YouTube Tag Generator

What YouTube says about tags

YouTube Help is clear that tags are a small part of discovery (Add tags to your YouTube videos):

• Your video’s title, thumbnail and description are more important pieces of metadata for discovery.
• Tags can be useful if your content is commonly misspelled. Otherwise, they play a minimal role.
• Adding excessive tags to your video description is against YouTube’s policies on spam, deceptive practices and scams.

So spend most of your time on the title, thumbnail and description, then add a few accurate tags in a minute or two. That is what this tool is for.

How to use the YouTube tag generator

1. Enter the main topic in the words a viewer would type into search.
2. Add your title and any other keywords you use in the video.
3. Add common misspellings of names, brands or words in your topic. This is the case YouTube says tags help with most.
4. Pick the video type to get matching variations (tutorial, review, tips and so on).
5. Remove anything that isn’t accurate, copy the list and paste it into Tags in YouTube Studio.

YouTube tag rules and limits

What makes a good set of tags

• Accurate: every tag describes what is actually in the video. Misleading metadata breaks YouTube’s spam policy.
• Specific first: the main topic, then a few close variations (“sourdough bread for beginners”).
• Misspellings and alternatives: “sour dough”, a brand name spelled two ways, or the local name for a dish.
• Short: a handful of good tags beats 40 loose ones.
• Your channel name can help viewers who search for it find your other videos.

Example

For a tutorial titled “How to Make Sourdough Bread at Home”, the default example above gives: sourdough bread, sourdough starter, no knead bread, sour dough, how to make sourdough bread at home, sourdough bread tutorial, sourdough bread for beginners, sourdough bread step by step and easy sourdough bread. That is about 220 characters, well under the commonly reported limit.

Common tag mistakes

• Copying a competitor’s tags that don’t describe your video.
• Pasting a keyword list into the description. YouTube says this goes against its policies.
• Tagging trending topics that aren’t in the video.
• Spending an hour on tags and five minutes on the title and thumbnail. YouTube says the title, thumbnail and description matter more.

Write the words that matter more with our YouTube title generator and YouTube description generator, and check your thumbnail with the YouTube thumbnail size guide. Growing a channel? Read how to get more YouTube subscribers. Want it done for you? Our YouTube management team handles titles, descriptions and tags; start with a free social media audit.