How to Write YouTube Titles, Descriptions and Tags That Get Found
By Elhano Creator Tools editorial team · Published 26 October 2026
Your title, description, tags and hashtags are the text YouTube and viewers use to understand a video. They don't matter equally. This guide ranks them by impact, gives the exact limits from YouTube's documentation, and offers a repeatable routine for every upload.
The limits at a glance
| Field | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Title | 100 characters | Can't contain < or > |
| Description | 5,000 bytes | Bytes, not characters: emojis and many non-Latin letters use 2–4 bytes each |
| Tags | 500 characters in total | Commas count; a tag with a space costs 2 extra for quotation marks |
| Hashtags | More than 60 and all are ignored | The first 3 can show above the title |
Title, description and tag limits come from the YouTube Data API videos reference; hashtag rules from YouTube's hashtag help page. Check any text against them with our character counter.
1. Titles: the most important text
The title appears everywhere your video does. A good one is clear first and clever second.
- Lead with the topic. Titles get cut off on many screens. Keep the key words in roughly the first 60 characters.
- Use the words people search. YouTube's search autocomplete shows real phrasing. “How to fix a leaking tap” beats “Drip drip no more”.
- Be specific about the payoff. A number, a timeframe or a result makes the promise concrete.
- Don't mislead. YouTube's spam policy covers titles and thumbnails that misrepresent content, and viewers who feel tricked leave quickly.
- Avoid ALL CAPS and stacked punctuation. One emphasised word is plenty.
Before: “MY HONEST THOUGHTS AFTER USING IT FOR A WHILE!!!” (no topic, all caps).
After: “Kindle Paperwhite After 1 Year: Honest Review” (topic first, specific, 44 characters).
Test drafts with the YouTube title checker, which flags length, truncation, capitals and keyword position.
2. Descriptions: context for viewers and search
The first one or two lines show under the video before “more”, so treat them like a second title: say what the video covers in a natural sentence that includes your main phrase. Then add:
- a short summary of what's covered, written for people, not keyword lists;
- chapters (timestamps starting at 0:00) for longer videos, which also help viewers jump to sections;
- links to related videos, playlists and resources mentioned in the video;
- required disclosures, such as affiliate links or paid promotion.
Remember the limit is 5,000 bytes. A description in a language with non-Latin script, or full of emojis, hits the limit with far fewer than 5,000 characters.
3. Tags: small but useful for misspellings
YouTube's tags help page says tags play a minimal role in discovery and are most useful when your content is commonly misspelled. So keep them short and accurate: the main phrase, alternative spellings, a couple of synonyms. The YouTube tag generator builds an ordered list and counts it exactly the way YouTube does, so you never go over 500.
4. Hashtags: visible and clickable
Hashtags go in the title or description and link to a page of videos with the same tag. If the title has none, the first three from the description appear above the title. Use a few specific ones; more than 60 and YouTube ignores them all. Hashtags must relate to the video. Make a set with the hashtag generator.
A routine for every upload
- Write the title with the topic in the first few words; check it's under about 60 characters if possible.
- Write a two-line opening for the description that a viewer would find useful.
- Add chapters, links and disclosures.
- Add 5–15 tags, including misspellings.
- Add 2–3 hashtags.
- After a few days, check impressions click-through rate in Analytics and revise the title or thumbnail if it's low.
The thumbnail matters as much as the title. See our thumbnail size guide.