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. Now let’s learn how to write good descriptions on YouTube.
How to write great YouTube descriptions?
Using important keywords
Since YouTube is one of the world’s largest search engines. If you use the right keywords in your descriptions, your video can rank on YouTube’s search results page. So always use relevant and focus keywords. The focus keyword must be mentioned in the first paragraph of your description. Try repeating it not more than twice in the rest of the description. This will help the algorithm understand what your video content is all about.
If you don’t know how to find the right keywords, you can use tools like Google Trends and YouTube AutoSuggest.
Friendly language
When writing your description, make sure your language isn’t too technical. If your description sounds like a robot, users won’t click on it. Use more natural and friendly language to ease your audience in. Try using the keywords to fit organically, since YouTube’s algorithm focuses on keywords than the rest of the text.
Use hashtags
YouTube hashtags help your users find relatable videos under one tag. YouTube allows creators to use 15 hashtags in the description section. The first three hashtags appear above the video’s title while the rest in the description box. Learn how to find the best YouTube hashtags to increase your YouTube video’s views and rankings.
Using links in YouTube descriptions
Here are a few links that you can use in your video’s description and increase your chances of ranking.
- Timestamp Links
- Subscribe Links
- Social Media Channel Links
- Related Video Links
- Affiliate Links
Takeaway
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 inappropriate language.