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"[Updated] A Compreayer's Guide to Growth Updating YouTube Metadata"
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A Compreayer’s Guide to Growth: Updating YouTube Metadata
How to Optimize YouTube Tags/Title/Description for More Views
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Making awesome video content is just the first hurdle to overcome. Getting people to watch them is the next and a much bigger obstacle in your path. Just as a blogger must work hard to get people to read their blog, so a YouTuber needs to find ways to get more views on their videos.
For any piece of content on the internet, discoverability is key to exposure. After all, nobody will watch your video or read your blog if they can’t find it, right? A blogger would do this by lacing their content with SEO - search engine optimization. But how can a YouTuber do the same? The answer lies in something known as YouTube tags optimization. In this article, we will let you know how to add, edit and optimize YouTube tags easily for more views, and some tips on YouTube title and description.
Quick Jump Menu
- What are YouTube tags and why they are so important
- How to come up with YouTube tags and optimize them
- How to Tag YouTube and Add Title, Description
- How to Improve YouTube video Metadata: Tags, Title, Description
- Tips for Tagging YouTube and Writing Title, Description
Before we get started, I want to recommend the best video editing software for YouTubers - Wondershare Filmora , an easy to use while powerful video editor that allows you not only to cut, split, crop, resize, reverse your videos, but also offers you multiple video effects specially designed for Fashion, Beauty, Gaming, Travel, Education, etc. Check the video to know more fantastic features:
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Part 1: What are YouTube tags and why they are so important
YouTube tags are used when you upload a video on YouTube. You need to specify the type of video. In other words, you need to describe your video with keywords. But you might think about why you need to add these words. YouTube can’t figure out what my videos are about? Unfortunately, YouTube can’t though its algorithm is much more advanced than before.
You must know the competition between videos is furious since 500 hours of video per minute are uploaded on YouTube . In this case, it is important to let the YouTube algorithm know your video by adding related tags to have a higher ranking. So the better tags we choose, the higher chance to rank in the top 1, which means you will get more views!
Using YouTube meta tags wisely can broaden your reach and help new people discover your content. However, don’t be tempted to insert irrelevant tags just because you know they are high traffic. You will be found out and penalized as a result. Just as you did with your description, research your keywords, place the most important ones first and use as many as you can.
What are the three YouTube tag types?
YouTube has three different types of tags and each of them has a specific purpose. The tags are-
Specific – The specific tag types are keywords-oriented. These keywords specifically pertain to the content of your video. In this tag type, the particular video is highlighted with the keyword tags. Often while typing the keywords in your mind, YouTube suggests phrases and keywords according to the content of your video. You may apply the suggestions and also add more general or common versions of the same keywords.
Compound – The compound tags are usually using more than two words. Many a time it is seen that users prefer tagging the complete title of the video. If you are using your video title as the compound tag, ensure that you do not include the prepositions like or, as, and, etc. This is because YouTube allows just 500 characters in the title and ignore the prepositions. It is always advised to use all the 500 characters YouTube has allowed without wasting the characters on prepositions as it will automatically be ignored.
Generic – The generic tags are the ones that describe the entire video in one or two words. These tags are used in all the videos of yours. These tags are used across your channel for all the videos you post. It is important to have such general constant tags.
Part 2: How to add YouTube tags and optimize them
The more relevant tags you add, the better it is. The best part is YouTube doesn’t restrict the number of tags but adding all is not possible and adding something irrelevant doesn’t make sense. So, your YouTube video tags must be the smart ones for more views. Educated tagging is what is required.
1. Brand-Specific Tags Addition - Every business wants their brand name to show up in the search results on YouTube and Google. Self-referencing your video or tagging your brand name in a number of variations is a smart way of letting others know your brand.
2. Using YouTube Auto Suggest – Play with the search option on YouTube and check out the YouTube suggestions when you search. Try to recognize the common videos that pop up while searching for something important and relevant to yours. Try searching for random keywords according to your YouTube search experience.
3. Use the YouTube Keyword Search Tool – Lastly, you may use the YouTube keyword suggestion tool. It helps you to extract the relevant keywords from the videos of your competitors and create suggestions according to the basic term provided by you.
4. Use Specific Tags - After using tools, you need to narrow down your tags specifically, like tags “learn 3D paper cutting”. The search volume may not be huge, but these kinds of tags can let YouTube know your video very well. Give it a try!
5. Check competitor’s Tags - When you check tags from other brands, it is not suggested to copy them all. What you need to do is find what you are missing and try to cover that area. However, only third-party tools can help you do that. In the market, VidIQ is highly used. It has a free version. Most of all data including tags can be found for higher views.
YouTube Tags Bonus Tips
Here you can learn some tips when optimizing tags. You can use singular and plural tags. Sometimes remember to add some misspelling tags because users tend to mistype some words, so it’s better to cover this kind of tag. You can get more information on misspelled words . More tips are listed below.
- Build on what you learned in your keyword research and use high traffic keywords as tags
- Use as many tags as possible, but without being spammy
- Build related playlists using particular tags
- Be generic; ‘big’, ‘funny’ and ‘sweet’ are fine, but ‘luscious’, ‘delightful’ and ‘splendid’ don’t make the best tags
- Put the most important tags first
- Mix single word tags with ‘long tail’ tags, e.g. ‘how to’
Part 3: How to Tag YouTube and Add Title, Description
For a New Video
- Step 1. The first thing you need to do is to sign in to your YouTube account .
- Step 2. Then click the Upload button that’s found on the top right corner of the window.
- Step 3. Then select the video that you want to upload. You will be asked to add a title, description, and tags.
- Step 4. After uploading, you can still edit the YouTube title, description, and tags.
For a Published Video
There are times when you want to change the title, description or tag of an already published video. The good news is that YouTube allows you to re-edit them whenever you want to.
- Step 1. Log into your YouTube account
- Step 2. Click the account name found at the top right-hand corner of the screen. Then you will have a dropdown menu. Select Video Manager to show a list of your uploaded videos.
- Step 3. Click the Edit button that’s found right next to the video that you want to modify. In the Video Information, you can now change the title, description or any of the tags. Click on the Save Changes button when you are done.
Part 4: How to Improve YouTube Video Title and Description
Metadata on YouTube is where both the viewers and the platform itself can find out what your video is all about. It helps people search for your video, helps YouTube to categorize it correctly and, when done well, can broaden the reach of your content. YouTube meta consists of three main parts: tags, title and description. Here’s how you can use each of these three elements to create powerful metadata for your video:
1. Title
YouTube titles play a big part in the ranking factors for search. That means you’ve got to think about what the people most likely to want to see your video will type into the search bar, as well as the words that accurately describe your video.
For example, if you have a clip of your cat Fluffy climbing a tree, calling your video ‘Fluffy climbs a tree’ is not the best idea. Nobody knows who Fluffy is; it could be your rabbit, dog, daughter or feather duster for all the YouTube community knows, and nobody is going to be searching for it.
A better title would be ‘cat climbs a tree, but you could even improve on that. How about ‘funny cat climbs a tree’, which would capture all those people looking for funny cat videos. Or, even better, ‘funny Persian cat climbs a tree’, also capturing those people who adore Persian cats.
You can see how building awesome YouTube titles can happen organically like this, but it’s also worth doing your homework too. We have collected a handful of YouTube Keyword tools for you to improve your YouTube meta, so check out the suggestions and work forwards from there.
Best practices
- Research your keywords and include high traffic keywords at the start of the title
- Keep titles under 70 characters
- Branding, episode number, and other non-essential info should be at the end of the title
- Review your YouTube titles from time to time and update with new keywords as search trends change
- Avoid clickbait titles or misleading titles as this will affect your view time and subsequently your ranking in search
2. Description
Your description is a much longer piece of YouTube meta, so you can really go to town with your YouTube keywords here. You’ve got up to 5,000 characters to fill in, and we strongly advise that you aim to use every single one. This really is a golden opportunity, not only to get people motivated to watch all of your video, but also to be indexed correctly through well researched YouTube keywords.
You may have noticed that, on the search page itself, only a small part of the description actually shows up; 120 characters of it to be precise. This doesn’t affect indexing, but it does mean you have to plan your YouTube description carefully to really hook people into clicking through from just the first sentence or two.
Best practices
- Make the first sentence or two compelling and captivating to get people to click
- Research the best YouTube keywords to use to ensure your video is correctly indexed
- At the end of your YouTube description, include a call to action to direct viewers on what to do next (subscribe, click through to the website, look at a product, watch more videos, etc.)
