Video has become the preferred medium these days, consumed by all ages all over the world. It’s only natural then that YouTube is where you want to be to attract more potential customers. But with billions of videos available and watched daily on the platform, how can you make your business stand out? What will get you noticed? The answer is YouTube tags. As the second largest search engine, YouTube relies on its algorithm to match up a user’s search query with the best videos on the platform. You can benefit from this by devising a YouTube SEO strategy that includes well-researched and selected tags for each video you post.
What are Tags on YouTube?
Essentially, tags on YouTube are carefully chosen keywords, telling viewers and YouTube what your video is about. You assign these words or short phrases to each video as you add them to the platform. Then, as people use keywords to search out videos, the YouTube algorithm will scan tags to help determine what results to show.
Examples of tags a musician might use for their punk metal cover video might be ‘punk metal’, ‘Metal cover’, or even all the three words ‘punk’, ‘metal’, and ‘cover’. If you’re not currently posting tags on your videos on YouTube, you’re missing out on a valuable video marketing tool that can benefit your business and boost your SEO.
Tags vs Hashtags
Tags and hashtags might seem the same but they are not.
· YouTube tags: These are the words or phrases creators use to describe the video that content creators put in the tag box. More precise tags are used to categorize and describe your material by ranking your videos. For example- The first tag that a creator puts on a video about music is music because viewers will use this tag as their search point when looking for any music-related videos.
· Hashtags: These, like on any other social media, are used in the video description. And unlike the tags, hashtags are just words, not sentences. They are keywords preceded by a '#' symbol which helps in connecting your content with others' content on the same topic. So, the visibility changes as the viewers get more videos when he/she searches for a specific hashtag. For example, if someone wants to learn more about rock music, they'd search the hashtag, i.e., #rockmetal.
Why are YouTube Tags Important?
YouTube tags are important for creators to make their videos visible to viewers, as the YouTube algorithm determines which videos are most relevant to a user’s search.
Effective Search Engine Optimization should be the commitment of creators for a better ranking of their YouTube videos. The use of proper YouTube tags and keywords helps in improving the video search rankings.
What do YouTube Tags do?
· Recommend Right Content: They help the recommender system to show the users the next relevant video through the use of tags.
· Show Up in Search Results: While running a search these little tags put your video on the top of the search engine making it easier to be found by the viewers.
· Keep at the Top in Search Ranking: Adding proper YouTube tags helps YouTube algorithms understand your content and keep it at the top of the search ranking.
Best practices for using YouTube tags
If you haven't uploaded or edited a YouTube video before, then it's worth scrolling through the tips below to ensure you're doing things right.
1. Selecting relevant and specific YouTube video tags
Your tags determine which search results you show up on and videos with the most relevant tags will be ranked higher. Your channel will also get a higher ranking if it is associated with the keywords that your video is tagged with. YouTube doesn't count all of your tags in their ranking algorithm, but for simplicity's sake let's just assume that they do.
Your first 3-5 tags are the most important because they're going to be included in every search result for your video. The importance of the first few tags increases once you start adding other popular tags, so it's a good idea to continue adding popular tags as your channel grows.
The best practice is, 'First Tag = First Target Keyword'.
For example, if your video is about guitar for beginners then use ‘guitar for beginners’ as your first tag.
2. Avoiding overuse and irrelevant tags
Be careful not to stuff your video with too many tags. YouTube gives you 500 characters for tags, but you don't need to use them all. Aim for about between five and eight relevant tags per video. As mentioned earlier, avoid misleading tags and repetitive tags. There's no value in tagging the word ‘Christmas’ if your music video has nothing to do with the festive or the holiday associated with ‘Christmas’.
3. Misleading tags have consequences
If the YouTube algorithm thinks that you’re misleading viewers, then it could harm your YouTube channel. It might lower your ranking on individual music videos, ban your videos from appearing in user searches, or potentially even reduce visibility across your entire profile.
Stick to tags that accurately describe your video's topic, theme, and content. Don't use popular but unrelated tags just to get more views because it doesn't work. Remember, YouTube prioritizes other metadata ahead of tags, so this is a mistake.
4. Mix up the types and variations of tags
For the best effect, go with a mixture of tag types and variations, including both focused tags and broader tags.
· Focused tags help YouTube determine your video’s specific topic.
For example, ‘how to play guitar’ is a focused tag’. From there, you can add other variations such as ‘guitar for beginners’, ‘tips to play guitars’, and so on.
· Broader tags relate more to providing context for YouTube.
An example of a broad tag, then, might be ‘beginner guitar’ or ‘guitar playing’. Choose more general keywords to capture a wider audience.
If you have been through the whole post, then you already know about YouTube tags and their importance. You may increase your chances of having your video rank well in YouTube search results by doing all of these things. These are some crucial specifics about the significance of YouTube tags along with some recommended practices for improvement. One should use them with a proper title, thumbnail, and relevant description to get a massive edge over others in their niche. That’s the staircase to growth.
