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YouTube Tips YouTube SEO: Hashtags and Youtube Links to Build

Jeffrey Powers

Well-Known Member
TubeBuddy Legend
236
16
First of all, if you can get your vanity URL in YouTube, do it. You need 100 subs, channel is 30 days old, and you uploaded artwork.

It's important to link back into YouTube as much as possible. Just like with a website, placing a few internal links to other pages, posts, and categories keeps people on your site longer. In the last year, YouTube has been building up their internal linking system. This process can make older videos pop again, and build your internal SEO system.

Here are two ways to do that:

#Hashtags

Use up to 8 hashtags in your videos (NO more than 15 - Youtube will react to lots of tags). The Hashtag is not a Tag, and shouldn't be duplicating tags. Also keeping it simple #LongerHashtagsDoNothingForYou Good hashtags can be:
  1. #audio
  2. #Youtubetips
  3. #selfhelp
  4. #askmeanything
Hashtags also work in comments, so it's important to scan your comments from time to time (although you should do that regularly).

@Youtube Links

@Geekazine will now head to my YouTube page. If you use @ to promote a Twitter handle, it might go to a page that is not relevant to content in your video.

Right now, if you start a @name, it will show a drop-down of channels, which you have to select a name for it to activate. In the future, I fully expect that to change to instant resolve. If you want to promote someone's Twitter account, then it's best to type out Https://twitter.com/geekazine.

With that said, Finding other YouTube channels to link to is a great way to cross-reference. It also adds to searches on your channel, because if you do a lot of @Adobe videos, someone searching for content will have a better chance they find your content.

Not all channels work - any channel without a vanity URL won't resolve, so that is one reason why you should pick up your URL once you can.

Adding these options to your top 10 videos could give it a new life. I always spend an hour a week to look at older content, and update it for the algorithm to improve views.

Let me know your success stories for adding these two into your videos.
 

TubeBuddy

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First of all, if you can get your vanity URL in YouTube, do it. You need 100 subs, channel is 30 days old, and you uploaded artwork.

It's important to link back into YouTube as much as possible. Just like with a website, placing a few internal links to other pages, posts, and categories keeps people on your site longer. In the last year, YouTube has been building up their internal linking system. This process can make older videos pop again, and build your internal SEO system.

Here are two ways to do that:

#Hashtags

Use up to 8 hashtags in your videos (NO more than 15 - Youtube will react to lots of tags). The Hashtag is not a Tag, and shouldn't be duplicating tags. Also keeping it simple #LongerHashtagsDoNothingForYou Good hashtags can be:
  1. #audio
  2. #Youtubetips
  3. #selfhelp
  4. #askmeanything
Hashtags also work in comments, so it's important to scan your comments from time to time (although you should do that regularly).

@Youtube Links

@Geekazine will now head to my YouTube page. If you use @ to promote a Twitter handle, it might go to a page that is not relevant to content in your video.

Right now, if you start a @name, it will show a drop-down of channels, which you have to select a name for it to activate. In the future, I fully expect that to change to instant resolve. If you want to promote someone's Twitter account, then it's best to type out Https://twitter.com/geekazine.

With that said, Finding other YouTube channels to link to is a great way to cross-reference. It also adds to searches on your channel, because if you do a lot of @Adobe videos, someone searching for content will have a better chance they find your content.

Not all channels work - any channel without a vanity URL won't resolve, so that is one reason why you should pick up your URL once you can.

Adding these options to your top 10 videos could give it a new life. I always spend an hour a week to look at older content, and update it for the algorithm to improve views.

Let me know your success stories for adding these two into your videos.

I'd also be sure to add them at the end of your description since YT is looking for matches in that first 200 characters. I also have been doing tests on hashtags and the results are mixed at best. They seem to be more for people searching for stuff, so I'm curious how people will find how they're working. THIS is good advice though :) (Don't mislead with hashtags since that is against TOS) Thread gets a sticky!
 

Niki Proshin

Known Member
118
9
Are hashtags actually that useful? When I watch youtube (as a viewer, not creator) I never actually use hashtags to search for content. Nor my friends do.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: Hitesh@s

IanDominicTV

Renowned Poster
TubeBuddy User
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First of all, if you can get your vanity URL in YouTube, do it. You need 100 subs, channel is 30 days old, and you uploaded artwork.

It's important to link back into YouTube as much as possible. Just like with a website, placing a few internal links to other pages, posts, and categories keeps people on your site longer. In the last year, YouTube has been building up their internal linking system. This process can make older videos pop again, and build your internal SEO system.

Here are two ways to do that:

#Hashtags

Use up to 8 hashtags in your videos (NO more than 15 - Youtube will react to lots of tags). The Hashtag is not a Tag, and shouldn't be duplicating tags. Also keeping it simple #LongerHashtagsDoNothingForYou Good hashtags can be:
  1. #audio
  2. #Youtubetips
  3. #selfhelp
  4. #askmeanything
Hashtags also work in comments, so it's important to scan your comments from time to time (although you should do that regularly).

@Youtube Links

@Geekazine will now head to my YouTube page. If you use @ to promote a Twitter handle, it might go to a page that is not relevant to content in your video.

Right now, if you start a @name, it will show a drop-down of channels, which you have to select a name for it to activate. In the future, I fully expect that to change to instant resolve. If you want to promote someone's Twitter account, then it's best to type out Https://twitter.com/geekazine.

With that said, Finding other YouTube channels to link to is a great way to cross-reference. It also adds to searches on your channel, because if you do a lot of @Adobe videos, someone searching for content will have a better chance they find your content.

Not all channels work - any channel without a vanity URL won't resolve, so that is one reason why you should pick up your URL once you can.

