Rising Creators Forum

I've always just put a quick 2-3 sentence description on my videos because writing long descriptions feels like a waste of time. but someone told me i should be writing detailed descriptions for SEO

Does youtube actually read your description and use it for rankings? or is it just for viewers who want more info?

How long should descriptions be and what should I include in them?

I went from detailed descriptions to minimal descriptions and saw no change in my performance whatsoever

my descriptions now are literally just:
- one sentence summary with main keyword
- my social media links
- timestamps

takes me 2 minutes instead of 10 and my views didn't drop at all. youtube is smart enough to know what your video is about from the title and the video content itself

if you're trying to rank in google search (not youtube search) then yeah descriptions might help. but for youtube algorithm recommendations, i really don't think they matter much

spend your time on better thumbnails and video hooks instead. those will actually move the needle on your growth

Descriptions definitely matter for SEO but probably not as much as you'd think. youtube uses them to understand context but your title and the actual video content matter more

here's what i include in every description:
- The first 2 lines are the most important (this shows before "show more"). Make it compelling and include your main keyword
- timestamps for different sections (youtube loves this and it can get you featured in search)
- links to related videos or playlists on my channel
- brief summary of what the video covers

I keep my descriptions around 150-250 words. detailed enough to be useful but not essay-length

The biggest benefit of good descriptions is it can help you rank in google search, not just youtube search. google often pulls youtube videos for certain queries and having keyword-rich descriptions helps with that