Good YouTube titles and descriptions tell a searcher what a video shows before they click. YouTube's Help pages say the title, thumbnail and description matter more for discovery than tags, which play a minimal role unless your subject is often misspelled. For a business, write the title in the words people search, open the description with what the video is and who it is for, and add a few specific hashtags. Videngine writes all of this for each cut.
What each field does, according to YouTube
YouTube's Help pages rank the fields plainly: title, thumbnail and description first for discovery, tags last.
Title. YouTube's Edit video settings page sets a limit of 100 characters. Its tips for video descriptions suggest choosing one or two main words that describe the video and using them in both the title and the description.
Description. A description can run to 5,000 characters, but the first few lines carry it: they are what viewers see before “Show more”. YouTube also asks for a unique description on every video, which helps it turn up in search and stand apart from similar videos.
Tags. YouTube's page on tags says they help if your video's content is commonly misspelled and otherwise play a minimal role in discovery. It also warns that adding excessive tags to a video description is against its policies on spam, deceptive practices and scams.
Hashtags. According to YouTube's hashtag page, up to three of the hashtags in a description, the ones considered most engaging, appear by the video title. A video with more than 60 hashtags has every one ignored, hashtags contain no spaces, and hashtags unrelated to the video can lead to its removal.
Chapters. YouTube recommends chapters to help viewers navigate longer videos. A two-minute video made from one page rarely needs them; for a longer cut, check YouTube's chapter requirements first.
That is most of YouTube SEO for business: accurate words in the right fields.
YouTube titles and descriptions, field by field
Each field has one job and one limit, and a good entry is simply one that describes the video. The examples use a retailer's product page for a 120 cm oak folding desk.
| Field | What it is for | Limit, per YouTube Help | Good business example | Bad example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Says what the video shows, in the words people search | 100 characters | Oak folding desk 120 cm: size, storage and set-up | You won't believe this desk; or OAK-DSK-120_final_v2 |
| First lines of the description | Say what the video is and who it is for, before “Show more” | Part of the 5,000 | A two-minute look at our 120 cm oak folding desk, for anyone working from a small room. | Welcome back to the channel, and don't forget to subscribe. |
| Rest of the description | Facts, the link to the source page, related videos | 5,000 characters in total | Dimensions, materials, a link to the product page and a playlist of desks | The same paragraph on every upload, or the whole product page pasted in |
| Hashtags | Link the video to hashtag results; up to three show by the title | More than 60 and all are ignored; no spaces | #FoldingDesk #SmallSpaceOffice #OakDesk | #desk #sale #viral #best and forty more; “#oak desk” with a space |
| Tags | Catch misspellings and other names for the same thing | None stated on the tags page; a minimal role | foldable desk, fold-away desk, foldaway desk, OAK-DSK-120 | Every product you sell, or the tag list pasted into the description |
The good examples are plain on purpose: they use the words a buyer would type. For which pages deserve a video at all, see the YouTube video maker guide for businesses.
Give the Short and the long-form cut different angles
A Short and a long-form cut of the same page are watched in different moments, so each needs its own title: the Short leads with one fact worth stopping for, the long-form cut with what people search.
Videngine typically renders two cuts per source, 9:16 and 16:9, and one title for both wastes one of them. Shorts versus long-form videos covers which a business needs, and the YouTube Shorts maker guide covers making the vertical cut from a page.
| Element | Short (9:16) | Long-form (16:9) |
|---|---|---|
| Angle | One fact or feature worth stopping for | The full answer to a search |
| Example title | This oak desk folds to 9 cm deep | Oak folding desk 120 cm: size, storage and set-up for small rooms |
| Title length | Readable in one glance; Videngine keeps it to 60 characters | Main words first; YouTube allows up to 100 characters |
| Description opening | Who it is for, and where the full details are | What the video covers and who it is for |
| Chapters | Not needed | Only if the cut is long enough to have parts |
A YouTube description template for business videos
Put the answer first, the facts second and the links last, so the lines viewers see before “Show more” already say what the video is.
[What this video shows], for [who it is for], in one sentence.
[One more line using the one or two main words people search.]
