Updated: Apr 17
YouTube hashtags are keywords preceded by “#” symbols that are used to categorize videos and make them easier to discover on YouTube. YouTube hashtags were first introduced in 2016 as a way to categorize content on the platform. Initially, only a limited number of users had access to this feature, but it was later rolled out to all users. Since then, hashtags have become a crucial part of video optimization on YouTube.
Adding hashtags to your content is an essential part of a business’s YouTube marketing strategy—they help users find content related to a specific topic or trend, and allow content creators to reach a wider audience by increasing the visibility of their videos. By including relevant hashtags in their video descriptions, businesses can attract and engage with potential customers searching for specific content on the platform.
Learn more about how to create a successful YouTube channel.
Relevance: Ensure that the hashtags used are relevant to the content of the video.
Diversity: Use a mix of broad and niche hashtags to reach a wider audience.
Specificity: Use specific hashtags to target audiences with particular interests.
Trending: Incorporate trending or popular hashtags to capitalize on current events or topics.
Consistency: Use the same set of hashtags across all videos for brand consistency and recognition
Choosing the right YouTube hashtags can benefit a business’s social media marketing efforts in the following ways:
Increased visibility and discoverability of videos
Improved search rankings and SEO
Driving traffic to their website and other social media platforms through cross-promotion
Building engagement and YouTube communities around specific topics or interests
Hashtags should be relevant to a business’s YouTube content, SEO keywords and industry trends. For example, a makeup brand will use hashtags such as # beauty, # makeup, and # skincare to reach a wider audience interested in those topics. They can also add hashtags they know are trending, such as # makeuptutorial. A sports equipment retailer, as another example, should use hashtags such as # fitness, # running and # outdoors to target their desired audience, while looking out for popular fitness challenges with trending hashtags.
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01. Limit the number of hashtags: Use no more than 15 hashtags per video to avoid appearing spammy.
02. Do your research: Research trending or popular hashtags relevant to the video content.
03. Use succinct keywords: Keep your hashtags concise and easy to read.
04. Create a unique hashtag for your brand: Incorporate branded hashtags to build brand recognition and loyalty.
05. Keep hashtags up-to-date: Update or revise hashtag strategy regularly based on performance metrics.
06. Revisit your strategy: Analyzing performance metrics on a consistent basis will help to refine future hashtag strategies.
With any marketing strategy, one challenge of using hashtags is that they can become oversaturated or irrelevant over time. Additionally, using too many hashtags can be perceived as spammy and turn off potential viewers. To overcome these challenges, businesses should research and regularly update their hashtag strategy and limit the number of hashtags used in each video.