YouTube Question Possible 'Duplicate Content' & Multiple Playlists

[ChrisDinUK]

Hi team - your views please on the following - greatly appreciated:

• I have a YouTube channel with several Playlists.
• I created all the content.
• I would like to take an already uploaded video belonging to Playlist-A, and....
• ... add the same video to Playlist-B (so the video is in 2 x Playlists at same time.

So far as I know, the above is okay, no problem. I now want to go further:

• I really want to have different descriptions for the video in each playlist.
• The only way I can think of doing this is by uploading the video again - so two copies exist, one in each Playlist.
• Each would have different tags and different descriptions (which I can easily justify - no trickery involved)

Is this second bit going to give me a duplicate content problem? (The videos themselves would be identical - just different Playlists, tags & descriptions).

Thanks

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

You are able to have a video in multiple playlists... not only is that ok but i would encourage it in order to fill your homepage with more playlist options for your audience.

Unfortunately you will have duplicate content issues if you upload the video a second time simply to change the description for the purpose of a being added to a different playlist.

 

[ChrisDinUK]

You are able to have a video in multiple playlists... not only is that ok but i would encourage it in order to fill your homepage with more playlist options for your audience.

Unfortunately you will have duplicate content issues if you upload the video a second time simply to change the description for the purpose of a being added to a different playlist.

Thanks Stanley, that seems very unfair, as (a) it's my work and (b) it's capable of carrying a different message to a different audience. For example, I could embed the same video into two different blog posts, with each post addressing a different point for a different audience. How shortsighted of YouTube - I'm surprised and rather disappointed - however, I'm very grateful for your comment. Thank you very much for the update and education. Greatly appreciated.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

My pleasure, good luck!

 

[Beanie Draws]

Hi team - your views please on the following - greatly appreciated:

• I have a YouTube channel with several Playlists.
• I created all the content.
• I would like to take an already uploaded video belonging to Playlist-A, and....
• ... add the same video to Playlist-B (so the video is in 2 x Playlists at same time.

So far as I know, the above is okay, no problem. I now want to go further:

• I really want to have different descriptions for the video in each playlist.
• The only way I can think of doing this is by uploading the video again - so two copies exist, one in each Playlist.
• Each would have different tags and different descriptions (which I can easily justify - no trickery involved)

Is this second bit going to give me a duplicate content problem? (The videos themselves would be identical - just different Playlists, tags & descriptions).

Thanks

I have several videos featured in several playlists (so long as they're relevant) the only thing to be "careful" of is depending on the video order of your playlist, you could have the same video act as the "cover" of several playlists which will give them a repetitive vibe to audiences, so it's better practice to swap the order of some of the videos in some of your playlists so that the video at the top of the playlist order, which is also technically your cover for that playlist, is a bit differant.



So I have 2 indoraptor playlists, one is for tutorials, one is for general videos, and this video also fits into a spinosaurus playlist as well. If this video was at the top of each of these playlists, it would also act as the cover



So my most recent video is a velociraptor tutorial, and it also fits into my velociraptor tutorial collection playlist, but see how it's doubled now? I'd be better off swapping my velociraptor tutorial collection video to a different video at the top


Using the two lines next to the thumbnail, you can resort the videos


I've now re-shuffled my videos around so that my newest video is a little lower, and my better performing video is at the top (which works out strategically better anyway)



Same playlist, but thanks to re-sorting the order of the videos inside the playlist, the thumbnail/cover of the playlist is now different and doesn't look so repetitive.

So you can have any of your videos show up in as many of your own playlists as you want, but be strategic and smart about it.

 

[ChrisDinUK]

@Beanie Draws thanks for your response. If I read you right, you're commenting on having one video appear in multiple playlists. This connects with the first set of bullet points in my original post. I'm with you - totally possible.

I really wanted to focus attention on the follow-on question - the issue (or not) of creating duplicate content by having a copy of a video with different title,description and tags. Why would I want to do this? Because I have videos that can be used to illustrate different points.

For example, you might have a choral music video that could illustrate both the harmonies of the singers (say), or the way in which the conductor is leading them. So, one might want to make a detailed analysis of each of these two points - using the same video as the illustration - and then tag each description (analysis) differently - give them each a different title, and upload *both* videos to different playlists, e.g. #harmony-singing and #conductor-techniques.

As I understand it, YouTube's definition of what constitutes a total 'video' is fact: (Video_file + Title + Tags + Description). Therefore, if you leave the 'Video_file' the same and alter the other components you have a different 'video' from YouTube's perspective.

My question is: would this give me a duplicate content issue?