Adding these options to your top 10 videos could give it a new life. I always spend an hour a week to look at older content, and update it for the algorithm to improve views.

Let me know your success stories for adding these two into your videos.

I always thought I'm allowed to use up to 3 hashtags in a video.
 
OP
OP
Jeffrey Powers

Jeffrey Powers

Well-Known Member
TubeBuddy Legend
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Last edited by a moderator:

Stanley | Team TB

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Well said sir, this is an excellent article. Found the information EXTREMELY insightful.

Would you mind if I requested a detailed description of how to link your social media via a hashtag? I don't use them often, and this is something I am trying to improve upon but my knowledge is rudimentary.
 
OP
OP
Jeffrey Powers

Jeffrey Powers

Well-Known Member
TubeBuddy Legend
236
16
Well said sir, this is an excellent article. Found the information EXTREMELY insightful.

Would you mind if I requested a detailed description of how to link your social media via a hashtag? I don't use them often, and this is something I am trying to improve upon but my knowledge is rudimentary.
I'll try to help.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Stanley | Team TB

ScenicSitesAndBites

Active Member
TubeBuddy Pro
28
7
Subscriber Goal
500000
I have never used hashtags because I didn't think they were relevant for YouTube. Thanks for these great tips! I'm going to go back to my videos and add them now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SoyManuelMedina

SoyManuelMedina

Active Member
TubeBuddy User
37
8
Thank you for the official post from YouTube, I was overusing my hashtags.

@Niki Proshin the hashtag search is more than just clicks. It's also a form of cataloging. People search hashtags for popularity all the time. Doesn't matter if YouTube or Google.

@IanDominicTV YES! More than 3. Here is the help link on Hashtags: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6390658?hl=en#:~:text=Add hashtags to your videos,show above the video title.

I made a video about these three items. You can watch it here:
 

Uncle Momo

Familiar Member
59
7
www.youtube.com
Subscriber Goal
1000
First of all, if you can get your vanity URL in YouTube, do it. You need 100 subs, channel is 30 days old, and you uploaded artwork.

It's important to link back into YouTube as much as possible. Just like with a website, placing a few internal links to other pages, posts, and categories keeps people on your site longer. In the last year, YouTube has been building up their internal linking system. This process can make older videos pop again, and build your internal SEO system.

Here are two ways to do that:

#Hashtags

Use up to 8 hashtags in your videos (NO more than 15 - Youtube will react to lots of tags). The Hashtag is not a Tag, and shouldn't be duplicating tags. Also keeping it simple #LongerHashtagsDoNothingForYou Good hashtags can be:
  1. #audio
  2. #Youtubetips
  3. #selfhelp
  4. #askmeanything
Hashtags also work in comments, so it's important to scan your comments from time to time (although you should do that regularly).

@Youtube Links

@Geekazine will now head to my YouTube page. If you use @ to promote a Twitter handle, it might go to a page that is not relevant to content in your video.

Right now, if you start a @name, it will show a drop-down of channels, which you have to select a name for it to activate. In the future, I fully expect that to change to instant resolve. If you want to promote someone's Twitter account, then it's best to type out Https://twitter.com/geekazine.

With that said, Finding other YouTube channels to link to is a great way to cross-reference. It also adds to searches on your channel, because if you do a lot of @Adobe videos, someone searching for content will have a better chance they find your content.

Not all channels work - any channel without a vanity URL won't resolve, so that is one reason why you should pick up your URL once you can.

Adding these options to your top 10 videos could give it a new life. I always spend an hour a week to look at older content, and update it for the algorithm to improve views.

Let me know your success stories for adding these two into your videos.

how do get access to my old uploads on TubeBuddy to improve my hashtags? IΓÇÖm using my mobile phone (Iphone)
 

SILTHW

Professional cat wrangler
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how do get access to my old uploads on TubeBuddy to improve my hashtags? IΓÇÖm using my mobile phone (Iphone)
You can adjust the description via YT Studio if all you are doing is adding hashtags
 

Jbrame

Active Member
TubeBuddy User
36
8
Subscriber Goal
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WeΓÇÖre striving for our 100 subs right now for this exact reason, so we can get our vanity url! My biggest struggle though is getting that 100 subs.
 

golfwithjohn

Active Member
37
5
Subscriber Goal
100
Thanks for the post. Great use of hashtags and something I should start doing. Loved the idea of going back to older post and refreshing those to give it new life +views :D.

Question about your links to YT. Does it matter if I use a service like Bit.ly to shorten them? Will this have a negative impact?
 

schoolofselfmade

New Member
16
3
Subscriber Goal
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Question about your links to YT. Does it matter if I use a service like Bit.ly to shorten them? Will this have a negative impact?

Curious about this as well. Have been reading that link shorteners aren't as effective as they once were. Not sure if that's true or not.
 

Melanie

Recognized Member
TubeBuddy Legend
95
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@Jeffrey Powers May I quote your OP in a forum where I'm a community manager? This is an incredibly helpful post. I would link your YouTube channel and this forum post as a source. I think it would be really helpful. It's a private group so it won't get indexed by Google and hurt the SEO of this forum. If you would like the name of the group, I'll share that with you. I just didn't want to shout it out like I'm trying to promote it. :)
 
OP
OP
Jeffrey Powers

Jeffrey Powers

Well-Known Member
TubeBuddy Legend
236
16
@Jeffrey Powers May I quote your OP in a forum where I'm a community manager? This is an incredibly helpful post. I would link your YouTube channel and this forum post as a source. I think it would be really helpful. It's a private group so it won't get indexed by Google and hurt the SEO of this forum. If you would like the name of the group, I'll share that with you. I just didn't want to shout it out like I'm trying to promote it. :)
Absolutely!