YouTube tags are important. How important? Not very important at all.
It’s important to have relevant YouTube tags but any time creators spend trying to come up with the perfect tags to trendjack or otherwise show up in search would be better spent on other stuff.
In other words, ignore any advice that suggests YouTube tags are an algorithm-beating silver bullet. Add YouTube tags to your videos. Use a YouTube tag generator if you want to. Copy tags from competitor videos and save a few pre-populated tag lists with your TubeBuddy Tag Management tools to make things easy but beyond that, creators shouldn’t spend much time thinking about YouTube tags.
Let’s dive into what really matters for YouTube success and why you might want to rethink your tagging strategy.
How to Think About YouTube Tags
YouTube tags play a minimal role in helping viewers find your content. YouTube algorithms are too smart to give any credit to keyword stuffing in tags (or elsewhere). Everything the YouTube algorithm does it does to boost viewer satisfaction, which is measured with YouTube watch time.
So, should you ditch tags altogether? No, they still have their place. Use tags for:
- Common misspellings
- Relevant keywords that accurately reflect your content
But as YouTube creators, we have two main goals:
- Create content an audience wants to watch
- Ensure YouTube understands the content so it can bring the audience
YouTube tags won’t help much with either of those things and so your time and effort are better spent elsewhere. Where? Let’s talk about it.
What Really Matters for YouTube Success
1. Compelling Titles and Thumbnails
Your title and thumbnail are the first things viewers see. They’re your virtual storefront, enticing people to click and watch. As a YouTube creator, this is your most important real estate. Here’s how to nail them:
- Titles:
- Clearly convey what viewers can expect
- Include one relevant keyword/keyphrase
- Keep it under 60 characters
- Thumbnails:
- Use bright, vibrant colors
- Include snappy, minimal text
- Show your face if possible
2. Optimized Descriptions
A great YouTube video description is written for viewers first and also gives the YouTube algorithm the information it needs to understand the video content. Here’s what you’re going for:
- Tell viewers what they’re getting
- Include the most relevant keywords or keyphrases naturally, up front, in a tight sentence (remember, we’re writing for humans first)
- If you have a call to action, include it in the second line where it’s “above the fold” but not the first thing viewers (or the YouTube algorithm) sees
- Include a brief but more in-depth overview of your content (naturally including relevant keywords)
- Add timestamps for easy navigation
- Avoid stuffing your description with irrelevant information or too many links.
3. High-Quality, Engaging Content
This is the real secret sauce. No amount of optimization can make up for subpar content. Focus on:
- Strong storytelling
- Engaging your audience from start to finish
- Delivering value that matches viewer expectations
Remember, every creator starts at the beginning. The key is consistent improvement and an unwavering audience focus.
The Viewer’s Journey
Understanding how viewers find and engage with your content is crucial. Here’s the typical flow:
- Viewer searches on YouTube
- Scrolls through results
- Clicks on an appealing title/thumbnail
- Watches the video
- ????
- Profit
If your video doesn’t deliver on point 4, they’ll bounce (or even hit the dislike button) and YouTube takes notice. But if you hook them and deliver with your amazing content, viewers will engage, share, and YouTube will recommend it more… and you’ll make it to point 6
YouTube Tags: The Bottom Line
YouTube tags have their place but they’re the tiniest slice of the YouTube success pie.
Spare a thought for YouTube tags in your process but don’t obsess over them. Instead, spend your time creating content that resonates with your audience. Craft compelling titles and thumbnails, write informative descriptions, and above all, deliver high-quality, engaging videos.
Remember, YouTube’s algorithm is designed to help viewers find what they want. By prioritizing your audience’s needs and preferences, you’ll make better content and YouTube will take notice. In other words, do the work and your channel will grow.
So, the next time you’re tempted to spend more than five minutes perfecting your YouTube tags on an individual video, ask yourself: Could this time be better spent improving my content, thumbnails, or titles?
Because the answer is a resounding yes.
