of the main highlights of the new channel layout is the cover photo specifications. Overall, the main cover photo is larger (with a maximum resolution of 2120 pixels high by 1193 pixels high). As computer monitors get larger and, more to the point, as people begin to use their televisions as computer monitors, the need for larger and brighter images will grow. The new YouTube channel layout embraces that trend.
The “primary” area of the cover photo that will display on all devices is 1280 x 350. This will be the center of the cover photo, cropped out to display on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. Here is an example, courtesy of an April post on Search Engine Watch.
Other features of the new YouTube channel will be a reorganization of the Videos and tabs on the channel. It is going to look quite different from the YouTube we are used to seeing now. The new design will also highlight your custom playlists more prominently. The playlist will display to the right of the video being viewed at any given time, so optimizing your playlists will be more important than ever if you want to keep visitors on your channel.
Another feature of YouTube that is relatively new is the personal YouTube channel. Google is now supporting the linking of a Google profile to a YouTube channel, meaning that an individual on Google+ can take ownership of the videos on his or her YouTube channel.
It used to be that the YouTube channel was just a Product in Google Accounts. Now it has been integrated with Google+ so that individuals can use video to generate fresh, engaging content and boost their Author rank. By attributing new videos to a Google+ profile, you are crediting those videos as fresh content for Google Authorship, which will be an essential building block of Google search results in 2013 and beyond.
For more insight and to ask how Orthopreneur Internet Marketing Solutions can get you up to speed on YouTube, contact us for a free consultation.