- If your video is long, consider placing time codes in your description to help users jump to their areas of interest
- Add links to products showcased, your social channels, or website as you wish
- Don’t forget to credit any music you’ve used here
Part 5: Tips for Tagging YouTube and Writing Title, Description
So, now we’ve got the basics down, let’s move on to some top tips for getting your metadata just right:
- 1. Do not spam
Irrelevant keywords will not do you any favors in the long run. Using a popular search term such as ‘funny cat’ when actually it’s a video of you unboxing your product will simply irritate your viewers. You’ll get more views, but for shorter durations, and that will hurt not only your ranking but also your reputation. The people you want to draw in with your YouTube meta should be those who are genuinely interested in your videos, as these are the people who will share, comment and interact with you.
- 2. Don’t put tags in the description
YouTube has given you a place to put your tags, and that’s not in the description area of your meta. Placing tags in the description area is known as tag stuffing and can lead to videos being removed or penalized.
- 3. Update regularly
YouTube meta is not a static thing. Trends change, search statistics fluctuate, and the needs of your viewers alter as time goes on. For this reason, you should look to update your meta from time to time, at least once every six months or so. Re-research your keywords and optimize for today’s trending search terms.
You May Also Like: YouTube SEO Complete Guide
Conclusion
Take some time to perfect your meta on YouTube and see how many more views it helps you get. Let us know if you have any other tips for developing powerful metadata, and how optimizing your meta has worked for you!
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Making awesome video content is just the first hurdle to overcome. Getting people to watch them is the next and a much bigger obstacle in your path. Just as a blogger must work hard to get people to read their blog, so a YouTuber needs to find ways to get more views on their videos.
For any piece of content on the internet, discoverability is key to exposure. After all, nobody will watch your video or read your blog if they can’t find it, right? A blogger would do this by lacing their content with SEO - search engine optimization. But how can a YouTuber do the same? The answer lies in something known as YouTube tags optimization. In this article, we will let you know how to add, edit and optimize YouTube tags easily for more views, and some tips on YouTube title and description.
Quick Jump Menu
- What are YouTube tags and why they are so important
- How to come up with YouTube tags and optimize them
- How to Tag YouTube and Add Title, Description
- How to Improve YouTube video Metadata: Tags, Title, Description
- Tips for Tagging YouTube and Writing Title, Description
Before we get started, I want to recommend the best video editing software for YouTubers - Wondershare Filmora , an easy to use while powerful video editor that allows you not only to cut, split, crop, resize, reverse your videos, but also offers you multiple video effects specially designed for Fashion, Beauty, Gaming, Travel, Education, etc. Check the video to know more fantastic features:
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Part 1: What are YouTube tags and why they are so important
YouTube tags are used when you upload a video on YouTube. You need to specify the type of video. In other words, you need to describe your video with keywords. But you might think about why you need to add these words. YouTube can’t figure out what my videos are about? Unfortunately, YouTube can’t though its algorithm is much more advanced than before.
You must know the competition between videos is furious since 500 hours of video per minute are uploaded on YouTube . In this case, it is important to let the YouTube algorithm know your video by adding related tags to have a higher ranking. So the better tags we choose, the higher chance to rank in the top 1, which means you will get more views!
Using YouTube meta tags wisely can broaden your reach and help new people discover your content. However, don’t be tempted to insert irrelevant tags just because you know they are high traffic. You will be found out and penalized as a result. Just as you did with your description, research your keywords, place the most important ones first and use as many as you can.
What are the three YouTube tag types?
YouTube has three different types of tags and each of them has a specific purpose. The tags are-
Specific – The specific tag types are keywords-oriented. These keywords specifically pertain to the content of your video. In this tag type, the particular video is highlighted with the keyword tags. Often while typing the keywords in your mind, YouTube suggests phrases and keywords according to the content of your video. You may apply the suggestions and also add more general or common versions of the same keywords.
Compound – The compound tags are usually using more than two words. Many a time it is seen that users prefer tagging the complete title of the video. If you are using your video title as the compound tag, ensure that you do not include the prepositions like or, as, and, etc. This is because YouTube allows just 500 characters in the title and ignore the prepositions. It is always advised to use all the 500 characters YouTube has allowed without wasting the characters on prepositions as it will automatically be ignored.
Generic – The generic tags are the ones that describe the entire video in one or two words. These tags are used in all the videos of yours. These tags are used across your channel for all the videos you post. It is important to have such general constant tags.
Part 2: How to add YouTube tags and optimize them
The more relevant tags you add, the better it is. The best part is YouTube doesn’t restrict the number of tags but adding all is not possible and adding something irrelevant doesn’t make sense. So, your YouTube video tags must be the smart ones for more views. Educated tagging is what is required.
1. Brand-Specific Tags Addition - Every business wants their brand name to show up in the search results on YouTube and Google. Self-referencing your video or tagging your brand name in a number of variations is a smart way of letting others know your brand.
2. Using YouTube Auto Suggest – Play with the search option on YouTube and check out the YouTube suggestions when you search. Try to recognize the common videos that pop up while searching for something important and relevant to yours. Try searching for random keywords according to your YouTube search experience.
3. Use the YouTube Keyword Search Tool – Lastly, you may use the YouTube keyword suggestion tool. It helps you to extract the relevant keywords from the videos of your competitors and create suggestions according to the basic term provided by you.
4. Use Specific Tags - After using tools, you need to narrow down your tags specifically, like tags “learn 3D paper cutting”. The search volume may not be huge, but these kinds of tags can let YouTube know your video very well. Give it a try!
5. Check competitor’s Tags - When you check tags from other brands, it is not suggested to copy them all. What you need to do is find what you are missing and try to cover that area. However, only third-party tools can help you do that. In the market, VidIQ is highly used. It has a free version. Most of all data including tags can be found for higher views.
YouTube Tags Bonus Tips
Here you can learn some tips when optimizing tags. You can use singular and plural tags. Sometimes remember to add some misspelling tags because users tend to mistype some words, so it’s better to cover this kind of tag. You can get more information on misspelled words . More tips are listed below.
- Build on what you learned in your keyword research and use high traffic keywords as tags
- Use as many tags as possible, but without being spammy
- Build related playlists using particular tags
- Be generic; ‘big’, ‘funny’ and ‘sweet’ are fine, but ‘luscious’, ‘delightful’ and ‘splendid’ don’t make the best tags
- Put the most important tags first
- Mix single word tags with ‘long tail’ tags, e.g. ‘how to’
Part 3: How to Tag YouTube and Add Title, Description
For a New Video
- Step 1. The first thing you need to do is to sign in to your YouTube account .
- Step 2. Then click the Upload button that’s found on the top right corner of the window.
- Step 3. Then select the video that you want to upload. You will be asked to add a title, description, and tags.
- Step 4. After uploading, you can still edit the YouTube title, description, and tags.
For a Published Video
There are times when you want to change the title, description or tag of an already published video. The good news is that YouTube allows you to re-edit them whenever you want to.
- Step 1. Log into your YouTube account
- Step 2. Click the account name found at the top right-hand corner of the screen. Then you will have a dropdown menu. Select Video Manager to show a list of your uploaded videos.
- Step 3. Click the Edit button that’s found right next to the video that you want to modify. In the Video Information, you can now change the title, description or any of the tags. Click on the Save Changes button when you are done.
Part 4: How to Improve YouTube Video Title and Description
Metadata on YouTube is where both the viewers and the platform itself can find out what your video is all about. It helps people search for your video, helps YouTube to categorize it correctly and, when done well, can broaden the reach of your content. YouTube meta consists of three main parts: tags, title and description. Here’s how you can use each of these three elements to create powerful metadata for your video:
1. Title
YouTube titles play a big part in the ranking factors for search. That means you’ve got to think about what the people most likely to want to see your video will type into the search bar, as well as the words that accurately describe your video.
For example, if you have a clip of your cat Fluffy climbing a tree, calling your video ‘Fluffy climbs a tree’ is not the best idea. Nobody knows who Fluffy is; it could be your rabbit, dog, daughter or feather duster for all the YouTube community knows, and nobody is going to be searching for it.
A better title would be ‘cat climbs a tree, but you could even improve on that. How about ‘funny cat climbs a tree’, which would capture all those people looking for funny cat videos. Or, even better, ‘funny Persian cat climbs a tree’, also capturing those people who adore Persian cats.