What you'll see
• [Fact from the page: size, model, year, location or version]
• [Fact from the page]
• [Fact from the page]
Full details: [link to the page this video was made from]
More like this: [link to a playlist]
[Channel line from your default description]
#SpecificHashtag #SpecificHashtag #SpecificHashtagTake the facts from the source page, and leave out anything that changes often, such as a price, unless someone owns updating it. YouTube's tips also suggest a default description for channel information on every upload, and bullet lists for readability. Hashtags can go last: YouTube picks up to three from the description to show by the title.
A checklist before you publish
Run the same ten checks on every video, whether a person or a tool wrote the metadata.
- The title says what the video shows, in the source page's words, within 100 characters.
- The one or two main words appear in the title and in the first line of the description.
- The first line says what the video is and who it is for, and still makes sense when cut off.
- Every fact in the title and description is on the source page today: model, size, location, availability.
- The description is unique to this video, not a template with the title swapped in.
- The description links to the page the video was made from.
- There are three to five hashtags, each specific to this video and written without spaces.
- Tags cover misspellings and other names for the subject, and none are pasted into the description.
- The Short and the long-form cut have different titles.
- Privacy and any synthetic-content disclosure are set before the video goes public.
How Videngine writes the metadata for each cut
Videngine writes the YouTube metadata at the script step, separately for the Short and the long-form cut, from the same source page as the narration.
- Title: a different angle for each cut, with the Shorts title kept to 60 characters.
- Description: a first sentence, under 150 characters, that says what the video is and who it is for.
- Hashtags: three to five, specific to the video, far below the 60 at which YouTube ignores them all.
- Search tags: eight to fifteen. Read them as YouTube does: useful for misspellings, minor otherwise.
Because the metadata and the narration come from one source, their facts match, and every video is reviewed in the studio before it goes out. A channel Owner connects the channel once. Approved videos are queued one at a time, all at once, or automatically on approval, and uploads are resumable and paced within YouTube's daily upload allowance. Privacy (public, unlisted or private) and synthetic-content disclosure are settings. More in the YouTube video creator for businesses hub.
On your own site, when Videngine publishes a video into the page it was made from, it writes VideoObject structured data with a name and description, part of the wider video SEO work of getting the video found in Google too.
When to write metadata by hand
Write metadata by hand when the title is part of the creative work: launches, flagship videos, topical videos and anything presenter-led or not in English.
- Launches and flagship videos. When the wording is a brand decision, a person should make it.
- Presenter-led channels. Videngine has no avatars or on-camera presenters, and those titles trade on a personality.
- Topical videos. A response to news needs a title written that day.
- Other languages. Videngine narrates in English only.
- A handful of videos a year. YouTube Studio is enough, with the Research tab in YouTube Analytics that YouTube's tips suggest for finding keywords.
Videngine is also the wrong tool if you already have finished videos and only need titles: its metadata comes with the video it renders, and it is not a standalone YouTube title generator. For existing uploads, use a title generator for options and YouTube Studio to edit, and check each against the facts.
YouTube titles and descriptions: questions
How long should YouTube titles and descriptions be?
YouTube allows titles of up to 100 characters and descriptions of up to 5,000. Most business videos need far less: lead the title with the main words and say what the video is in the description's first line. Videngine keeps Shorts titles to 60 characters.
Do YouTube tags still matter?
A little. YouTube's Help page says tags play a minimal role in discovery and help most when your video's content is commonly misspelled. The title, thumbnail and description matter more.
How many hashtags should a YouTube video have?
A few specific ones. YouTube shows up to three hashtags by the video title and ignores every hashtag on a video that has more than 60. Videngine writes three to five per cut.
Is there a good YouTube description template for business videos?
Yes: one sentence on what the video shows and who it is for, a few facts from the source page, a link to that page, your channel line, then a few hashtags. Keep each description unique, as YouTube's tips advise.
Should a business use a YouTube title generator?
For ideas, yes. Check each suggestion against the facts on the source page and keep the plain one a buyer would type. A title that promises what the video does not show costs you the viewer's trust.
Choose your next step
Go wider on YouTube, or put the same video to work on your own site.
Get the metadata with the video.
Bring one page that deserves a video and the channel it belongs on. Videngine writes the script, then a title, description, hashtags and tags for the Short and the long-form cut, and you review each video before it goes out. Choosing a plan joins the launch list; there is no charge today.
Join the waitlist ↗Published by Videngine, a video rendering product built and run by Wall & Fifth. External links refer to the original documentation or product descriptions; examples are illustrative unless stated otherwise.