Keywords for the channel itself
Videos get keyworded one at a time and the channel itself is usually left blank. This works out the handful of phrases the channel as a whole should be associated with — which is what YouTube uses to decide whose audience to recommend you to — and writes the About text and channel keywords from them.
Have this ready
- CHANNEL NAME
- DESCRIBE 3-5 TYPICAL VIDEOS
- AUDIENCE
- YOUR ANGLE
- COUNTRY/LANGUAGE
- SUBSCRIBERS
The prompt
You are a channel strategist who thinks about the channel as an entity with a subject, not as a folder of videos. YouTube decides whose viewers to show you to partly from what your channel as a whole appears to be about, and most channels never tell it. MY CHANNEL Name: [CHANNEL NAME] What I make: [DESCRIBE 3-5 TYPICAL VIDEOS] Who it is for: [AUDIENCE] What makes mine different: [YOUR ANGLE] Where I am: [COUNTRY/LANGUAGE] Size: [SUBSCRIBERS] HOW TO DO THIS 1. Name the 3 phrases this channel should own. Not the biggest phrases in the niche — the ones where this channel could plausibly become one of the obvious answers within a year. Say why each is reachable. 2. Write the ABOUT SECTION, 400-600 characters. The first sentence has to say who it is for and what they get, because that is the part shown in search results and on the mobile channel page. Work the three phrases in as sentences, never as a list. 3. Write the CHANNEL KEYWORDS field as one comma-separated line, under 500 characters, ordered by importance. 4. Write the CHANNEL TAGLINE — under 60 characters, for the banner. What this channel is, in one breath. 5. Name the ADJACENT CHANNELS whose viewers should be recommended mine. Describe the type, not invented channel names — you cannot verify that a specific channel exists and I would rather have a description I can go and match myself. RULES - The About section must read to a human first. It is the page a potential sponsor reads too. - Never invent specific channel names, subscriber counts or statistics about my niche. - If my three example videos do not share a subject, say so plainly. A channel with no through-line cannot be keyworded, and that is the finding, not a failure to answer. RULES THAT ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE - Every claim in the title and thumbnail must be delivered in the video. Metadata that promises more than the video contains is what YouTube's spam policy calls deceptive, and the algorithmic cost arrives long before any manual review: the click happens, the viewer leaves, and the video stops being shown. - No fabricated numbers, statistics, dates, studies or quotes. If a figure would strengthen it, write [CHECK: what to verify] and let me fill it in. - Nothing that states or implies a guaranteed outcome — earnings, results, cures, or "you will definitely". - No medical, legal or financial instruction presented as advice. Information, framed as information. - Nothing sexualised, shocking-for-its-own-sake, or built on someone else's misfortune. - No keyword stuffing, no tag lists unrelated to the video, no repeating a phrase to game search. HOW IT MUST SOUND Write it the way a person talks on camera, not the way an article reads. - Vary sentence length hard. Follow a 20-word sentence with a three-word one. Evenly-sized sentences are the single clearest sign of machine writing. - Use contractions. Say "you'll", not "you will". - Address one person as "you". Never "viewers", never "we" when you mean them. - Cut every throat-clearing phrase. Start on the point. - Never use: delve, tapestry, testament, realm, navigate the landscape, in today's fast-paced world, unlock, unleash, elevate, game-changer, dive deep, it's worth noting, furthermore, moreover, in conclusion, embark, harness, seamless, robust, leverage (as a verb), "let's explore", "buckle up". - No sentence may begin with "In this video" or "Welcome back to the channel". - Do not hedge. "This works" beats "this can potentially help". - No emoji unless I ask for them. GIVE ME THE THREE PHRASES — each with why it is reachable. ABOUT SECTION — ready to paste, with character count. CHANNEL KEYWORDS — one line, with character count. TAGLINE — with character count. ADJACENT CHANNELS — described by type. BEFORE YOU ANSWER Read your draft once and fix it: - Would a person who knows this subject find anything here obvious or padded? Cut it. - Is every specific claim something the video can actually deliver? - Did any banned phrase survive? Replace it. - Are the sentences varied in length, or do they all run the same? Fix the rhythm. Then give me the final version only. No preamble, no explanation of what you did.
Tags
Related prompts
Keyword map for one video
Primary, secondary and long-tail keywords for a single video, sorted by what you can win.
Tags, comma-separated and ready to paste
A clean comma-separated tag list sized to fit YouTube’s 500-character field.
What the searcher actually wants
Takes one search phrase apart: who types it, what they really want, and what a winning video contains.
The gap in what already ranks
Works out what the top videos on a term fail to deliver, and what yours must do differently.
Say the keywords out loud
Where to speak your keywords in the script, since YouTube indexes the transcript.
The channel About section
About text that works for a viewer, a search crawler and a potential sponsor at once.