You can see how building awesome YouTube titles can happen organically like this, but it’s also worth doing your homework too. We have collected a handful of YouTube Keyword tools for you to improve your YouTube meta, so check out the suggestions and work forwards from there.
Best practices
- Research your keywords and include high traffic keywords at the start of the title
- Keep titles under 70 characters
- Branding, episode number, and other non-essential info should be at the end of the title
- Review your YouTube titles from time to time and update with new keywords as search trends change
- Avoid clickbait titles or misleading titles as this will affect your view time and subsequently your ranking in search
2. Description
Your description is a much longer piece of YouTube meta, so you can really go to town with your YouTube keywords here. You’ve got up to 5,000 characters to fill in, and we strongly advise that you aim to use every single one. This really is a golden opportunity, not only to get people motivated to watch all of your video, but also to be indexed correctly through well researched YouTube keywords.
You may have noticed that, on the search page itself, only a small part of the description actually shows up; 120 characters of it to be precise. This doesn’t affect indexing, but it does mean you have to plan your YouTube description carefully to really hook people into clicking through from just the first sentence or two.
Best practices
- Make the first sentence or two compelling and captivating to get people to click
- Research the best YouTube keywords to use to ensure your video is correctly indexed
- At the end of your YouTube description, include a call to action to direct viewers on what to do next (subscribe, click through to the website, look at a product, watch more videos, etc.)
- If your video is long, consider placing time codes in your description to help users jump to their areas of interest
- Add links to products showcased, your social channels, or website as you wish
- Don’t forget to credit any music you’ve used here
Part 5: Tips for Tagging YouTube and Writing Title, Description
So, now we’ve got the basics down, let’s move on to some top tips for getting your metadata just right:
- 1. Do not spam
Irrelevant keywords will not do you any favors in the long run. Using a popular search term such as ‘funny cat’ when actually it’s a video of you unboxing your product will simply irritate your viewers. You’ll get more views, but for shorter durations, and that will hurt not only your ranking but also your reputation. The people you want to draw in with your YouTube meta should be those who are genuinely interested in your videos, as these are the people who will share, comment and interact with you.
- 2. Don’t put tags in the description
YouTube has given you a place to put your tags, and that’s not in the description area of your meta. Placing tags in the description area is known as tag stuffing and can lead to videos being removed or penalized.
- 3. Update regularly
YouTube meta is not a static thing. Trends change, search statistics fluctuate, and the needs of your viewers alter as time goes on. For this reason, you should look to update your meta from time to time, at least once every six months or so. Re-research your keywords and optimize for today’s trending search terms.
You May Also Like: YouTube SEO Complete Guide
Conclusion
Take some time to perfect your meta on YouTube and see how many more views it helps you get. Let us know if you have any other tips for developing powerful metadata, and how optimizing your meta has worked for you!
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Making awesome video content is just the first hurdle to overcome. Getting people to watch them is the next and a much bigger obstacle in your path. Just as a blogger must work hard to get people to read their blog, so a YouTuber needs to find ways to get more views on their videos.
For any piece of content on the internet, discoverability is key to exposure. After all, nobody will watch your video or read your blog if they can’t find it, right? A blogger would do this by lacing their content with SEO - search engine optimization. But how can a YouTuber do the same? The answer lies in something known as YouTube tags optimization. In this article, we will let you know how to add, edit and optimize YouTube tags easily for more views, and some tips on YouTube title and description.
Quick Jump Menu
- What are YouTube tags and why they are so important
- How to come up with YouTube tags and optimize them
- How to Tag YouTube and Add Title, Description
- How to Improve YouTube video Metadata: Tags, Title, Description
- Tips for Tagging YouTube and Writing Title, Description
Before we get started, I want to recommend the best video editing software for YouTubers - Wondershare Filmora , an easy to use while powerful video editor that allows you not only to cut, split, crop, resize, reverse your videos, but also offers you multiple video effects specially designed for Fashion, Beauty, Gaming, Travel, Education, etc. Check the video to know more fantastic features:
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Part 1: What are YouTube tags and why they are so important
YouTube tags are used when you upload a video on YouTube. You need to specify the type of video. In other words, you need to describe your video with keywords. But you might think about why you need to add these words. YouTube can’t figure out what my videos are about? Unfortunately, YouTube can’t though its algorithm is much more advanced than before.
You must know the competition between videos is furious since 500 hours of video per minute are uploaded on YouTube . In this case, it is important to let the YouTube algorithm know your video by adding related tags to have a higher ranking. So the better tags we choose, the higher chance to rank in the top 1, which means you will get more views!
Using YouTube meta tags wisely can broaden your reach and help new people discover your content. However, don’t be tempted to insert irrelevant tags just because you know they are high traffic. You will be found out and penalized as a result. Just as you did with your description, research your keywords, place the most important ones first and use as many as you can.
What are the three YouTube tag types?
YouTube has three different types of tags and each of them has a specific purpose. The tags are-
Specific – The specific tag types are keywords-oriented. These keywords specifically pertain to the content of your video. In this tag type, the particular video is highlighted with the keyword tags. Often while typing the keywords in your mind, YouTube suggests phrases and keywords according to the content of your video. You may apply the suggestions and also add more general or common versions of the same keywords.
Compound – The compound tags are usually using more than two words. Many a time it is seen that users prefer tagging the complete title of the video. If you are using your video title as the compound tag, ensure that you do not include the prepositions like or, as, and, etc. This is because YouTube allows just 500 characters in the title and ignore the prepositions. It is always advised to use all the 500 characters YouTube has allowed without wasting the characters on prepositions as it will automatically be ignored.
Generic – The generic tags are the ones that describe the entire video in one or two words. These tags are used in all the videos of yours. These tags are used across your channel for all the videos you post. It is important to have such general constant tags.
Part 2: How to add YouTube tags and optimize them
The more relevant tags you add, the better it is. The best part is YouTube doesn’t restrict the number of tags but adding all is not possible and adding something irrelevant doesn’t make sense. So, your YouTube video tags must be the smart ones for more views. Educated tagging is what is required.
1. Brand-Specific Tags Addition - Every business wants their brand name to show up in the search results on YouTube and Google. Self-referencing your video or tagging your brand name in a number of variations is a smart way of letting others know your brand.
2. Using YouTube Auto Suggest – Play with the search option on YouTube and check out the YouTube suggestions when you search. Try to recognize the common videos that pop up while searching for something important and relevant to yours. Try searching for random keywords according to your YouTube search experience.
3. Use the YouTube Keyword Search Tool – Lastly, you may use the YouTube keyword suggestion tool. It helps you to extract the relevant keywords from the videos of your competitors and create suggestions according to the basic term provided by you.
4. Use Specific Tags - After using tools, you need to narrow down your tags specifically, like tags “learn 3D paper cutting”. The search volume may not be huge, but these kinds of tags can let YouTube know your video very well. Give it a try!
5. Check competitor’s Tags - When you check tags from other brands, it is not suggested to copy them all. What you need to do is find what you are missing and try to cover that area. However, only third-party tools can help you do that. In the market, VidIQ is highly used. It has a free version. Most of all data including tags can be found for higher views.
YouTube Tags Bonus Tips
Here you can learn some tips when optimizing tags. You can use singular and plural tags. Sometimes remember to add some misspelling tags because users tend to mistype some words, so it’s better to cover this kind of tag. You can get more information on misspelled words . More tips are listed below.
- Build on what you learned in your keyword research and use high traffic keywords as tags
- Use as many tags as possible, but without being spammy
- Build related playlists using particular tags
- Be generic; ‘big’, ‘funny’ and ‘sweet’ are fine, but ‘luscious’, ‘delightful’ and ‘splendid’ don’t make the best tags
- Put the most important tags first
- Mix single word tags with ‘long tail’ tags, e.g. ‘how to’
Part 3: How to Tag YouTube and Add Title, Description
For a New Video
- Step 1. The first thing you need to do is to sign in to your YouTube account .
- Step 2. Then click the Upload button that’s found on the top right corner of the window.
- Step 3. Then select the video that you want to upload. You will be asked to add a title, description, and tags.
- Step 4. After uploading, you can still edit the YouTube title, description, and tags.
For a Published Video
There are times when you want to change the title, description or tag of an already published video. The good news is that YouTube allows you to re-edit them whenever you want to.
