YouTube has been the best video-sharing platform since 2005, with over 37 million channels. With so much competition currently, do you want to become a renowned creator on YouTube? If you’re a beginner, you might assume that it is impossible. But let me tell you, this is not as tough as you think. You must optimize your videos with the right keywords in your title, description, and tags.
As a content creator, you want to draw the maximum attention to your channel. You can do so by optimizing your YouTube video and YouTube channel descriptions. This blog will help you understand the different types of YouTube descriptions and why they are essential for ranking.
What is a YouTube Description?
A YouTube video description is a summary of the video that explains the context of the video’s content to viewers. This summary helps viewers decide whether to click on the video. The description also includes other relevant information, such as social media links, products, and calls to action, such as subscribing and liking the video.
Why Is Your Description Important?
Video descriptions are crucial for video discoverability and audience engagement. They also improve search visibility and rankings on the SERP. YT descriptions are also significant as they boost audience interaction. Additionally, they play a significant role in SEO, as keyword-rich descriptions can improve average watch duration.
Difference between YouTube Channel and YouTube Video Description
YouTube Channel descriptions appear on your channel page in the ‘About’ section. You need to give an overview of your channel’s content.
The description you write below your videos is the YouTube video description. You can write up to 5000 words, but only 200 words are visible. To read more, the audience needs to click on the ‘more’ tag.
How to optimize your YouTube description?
Include keywords that are relevant to the content in the video. Do not use irrelevant or illegal keywords according to YouTube’s terms and conditions. You can also include relatable keywords.
Explain to your viewers what to expect.
Your description acts as a window to your video. It tells the audience in short what they can expect from your video. Also, in your channel description, you can enter words that explain the niche your channel promotes.
Give a human touch
Give the description your own touch. No one will want to read something that is auto-written. Write the description as if you are talking to the audience one-on-one.
Insert links and metadata.
Add links to your website in your channel description. Also, the music you use in your videos or something that needs to be credited should be included in your YouTube description. This lets the audience know that your channel is authentic and is run by an individual or an organization. Metadata is like a brief summary that you can include in your channel and video description.
Be Authentic
Avoid using clickbait summaries or misleading content to optimize video descriptions. It is essential to stay within YouTube’s guidelines so your video does not receive any negative strikes and penalties.
Include hashtags
Hashtags are the trendsetters. Insert trending keywords in your descriptions, but avoid using more than three keywords.
Link Related Videos and Playlists
To increase watch time and keep the viewers engaged on your channel for a longer duration, you can promote links to other related videos in the descriptions to boost the channel’s overall performance. This also benefits your other videos as it drives traffic to those videos and increases the channel’s credibility.
Write long descriptions
Most YouTubers do not invest much time in writing a good description. The YT description character limit is 5000 characters, which includes spaces.
Write an elaborate description that contains primary and secondary keywords. This will help your video be discovered.
Use searchable keywords
YouTube recommends that you add the most important keywords at the beginning of the description, which should be no longer than 200 words.
Whenever a user searches for a query, YT highlights the keywords that match the query. This helps the user find the relevant videos from the YouTube description that you have added to your videos.
Add video chapters
Video chapters help the creators break the video into subtopics and help the users find the information they seek in each chapter.
Therefore, you must add the chapters in your description as it improves the viewers’ experience.
Take advantage of YouTube Analytics
Write YouTube descriptions according to the trending keywords. You can also refer to your competitor’s description to run along or ahead of them. You can also keep tweaking the description to see what is trending or giving you more viewers and subscribers.
Embed social media links
Do not forget to add social media links in your channel description. Firstly, this proves your channel’s authenticity, and secondly, your viewers know that it is the only official account you have.
Add schedule timings
You can also include the timings that you plan to schedule or upload your videos in your description. If you want to buy YouTube views organically, let your audience know when you stream online. This will help you get your videos ranked on YouTube.
Update Descriptions Regularly
Revisit older videos on your channel and refresh the descriptions with updated keywords, links, and social media links so your content remains relevant and discoverable.
Conclusion
These techniques will definitely help you to rank your videos. Also do read our guide on tips to improve your YouTube SEO Strategy and the best YouTube SEO practices for beginners.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How to format a YouTube video description?
Starting with a compelling hook is essential since only a few lines are visible in the description. So, for every YouTube video, craft a unique description to help viewers understand what the video is about. Include relevant keywords at the start and keep it organized and clear to enhance readability.
Q2. What is the optimal YouTube description length?
The optimal YouTube video description length is 150-200 characters, as only a snippet is visible to viewers. So, the first two lines are significant in increasing clicks and engagement for the video.
Q3. How long should a YouTube description be?
YouTube allows you to add a maximum of 5000 characters for the descriptions. While you must use the entire space, you must focus on placing essential information and keywords within the first 200 characters, as this part is immediately visible in the preview.
Q4. Should I put hashtags in the YouTube description?
Yes, you can add hashtags in the YouTube description as it helps YT to categorize your video and reach out to your target audience.
