Getting Video Titles, Descriptions, and Tags Right on YouTube
Your meta-data on YouTube can make or break the popularity of your channel. Here are some tips to help you optimize your titles, tags, and descriptions on YouTube to get higher search engine rankings and boost business growth.
Title
The title of your video should be in 100 characters, which get cut short to 70 in the search results. If you want to increase the click-through-rate (CTR) for your YouTube videos, here’s how you can optimize your video title.
- The 1st thing you need to do is conduct some keyword research for the topic of your video. You can also use a keyword generator for this.
- Ensure that your title is keyword-rich, and starting with the primary keyword for your video will help increase SEO. The main points must be covered in the 1st 70 characters so that they’re visible in search results.
- Optimize your title for CTR by using numbers; attention-grabbing words/phrases; emotionally loaded titles.
- The title and thumbnail are what viewers will see first when they come across your video, and it’ll affect their watching decision, so choose a thumbnail that complements your title and can attract viewers to your video.
- Pass on clickbait titles. While they may seem like a good choice, they can actually hamper your rankings by signaling to the YouTube algorithm that it’s a clickbait title.
- You can even re-write the meta-data of videos you had uploaded earlier, which didn’t receive many views. Changing the meta-data to make it optimized for search engines can help you re-optimize your previous videos.
- Tools like CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer can analyze the title of your video and offer you suggestions on it.
Description
YouTube allows 5000 characters for video descriptions so that viewers get details about the content and context of a video. Here’s how you can write great video descriptions.
- Pay attention to the first three lines and be sure to include keywords here because this is what appears to viewers and in search results before the “see more” option.
- Have a clear description that gives details about the context and content of your video. Use bullet points, paragraphs, and keywords a minimum of 2-3 times to convey a clear idea of your video to your audience. You can also use complementary keywords in a conversational tone. Check that description are clear no matter what device is being used.
- Providing timestamps that help your viewers jump to sections they’re interested in is another great way to keep people engaged on your channel.
- Ensure you add links to your website, social media handles, and products so that those interested can be directed to these pages. You must also give credit for anyone else’s work you’ve used in your video to maintain brand credibility.
- Convey what watching your video can do for your viewers in the description so that people see value in doing it. You must also include a clear call to action in your video description so that viewers know what they should do next after having watched your video.
Tag
Video tags help to contextualize a video, and YouTube allows adding a maximum of 500 characters in the tag area with a 30 character limit for each tag. Here are some best practices to follow when using video tags on YouTube.
- Make sure you include the following as tags:
- Primary and LSI keywords
- Brand/channel tags
- Tags to describe video content
- Let your target keyword be your 1st tag.
- Make use of broad as well as focused tags to give clarity and context to your video.
- Don’t use more than 5-8 broad and focused tags, otherwise you’ll create confusion regarding the content and context of your video.
- Use relevant tags for your video, otherwise your video can get taken down.
- Generate the right tags for your videos just by typing in your primary keyword with tools like VidIQ Boost and TagTube.
- Stick to the ideal number of words per tag (2-3 words) as far as possible to get the best results.
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