So, here we are, assuming you are a small business or brand or a vlogger with a Youtube channel. The whole idea behind your producing quality video content is to get your name out there and to do that, you want your videos to rank as high as possible.
After Google, Youtube is the second-biggest search engine, so it makes sense to make sure that you are doing everything that you possibly can to get the best out of it.
What you should be doing:
- Research on keywords
- Renaming video file names from the ones that you saved as to more descriptive names featuring your chosen keyword
- Optimizing your video title and the description of your video
- Looking at what your competitors are doing
The last point is particularly important.
If you know what your competitors are doing, you can use that information to your advantage. You will have an idea of what works well and engages your target audience, which is vital when it comes to marketing and the promotion of your videos.
However, one thing that you cannot do easily on YouTube is to see the tags that other content creators and publishers are using. This is particularly annoying if you can see a video is doing really well, and you want to get an idea of the tags that they are using.
Why are YouTube tags so important?
Tags are there to help your YouTube video be seen by as many people as possible.
YouTube tags are designed to help YouTube understand the content and context of your video. Through this, YouTube can understand the subject and category of your video and affiliate it with similar content that can enhance the reach of your video.
The rise in semantic searches has made YouTube tags less valuable over time, but they are still a crucial strategy element that you should be using to your advantage.
There is a way to see YouTube tags
Above, we said that the one thing that you cannot do easily on YouTube is to see the tags on other creators’ videos. However, here, we have put together a simple-to-follow tutorial so that you can find out how to see YouTube tags.
Let’s take a look.
First of all, access the video page through Chrome or Firefox.
Then, right-click on the page and choose ‘view source
Then, when you are presented with a page of coding, press CTRL and F on your keyboard. This should bring up a search box. In this, type ‘keywords’.
This should then highlight the word keywords, which should be followed by a list of tags that the video content creator has used. In the above example, the keywords used were: video, sharing, camera phone, video phone, free, and upload.
It is fairly straightforward, right?
Well, there are other ways to do it as well, equally as easy to do.
vidIQ Vision for YouTube
vidIQ Vision is a suite of tools on Chrome to help content creators really get to grips and get the most advantage possible out of their YouTube channel. It is a great tool to help you to get more views and to increase the number of subscriptions that you have.
One of the most useful features of the vidIQ Vision Chrome Extension is that it enables you to see the channel tags, video tags, and other valuable information about a video on YouTube. To activate the extension, you need a vidIQ Vision account.
There is a free option available, but like most free options, this does limit you somewhat. You will get much more out of the pro and boost plans.
When you use the vidIQ Vision Chrome Extension to view a YouTube video, your screen will look like the below:
As you can see, there is a lot of information on the right-hand side for you to take on board and use, including the video tags that the video content creator has used.
TubeBuddy Keyword Explorer
vidIQ Vision is not the only tool that is available to help Youtube content creators see the tags of other videos.
TubeBuddy is another one that is readily available. It integrates smoothly into YouTube to help you to get more subscribers and views.
One of the most valuable features is the keyword explorer tool. Just like search engine optimization for Google, YouTube SEO involves careful research of keywords and putting the appropriate tags into the video description.
However, actually finding the tags that are going to go some way to optimize your video content and make your video as visible as possible is pretty tough going. TubeBuddy can help you with this.
Again, there is a lot of valuable information that you can get by using TubeBuddy, including analytics and the best time to publish, but what we are looking for is how to see YouTube tags.
When a video starts, the following screen comes up, which, like the vidIQ Vision tool, shows a list of tags that have been used on the video.
How do you use this information?
Once you have found out how to see YouTube tags on other video content creators’ material, you need to know the best way of using this information to benefit you and your own content and channel.
What you absolutely do not want to be doing is plagiarizing other people’s work- i.e., straight up copying it. This is both legally and ethically dubious and shows a total lack of creativity and respect.
No – what you want to do is examine all of the top-ranking videos for your chosen keyword and look for any similarities and patterns that connect them.
If all of the top-ranking videos for that keyword use a specific tag, well, it makes sense for you to use it as well, doesn’t it?
6 tips for using YouTube tags
1. Use your brand name as a tag in every single video that you create and publish.
When people watch a YouTube video, it then follows up with suggested videos to watch. This algorithm is based on what they have just watched, including the keywords and the tags that have been used. By having a unique tag that is specific to your brand, business, or channel, the chances of your own videos being added to this list of suggested videos are significantly increased. It also helps your video to be more visible on Google and other search engines.
2. Take advantage of the YouTube Auto Suggest tool.
When you are searching for tags, see what YouTube suggests that you use. These are tags that you want to rank for.
3. Use a YouTube tag generator.
These are automated tools that can help you to choose the most appropriate tags for your video content.
4. Type in all of your ideas for tags on a spreadsheet.
Formulate those so that you get an idea of the core terms that you need to build upon. Look at how you can then expand on them – omit the stop words and articles such as ‘a’ and ‘the’. You also need to think about using the plural variant of similar phrases.
5. Do not confuse hashtags and tags.
They are two different things and serve two different purposes. The hashtags go in the description box and are visible, unlike YouTube tags.
6. Do not use too many tags or spammy ones in the description of your video.
It is against YouTube policy and will do the opposite of what you are hoping to achieve. We have explained a bit more about this below.
How many tags can you use on videos?
Now that you know how to see YouTube tags on other video content creators’ channels and you have chosen the right ones for your own videos, it is time to start adding them to your own videos. But how many tags can you use on your video?
YouTube lets you use as many tags as you want, as long as the total character limit for all tags is less than 400 characters (approximately). Usually, most videos should have between five and eight tags.
Be sure to include the terms that are the best descriptors to make it easy for your intended audience to find your video and YouTube to understand its content and context. Take extra care to ensure that your tags do not mislead YouTube users; having spammy and incorrect tags can increase your bounce rate (people clicking straight off your video) and, in doing so, hurt your ranking.
Tags are a vital part of ensuring that your YouTube video is seen by people and, more importantly, the RIGHT people – your target audience. Like everything, research is key, and part of that is looking at tags and finding the ones that your competitors who are successful use.
By knowing how to see YouTube tags, you are well on your way to increased visibility and revenue through your YouTube video content.
