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💡 Quick answer: YouTube descriptions support up to 5,000 characters. Only the first 157 characters are visible before the "Show more" button. The first 157 characters appear in YouTube search results as your snippet — treat them like a meta description for SEO.
YouTube character limits by section
| Section | Character Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Video description | 5,000 characters | Only 157 chars visible before "Show more" |
| Video title | 100 characters | 60 chars visible in search results |
| Channel description | 1,000 characters | About section of your channel |
| Comment | 10,000 characters | Video and community post comments |
| Community post | 1,000 characters | Channel community tab posts |
How to write YouTube descriptions for SEO
YouTube is the world's second-largest search engine, and video descriptions are one of the primary ways YouTube's algorithm understands what your video is about. Use your target keyword naturally in the first 2-3 sentences. The first 157 characters of your description appear in YouTube search results — treat them exactly like a Google meta description.
Do YouTube descriptions help with SEO? ▼
Yes — YouTube descriptions directly influence search rankings on YouTube and can also appear in Google video search results. Detailed, keyword-rich descriptions consistently outperform sparse descriptions in search rankings.
Should I include hashtags in my YouTube description? ▼
Yes — YouTube supports up to 15 hashtags in descriptions. Use 3-5 highly relevant hashtags for best results. More than 15 hashtags causes YouTube to ignore all hashtags in the description.
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