What’s in your YouTube metadata? If your answer is, “What is metadata?” then you’ve come to the right place. Even if you’ve created the world’s greatest video, nobody is going to find it if your YouTube metadata is poor or non-existent.
There are five main components to consider when you fill out the YouTube metadata fields: title, description, category, tags, and transcript. The first one is the Title. This may not seem particularly important, but it’s the main source of information that YouTube uses when categorizing your video. Try to be succinct and avoid nebulous terms. “Dr. Smith, New Jersey Neurosurgeon” is a much better title than “Here is my video about my surgery practice.” Remember that the title is displayed with search results as well as in an overlay in when related videos are shown.
Next there is the Description. This should be written as a complete sentence. Try to get as many keywords into the description as you can, while maintaining the readability. The description is often shown in Google search results, so it’s your chance to make your YouTube metadata do double-duty as a sales pitch.
Tags are the next bit of YouTube metadata. The secret art of tags is to use words that people might commonly search for. But the quality of the tags is very important. Using a tag like “pwned” is going to get you some heavy exposure, but you’re going to have some unhappy viewers if your video is just some information about your accounting practice. Here is a great video tutorial that walks you through some of the do’s and don’ts of tagging your video.
Category is the next YouTube metadata field to consider. This one is actually the least important. You’re restricted by the categories that YouTube provides for you, and oftentimes there isn’t one that’s just right. This is especially true for business profiles or how-to videos. I often just use the “People & Blogs” or “Howto” categories, but you shouldn’t get too hung up on these. They’re much too broad and generic to be of much use.
The final YouTube metadata section to consider is the Transcript. YouTube makes it all too easy to ignore this field, as you have to go hunting for it. They do have a system that automatically translates the words from your video into a transcript. While this feature is impressive and actually does a really good job, you should always go in and make sure it’s correct. There is no evidence to support this, but I suspect that YouTube assigns a higher value to an edited transcript as it has been reviewed by an actual person, and human review is a major component of Google’s search algorithms. If your video was scripted, then go ahead and paste the script right in there.
Who Has Time for YouTube Metadata?
You probably don’t, which is where we come in. TeeFour Productions not only helps you to create a great video for your business or organization, but we help you craft a YouTube metadata profile that will maximize your exposure and search engine optimization. Get in touch with us to find out how your SEO can extend from your website to your video presentation.