As any video creator knows, the first thing YouTube asks you to do when you upload a video is to set a title, description, and tags. We’ve already covered titles—and today we’ll cover descriptions, which are key to both engaging viewers and boosting your search rankings.

Your video description should provide a detailed overview of the video’s content—not only to help viewers understand what they’ll be watching, but also because it plays a huge role in search engine optimization (SEO).

Once you’ve nailed down a firm keyword or keywords (which should also appear in the title), try to include the keyword at the beginning of the description. For example:

Video title:Samsung Galaxy S5 UNBOXING | John’s Tech Reviews

Description: “Today, I’m unboxing the Samsung Galaxy S5 to take a look at the latest Android phone on the market. During this video you’ll hear my first impressions on how the phone feels and functions, and we’ll explore some of the changes to Android 4.3, KitKat.”

As you can see in this example, the keywords—Samsung Galaxy S5—appear in both the title and the description, and description outlines the contents of the video for both viewers and search engines.

Put the most important parts of your description up front. Do a quick Google search to see how much of a YouTube video’s description is visible, and plan accordingly.

Keep your main keyword(s) as close to the beginning of the description as possible.

Include any other relevant keywords from your video that viewers may also search.

Branding your description

In your description, it’s also a good idea to brand your videos by including links to other places where your viewers can find you around the web. Many viewers will discover your content via sources outside YouTube: your website, Facebook, Twitter, a subscribe link, and so on.

Adding this social media info to your video description will help with SEO, inform your viewers what the video is about, and tell them where they can find further updates. For example:

“Today, I’m unboxing the Samsung Galaxy S5 to take a look at the latest Android phone on the market. During this video you’ll hear my first impressions on how the phone feels and functions, and we’ll explore some of the changes to Android 4.3, KitKat.

See other unboxings: [Playlist link]

More from John’s Tech Reviews:

Subscribe on YouTube: [Subscribe link]

Website: [Personal website link]

Facebook: [Fan page link]

Twitter: [Twitter link]

Google+: [Google+ profile link]

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