- Step 1. Log into your YouTube account
- Step 2. Click the account name found at the top right-hand corner of the screen. Then you will have a dropdown menu. Select Video Manager to show a list of your uploaded videos.
- Step 3. Click the Edit button that’s found right next to the video that you want to modify. In the Video Information, you can now change the title, description or any of the tags. Click on the Save Changes button when you are done.
Part 4: How to Improve YouTube Video Title and Description
Metadata on YouTube is where both the viewers and the platform itself can find out what your video is all about. It helps people search for your video, helps YouTube to categorize it correctly and, when done well, can broaden the reach of your content. YouTube meta consists of three main parts: tags, title and description. Here’s how you can use each of these three elements to create powerful metadata for your video:
1. Title
YouTube titles play a big part in the ranking factors for search. That means you’ve got to think about what the people most likely to want to see your video will type into the search bar, as well as the words that accurately describe your video.
For example, if you have a clip of your cat Fluffy climbing a tree, calling your video ‘Fluffy climbs a tree’ is not the best idea. Nobody knows who Fluffy is; it could be your rabbit, dog, daughter or feather duster for all the YouTube community knows, and nobody is going to be searching for it.
A better title would be ‘cat climbs a tree, but you could even improve on that. How about ‘funny cat climbs a tree’, which would capture all those people looking for funny cat videos. Or, even better, ‘funny Persian cat climbs a tree’, also capturing those people who adore Persian cats.
You can see how building awesome YouTube titles can happen organically like this, but it’s also worth doing your homework too. We have collected a handful of YouTube Keyword tools for you to improve your YouTube meta, so check out the suggestions and work forwards from there.
Best practices
- Research your keywords and include high traffic keywords at the start of the title
- Keep titles under 70 characters
- Branding, episode number, and other non-essential info should be at the end of the title
- Review your YouTube titles from time to time and update with new keywords as search trends change
- Avoid clickbait titles or misleading titles as this will affect your view time and subsequently your ranking in search
2. Description
Your description is a much longer piece of YouTube meta, so you can really go to town with your YouTube keywords here. You’ve got up to 5,000 characters to fill in, and we strongly advise that you aim to use every single one. This really is a golden opportunity, not only to get people motivated to watch all of your video, but also to be indexed correctly through well researched YouTube keywords.
You may have noticed that, on the search page itself, only a small part of the description actually shows up; 120 characters of it to be precise. This doesn’t affect indexing, but it does mean you have to plan your YouTube description carefully to really hook people into clicking through from just the first sentence or two.
Best practices
- Make the first sentence or two compelling and captivating to get people to click
- Research the best YouTube keywords to use to ensure your video is correctly indexed
- At the end of your YouTube description, include a call to action to direct viewers on what to do next (subscribe, click through to the website, look at a product, watch more videos, etc.)
- If your video is long, consider placing time codes in your description to help users jump to their areas of interest
- Add links to products showcased, your social channels, or website as you wish
- Don’t forget to credit any music you’ve used here
Part 5: Tips for Tagging YouTube and Writing Title, Description
So, now we’ve got the basics down, let’s move on to some top tips for getting your metadata just right:
- 1. Do not spam
Irrelevant keywords will not do you any favors in the long run. Using a popular search term such as ‘funny cat’ when actually it’s a video of you unboxing your product will simply irritate your viewers. You’ll get more views, but for shorter durations, and that will hurt not only your ranking but also your reputation. The people you want to draw in with your YouTube meta should be those who are genuinely interested in your videos, as these are the people who will share, comment and interact with you.
- 2. Don’t put tags in the description
YouTube has given you a place to put your tags, and that’s not in the description area of your meta. Placing tags in the description area is known as tag stuffing and can lead to videos being removed or penalized.
- 3. Update regularly
YouTube meta is not a static thing. Trends change, search statistics fluctuate, and the needs of your viewers alter as time goes on. For this reason, you should look to update your meta from time to time, at least once every six months or so. Re-research your keywords and optimize for today’s trending search terms.
You May Also Like: YouTube SEO Complete Guide
Conclusion
Take some time to perfect your meta on YouTube and see how many more views it helps you get. Let us know if you have any other tips for developing powerful metadata, and how optimizing your meta has worked for you!
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
Making awesome video content is just the first hurdle to overcome. Getting people to watch them is the next and a much bigger obstacle in your path. Just as a blogger must work hard to get people to read their blog, so a YouTuber needs to find ways to get more views on their videos.
For any piece of content on the internet, discoverability is key to exposure. After all, nobody will watch your video or read your blog if they can’t find it, right? A blogger would do this by lacing their content with SEO - search engine optimization. But how can a YouTuber do the same? The answer lies in something known as YouTube tags optimization. In this article, we will let you know how to add, edit and optimize YouTube tags easily for more views, and some tips on YouTube title and description.
Quick Jump Menu
- What are YouTube tags and why they are so important
- How to come up with YouTube tags and optimize them
- How to Tag YouTube and Add Title, Description
- How to Improve YouTube video Metadata: Tags, Title, Description
- Tips for Tagging YouTube and Writing Title, Description
Before we get started, I want to recommend the best video editing software for YouTubers - Wondershare Filmora , an easy to use while powerful video editor that allows you not only to cut, split, crop, resize, reverse your videos, but also offers you multiple video effects specially designed for Fashion, Beauty, Gaming, Travel, Education, etc. Check the video to know more fantastic features:
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Part 1: What are YouTube tags and why they are so important
YouTube tags are used when you upload a video on YouTube. You need to specify the type of video. In other words, you need to describe your video with keywords. But you might think about why you need to add these words. YouTube can’t figure out what my videos are about? Unfortunately, YouTube can’t though its algorithm is much more advanced than before.
You must know the competition between videos is furious since 500 hours of video per minute are uploaded on YouTube . In this case, it is important to let the YouTube algorithm know your video by adding related tags to have a higher ranking. So the better tags we choose, the higher chance to rank in the top 1, which means you will get more views!
Using YouTube meta tags wisely can broaden your reach and help new people discover your content. However, don’t be tempted to insert irrelevant tags just because you know they are high traffic. You will be found out and penalized as a result. Just as you did with your description, research your keywords, place the most important ones first and use as many as you can.
What are the three YouTube tag types?
YouTube has three different types of tags and each of them has a specific purpose. The tags are-
Specific – The specific tag types are keywords-oriented. These keywords specifically pertain to the content of your video. In this tag type, the particular video is highlighted with the keyword tags. Often while typing the keywords in your mind, YouTube suggests phrases and keywords according to the content of your video. You may apply the suggestions and also add more general or common versions of the same keywords.
Compound – The compound tags are usually using more than two words. Many a time it is seen that users prefer tagging the complete title of the video. If you are using your video title as the compound tag, ensure that you do not include the prepositions like or, as, and, etc. This is because YouTube allows just 500 characters in the title and ignore the prepositions. It is always advised to use all the 500 characters YouTube has allowed without wasting the characters on prepositions as it will automatically be ignored.
Generic – The generic tags are the ones that describe the entire video in one or two words. These tags are used in all the videos of yours. These tags are used across your channel for all the videos you post. It is important to have such general constant tags.
Part 2: How to add YouTube tags and optimize them
The more relevant tags you add, the better it is. The best part is YouTube doesn’t restrict the number of tags but adding all is not possible and adding something irrelevant doesn’t make sense. So, your YouTube video tags must be the smart ones for more views. Educated tagging is what is required.
1. Brand-Specific Tags Addition - Every business wants their brand name to show up in the search results on YouTube and Google. Self-referencing your video or tagging your brand name in a number of variations is a smart way of letting others know your brand.
2. Using YouTube Auto Suggest – Play with the search option on YouTube and check out the YouTube suggestions when you search. Try to recognize the common videos that pop up while searching for something important and relevant to yours. Try searching for random keywords according to your YouTube search experience.
3. Use the YouTube Keyword Search Tool – Lastly, you may use the YouTube keyword suggestion tool. It helps you to extract the relevant keywords from the videos of your competitors and create suggestions according to the basic term provided by you.
4. Use Specific Tags - After using tools, you need to narrow down your tags specifically, like tags “learn 3D paper cutting”. The search volume may not be huge, but these kinds of tags can let YouTube know your video very well. Give it a try!
5. Check competitor’s Tags - When you check tags from other brands, it is not suggested to copy them all. What you need to do is find what you are missing and try to cover that area. However, only third-party tools can help you do that. In the market, VidIQ is highly used. It has a free version. Most of all data including tags can be found for higher views.
