Are Youtube Tags important for your Youtube channel? Suppose you are starting a Youtube channel and getting ready to upload your first video. In that case, you might have noticed that Youtube has a series of fields that you can use to add a description of your video and tags for your Youtube videos.
Youtube will really only require you to add the title, so should you bother writing a description and using the tags?
Spoiler alert: YES, a well-written title and description using certain Youtube tags and utilizing the full 500 characters available to add properly optimized Youtube tags is a good idea.
- Why are Youtube Tags important?
- How important are they?
So why are Youtube Tags important? Here are a few reasons:
Why Youtube tags are important to the Youtube algorithm for understanding the audience
The Youtube algorithm is constantly changing, but one thing is for sure! It is changing to provide the best user experience for the viewer.
The algorithm will want to suggest relevant videos if someone searches for a specific topic.
Remember, Youtube doesn’t ‘watch’ your videos. It guesses based on what it knows about your content. So, your Youtube Title, description, and Youtube video tags will be essential in this equation.
It is vital to help the algorithm understand what your videos are about. If you support the Youtube algorithm, the algorithm will help you get more eyeballs on your video thumbnails. It is a win-win situation!
Example: In this blog post, we are using the Keyphrase ‘Are Youtube Tags Important’ a few times. Still, we aren’t targeting the keyphrase ‘are video tags important.’ We are making this conscious choice as we want to rank for that key phrase at some point in the Google Search Algorithm.
We need to let Google Search understand that this particular post is focused on helping content creators understand why Youtube Tags are important for their Youtube videos.
We don’t want Google Search to ‘think’ this post would address any other kind of video tag. This way, we are sure that whenever people find this blog post, they actually encounter the exact information they were looking for in the first place. At least, that is our intent.
By not focusing our keywords on the broader search term video tags, we avoid Google search to display our post to people searching for video tags in another context.
If possible, people searching to learn about the importance of YouTube tags must find our blog post on the first page of the Google search results.
This way, we avoid disgruntled visitors to our blog post resulting in our visitor engagement being above average and leading to better ranking within the Google search results.
The same is true when choosing a title and describing your video! You’ll want people to find the content they were looking for. So select your Youtube Title wisely.
NOTE: For Youtube video tags, in particular, we would also add ‘video tags’ to the Youtube tag list! While this might seem contradictory to our prior example, it is not. You always want to optimize the title, description, and tags with the ‘intent’ in mind.
A title is intended to capture viewers’ attention and clarify what they can expect.
A description gives you extra space to specify more about your content.
Youtube Tags, on the other hand, are meant to capture the different types of wording which all have the same or similar ‘search intent.’
Ex: If I want to find a Youtube AD blocker on Youtube, I write down any of the following search queries in the Youtube search bar;
- How to block youtube ads
- Stop Youtube ads
- adblocker chrome extension
Suppose my video addresses a chrome extension that helps you to block ads on youtube videos. In that case, I will want all of these Youtube Tags will be important and added to my video.
Now imagine that my solution does not involve a chrome extension; the Youtube Tag ‘Adblocker Chrome Extension’ should NOT be added!
All-in-all, If you optimize your video tags correctly, it will reflect in the analytics of the Youtube algorithm. You will get a better ranking and, subsequently, more views. So yes, Youtube tags are important for your videos!
On top of that, long term, it is a strategy that will pay off. Any changes in the Youtube algorithm will always reflect positively on your videos if you properly apply your Youtube video tags.
We’ll argue that we can be sure of that because we can understand how Youtube will want its algorithm to evolve to enhance user satisfaction.
Understanding the importance of Youtube tags for your audience
Optimizing your Youtube tags for the Youtube algorithm is already worth it, but optimizing it for your audience is even more critical. Not just for Youtube, but your Youtube channel.
The Youtube algorithm uses your video tags to determine for which searches it should present the audience with your video.
You might trick the Youtube algorithm into showing your video to people who are not interested in your content. You can do this by ‘fake’ optimizing tags, AKA keyword stuffing.
This practice can get you more views for a while; however, it will eventually hurt your channel as it won’t result in more subscribers. As we described earlier, you want to help provide content viewers are searching for. If you are not providing content that people want, they will not subscribe to your channel, and there will be a lack of engagement.
This lack of engagement will also show up in the analytics of the Youtube algorithm, and it will negatively impact your Youtube ranking.
NOTE: Clearly, there is a bit of a grey zone here as well in which you apply your best judgment. In the end, not everything is black and white. Sometimes you can use certain tags that don’t exactly match the content of your video perfectly.
Maybe the type of viewer that could be interested in the content you are providing. Youtube has a lot of search going on, but arguably there is also a lot of ‘discovery’ going on as well! Taking our earlier example into account: maybe if my entire channel was dedicated to chrome extensions, I wouldn’t mind adding a chrome extension Tag to my video, even if one video, in particular, does not discuss a chrome extension.
Conclusion: Why it is important to add and optimize Youtube Tags to your videos
Making your Youtube videos stand out and creating a trusted brand is no easy task, and it makes sense to mark off the more manageable tasks on your list. Adding and optimizing Youtube tags for your videos is straightforward. It can help you get ahead of the competition and shorten the path toward your success.
- If video tags matter to the Youtube algorithm, they should matter to you.
- You help viewers to find you!
- Youtube Tags are the cheapest way to drive targeted viewers to your channel.
- Proper Youtube video tagging will improve Youtube ranking and trust
- It will drive traffic likely to convert into subscribers
- A solid long-term strategy
- An excellent way to find new topics to write about and expand on your content base
- …
So, all-in-all, honesty is the best policy for optimizing Youtube Tags for your videos. In the long run, it is a worthwhile investment of time and effort as both the youtube algorithm and your audience will thank you for it!
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