A great YouTube description can spike your viewers’s curiosity and lead to longer watch occasions, higher view counts, and even new subscribers. Plus, it will probably assist with YouTube Website positioning, permitting YouTube’s algorithm to grasp your content material and counsel it to new customers, additional boosting your YouTube stats.
Writing these descriptions is a vital a part of your overall YouTube strategy. However how do you craft descriptions that work? Listed below are a few of our favourite tips on the way to fill in that YouTube description field.
Bonus: Download a free pack of 3 fully customizable YouTube video description templates. Easily craft engaging descriptions, and start growing your YouTube channel today.
What is a description on YouTube?
There are two types of descriptions that every marketer needs to know:
- YouTube channel descriptions. The textual content in your channel’s About web page. It helps viewers perceive what to anticipate out of your model and can be utilized to clarify why they need to subscribe to your channel.
- YouTube video descriptions. The textual content under every video. It helps viewers discover your video content material and convinces them to observe it. It will probably additionally embrace hyperlinks and any extra info related to your video.
Free YouTube description generator
Craft charming and fascinating descriptions in only a few clicks with Hootsuite’s free AI-powered YouTube description generator.
Simply fill out a number of fast questions and let the magic occur.
Please be aware: This device could show inaccurate or offensive materials that doesn’t characterize Hootsuite’s views. You’re solely chargeable for use of any content material generated utilizing this device, together with its compliance with relevant legal guidelines and third celebration rights.
17 ideas for writing YouTube descriptions
1. Be particular
Your selection of key phrases is vital for each YouTube channel and video descriptions.
The key phrases in your descriptions will assist YouTube’s algorithm perceive, categorize, and floor your content material. The extra particular the key phrases are, the higher. (Prime tip: this is applicable to your channel’s title, too. When you’re searching for concepts YouTube usernames, check out our free, ai-powered YouTube name generator.)
For instance, for a video about writing descriptions for YouTube movies, web video textual content will likely be a much less helpful key phrase than YouTube video descriptions.
2. Do key phrase analysis
Unsure what key phrases to make use of? Instruments like Google Adverts’ Keyword Planner and Google Trends might help you get began.
Google Developments, for instance, will aid you perceive if a key phrase you’re contemplating is trending. You may also use the device to determine which key phrases have the next search quantity.
Supply: Google Developments
3. Use searchable key phrases
Increasingly folks discover YouTube movies by means of Google searches relatively than by means of YouTube itself.
Mix key phrases primarily based on YouTube and Google search tendencies to maximise your video’s discoverability.
To see how a lot potential a selected key phrase has to point out up in Google search outcomes, merely… Google it. When you discover YouTube movies on the high of the search outcomes web page, you’re heading in the right direction!
4. Know the way to use key phrases
When you’ve recognized your key phrases, it pays to know the way to embrace them in your descriptions’ textual content.
Goal to use two or three associated key phrases in every channel and video description. For movies, the principle key phrase also needs to seem within the title.
Repeat every key phrase two to 3 occasions within the description to make them stand out to YouTube’s algorithm.
However keep away from repeating the key phrases too typically, otherwise you threat being penalized for key phrase stuffing.
5. Know the place to make use of your key phrases
Your main key phrases ought to seem a minimum of as soon as within the first three sentences of your description (or above the fold, a.okay.a. the “SHOW MORE” button).
YouTube’s algorithm — and viewers — pay essentially the most consideration to this a part of the outline, so don’t wait till the top to say what your video or channel is about.
6. Monitor which key phrases be just right for you
When you’ve began writing keyword-driven YouTube descriptions, you need to use YouTube Analytics to see where your traffic is coming from.
Supply: YouTube Creator Academy
This device will aid you give attention to the key phrases that get you essentially the most site visitors.
7. Discover out what else your viewers is watching
As of 2021, extra YouTube traffic comes from showing as a steered video than from the search bar.
Your video’s description is a part of how YouTube’s algorithm figures out what it’s about. Because of this the outline performs a significant function in figuring out the place your video will get steered.
Reap the benefits of this through the use of YouTube analytics to search out out what different movies your viewers is watching.
You’ll be able to then use related language in your descriptions to bolster these connections and seem as a steered video extra typically.
8. Provide worth
At all times embrace an apparent worth proposition in your descriptions. Why ought to somebody subscribe to your channel? How will your video profit them?
Attempt to reply a minimum of one in all these questions in easy phrases (bonus if you are able to do each).
Supply: Hootsuite Labs
9. Embody vital info above the fold for higher CTR
The primary 100 to 150 characters of your video description is the half that can seem in search outcomes and proper below your video (above the “SHOW MORE” button).
Which means it’s a very powerful half for reaching potential viewers and enhancing your click-through charges (CTR).
Use this area to supply viewers with a compelling purpose to observe your video.
