You have filmed, edited, and polished your video. You have a catchy title and a compelling thumbnail ready to go. But before you hit “publish,” there’s one crucial element you shouldn’t overlook: your YouTube tags. These small pieces of text can play a significant role in helping your content reach the right audience. While they might seem like a small detail, understanding how to use them effectively can give your videos a necessary boost in a crowded digital landscape.
This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about get youtube tags. We will explore what they are, why they matter, and how they influence your video’s visibility. You’ll learn a step-by-step process for finding the perfect tags, discover best practices for using them, and see the common pitfalls you should avoid. By the end, you’ll be equipped to use tags to help your content get discovered.
What Are YouTube Tags and Why Do They Matter?
YouTube tags are descriptive keywords or phrases that you can add to your video during the upload process. Think of them as signposts that tell both YouTube’s algorithm and potential viewers what your video is about. When a user searches for a term on YouTube, the platform’s algorithm sifts through countless videos to find the most relevant results. Tags provide essential context, helping the algorithm categorize your content and match it with those search queries.
While YouTube’s system has become incredibly sophisticated at understanding video content through titles, descriptions, and even automatic transcriptions, tags remain a valuable piece of the puzzle. They offer a specific place to provide extra information that might not fit naturally into your title or description. For example, if your video is a tutorial on making sourdough bread, your tags can include broader terms like “baking,” specific ones like “sourdough starter,” and long-tail keywords like “how to make sourdough bread at home.”
The primary importance of tags lies in their ability to improve your video’s discoverability. Correctly used, they can help your content appear in relevant search results and as suggested videos next to similar content, ultimately driving more views and growing your audience.
How YouTube Tags Impact Video Discoverability
The YouTube algorithm is a complex system designed to serve viewers the most relevant and satisfying content. Tags are one of the key metadata elements the algorithm analyzes to understand and rank your videos. Here’s how they directly impact where your content shows up.
Improving Search Rankings
The most direct impact of tags is on YouTube search. When a user types a query into the search bar, YouTube looks for videos with titles, descriptions, and tags that match the search term. By including relevant keywords in your tags, you explicitly tell the algorithm that your video is a good match for those queries. A well-tagged video has a better chance of ranking higher in search results, especially for more specific, long-tail keywords that beginners often target.
Appearing in Suggested Videos
Have you ever finished watching a video and seen a list of related content on the sidebar or at the end? These are “Suggested Videos,” and they are a massive source of views for many channels. The algorithm recommends videos based on what a user is currently watching. It often groups videos with similar or overlapping tags. By using tags that are also used by popular videos in your niche, you increase the likelihood that your video will be suggested alongside theirs. This is a powerful way to get your content in front of an already engaged audience.
Providing Context for Misspelled or Alternative Terms
Viewers don’t always use the “correct” or official terminology when searching for content. They might misspell words, use synonyms, or use colloquial phrases. Your video title and description need to be clear and well-written, which doesn’t always leave room for these variations. The tags section is the perfect place to include them. For a video about “DSLR camera basics,” you could add tags like “digital camera tips,” “DSLR for beginners,” and even common misspellings if they are prevalent. This widens the net, allowing your video to be found through a broader range of search queries.
Step-by-Step Guide to Finding and Adding Tags
Finding the right tags doesn’t have to be a guessing game. A strategic approach will help you identify keywords that can connect your content with the right viewers.
Step 1: Brainstorm Your Main Keywords
Start with the core topic of your video. What is it about in one or two words? This is your primary or “focus” keyword. For example, if your video is a review of the latest iPhone, your focus keyword would be “iPhone review.” Write this down. From there, think of broader categories your video fits into. For the iPhone review, this might be “tech reviews,” “smartphones,” or “Apple products.” These will be your broad tags.
Step 2: Use YouTube’s Search Bar for Ideas
YouTube’s search bar is a powerful, free keyword research tool. Start typing your focus keyword into the search bar and see what autocomplete suggestions appear. These suggestions are based on what real users are actively searching for. For “iPhone review,” you might see suggestions like “iPhone review camera,” “iPhone review battery life,” or “iPhone review vs Samsung.” These are excellent long-tail keywords to add to your tag list because they reflect specific user interests.