YouTube Tags Bonus Tips
Here you can learn some tips when optimizing tags. You can use singular and plural tags. Sometimes remember to add some misspelling tags because users tend to mistype some words, so it’s better to cover this kind of tag. You can get more information on misspelled words . More tips are listed below.
- Build on what you learned in your keyword research and use high traffic keywords as tags
- Use as many tags as possible, but without being spammy
- Build related playlists using particular tags
- Be generic; ‘big’, ‘funny’ and ‘sweet’ are fine, but ‘luscious’, ‘delightful’ and ‘splendid’ don’t make the best tags
- Put the most important tags first
- Mix single word tags with ‘long tail’ tags, e.g. ‘how to’
Part 3: How to Tag YouTube and Add Title, Description
For a New Video
- Step 1. The first thing you need to do is to sign in to your YouTube account .
- Step 2. Then click the Upload button that’s found on the top right corner of the window.
- Step 3. Then select the video that you want to upload. You will be asked to add a title, description, and tags.
- Step 4. After uploading, you can still edit the YouTube title, description, and tags.
For a Published Video
There are times when you want to change the title, description or tag of an already published video. The good news is that YouTube allows you to re-edit them whenever you want to.
- Step 1. Log into your YouTube account
- Step 2. Click the account name found at the top right-hand corner of the screen. Then you will have a dropdown menu. Select Video Manager to show a list of your uploaded videos.
- Step 3. Click the Edit button that’s found right next to the video that you want to modify. In the Video Information, you can now change the title, description or any of the tags. Click on the Save Changes button when you are done.
Part 4: How to Improve YouTube Video Title and Description
Metadata on YouTube is where both the viewers and the platform itself can find out what your video is all about. It helps people search for your video, helps YouTube to categorize it correctly and, when done well, can broaden the reach of your content. YouTube meta consists of three main parts: tags, title and description. Here’s how you can use each of these three elements to create powerful metadata for your video:
1. Title
YouTube titles play a big part in the ranking factors for search. That means you’ve got to think about what the people most likely to want to see your video will type into the search bar, as well as the words that accurately describe your video.
For example, if you have a clip of your cat Fluffy climbing a tree, calling your video ‘Fluffy climbs a tree’ is not the best idea. Nobody knows who Fluffy is; it could be your rabbit, dog, daughter or feather duster for all the YouTube community knows, and nobody is going to be searching for it.
A better title would be ‘cat climbs a tree, but you could even improve on that. How about ‘funny cat climbs a tree’, which would capture all those people looking for funny cat videos. Or, even better, ‘funny Persian cat climbs a tree’, also capturing those people who adore Persian cats.
You can see how building awesome YouTube titles can happen organically like this, but it’s also worth doing your homework too. We have collected a handful of YouTube Keyword tools for you to improve your YouTube meta, so check out the suggestions and work forwards from there.
Best practices
- Research your keywords and include high traffic keywords at the start of the title
- Keep titles under 70 characters
- Branding, episode number, and other non-essential info should be at the end of the title
- Review your YouTube titles from time to time and update with new keywords as search trends change
- Avoid clickbait titles or misleading titles as this will affect your view time and subsequently your ranking in search
2. Description
Your description is a much longer piece of YouTube meta, so you can really go to town with your YouTube keywords here. You’ve got up to 5,000 characters to fill in, and we strongly advise that you aim to use every single one. This really is a golden opportunity, not only to get people motivated to watch all of your video, but also to be indexed correctly through well researched YouTube keywords.
You may have noticed that, on the search page itself, only a small part of the description actually shows up; 120 characters of it to be precise. This doesn’t affect indexing, but it does mean you have to plan your YouTube description carefully to really hook people into clicking through from just the first sentence or two.
Best practices
- Make the first sentence or two compelling and captivating to get people to click
- Research the best YouTube keywords to use to ensure your video is correctly indexed
- At the end of your YouTube description, include a call to action to direct viewers on what to do next (subscribe, click through to the website, look at a product, watch more videos, etc.)
- If your video is long, consider placing time codes in your description to help users jump to their areas of interest
- Add links to products showcased, your social channels, or website as you wish
- Don’t forget to credit any music you’ve used here
Part 5: Tips for Tagging YouTube and Writing Title, Description
So, now we’ve got the basics down, let’s move on to some top tips for getting your metadata just right:
- 1. Do not spam
Irrelevant keywords will not do you any favors in the long run. Using a popular search term such as ‘funny cat’ when actually it’s a video of you unboxing your product will simply irritate your viewers. You’ll get more views, but for shorter durations, and that will hurt not only your ranking but also your reputation. The people you want to draw in with your YouTube meta should be those who are genuinely interested in your videos, as these are the people who will share, comment and interact with you.
- 2. Don’t put tags in the description
YouTube has given you a place to put your tags, and that’s not in the description area of your meta. Placing tags in the description area is known as tag stuffing and can lead to videos being removed or penalized.
- 3. Update regularly
YouTube meta is not a static thing. Trends change, search statistics fluctuate, and the needs of your viewers alter as time goes on. For this reason, you should look to update your meta from time to time, at least once every six months or so. Re-research your keywords and optimize for today’s trending search terms.
You May Also Like: YouTube SEO Complete Guide
Conclusion
Take some time to perfect your meta on YouTube and see how many more views it helps you get. Let us know if you have any other tips for developing powerful metadata, and how optimizing your meta has worked for you!
Download Mac Version ](https://tools.techidaily.com/wondershare/filmora/download/ )
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
YouTube Mastery: How to Add Structure and Subdivisions for Enhanced Content
How to Add Chapters to YouTube Videos
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you have seen chapter markers on YouTube of our official channel, you might be wondering how someone can create chapters on YouTube? What is the way to mark different parts of the videos, and how can you add markers to all the existing videos on YouTube? Don’t worry; this article will discuss everything about YouTube chapters that you need to know. Keep reading to find all the details and learn the step-by-step instructions to add chapters to your YouTube videos for better engagement.
- Part 1: What Are YouTube Chapters?
- Part 2: How to Add Chapter to YouTube Video Progress Bar?
- Part 3: Why Add Chapters to Videos?
- Part 4: When Add Chapters on YouTube?
- Part 5: Will Chapter Decrease Watching Time?
- Part 6: Video Chapter Adding Tips
- Part 7: Why YouTube Chapter is Not Working?
Part 1: What Are YouTube Chapters?
YouTube video chapters are an excellent way to optimize your YouTube content. When you have chapters for your YouTube video, each chapter will have an individual preview. Chapters will break your YouTube video into multiple parts allowing your audience to have better context and information.
As per YouTube, chapters let the audience navigate better through videos. Chapters will let your audience watch different video parts, which will eventually lead to better engagement. If you want to organize your YouTube content, chapters are one of the best ways to go about it. By using labeled timestamps, your video will be divided into multiple sections. Your audience will be able to see the preview of the content and easily skip to the part they want to see within the video’s progress bar.
Part 2: How to Add Chapter to YouTube Video Progress Bar?
If you are a YouTube creator and want to know how you can add chapters to your YouTube content, here’s what you need to do. Follow these instructions carefully:
Step 1: First things first, please sign in to your YouTube account.
Step 2: Select the video that you want to edit and add chapters.
Step 3: Click on the edit video option. This option will be there under the video.
Step 4: On the add details page, you will see the description box. Here, you need to add the list of titles and timestamps.
Please keep in mind that you must add the first timestamp with “00:00”. You will have to add a minimum of three timestamps with a minimum of 10 seconds for each chapter. Here is how it looks like in the description after published.
Part 3: Why YouTubers Should Add Chapters to videos?
There are two primary advantages of adding chapters to your YouTube videos. Apart from making your YouTube video look organized and neat, chapters will let you provide a better user experience to everyone watching your video because they will find all the information about your video faster and easier within a video. And the second benefit is that your YouTube video will show up in search results. This is a way to optimize your content for more users to find your content.
YouTube chapters are beneficial for both creators and viewers. On the progress bar, these clickable chapters can be added. This will allow a viewer to skip and scrub through a video quickly and skip to parts they actually want to watch.
This feature is quite helpful for videos that are pretty long. Chapters will let you segment the videos into important chapters so that the viewer can rewatch already watched chapters or skip to other chapters in the video. YouTube chapters have been recently added to this platform for better navigation and engagement.
