YouTube descriptions are very underrated but are highly important to boost your YouTube channel’s SEO. Wondering what role they play when it comes to rankings? It all depends on how appealing your descriptions are. In this blog, we will understand what a YouTube description is, how you can write great descriptions, and how it affects your video’s ranking.
What Is A YouTube Description?
A YouTube description is a text that gives users an overview of your video or channel. This information can help users understand the video content better.
There are two types of YouTube descriptions:
- YouTube channel description: This text appears on the channel’s “about” page.
- YouTube video description: This text appears below the YouTube videos.
If done correctly, your descriptions can boost your chances at SEO, ranking, views, subscriptions, and many more factors.
We encourage creators to buy YouTube views and gain more traction on their channel, but that doesn’t reduce the significance of organic SEO, such as video descriptions that go hand-in-glove with paid strategies. So now, let’s learn how to write good descriptions on YouTube.
Why Are YouTube Descriptions Important?
YouTube video description is crucial as it has the potential to change the performance of your video altogether. I am surprised to know creators take video description lightly as they think it is for the viewers to know what the video is about. But the story is a bit different. Though creators ignore it, one of the main focuses of the YouTube algorithm is descriptions. The description helps the algorithm understand the context of the video, so when viewers search for something, YouTube recognizes your video as the best match. Hence, crafting a compelling and informative video description is so important on YouTube. You can use a YouTube description generator for your videos to create engaging video information that makes the algorithm in your favor.
How To Write Great YouTube Descriptions?
YouTube has two different types of descriptions: YouTube channel and video description. There are many factors you need to pay attention to while writing a great YouTube description. Starting from using the right keywords and tags to friendly language and adding links to the description. Optimizing your channel description and video description helps you rank higher on the search engine result page on YouTube.
Conclusion
By now, you must know how vital YouTube descriptions are for the growth of your YT channel. Remember to insert your main keyword in the description’s first sentence to be visible to users. Also, place a CTA in the first or second sentence. You can use tools to preview if your SERP snippets are user and algorithm-friendly.
Make an impact in the first 138 characters since that’s the only section that appears when a video is viewed on a computer. You can be creative with the rest of 5,000 characters, i.e., 800 words. Use characters and symbols to make them visually appealing, and divide your sections using separation lines. Avoid using any special characters, copying from other channels, using irrelevant hashtags, and using inappropriate language.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Can YouTube descriptions affect watch time or retention rates?
YouTube description’s primary purpose is to attract views and clicks. But if you add time stamps, then you can increase watch time and retention rates, as it would allow users to know whether concepts related to their intent are being covered or not. There are more ways of increasing watch hours, though.
Q2. How do YouTube descriptions impact video recommendations?
Your video title alone isn’t going to capture all the keywords and hashtags or provide depth on what concepts were covered, but your video description will. Hence, YouTube can recommend your videos for slightly relevant topics in the trendings section based on what’s stated in your video description.
Q3. Does YouTube care about the first few sentences of the description?
The first 138 characters of YouTube descriptions hold utmost importance, as that is shown as meta-description on Google search results and YouTube results.
Additionally, YouTube algorithms will also look at video titles, hence we recommend using a dynamic AI YouTube Title Generator to craft impactful titles.
Q4. Does YouTube use the entire description for ranking?
No, the first 138 characters in the video description are crucial for ranking.
Anything additional would matter from the user’s perspective:
- User trust (reference articles),
- User retention (timestamps),
- Conversions (business website, product links, social media links, and contact details).
Q5. What are the best YouTube description tags?
The best description tags are the ones that reflect what your content is about. Use a mixture of long-tail phrases, popular tags, and the ones with achievable volume to make your videos discoverable.
Q6. What’s the ideal length for a YouTube video description?
You must write an in-depth video description with all the relevant keywords and information that speaks to the context of your video to the algorithm and viewers. Keep the word count to 200 or 300, and ensure you add everything needed.
