How to write a YouTube description people and search both read

YouTube gives you 5,000 characters for a description, and almost nobody reads past the first two lines. Those lines show in search results and under the video before anyone clicks to expand, and they are among the text YouTube reads to understand what the video is about. Write them well and the rest of the description can be as plain as you like.

The first two lines say what the video is

Open with one sentence that names the subject in the words someone would search for. Not a greeting, not a link to your merch, not "In today's video". If a viewer read only that sentence, they should know exactly what they are about to watch.

• Weak: "Hey guys, welcome back to the channel! Don't forget to subscribe." Every video on the channel could open this way, so it describes none of them.
• Better: "How to repot a root-bound monstera without damaging the roots, step by step." It names the plant, the problem, and the kind of video.

A template to copy

1. 1One sentence saying what the video is about, in search language.
2. 2One or two sentences of useful context: who it is for, what is covered, what you used.
3. 3Chapters, if the video is long enough to need them.
4. 4Links: related videos and playlists first, then products, tools, and credits.
5. 5Your social profiles and a short line about the channel.
6. 6Three hashtags on the last line.

Chapters

Chapters make a long video easier to navigate and give each section its own label. To create them, list timestamps in the description in order, starting with 0:00. YouTube needs at least three, and each chapter has to be at least ten seconds long. Name each chapter the way a viewer would describe that section, not "Part 2".

Hashtags: three, at the end

YouTube shows up to three hashtags from the description beside the video title, so three is the useful number. Pick tags that describe the topic, put them on their own line at the bottom, and leave the title free of them. A video carrying more than 60 hashtags has every one of them ignored.

What to leave out

1. 1Keyword lists. YouTube's spam policies cover descriptions stuffed with repeated or unrelated terms, and a paragraph of keywords reads as spam to the viewer who expands it.
2. 2Identical openers on every upload. Put the channel boilerplate at the bottom, where it can repeat without replacing the part that is different for each video.
3. 3Promises the video does not keep. The description should match what is actually in the video, the same as the title.

Shorts descriptions

A Short uses the same layout in miniature: one sentence saying what it shows, then three hashtags. Most Shorts viewers never open the description, but YouTube still reads it, and it is part of what helps a Short keep turning up in search after the feed has moved on.

A quick test: cover everything below the second line. If what is left does not tell a stranger what the video is about, rewrite the opening.