@Stanley Orchard is clear: Yes, it would. As per my response to Stanley, that's a bit of a shame, simply because I can see many reasons for wanting to use the same video to make different points, and it seems that YouTube doesn't want us doing that - great pity. I find that quite a constriction on the overall usefulness of the medium.

Any additional thoughts and views welcomed, but Stanley seems to have hit the nail on the head, if I've understood everything correctly.

 

[SILTHW]

I really wanted to focus attention on the follow-on question - the issue (or not) of creating duplicate content by having a copy of a video with different title,description and tags. Why would I want to do this? Because I have videos that can be used to illustrate different points.

I'd certainly defer to @Beanie Draws and @Stanley Orchard but if seems like you could edit slightly different versions to accomplish what you are talking about. For example, cut a different intro, do different inserts, overlays and comments. I know that's non-trivial work, but it seems like a way to get maximum reuse out of your content while adding enough variation that it doesn't feel like duplicate content.

 

[ChrisDinUK]

Yep - I agree with you there @SILTHW - I was rather hoping to get away without making any edits at all... which seems unlikely. It's a shame to have work added to the backlog simply to satisfy social media rules. There will be occasions when it'll easier to crank out a new video, rather then editing the existing one. My objective is to get my message in front of my audience, as opposed to making beautiful videos. Anyway, as you say, those that know seem to have given clear advice on this. It was news to me and I'm grateful for the learning - a deffo "+1" for the forum. Thanks for your comment. Chris

 

[SILTHW]

Yep - I agree with you there @SILTHW - I was rather hoping to get away without making any edits at all... which seems unlikely. It's a shame to have work added to the backlog simply to satisfy social media rules. There will be occasions when it'll easier to crank out a new video, rather then editing the existing one. My objective is to get my message in front of my audience, as opposed to making beautiful videos. Anyway, as you say, those that know seem to have given clear advice on this. It was news to me and I'm grateful for the learning - a deffo "+1" for the forum. Thanks for your comment. Chris

FWIW, right now I do two versions of each episode of my podcast. I do a video version then an edit that becomes audio-only for syndication to the major podcasting platforms. I'm actually adding a 3rd version for LinkedIn as an experiment over the next 3 episodes. It adds about 10 minutes to my recording time and about 15 minutes to my edit time.

It IS a trade off, but getting 2-3 variations for 20-25 minutes of extra work feels worth it to me. But only time will tell.

 

[ChrisDinUK]

Good approach - like the idea and thank you for sharing. My videos are me in front of a white board - so visuals and audio are very 'integrated'. You've got me thinking though - for future, could I just add an 'audio-only' afterwards, that would get edited out into a podcast? Good idea. Thinking cap on. Thanks, Chris

 

[SILTHW]

Good approach - like the idea and thank you for sharing. My videos are me in front of a white board - so visuals and audio are very 'integrated'. You've got me thinking though - for future, could I just add an 'audio-only' afterwards, that would get edited out into a podcast? Good idea. Thinking cap on. Thanks, Chris

This is not an affiliate plug, it is a genuine recommendation. Check out anchor.fm. It is the meta syndication service owned by Spotify. You upload to them and they distribute it to all of the major podcast platforms. It is 100%, no strings attached free. I know that doesn't seem possible, but it is true.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Man... I would say that the real tragedy here is the inability to make this happen without the need for a second upload!

 

[SILTHW]

Man... I would say that the real tragedy here is the inability to make this happen without the need for a second upload!

One of my big YouTube wish-list items would be the ability to upload content and replace content at markers without losing views. So, for example, being able to change your entire end content (audio-video included), change out an old bumper for a new bumper, add a new disclaimer at the beginning, etc.

 

[Stanley | Team TB]

Ive never used the YouTube editor, but I agree. It would be SOOO nice to have a MovieMaker quality editing option after upload. I know that is a lot to ask for... but WHAT a difference that would make for copyright claims, dated videos etc. Lot of value for such a trivial tool.

 

[MyBlocksStrongestMan]

You are able to have a video in multiple playlists... not only is that ok but i would encourage it in order to fill your homepage with more playlist options for your audience.

Unfortunately you will have duplicate content issues if you upload the video a second time simply to change the description for the purpose of a being added to a different playlist.

By "duplicate content issues" do we mean that it won't upload successfully or that YouTube could issue a strike? If this was already answered elsewhere, please feel free to point me there.

 

[ChrisDinUK]

Nothing to do with upload difficulties (not encountered any - that works fine).

My question is relates purely to YouTube taking some form of action against someone having duplicate videos with different titles, tags, and descriptions. (On the basis that such a set-up would be interpreted as 'duplicate content'). The answers above indicate that this is *not* a good thing to do.