video description что это
17 Tips for Writing Effective YouTube Descriptions (Free Template Included)
Done right, YouTube descriptions can boost view counts and watch time. They can also help your videos rank in YouTube search.
A good YouTube description can spike your audience’s interest and result in longer watch times, better view counts, and even new subscribers. Plus, it can help with YouTube SEO, allowing YouTube’s algorithm to understand your content and suggest it to new users, further boosting your YouTube stats.
Writing these descriptions is an important part of your overall YouTube strategy. But how do you craft descriptions that work? Here are some of our favorite tips about how to fill in that YouTube description box.
What is a description on YouTube?
There are two types of descriptions that every marketer needs to know:
17 tips for writing YouTube descriptions
1. Be specific
Your choice of keywords is important for both YouTube channel and video descriptions.
The keywords in your descriptions will help YouTube’s algorithm understand, categorize, and surface your content. The more specific the keywords are, the better.
For example, for a video about writing descriptions for YouTube videos, internet video text will be a less useful keyword than YouTube video descriptions.
2. Do keyword research
Not sure what keywords to use? Tools like Google Ads’ Keyword Planner and Google Trends can help you get started.
Google Trends, for example, will help you understand if a keyword you’re considering is trending. You can also use the tool to decide which keywords have a higher search volume.
Source: Google Trends
3. Use searchable keywords
More and more people find YouTube videos through Google searches rather than through YouTube itself.
Combine keywords based on YouTube and Google search trends to maximize your video’s discoverability.
To see how much potential a specific keyword has to show up in Google search results, simply… Google it. If you notice YouTube videos at the top of the search results page, you’re on the right track!
4. Know how to use keywords
Once you’ve identified your keywords, it pays to know how to include them in your descriptions’ text.
Aim to use two or three related keywords in each channel and video description. For videos, the main keyword should also appear in the title.
Repeat each keyword two to three times in the description to make them stand out to YouTube’s algorithm.
But avoid repeating the keywords too often, or you risk being penalized for keyword stuffing.
5. Know where to use your keywords
Your primary keywords should appear at least once in the first three sentences of your description (or above the fold, a.k.a. the “SHOW MORE” button).
YouTube’s algorithm — and viewers — pay the most attention to this part of the description, so don’t wait until the end to say what your video or channel is about.
6. Track which keywords work for you
Once you’ve started writing keyword-driven YouTube descriptions, you can use YouTube Analytics to see where your traffic is coming from.
This tool will help you focus on the keywords that get you the most traffic.
7. Find out what else your audience is watching
As of 2021, more YouTube traffic comes from appearing as a suggested video than from the search bar.
Your video’s description is part of how YouTube’s algorithm figures out what it’s about. This means that the description plays a vital role in determining where your video gets suggested.
Take advantage of this by using YouTube analytics to find out what other videos your audience is watching.
You can then use similar language in your descriptions to reinforce these connections and appear as a suggested video more often.
8. Offer value
Always include an obvious value proposition in your descriptions. Why should someone subscribe to your channel? How will your video benefit them?
Try to answer at least one of these questions in simple terms (bonus if you can do both).
9. Include important information above the fold for better CTR
The first 100 to 150 characters of your video description is the part that will appear in search results and right under your video (above the “SHOW MORE” button).
That means it’s the most important part for reaching potential viewers and improving your click-through rates (CTR).
Use this space to provide viewers with a compelling reason to watch your video.
In the example below, the first description states exactly what question the video is responding to. The second one wastes important space on generalities.
10. Avoid clickbait
If you misrepresent your videos, viewers will stop watching them partway through. This damages your search rankings—as well as your reputation.
Avoid clickbait video titles and irrelevant keywords. They might help you rank at first, but YouTube’s search algorithm will catch on sooner or later.
11. Include a call to action
Now you’ve got the viewer’s attention, use it!
Add a call-to-action in both your video and channel description. Encourage viewers to like, comment, subscribe, or read more.