Better User Experience for Users
Just like Google wants browsers to find what they are looking for when they add a keyword, YouTube also wants to help viewers find what they are looking for. Chapters can be immensely beneficial for extended content. For example, if you are uploading a video of your convert video, let the users jump straight to their favorite songs.
Even in tutorial video content, viewers will now have a chance to get straight to the main part of the video. With chapters being added, viewers will have an opportunity to decide whether they want to watch the whole video or not. They won’t have to keep skipping one part to another blindly. Chapters will allow them to find what they are looking for in an instant.
For Creators: Increased Visibility
If you know about the Google algorithm, you must be aware that it regularly changes its algorithm to let people find the information they are looking for easily. Adding chapters to your video will encourage Google to display them more often when someone searches for them, and this will include adding your videos to its featured snippets.
While adding chapters, you need to make sure that it is labeled with correct keywords, and it is clear and descriptive. YouTube videos are often showed as Google snippet when someone tries to find something on the search engine. Adding a chapter will let Google understand the content better, thereby letting your videos gain more search traffic.
Part 4: When should I add or not chapters on YouTube?
If you are wondering whether all videos on YouTube should have chapters, the answer to this is no. A two minutes long video won’t require chapters because it won’t make sense. Think about whether you would want your audience to have reduced watch time. Another thing to pay attention to is audience retention.
We mentioned earlier that adding chapters to long videos will be a good idea, but before you jump in and start adding chapters, you need to understand whether it will help you and should be done in your particular case?
If you are uploading a video on education, science and technology, how-to, news and politics, Q and A, and other similar videos, adding chapters will definitely help. In these kinds of videos, you will let your audience rewatch a section they liked the most over and over again.
However, if you are uploading music, entertainment, comedy, and film and animation videos, we will recommend not to add chapters because this will reduce the watch time.
Part 5: Do YouTube Video Chapters Decrease Channel Watch Time?
One of the most commonly asked questions regarding adding chapters to YouTube videos is whether it will reduce the watch time of a video. Video chapters are a pretty good feature and can enable your videos to engage with the viewers.
Since chapters allow your audience to skip through video content, they are not really watching the whole video, which can’t be suitable for audience retention! Here’s what we have to say to this: don’t put your 100% focus on watch time right now. Your focus should be creating informative and engaging content, which will keep your audience hooked to their screens. Even if you add chapters, if your audience doesn’t find it engaging, they will choose not to go on with the content.
Video chapters are a tiny part of the overall content. Chapters provide value to your audience, and you should try them. If you are uploading a concise video, animation video, funny video, and more, don’t add chapters.
Even some of the most watched videos on YouTube have chapters. Learn from them. These video makers could have thought about numbers rather than giving value to their audience, but they did just the opposite, and here they are with over a million views!
Part 6: Tips for adding chapters to YouTube video
Each video on YouTube is different, and that’s why there is no one-size-fits-all answer. There are some cases where you should not think about adding chapters at all. Whereas in other cases, you will have to experiment a bit before adding chapters.
Here are some tips that will help you.
Do Some Testing
Before adding chapters to a new video that you are thinking to upload, try adding chapters to an old video. See what happens to that video. Have the views increased? How about average view duration? Track these metrics first, and then try adding chapters to your upcoming videos to benefit from videos. Along with these metrics, you will also have to evaluate if adding chapters decreases or increases the watch time and number of views.
Label Your Chapters Using Keywords
Another thing to do that will help you have better traction is using a good keyword strategy. Look at what people are using while searching for content, which is similar to yours? Using names based on keywords that have better search volume will help your videos to rank higher.
Part 7: Why Video Chapter is Not working? [Problem solved]
There are a few mandatory things that you need to do before adding chapters to your YouTube video. Here are some of the common reasons why the video chapter is not working. See if any one of them is true in your case, and rectify it right away.
- Your video doesn’t have the 00:00 timestamp.
- Your video has less than three chapters.
- You have added a chapter that is less than 10 seconds long.
- You have not added the timestamps in chronological order.
- Rather than using “:” you have entered “.” for timecodes.
- If your channel has active copyright strikes, video chapters won’t work.
- Your channel doesn’t have more than 1k subscribers.
- Your video chapters are not suitable for some viewers.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you have seen chapter markers on YouTube of our official channel, you might be wondering how someone can create chapters on YouTube? What is the way to mark different parts of the videos, and how can you add markers to all the existing videos on YouTube? Don’t worry; this article will discuss everything about YouTube chapters that you need to know. Keep reading to find all the details and learn the step-by-step instructions to add chapters to your YouTube videos for better engagement.
- Part 1: What Are YouTube Chapters?
- Part 2: How to Add Chapter to YouTube Video Progress Bar?
- Part 3: Why Add Chapters to Videos?
- Part 4: When Add Chapters on YouTube?
- Part 5: Will Chapter Decrease Watching Time?
- Part 6: Video Chapter Adding Tips
- Part 7: Why YouTube Chapter is Not Working?
Part 1: What Are YouTube Chapters?
YouTube video chapters are an excellent way to optimize your YouTube content. When you have chapters for your YouTube video, each chapter will have an individual preview. Chapters will break your YouTube video into multiple parts allowing your audience to have better context and information.
As per YouTube, chapters let the audience navigate better through videos. Chapters will let your audience watch different video parts, which will eventually lead to better engagement. If you want to organize your YouTube content, chapters are one of the best ways to go about it. By using labeled timestamps, your video will be divided into multiple sections. Your audience will be able to see the preview of the content and easily skip to the part they want to see within the video’s progress bar.
Part 2: How to Add Chapter to YouTube Video Progress Bar?
If you are a YouTube creator and want to know how you can add chapters to your YouTube content, here’s what you need to do. Follow these instructions carefully:
Step 1: First things first, please sign in to your YouTube account.
Step 2: Select the video that you want to edit and add chapters.
Step 3: Click on the edit video option. This option will be there under the video.
Step 4: On the add details page, you will see the description box. Here, you need to add the list of titles and timestamps.
Please keep in mind that you must add the first timestamp with “00:00”. You will have to add a minimum of three timestamps with a minimum of 10 seconds for each chapter. Here is how it looks like in the description after published.
Part 3: Why YouTubers Should Add Chapters to videos?
There are two primary advantages of adding chapters to your YouTube videos. Apart from making your YouTube video look organized and neat, chapters will let you provide a better user experience to everyone watching your video because they will find all the information about your video faster and easier within a video. And the second benefit is that your YouTube video will show up in search results. This is a way to optimize your content for more users to find your content.
YouTube chapters are beneficial for both creators and viewers. On the progress bar, these clickable chapters can be added. This will allow a viewer to skip and scrub through a video quickly and skip to parts they actually want to watch.
This feature is quite helpful for videos that are pretty long. Chapters will let you segment the videos into important chapters so that the viewer can rewatch already watched chapters or skip to other chapters in the video. YouTube chapters have been recently added to this platform for better navigation and engagement.
Better User Experience for Users
Just like Google wants browsers to find what they are looking for when they add a keyword, YouTube also wants to help viewers find what they are looking for. Chapters can be immensely beneficial for extended content. For example, if you are uploading a video of your convert video, let the users jump straight to their favorite songs.
Even in tutorial video content, viewers will now have a chance to get straight to the main part of the video. With chapters being added, viewers will have an opportunity to decide whether they want to watch the whole video or not. They won’t have to keep skipping one part to another blindly. Chapters will allow them to find what they are looking for in an instant.
For Creators: Increased Visibility
If you know about the Google algorithm, you must be aware that it regularly changes its algorithm to let people find the information they are looking for easily. Adding chapters to your video will encourage Google to display them more often when someone searches for them, and this will include adding your videos to its featured snippets.
While adding chapters, you need to make sure that it is labeled with correct keywords, and it is clear and descriptive. YouTube videos are often showed as Google snippet when someone tries to find something on the search engine. Adding a chapter will let Google understand the content better, thereby letting your videos gain more search traffic.
Part 4: When should I add or not chapters on YouTube?
If you are wondering whether all videos on YouTube should have chapters, the answer to this is no. A two minutes long video won’t require chapters because it won’t make sense. Think about whether you would want your audience to have reduced watch time. Another thing to pay attention to is audience retention.
We mentioned earlier that adding chapters to long videos will be a good idea, but before you jump in and start adding chapters, you need to understand whether it will help you and should be done in your particular case?
