What should you put in a YouTube video description anyway?

Well, it depends on what the video is supposed to do…

A product review trying to generate affiliate sales shouldn't necessarily have the same description as a tutorial designed to help someone complete a project. And neither should use the same structure as a business video trying to generate leads.

That's the problem with a lot of YouTube description templates.

They give you one generic structure:

• Describe the video
• Add some keywords
• Include your links
• Add your social profiles
• Add a call to action
• Add hashtags

Then you're supposed to use essentially the same description for every video you publish.

There's a better way to think about it.

Your YouTube description should be structured around what someone watching that particular video is most likely to need or do next.

That means making three decisions:

1. What is this video supposed to accomplish?
2. What deserves the limited space viewers can see before expanding the description?
3. How should the description be formatted so viewers can actually use it?

Starting with those decisions first will let us build descriptions that are better for the video and the viewer.

What Should You Put in a YouTube Description?

Most descriptions are built from some combination of the same ingredients:

• A short summary of the video
• A primary call to action
• Products or services mentioned
• Helpful links and resources
• Related videos or playlists
• Chapters or timestamps
• Sponsor information
• Affiliate or other disclosures
• Channel or business information
• Contact information
• Hashtags

But you don't need every ingredient in every description.

More importantly, they shouldn't always appear in the same order.

The question isn't simply: "What can I put in my YouTube description?"

It's: "What information matters most to someone watching this particular video?"

Step 1: Structure the Description Around the Job of the Video

Before you write anything, decide what the video goal is, because the answer changes the order of your description.

YouTube Description Template for Tutorials and How-To Videos

Someone watching a tutorial usually has a job to complete.

They searched for how to replace a faucet, edit a photo, build a spreadsheet, fix a mistake, install a piece of software, or accomplish some specific task, so your description should help them finish that job.

What to prioritize

A tutorial description might prioritize:

1. What the tutorial helps them accomplish
2. Tools, materials, downloads, or resources they need
3. Important links referenced in the tutorial
4. The logical next tutorial
5. A relevant call to action
6. Repeatable channel information and disclosures

Example tutorial description structure

Learn how to [ACCOMPLISH TASK]

In this video, you'll learn [SHORT EXPLANATION OF RESULT].

TOOLS & MATERIALS

[ITEM] → [LINK]
[ITEM] → [LINK]
[RESOURCE] → [LINK]

WATCH NEXT

[RELATED TUTORIAL] → [LINK]

[RELEVANT CTA]

[CTA TEXT] → [LINK]

[CHANNEL INFORMATION]

[DISCLOSURE]

The viewer came because they want to do something. So the video, and the description, should help them do it.

YouTube Description Template for Product Reviews

The viewer's intent is different when someone watches a product review.

They are deciding whether to buy something, not how to do something

That means making the product difficult to find because you've buried the link under your channel biography and six social profiles doesn't make much sense.

What to prioritize

A product review might prioritize:

1. The product being reviewed
2. Where to buy it or check the current price
3. Alternatives or related products
4. Supporting resources
5. Related reviews or comparisons
6. Affiliate disclosures

Example product review description structure

[PRODUCT NAME] REVIEW

In this video, I test [PRODUCT] and cover [KEY REVIEW POINTS].

CHECK CURRENT PRICE / VIEW PRODUCT

[PRODUCT] → [LINK]

OTHER PRODUCTS TO CONSIDER

[ALTERNATIVE #1] → [LINK]
[ALTERNATIVE #2] → [LINK]

RELATED VIDEOS

[COMPARISON VIDEO] → [LINK]
[INSTALLATION/TUTORIAL] → [LINK]

[AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE]

[CHANNEL INFORMATION]

Because the viewer came in a state of evaluating a product, your description should support helping them make that decision.

YouTube Description Template for Lead Generation Videos

Suppose you're a consultant, agency, SaaS company, contractor, real estate professional, or another business using YouTube to attract potential customers.

Views aren't necessarily the final objective, so the job of the description needs to adjust. You want the right viewer to take a meaningful next step.

That could mean:

• Downloading a guide
• Starting a free trial
• Getting a quote
• Booking a consultation
• Taking an assessment
• Joining an email list
• Viewing a product or service
• … or even watching another video

That next step deserves a prominent place in the description.