The best calls to action are easy to read, urgent, and show an obvious benefit to the viewer. They can increase engagement, subscriptions, and more.
12. Write like a human
Remember, you’re not just writing for YouTube’s algorithm. You’re writing for human beings too.
In fact, YouTube penalizes descriptions that are just lists of SEO-optimized keywords.
Use language that your viewers will understand and relate to. An authentic brand voice will encourage the user engagement that gets your videos seen.
13. Don’t stress about video tags
Tags help direct viewers to videos about hard-to-spell content. But they’re also one place you don’t need to worry about when planning your keywords.
According to YouTube, tags play a “minimal” role in discovery. In fact, excessive tagging can run afoul of YouTube’s spam detection.
Don’t ignore tags completely, though. They do help the YouTube algorithm place your video in the suggested videos section.
14. Organize your video with timestamps
Humans and algorithms both love videos with timestamps.
Timestamps act as a table of contents, allowing users to navigate your content and skip to different parts of the video hassle-free.
Timestamps make videos more user-friendly for human viewers. This can increase watch times, pushing up your video’s ranking.
They’re also indexed for Google’s mobile searches. Use keywords to describe your timestamps and take advantage of this new way to get your video surfaced in Google.
15. Know how to put links in YouTube descriptions
Relevant links in your descriptions are a great way to leverage a YouTube view into continued engagement.
For both channel and video descriptions, you can add links to your social media presence or online store.
In your video descriptions, linking to your channel and related videos helps viewers find your content.
Don’t forget to include the http:// or https:// at the beginning of the address. Otherwise, the link won’t work.
It’s usually best to put your links at the end of your description. There are more important things to put at the beginning.
16. Save time with default descriptions
Using YouTube’s default description settings saves time when you have information you want to add to all your video descriptions, such as social media links.
This feature automatically adds key channel information to every video you upload.
Just don’t forget to fill out the rest of the description. A unique description is important for your videos’ discoverability.
17. Test descriptions on multiple devices
YouTube might not be the video streaming service we most associate with TV sets. However, recent YouTube viewership statistics show that 34.4% of video views were on a TV, up from 27% in 2019.
Make sure your YouTube descriptions get their message across regardless of screen size.
Preview your videos on the watch page and in the search results, using as many devices and browsers as possible. Do any of your keywords get cut off?
Do the same with your channel description, and you’re set.
YouTube description ideas
Sometimes you need a little inspiration for your YouTube video and channel descriptions. These examples show what our tips look like in practice.
Pros DIY
The channel description for Pros DIY hits all the important points. It tells you what value the channel brings you in the first paragraph.
It also tells you why you should trust it as a source of advice. This is important if your expertise in a particular subject is a part of your value proposition.
EDHRECast
There are plenty of calls to action and links in this video description from the EDHRECast, inspiring viewers to engage with the creators.
Global Cycling Network
The Global Cycling Network’s channel description uses its banner as another space to include a call to action, in case anyone misses it in the description.
Anatolian Rock Project
The Anatolian Rock project front-loads its video description with the musicians and bands related to the artist in the title.
It also includes musical metadata for increased discoverability.
Deep Marine Scenes
Deep Marine Scenes includes a lot of links to additional information in their video description, but they make sure to include their keyword-driven copy in the opening paragraph.
YouTube description templates
We’ve created a package of fully customizable YouTube description templates that follow all of the best practices described in this article.
Once you download the templates, create a copy, and follow the instructions to make them your own and work seamlessly with your video content.
Grow your YouTube audience faster with Hootsuite. From one dashboard, you can manage and schedule YouTube videos alongside content from all your other social channels. Try it free today.
Grow your YouTube channel fast with Hootsuite. Easily moderate comments, schedule video, and publish to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Become a better social marketer.
Get expert social media advice delivered straight to your inbox.
Greg Sides is a freelance copywriter, editor, translator, and general dealer-with of written things.