If you are uploading a video on education, science and technology, how-to, news and politics, Q and A, and other similar videos, adding chapters will definitely help. In these kinds of videos, you will let your audience rewatch a section they liked the most over and over again.
However, if you are uploading music, entertainment, comedy, and film and animation videos, we will recommend not to add chapters because this will reduce the watch time.
Part 5: Do YouTube Video Chapters Decrease Channel Watch Time?
One of the most commonly asked questions regarding adding chapters to YouTube videos is whether it will reduce the watch time of a video. Video chapters are a pretty good feature and can enable your videos to engage with the viewers.
Since chapters allow your audience to skip through video content, they are not really watching the whole video, which can’t be suitable for audience retention! Here’s what we have to say to this: don’t put your 100% focus on watch time right now. Your focus should be creating informative and engaging content, which will keep your audience hooked to their screens. Even if you add chapters, if your audience doesn’t find it engaging, they will choose not to go on with the content.
Video chapters are a tiny part of the overall content. Chapters provide value to your audience, and you should try them. If you are uploading a concise video, animation video, funny video, and more, don’t add chapters.
Even some of the most watched videos on YouTube have chapters. Learn from them. These video makers could have thought about numbers rather than giving value to their audience, but they did just the opposite, and here they are with over a million views!
Part 6: Tips for adding chapters to YouTube video
Each video on YouTube is different, and that’s why there is no one-size-fits-all answer. There are some cases where you should not think about adding chapters at all. Whereas in other cases, you will have to experiment a bit before adding chapters.
Here are some tips that will help you.
Do Some Testing
Before adding chapters to a new video that you are thinking to upload, try adding chapters to an old video. See what happens to that video. Have the views increased? How about average view duration? Track these metrics first, and then try adding chapters to your upcoming videos to benefit from videos. Along with these metrics, you will also have to evaluate if adding chapters decreases or increases the watch time and number of views.
Label Your Chapters Using Keywords
Another thing to do that will help you have better traction is using a good keyword strategy. Look at what people are using while searching for content, which is similar to yours? Using names based on keywords that have better search volume will help your videos to rank higher.
Part 7: Why Video Chapter is Not working? [Problem solved]
There are a few mandatory things that you need to do before adding chapters to your YouTube video. Here are some of the common reasons why the video chapter is not working. See if any one of them is true in your case, and rectify it right away.
- Your video doesn’t have the 00:00 timestamp.
- Your video has less than three chapters.
- You have added a chapter that is less than 10 seconds long.
- You have not added the timestamps in chronological order.
- Rather than using “:” you have entered “.” for timecodes.
- If your channel has active copyright strikes, video chapters won’t work.
- Your channel doesn’t have more than 1k subscribers.
- Your video chapters are not suitable for some viewers.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you have seen chapter markers on YouTube of our official channel, you might be wondering how someone can create chapters on YouTube? What is the way to mark different parts of the videos, and how can you add markers to all the existing videos on YouTube? Don’t worry; this article will discuss everything about YouTube chapters that you need to know. Keep reading to find all the details and learn the step-by-step instructions to add chapters to your YouTube videos for better engagement.
- Part 1: What Are YouTube Chapters?
- Part 2: How to Add Chapter to YouTube Video Progress Bar?
- Part 3: Why Add Chapters to Videos?
- Part 4: When Add Chapters on YouTube?
- Part 5: Will Chapter Decrease Watching Time?
- Part 6: Video Chapter Adding Tips
- Part 7: Why YouTube Chapter is Not Working?
Part 1: What Are YouTube Chapters?
YouTube video chapters are an excellent way to optimize your YouTube content. When you have chapters for your YouTube video, each chapter will have an individual preview. Chapters will break your YouTube video into multiple parts allowing your audience to have better context and information.
As per YouTube, chapters let the audience navigate better through videos. Chapters will let your audience watch different video parts, which will eventually lead to better engagement. If you want to organize your YouTube content, chapters are one of the best ways to go about it. By using labeled timestamps, your video will be divided into multiple sections. Your audience will be able to see the preview of the content and easily skip to the part they want to see within the video’s progress bar.
Part 2: How to Add Chapter to YouTube Video Progress Bar?
If you are a YouTube creator and want to know how you can add chapters to your YouTube content, here’s what you need to do. Follow these instructions carefully:
Step 1: First things first, please sign in to your YouTube account.
Step 2: Select the video that you want to edit and add chapters.
Step 3: Click on the edit video option. This option will be there under the video.
Step 4: On the add details page, you will see the description box. Here, you need to add the list of titles and timestamps.
Please keep in mind that you must add the first timestamp with “00:00”. You will have to add a minimum of three timestamps with a minimum of 10 seconds for each chapter. Here is how it looks like in the description after published.
Part 3: Why YouTubers Should Add Chapters to videos?
There are two primary advantages of adding chapters to your YouTube videos. Apart from making your YouTube video look organized and neat, chapters will let you provide a better user experience to everyone watching your video because they will find all the information about your video faster and easier within a video. And the second benefit is that your YouTube video will show up in search results. This is a way to optimize your content for more users to find your content.
YouTube chapters are beneficial for both creators and viewers. On the progress bar, these clickable chapters can be added. This will allow a viewer to skip and scrub through a video quickly and skip to parts they actually want to watch.
This feature is quite helpful for videos that are pretty long. Chapters will let you segment the videos into important chapters so that the viewer can rewatch already watched chapters or skip to other chapters in the video. YouTube chapters have been recently added to this platform for better navigation and engagement.
Better User Experience for Users
Just like Google wants browsers to find what they are looking for when they add a keyword, YouTube also wants to help viewers find what they are looking for. Chapters can be immensely beneficial for extended content. For example, if you are uploading a video of your convert video, let the users jump straight to their favorite songs.
Even in tutorial video content, viewers will now have a chance to get straight to the main part of the video. With chapters being added, viewers will have an opportunity to decide whether they want to watch the whole video or not. They won’t have to keep skipping one part to another blindly. Chapters will allow them to find what they are looking for in an instant.
For Creators: Increased Visibility
If you know about the Google algorithm, you must be aware that it regularly changes its algorithm to let people find the information they are looking for easily. Adding chapters to your video will encourage Google to display them more often when someone searches for them, and this will include adding your videos to its featured snippets.
While adding chapters, you need to make sure that it is labeled with correct keywords, and it is clear and descriptive. YouTube videos are often showed as Google snippet when someone tries to find something on the search engine. Adding a chapter will let Google understand the content better, thereby letting your videos gain more search traffic.
Part 4: When should I add or not chapters on YouTube?
If you are wondering whether all videos on YouTube should have chapters, the answer to this is no. A two minutes long video won’t require chapters because it won’t make sense. Think about whether you would want your audience to have reduced watch time. Another thing to pay attention to is audience retention.
We mentioned earlier that adding chapters to long videos will be a good idea, but before you jump in and start adding chapters, you need to understand whether it will help you and should be done in your particular case?
If you are uploading a video on education, science and technology, how-to, news and politics, Q and A, and other similar videos, adding chapters will definitely help. In these kinds of videos, you will let your audience rewatch a section they liked the most over and over again.
However, if you are uploading music, entertainment, comedy, and film and animation videos, we will recommend not to add chapters because this will reduce the watch time.
Part 5: Do YouTube Video Chapters Decrease Channel Watch Time?
One of the most commonly asked questions regarding adding chapters to YouTube videos is whether it will reduce the watch time of a video. Video chapters are a pretty good feature and can enable your videos to engage with the viewers.
Since chapters allow your audience to skip through video content, they are not really watching the whole video, which can’t be suitable for audience retention! Here’s what we have to say to this: don’t put your 100% focus on watch time right now. Your focus should be creating informative and engaging content, which will keep your audience hooked to their screens. Even if you add chapters, if your audience doesn’t find it engaging, they will choose not to go on with the content.
Video chapters are a tiny part of the overall content. Chapters provide value to your audience, and you should try them. If you are uploading a concise video, animation video, funny video, and more, don’t add chapters.
Even some of the most watched videos on YouTube have chapters. Learn from them. These video makers could have thought about numbers rather than giving value to their audience, but they did just the opposite, and here they are with over a million views!
Part 6: Tips for adding chapters to YouTube video
Each video on YouTube is different, and that’s why there is no one-size-fits-all answer. There are some cases where you should not think about adding chapters at all. Whereas in other cases, you will have to experiment a bit before adding chapters.
Here are some tips that will help you.