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Stop Using YouTube Tags – Do This Instead: Video Transcript
all right friends we got to talk about YouTube tags you’ve probably been told that tagging your videos is the key to ranking higher in YouTube searches and blowing up your views so you spent countless hours crafting and perfecting your video tags only to watch the analytics stay flat Well turns out tags is just a tiny slice of a PT no no no no no not that small even smaller I mean they’re probably going to help but more slices play larger roles in skyrocketing your channel and this video is going to
help you master all of these spices so that every video you drop has the best chance of getting views starting with this tiny slice we all know how crucial a search is in getting our content seen and even going viral this is why new creators obsess over search engine optimization or SEO by stuffing some magical keywords called Tags in their videos well thinking it’s some kind of magic pill that will launch them into the YouTube Stratosphere well guess what it’s not I mean think about it when you search
something on YouTube you want to see videos that are exactly what you need and YouTube’s algorithm is smart enough to know this and tries to show you the best match so if your tags are just some random popular words that have nothing to do with your video YouTube’s like uh-uh this isn’t what viewers want let’s put you down to the bottom now let’s say that people do stumble across your video well they’ll just click off it fast when they realize it’s not what they were looking for and that tells YouTube that
the viewer wasn’t satisfied so it stops putting your video up for those tags all right friends do you see what happened here using the wrong tags or failing to do them correctly only hurts your channel and buries your videos where nobody can find them all right so how do you use tags correctly well there’s two ways first YouTube tells us to use tags for common misspellings and certain keywords that your a ience might search for second only use relevant tags that accurately reflect what your video content is about but the hard truth
Still Remains tags only play a minimal role in helping viewers find your content at the end of the day if you’re not making videos that your audience wants to watch your video will continue to struggle no matter what you did with the tags but if tags aren’t the end all be all then what is well I’ve already pretty much told you let me spell it out to you in case you missed it you need to create content that your audience wants to watch and how exactly do you do that simple focus on the things that
influence their watch decision because while the YouTube algorithm can see tags when viewers are scrolling through YouTube they don’t which brings us to the larger slice of our pie the first two factors that play a huge role in your video ranking is the title and thumbnail your title is your ultimate hook it’s the first thing that viewers see when they search for something or even scroll through YouTube this is why it needs to be so intrinsically interesting that it’s just going to with them if they don’t click on it okay now
I understand that Mr Beast is a huge Creator not really relatable so if you’re just trying to get started on YouTube and you want some tips to how to make your title Stand Out try this first you’re going to include one relevant keyword you want to be found for remember that your ultimate goal is to create a title that viewers want to click on so make sure you focus on that instead of stuffing your title with multiple key words that make it so H so big and unreadable that nobody clicks on it anyway so many creators fall into
that mistake of stuffing their title with as many relevant keywords getting it all the way to the 100 character limit and then it’s just at this point where it’s like it doesn’t even look good like no one wants to even click on that title anymore so make it short and sweet next give a clear idea of what viewers can expect now be careful not to Veer into the territory of clickbait because if you’re title promises something to viewers that your video doesn’t actually deliver on they’ll just
leave the video faster or even hit dislike and this tells the YouTube algorithm that viewers are not enjoying it and it might stop recommending your video and third stick to 60 characters or less you want your title to pack a punch so keep it short sweet into the point now of course a title on its own is not enough you need to pair it with a great thumbnail that’s like hey I on me baby and there’s plenty of ways to do that and I’m going to share three with you right now first you’re going to use
bright and vibrant colors pleas draw the eye and just pop out your videos among the rest next include some Snappy text that gives a sneak peek into your video’s content and I really mean this the less the better the less the better this thumbnail here uses two words that make the title more intriguing while this one uses just a few words that support the title of the video while conveying a message in the photo itself and if possible show your face in the thumbnail because people love seeing the person behind the content remember your
thumbnail is going to be competing with thousands of other videos on that viewer’s homepage so you really want to take time to making sure your thumbnail can stand out so you see it all starts with a great title and thumbnail that helps the viewer decide whether they’ll start watching your vide or not that’s why top creators Focus crazily on titles and thumbnails and when something goes wrong if the video is not performing like they want it to the first things they start looking at are title changes