Step 3: Analyze Your Competitors’ Tags
Look at the top-ranking videos for your target keywords. What tags are they using? You can’t see tags directly on a video’s watch page anymore, but you can view them by right-clicking on the page and selecting “View Page Source.” Then, use the find function (Ctrl+F or Cmd+F) and search for “keywords.” The text that follows will be the list of tags for that video. Several browser extensions, like TubeBuddy and vidIQ, also make this process much easier by displaying video tags directly on the page. Don’t just copy and paste their tags. Instead, look for relevant keywords that also apply to your video and add them to your list.
Step 4: Use a YouTube Tag Generator Tool
Dedicated tag generator tools can speed up your research. Websites like TubeRanker, Keyword Tool, and the tools built into the browser extensions mentioned above can generate hundreds of tag ideas from a single seed keyword. These tools often pull data directly from YouTube’s search suggestions, giving you a comprehensive list of potential tags to sift through. Pick the ones that are most relevant to your specific video.
Step 5: How to Add Tags to Your Video
Once you have your list, adding them to your video is simple. During the upload process in YouTube Studio, scroll down past the description box and click “SHOW MORE.” You will find a dedicated “Tags” field. You can paste your list of tags here. Remember to separate phrases with commas; YouTube will automatically treat each comma-separated item as an individual tag. You can add up to 500 characters worth of tags, so use the space wisely.
Best Practices for Using YouTube Tags Effectively
Simply adding tags is not enough; you need to use them strategically. Follow these best practices to get the most out of your efforts.
- Make Your First Tag Your Focus Keyword: The first few tags are considered the most important by the algorithm. Always make your primary target keyword the very first tag.
- Use a Mix of Broad and Specific Tags: Include broad tags (e.g., “fitness”) to provide general context and specific, long-tail tags (e.g., “15-minute at-home HIIT workout for beginners”) to target niche searches. This combination gives the algorithm a complete picture of your video’s content and audience.
- Don’t Overstuff with Irrelevant Tags: Only use tags that are directly relevant to your video. Adding popular but unrelated tags just to get views is known as “tag stuffing.” This is against YouTube’s policies and can actually harm your video’s performance. The algorithm is smart enough to know when viewers click away quickly because the content doesn’t match the tag, which signals that your video is not a good result.
- Use a Sensible Number of Tags: While you have a 500-character limit, you don’t need to use it all. Aim for 5-15 highly relevant tags. Quality is far more important than quantity. A focused list of tags is more powerful than a long, diluted one.
- Order Tags by Importance: After your focus keyword, list your next most important keywords. Work your way from the most specific and relevant tags down to the broader ones. This helps YouTube prioritize what your video is primarily about.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Tags
New creators often make a few common errors when it comes to tagging their videos. Avoiding these pitfalls will put you ahead of the curve.
- Ignoring Tags Completely: The most common mistake is not using tags at all. While YouTube’s algorithm is advanced, it uses all the information you provide. Skipping tags means you’re missing a valuable opportunity to give the algorithm more context.
- Using Only Single-Word Tags: Relying solely on broad, single-word tags like “tutorial,” “funny,” or “vlog” is a mistake. These terms are highly competitive and don’t provide enough specific information. Always prioritize descriptive, multi-word phrases.
- Putting Tags in Your Description: Your video description is for your viewers to read. Don’t stuff a list of keywords at the bottom of it. There is a dedicated tag box for this purpose. Filling your description with tags creates a poor user experience and is against YouTube’s spam policies.
- Copying Tags Blindly: While analyzing competitors is a great strategy for research, never copy their entire tag list verbatim. Their video might have a slightly different angle or focus. Always curate a list that is tailored specifically to your content.
By integrating a thoughtful tagging strategy into your upload routine, you provide YouTube with the data it needs to put your video in front of the right people. Tags are not a magic bullet for overnight success, but they are a fundamental part of a solid YouTube SEO strategy that, combined with great content, can significantly improve your channel’s growth over time.