Do Some Testing
Before adding chapters to a new video that you are thinking to upload, try adding chapters to an old video. See what happens to that video. Have the views increased? How about average view duration? Track these metrics first, and then try adding chapters to your upcoming videos to benefit from videos. Along with these metrics, you will also have to evaluate if adding chapters decreases or increases the watch time and number of views.
Label Your Chapters Using Keywords
Another thing to do that will help you have better traction is using a good keyword strategy. Look at what people are using while searching for content, which is similar to yours? Using names based on keywords that have better search volume will help your videos to rank higher.
Part 7: Why Video Chapter is Not working? [Problem solved]
There are a few mandatory things that you need to do before adding chapters to your YouTube video. Here are some of the common reasons why the video chapter is not working. See if any one of them is true in your case, and rectify it right away.
- Your video doesn’t have the 00:00 timestamp.
- Your video has less than three chapters.
- You have added a chapter that is less than 10 seconds long.
- You have not added the timestamps in chronological order.
- Rather than using “:” you have entered “.” for timecodes.
- If your channel has active copyright strikes, video chapters won’t work.
- Your channel doesn’t have more than 1k subscribers.
- Your video chapters are not suitable for some viewers.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you have seen chapter markers on YouTube of our official channel, you might be wondering how someone can create chapters on YouTube? What is the way to mark different parts of the videos, and how can you add markers to all the existing videos on YouTube? Don’t worry; this article will discuss everything about YouTube chapters that you need to know. Keep reading to find all the details and learn the step-by-step instructions to add chapters to your YouTube videos for better engagement.
- Part 1: What Are YouTube Chapters?
- Part 2: How to Add Chapter to YouTube Video Progress Bar?
- Part 3: Why Add Chapters to Videos?
- Part 4: When Add Chapters on YouTube?
- Part 5: Will Chapter Decrease Watching Time?
- Part 6: Video Chapter Adding Tips
- Part 7: Why YouTube Chapter is Not Working?
Part 1: What Are YouTube Chapters?
YouTube video chapters are an excellent way to optimize your YouTube content. When you have chapters for your YouTube video, each chapter will have an individual preview. Chapters will break your YouTube video into multiple parts allowing your audience to have better context and information.
As per YouTube, chapters let the audience navigate better through videos. Chapters will let your audience watch different video parts, which will eventually lead to better engagement. If you want to organize your YouTube content, chapters are one of the best ways to go about it. By using labeled timestamps, your video will be divided into multiple sections. Your audience will be able to see the preview of the content and easily skip to the part they want to see within the video’s progress bar.
Part 2: How to Add Chapter to YouTube Video Progress Bar?
If you are a YouTube creator and want to know how you can add chapters to your YouTube content, here’s what you need to do. Follow these instructions carefully:
Step 1: First things first, please sign in to your YouTube account.
Step 2: Select the video that you want to edit and add chapters.
Step 3: Click on the edit video option. This option will be there under the video.
Step 4: On the add details page, you will see the description box. Here, you need to add the list of titles and timestamps.
Please keep in mind that you must add the first timestamp with “00:00”. You will have to add a minimum of three timestamps with a minimum of 10 seconds for each chapter. Here is how it looks like in the description after published.
Part 3: Why YouTubers Should Add Chapters to videos?
There are two primary advantages of adding chapters to your YouTube videos. Apart from making your YouTube video look organized and neat, chapters will let you provide a better user experience to everyone watching your video because they will find all the information about your video faster and easier within a video. And the second benefit is that your YouTube video will show up in search results. This is a way to optimize your content for more users to find your content.
YouTube chapters are beneficial for both creators and viewers. On the progress bar, these clickable chapters can be added. This will allow a viewer to skip and scrub through a video quickly and skip to parts they actually want to watch.
This feature is quite helpful for videos that are pretty long. Chapters will let you segment the videos into important chapters so that the viewer can rewatch already watched chapters or skip to other chapters in the video. YouTube chapters have been recently added to this platform for better navigation and engagement.
Better User Experience for Users
Just like Google wants browsers to find what they are looking for when they add a keyword, YouTube also wants to help viewers find what they are looking for. Chapters can be immensely beneficial for extended content. For example, if you are uploading a video of your convert video, let the users jump straight to their favorite songs.
Even in tutorial video content, viewers will now have a chance to get straight to the main part of the video. With chapters being added, viewers will have an opportunity to decide whether they want to watch the whole video or not. They won’t have to keep skipping one part to another blindly. Chapters will allow them to find what they are looking for in an instant.
For Creators: Increased Visibility
If you know about the Google algorithm, you must be aware that it regularly changes its algorithm to let people find the information they are looking for easily. Adding chapters to your video will encourage Google to display them more often when someone searches for them, and this will include adding your videos to its featured snippets.
While adding chapters, you need to make sure that it is labeled with correct keywords, and it is clear and descriptive. YouTube videos are often showed as Google snippet when someone tries to find something on the search engine. Adding a chapter will let Google understand the content better, thereby letting your videos gain more search traffic.
Part 4: When should I add or not chapters on YouTube?
If you are wondering whether all videos on YouTube should have chapters, the answer to this is no. A two minutes long video won’t require chapters because it won’t make sense. Think about whether you would want your audience to have reduced watch time. Another thing to pay attention to is audience retention.
We mentioned earlier that adding chapters to long videos will be a good idea, but before you jump in and start adding chapters, you need to understand whether it will help you and should be done in your particular case?
If you are uploading a video on education, science and technology, how-to, news and politics, Q and A, and other similar videos, adding chapters will definitely help. In these kinds of videos, you will let your audience rewatch a section they liked the most over and over again.
However, if you are uploading music, entertainment, comedy, and film and animation videos, we will recommend not to add chapters because this will reduce the watch time.
Part 5: Do YouTube Video Chapters Decrease Channel Watch Time?
One of the most commonly asked questions regarding adding chapters to YouTube videos is whether it will reduce the watch time of a video. Video chapters are a pretty good feature and can enable your videos to engage with the viewers.
Since chapters allow your audience to skip through video content, they are not really watching the whole video, which can’t be suitable for audience retention! Here’s what we have to say to this: don’t put your 100% focus on watch time right now. Your focus should be creating informative and engaging content, which will keep your audience hooked to their screens. Even if you add chapters, if your audience doesn’t find it engaging, they will choose not to go on with the content.
Video chapters are a tiny part of the overall content. Chapters provide value to your audience, and you should try them. If you are uploading a concise video, animation video, funny video, and more, don’t add chapters.
Even some of the most watched videos on YouTube have chapters. Learn from them. These video makers could have thought about numbers rather than giving value to their audience, but they did just the opposite, and here they are with over a million views!
Part 6: Tips for adding chapters to YouTube video
Each video on YouTube is different, and that’s why there is no one-size-fits-all answer. There are some cases where you should not think about adding chapters at all. Whereas in other cases, you will have to experiment a bit before adding chapters.
Here are some tips that will help you.
Do Some Testing
Before adding chapters to a new video that you are thinking to upload, try adding chapters to an old video. See what happens to that video. Have the views increased? How about average view duration? Track these metrics first, and then try adding chapters to your upcoming videos to benefit from videos. Along with these metrics, you will also have to evaluate if adding chapters decreases or increases the watch time and number of views.
Label Your Chapters Using Keywords
Another thing to do that will help you have better traction is using a good keyword strategy. Look at what people are using while searching for content, which is similar to yours? Using names based on keywords that have better search volume will help your videos to rank higher.
Part 7: Why Video Chapter is Not working? [Problem solved]
There are a few mandatory things that you need to do before adding chapters to your YouTube video. Here are some of the common reasons why the video chapter is not working. See if any one of them is true in your case, and rectify it right away.
- Your video doesn’t have the 00:00 timestamp.
- Your video has less than three chapters.
- You have added a chapter that is less than 10 seconds long.
- You have not added the timestamps in chronological order.
- Rather than using “:” you have entered “.” for timecodes.
- If your channel has active copyright strikes, video chapters won’t work.
- Your channel doesn’t have more than 1k subscribers.
- Your video chapters are not suitable for some viewers.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
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- Title: "[Updated] A Compreayer's Guide to Growth Updating YouTube Metadata"
- Author: Brian
- Created at : 2024-05-25 13:08:11
- Updated at : 2024-05-26 13:08:11
- Link: https://youtube-video-recordings.techidaily.com/updated-a-compreayers-guide-to-growth-updating-youtube-metadata/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.