Alice Fleerackers is a Vancouver-based writer, researcher, and editor. She’s passionate about stories, science, and spoon carving—not necessarily in that order.
Related Articles
How Does the YouTube Algorithm Work in 2021? The Complete Guide
Looking to increase your YouTube video views? Step one: find out what’s new with the YouTube algorithm and how it ranks your content.
25 YouTube Statistics that May Surprise You: 2021 Edition
Here are the most important YouTube statistics marketers should know for 2021. Some of them are surprising!
How to Get More Views on YouTube: 16 Tips that Actually Work
If you want to get more views on YouTube, you need to respond to viewer comments, create video playlists, design attention-grabbing thumbnails and more.
How to Make Money on YouTube: 7 Effective Strategies
If you’re wondering how to make money on YouTube, look no further than these 7 strategies for monetizing your channel and your creative work.
YouTube Video Description: Write SEO Friendly Description
One of the time-consuming and fingers-paining processes is writing YouTube Video Description. The description should be SEO-friendly and User-friendly, then only it drives more traffic.
In this following detail guide, you’ll learn “What is YouTube video description”, “6+ tips to write the SEO friendly description“, in addition to that, a sample template and FAQ (frequently asked questions) of the video description.
What is YouTube Video Description?
YouTube Video Description is a piece of content, that you have to write about your video content in the description area. Hence, the YouTube algorithm and the audience can understand the subject of your content.
Description is one of the main factor that decides how well your video will rank on YouTube Search Engine. Most of the newbie creators, keep the description as short and even sometimes empty. To be honest, it’s useless.
Video descriptions directly affect your ranking position on YouTube. So, I request and wanted you to follow the below tips while writing the description part.
Check out the below paragraphs.
YouTube Video Description Tips: That Drive More Clicks
Let’s see each points one by one with detailed information.
1. The First Two Lines of Description
From an audience and SEO point of view, the first two lines of the video descriptions are more valuable. Let me explain with you an example.
When I’m searching the phrase, “homemade pizza” on the YouTube search engine. Check out the video results I’m getting from the below image.
The description is readable and exactly what I need. Moreover, take a look at the second video title from the above image. There is no such word called “homemade pizza” in the title, but it’s ranking in 2nd position.
How it’s possible? Well, it’s because of the target keyword used in that video description.
So, keep in mind that, the first two lines should be readable (related to what the audience searching) and SEO-supportable (use the target keyword). In increases the CTR (Click-through-rate) of the video.
For an another example, here I’m searching the phrase “Crispy french fries”. The result is,
To create engageable description lines, follow the below words and tricks:
2. Target Keywords in YouTube Description
We’ve mention to use the target keyword in the above point. First of all, what is target keyword?
If you’re on YouTubing for so long, then you knew about it. Basically, YouTube can find and populate the video with the help of proper keywords. These keywords can be used in different places like the “title of the video”, then “video tags”, “hashtags”, and last but not least “the description”.
Things to consider when adding keyword:
Above all, here the question is, “how to find target keyword”.
It’s a channel management, keyword finder tool. More than that, this tool is YouTube-certified. Hence, you can use it without hesitation.
3. Add Timestamp in the Description
Let me explain. I searched the keyword “Video SEO” in Google. But check the below image, here I got the YouTube video as a suggestion. The reason is, the video used timestamps in the description.
As you see, there is a different key moments in that time frame. So, the audience can click that time frame from where he/she want to start the video.
Therefore, with the help of adding timestamps, you can also pull the audiences from Google search. This timestamp option is good for YouTube business.
In the meantime, pay attention to add google visible timestamps. I hope the following tips organize your timestamps.
4. Write Error Free Video Description
Moreover, you need to attract your audience by using catchy words. Grammarly helps reduce grammatical errors, using proper words, synonym words, punctuations, word formatting, etc.
For example, take a look at the above image, the error shows on the word “present” because it spelled wrongly. But, Grammarly found it.