Within the instance under, the primary description states precisely what query the video is responding to. The second wastes vital area on generalities.
10. Keep away from clickbait
When you misrepresent your movies, viewers will cease watching them partway by means of. This damages your search rankings—in addition to your fame.
Keep away from clickbait video titles and irrelevant key phrases. They may aid you rank at first, however YouTube’s search algorithm will catch on ultimately.
11. Embody a name to motion
Now you’ve acquired the viewer’s consideration, use it!
Add a call-to-action in each your video and channel description. Encourage viewers to love, remark, subscribe, or learn extra.
The best calls to action are straightforward to learn, pressing, and present an apparent profit to the viewer. They’ll enhance engagement, subscriptions, and extra.
Supply: Hootsuite Labs
12. Write like a human
Bear in mind, you’re not simply writing for YouTube’s algorithm. You’re writing for human beings too.
Actually, YouTube penalizes descriptions which are simply lists of Website positioning-optimized key phrases.
Use language that your viewers will perceive and relate to. An authentic brand voice will encourage the person engagement that will get your movies seen.
13. Don’t stress about video tags
Tags assist direct viewers to movies about hard-to-spell content material. However they’re additionally one place you don’t want to fret about when planning your key phrases.
According to YouTube, tags play a “minimal” function in discovery. Actually, extreme tagging can run afoul of YouTube’s spam detection.
Don’t ignore tags utterly, although. They do assist the YouTube algorithm place your video within the steered movies part.
14. Set up your video with timestamps
People and algorithms each love movies with timestamps.
Timestamps act as a desk of contents, permitting customers to navigate your content material and skip to totally different elements of the video hassle-free.
Supply: Hip Hop Heads
Timestamps make movies extra user-friendly for human viewers. This will enhance watch occasions, pushing up your video’s rating.
They’re additionally listed for Google’s cell searches. Use key phrases to explain your timestamps and benefit from this new option to get your video surfaced in Google.
15. Know the way to put hyperlinks in YouTube descriptions
Related hyperlinks in your descriptions are a good way to leverage a YouTube view into continued engagement.
For each channel and video descriptions, you possibly can add hyperlinks to your social media presence or on-line retailer.
In your video descriptions, linking to your channel and associated movies helps viewers discover your content material.
Don’t neglect to incorporate the http:// or https:// firstly of the deal with. In any other case, the hyperlink gained’t work.
It’s often finest to place your hyperlinks on the finish of your description. There are extra vital issues to place firstly.
16. Save time with default descriptions
Utilizing YouTube’s default description settings saves time when you’ve got info you wish to add to all of your video descriptions, equivalent to social media hyperlinks.
This function routinely provides key channel info to each video you add.
Simply don’t neglect to fill out the remainder of the outline. A novel description is vital to your movies’ discoverability.
Learn how to set up default descriptions.
17. Check descriptions on a number of gadgets
YouTube may not be the video streaming service we most affiliate with TV units. Nevertheless, latest YouTube viewership statistics present that 34.4% of video views have been on a TV, up from 27% in 2019.
Supply: eMarketer
Be sure that your YouTube descriptions get their message throughout no matter display screen dimension.
Preview your movies on the watch web page and within the search outcomes, utilizing as many gadgets and browsers as attainable. Do any of your key phrases get lower off?
Do the identical together with your channel description, and also you’re set.
YouTube description concepts
Typically you want a little bit inspiration to your YouTube video and channel descriptions. These examples present what our ideas seem like in observe.
Execs DIY
The channel description for Execs DIY hits all the details. It tells you what worth the channel brings you within the first paragraph.
It additionally tells you why you must belief it as a supply of recommendation. That is vital in case your experience in a specific topic is part of your worth proposition.
Supply: Pros DIY
EDHRECast
There are many calls to motion and hyperlinks on this video description from the EDHRECast, inspiring viewers to have interaction with the creators.
Supply: EDHRECast
International Biking Community
The International Biking Community’s channel description makes use of its banner as one other area to incorporate a name to motion, in case anybody misses it within the description.
Supply: Global Cycling Network
Anatolian Rock Mission
The Anatolian Rock mission front-loads its video description with the musicians and bands associated to the artist within the title.
It additionally consists of musical metadata for elevated discoverability.
Supply: Anatolian Rock Project
Deep Marine Scenes
Deep Marine Scenes consists of lots of hyperlinks to extra info of their video description, however they make sure that to incorporate their keyword-driven copy within the opening paragraph.
Supply: Deep Marine Scenes
YouTube description templates
We’ve created a bundle of absolutely customizable YouTube description templates that comply with all the finest practices described on this article.
Bonus: Download a free pack of 3 fully customizable YouTube video description templates. Easily craft engaging descriptions, and start growing your YouTube channel today.
Once you download the templates, create a copy, and follow the instructions to make them your own and work seamlessly with your video content.
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