What to prioritize

A lead-generation description might prioritize:

1. The problem or desired outcome
2. Your primary conversion action
3. Supporting resources
4. Related videos
5. Business information

Example lead-generation description structure

Want [DESIRED OUTCOME]?

In this video, you'll learn [WHAT THE VIDEO HELPS THEM UNDERSTAND OR DO].

[PRIMARY CTA]

Ready to [NEXT STEP]?
[CTA] → [LINK]

HELPFUL RESOURCES

[RESOURCE] → [LINK]

WATCH NEXT

[RELATED VIDEO] → [LINK]

ABOUT [BUSINESS]

We help [AUDIENCE] [OUTCOME].

[WEBSITE]

[DISCLOSURE/OTHER INFORMATION]

The lead-generation description creates a bridge from viewer to prospect.

YouTube Description Template for Sponsored Videos

Sponsored content introduces another priority.

You have obligations to both the viewer and the sponsor.

That can affect what belongs in the description and where it appears.

What to prioritize

A sponsored description might prioritize:

1. Required sponsor links or calls to action
2. Sponsor information
3. Information about the actual video
4. Relevant resources
5. Your normal channel information
6. Appropriate disclosures

Example sponsored video description structure

SPONSORED BY [BRAND]

[SPONSOR CTA] → [LINK]

[REQUIRED SPONSOR LANGUAGE]

ABOUT THIS VIDEO

[VIDEO SUMMARY]

RESOURCES MENTIONED

[RESOURCE] → [LINK]

WATCH NEXT

[RELATED VIDEO] → [LINK]

[CHANNEL INFORMATION]

[DISCLOSURE]

The exact structure may vary because sponsorship agreements can have specific requirements, which is exactly the point. The description must adapt to the job.

YouTube Description Template for Educational or Authority-Building Videos

Not every video has an immediate transaction attached to it.

Sometimes the goal is to teach something useful, demonstrate expertise, or introduce viewers to an idea.

In that case, forcing a hard conversion CTA into the first two lines may not always be the best move.

What to prioritize

An educational description might prioritize:

1. What the viewer will learn
2. Supporting resources
3. The next logical piece of content
4. A relevant CTA
5. Information about the creator, channel, or business

Example educational video description structure

ABOUT THIS VIDEO

In this video, you'll learn [TOPIC/OUTCOME].

RESOURCES

[RESOURCE] → [LINK]
[RESOURCE] → [LINK]

KEEP LEARNING

[RELATED VIDEO/PLAYLIST] → [LINK]

[OPTIONAL CTA]

[CTA] → [LINK]

ABOUT [CHANNEL/CREATOR]

[DESCRIPTION]

[OTHER INFORMATION/DISCLOSURE]

With an educational video, the description supports continued learning and builds the relationship with the viewer.

Which YouTube Description Template Should You Use?

Start with one question: What is this video supposed to accomplish?

• If the viewer is trying to complete a task, build the description around helping them complete it.
• If they're evaluating a product, make the buying and comparison resources easy to find.
• If they're a potential customer, give them a clear path toward the next step.
• If the video is sponsored, account for the sponsor requirements.
• If you're primarily educating the viewer, help them continue learning.

Many of the ingredients are the same. But the order and elements adjust.

That's the part a generic YouTube description template misses.

Step 2: Decide What Belongs Before "Show More"

There's another reason the order of your description matters:

Most viewers don't initially see the whole thing.

YouTube describes the first few lines as the portion viewers see before selecting "Show more" on desktop or "more" on mobile. The rest of the description is hidden until they expand it.

YouTube allows up to 5,000 characters in a video description, but that doesn't mean your most important information should be buried somewhere in those 5,000 characters.

Think of the description as having two zones.

The Collapsed Description

This is your most valuable space.

Depending on the purpose of the video, it might contain:

• A one-sentence explanation of the video
• Your primary CTA
• A product link
• An important resource
• Sponsor information

The Expanded Description

Once someone chooses to see more, you have room for:

• Additional resources
• Related videos
• Product lists
• Chapters
• Business or channel information
• Disclosures
• Contact information
• Other repeatable links

YouTube doesn't specify a universal character count that will always appear before the description is expanded.

So don't build your strategy around an arbitrary rule such as "the first 150 characters."