However, it’s free to use, if you want to know the review of this tool, then read the below article.
I have a much hands-on experience on this tool. So, when you ask me, is that worth to use? I would say, Yes!
I used Grammarly for my E-mail writing, blog writing, YouTube description writing, Social media posts, and even for normal chats. I’m using the premium version of it. And if you want, you can switch from free to premium at any time.
5. Create Curiosity
The above-mentioned tips drive you to format the contents in the description. But the main subject of the description is the place to convert the reader into the viewer.
My recommendation and many of the expert YouTuber’s leave a twist in the description area. That’s what creates curiosity among the audiences to watch the entire video.
Ok, how to create curiosity description?
You might have a better out-of-box answer for it. In case, you’re blank, then read the below paragraph.
Consider you’re making the video of “How to Fix Virus in the Windows Laptop in 5 steps”. The 5th step is the game-changer moment (fixing virus) of the video. So, in the description, elaborate the first 4 steps clearly and don’t write the explanation for the 5th step.
It pushes the audience to watch the video for the 5th point. That’s where magic happens. So, if the audience spending more time on the description area with your curisoity content means, add it more effectively. It directly helps to drive more traffic on the YouTube search engine.
6. Add External Links
Social sharing and contribution is unpredictable in this internet world. YouTube algorithm might considers the social profile signals as one of the ranking factor.
So, the easiest way to build social profiles and YouTube is mentioning the social profile links in the video description. It’s a win-win process.
Not only social links, but you can also add some of the other external links.
You’re welcome to add the following links in the video description,
Note: If you’re using affiliate links, then add the disclaimer in the description. For example, the disclaimer could be like this,
Disclaimer Example
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links, which means that if you click any one of the product links, then I’ll receive a small commission. This helps to support my channel and allows me to continue to make helpful videos. It doesn’t cost you anything.
Before getting into the next point, let me explain, “how to update the default description content”. It avoids you to write the repetitive description content on each video.
It means, once you add the default description, then automatically for each video, the default content will update automatically. So, you don’t need to write again and again.
Upload Default Description:
7. Structurize the YouTube Video Description
It’s time to structurize the description content. To be frank, there is no such universal format to organize the content. However, here let me explain the example format.
If you want, then follow the below format in a same order.
For a better understanding, check out the below sample template of the description.
Sample Description Template
In this video, we’ll see what is YouTube description, how to write it to get more audience attention. So, stay tuned.
YouTube Description is a vital section when it comes to rank on YouTube. You need to write the proper description to get more organic traffic on your channel. So, in this video, I’m going to explain to you the step-by-step guide to make the perfect Channel description. So, watch it entirely, and don’t forget to comment here, if you have any doubts.
Follow us on below Social Profiles
Tools used on the video to make
Canva: An image and gif editing Software tool.
Movavi: Video editing tool for filtering, editing, splitting, and merging videos and audio.
Doodly: Few animations in between this video is created by almighty Doodly software.
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links, it means that if you click any one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps to support my channel and allows me to continue to make helpful videos like this. Thank you for your support!
Where is the description box in the YouTube video?
Well, this is the basic question asked by most of the newbie YouTuber’s.
When you upload a video, you’ll find it in the below path.
The description character limit is 5000.
First of all, you can’t able to add hyperlinks. Instead of that, just paste the direct URL link in the description.
Channel description is a short text of what is your channel about. Just enter the channel niche and what kind of information the audience will get from this channel.
To edit it, go to Your channel > Customize channel > About > Add Channel description.
Follow the below steps to edit the description of your video,
> Go to the YouTube studio.
> Then, move on to content and click the “edit” icon of the video which you want to modify.
> Finally, re-write/edit the video description and save it.
Conclusion
I hope you understand the importance of video descriptions to rank the videos on the YouTube search engines. Follow the above tips and get more video views. If you’ve any further doubts, then feel free to contact me in the comment section. I usually reply to all the comments which I get.