YouTube · 3 min read
YouTube Tags vs Keywords
Two different things that get used interchangeably, and why the distinction changes what you write.
The difference
A keyword is a phrase a person types into search. A tag is a metadata label attached to your video. Keywords belong in the title, the description and the words you actually say on camera. Tags belong in the tag field, where viewers never see them.
Confusing the two produces two common mistakes: stuffing the description with tag-like fragments, and writing tags as though they were titles.
Where each one belongs
Put your primary keyword near the start of the title and repeat it naturally in the first two lines of the description, because those lines are what search results display. Say it out loud in the video too — automatic captions are indexed.
Put spelling variants, disambiguation terms and series identifiers in the tag field. This is the place for 'mirrorless' as well as 'mirror-less', or for clarifying that your video about 'python' is about the language.
Working with both
Decide the keyword first, then derive the tags from it. If you build tags first you end up with a list that never quite matches the video's actual promise. Extracting terms from your finished script is a reliable way to keep the two aligned.