and thumbnail changes because they know that that can have a huge impact on performance now there are still two more slices that will complete our pie and the last one is arguably the most important element of all now before we get to that let’s talk about another essential element that most small channels Overlook the description you have to understand that your YouTube description not only helps viewers have a clear idea of what your video is about it actually helps the YouTube algorithm understand your content better that’s
because the YouTube algorithm scans your description for Relevant keywords and uses that information to determine where and when to show your video in Search and recommendations but unfortunately small creators treat their description like an afterthought they either leave it blank write a sentence or two or just stuff it with relevant hashtags and links so how do you write a description that will actually work in your favor well here’s an easy template to use first you probably notice that the video description on YouTube only shows a
couple of lines not the entire description that part is called above the fold and it is actually really crucial in the first line you want to write out one sentence that concisely describes what your video is all about now here’s a little Pro tip include relevant keywords in this first line this way you signal to YouTube right away what your video covers and the viewers quickly see that that video is for them also helping you rank for those terms then in your second line add your call to action below that is where you
should provide a brief overview of your videos content without giving away the whole plot you can also briefly describe who you are and what your channel is about and why viewers should stick around and watch more of your videos all of this is helpful information that YouTube is still reading to understand what kind kind of content you’re making so don’t just think about doing this for your viewers this helps the YouTube recommendation system understand what’s in that video what your channel is about
so it can start recommending you to more people and lastly you want to add timestamps to your description to allow viewers to jump to the parts of the video that interest them the most a lot of people do not know this but when you add time stamps and chapters to your video those end up getting indexed by Google and by YouTube so when people are searching they can find your video from the chapters alone now a lot of creators mess up their descriptions by cramming too much irrelevant information like their social media links but here’s the
thing the main goal of your description is to help YouTube get what the video’s all about that way it can show your video to the right people who will actually watch it so throwing in your social media handles might be okay but it’s not really going to help and finally the most important slice of all high quality content now high quality content is a lot more than just the camera you use and the lights that you have it’s about the whole packaging of your video the topic the storytelling the way you engage your audience from
the beginning to the end now this doesn’t mean you have to nail it right off the bat we all start somewhere and in the beginning your content’s going to be a little rough around the edges Mr be started from this to this Ali abdall started from this to this Ryan Tran Michelle car I mean heck even our Channel started like this and now we’re making videos like this you just have to make sure your video is engaging offers what viewers are looking for and keeps them Hook from beginning to end now let
me show you the flow that viewers take so a viewer types something into their search bar then hit search then they scroll through the results until they find the one that grabs their attention through a title in thumbnail and then they click to watch but if your video is boring or worse it sucks well guess what happens next they hit the back button and go look for something else to watch and if enough people do that YouTube will start to take notice and stop recommending your video but if your video is a banger
viewers stick around they engage with your video they share it with their friends then YouTube takes notice of that too and started showing your video in your other videos to even more people if you can know that you you’re you’re you’re set like you’re on your way to YouTube success all right let’s do a quick little YouTube Showdown which one do you think viewers are more likely to click on this video with no tags but a strong title thumbnail description and content or this video with great amazing tags but weak
everything else well hopefully you guessed this one because videos with stronger viewer Centric elements will win every single time but what makes your video even stronger is when you strategically use all of these elements for your Tex to your title thumbnail description and your content friends we’ve been in this YouTube game for a long time and in the early days we were so obsessed with speaking to the algorithm rather than speaking to our audience and a lot of small channels and new YouTubers still fall into this trap
but at the end of the day the algorithm is just a system that helps viewers get what they want so instead of just thinking about what popular tags will help your video go viral think about what kind of content you need to put out that will connect with the a that you want to reach tabs and descriptions definitely help with SEO but viewers make decisions on what to watch by looking at your title topic and thumbnail so make sure that 90% of your effort goes into what viewers see and make decisions on thanks for watching
hit the Subscribe button and I’ll see you next time but before you go if you’re a new Creator here are 11 YouTube settings that you have to make sure you turn on so your channel has the best chance of succeeding see you over there
by TubeBuddy as part of 