Instead, use a simpler one:

Put the most important information in the first 1 to 3 lines.

What Should You Put in the First Few Lines?

Once again, it depends on the viewer's intent.

Tutorial

Learn how to replace a kitchen faucet step by step.

Tools used in this video → [LINK]

Product review

Is the [PRODUCT] worth buying? Here's what I found after testing it.

Check the current price → [LINK]

Lead-generation video

Learn how to turn YouTube viewers into qualified leads without chasing viral views.

Get the free YouTube Buyer Intent Checklist → [LINK]

Same description field. Completely different priorities. The first few lines should earn their position.

A Note About Links in YouTube Descriptions

External URLs in long-form video descriptions can be clickable for channels with the appropriate advanced features enabled.

That makes the collapsed portion especially useful when a video has an important next step outside YouTube.

But Shorts work differently.

URLs placed in YouTube Shorts descriptions and comments aren't clickable (at least at the time of writing this article), so don't assume the same external-link strategy you use for long-form videos will work for Shorts.

Step 3: Format Your YouTube Description for Humans

Once you've decided what belongs in the description and what deserves the most valuable positions, there's one more piece:

Make it easy to read and use.

A YouTube description doesn't have to be one giant block of plain text.

YouTube supports formatting that can help create hierarchy and make important sections easier to scan, including:

• Bold
• Italics
• Strikethrough

You can also organize information into bulleted lists.

That means instead of creating a wall of links and text, you can organize your description into clear sections:

TOOLS & MATERIALS

• Product One → [LINK]
• Product Two → [LINK]
• Product Three → [LINK]

WATCH NEXT

Related Video → [LINK]

FREE GUIDE

Download it here → [LINK]

The information hasn't changed. The usability has.

YouTube Descriptions Can Use Special Formatting Syntax

One important detail is that what you enter while preparing your description isn't always exactly what viewers see after YouTube renders it.

YouTube can interpret special characters around text as formatting instructions.

For example, the text you enter may contain formatting syntax that tells YouTube to display the enclosed text as bold, italic, or strikethrough.

That creates a small but annoying workflow problem:

You're writing one thing while trying to imagine how another thing will look when it's published.

YouTube Description Formatting Codes

*bold*
_italics_
-strikethrough-

- Bullet List

1. Numbered List
2. Numbered List

----------------------------------------  < Horizontal Rule

https://www.youtube.com/@[channel handle]?sub_confirmation=1
^Subscribe to Channel Link^

We'll solve that problem in a moment…

Use Formatting to Create a Visual Hierarchy

Formatting is most useful when it helps someone navigate the description.

For example:

GET THE FREE GUIDE

[LINK]

PRODUCTS MENTIONED

• Product One → [LINK]
• Product Two → [LINK]

WATCH NEXT

[VIDEO TITLE] → [LINK]

ABOUT THIS CHANNEL

[CHANNEL DESCRIPTION]

DISCLOSURE

[DISCLOSURE TEXT]

Now someone opening the description can scan it rather than reading every line to find what they need.

Use formatting to create hierarchy, not decoration. If everything is emphasized, nothing is emphasized.

Add Video Chapters With Timestamps

Descriptions can also contain information YouTube interprets as functionality rather than simply displaying as text.

One of the most useful examples is manual video chapters.

A chapter list might look like:

00:00 Introduction
01:24 Choosing the right faucet
03:15 Removing the old faucet
06:42 Installing the new faucet
09:18 Checking for leaks

When properly formatted, YouTube can use these timestamps to create chapters viewers can navigate through.

For manual chapters, YouTube currently requires:

• The first timestamp to begin at 00:00
• At least three timestamps listed in ascending order
• Each chapter to be at least 10 seconds long

This is another reason to think about the description as more than just an SEO field. It can become a useful interface for the video itself.

Additional YouTube Description Best Practices

Once you've built the description around the purpose of the video, prioritized the first few lines, and made everything easy to scan, there are a few more general questions worth answering.

Why Your YouTube Description Matters

It's easy to treat the description as the last thing standing between you and the Publish button.

You've already planned the video, recorded it, edited it, created a thumbnail, and written a title. By the time you reach the description box, it's tempting to type a sentence or two, paste in a few standard links, and call it done.

But your description can do several important jobs for your video.

It gives YouTube and viewers additional context. Your title has limited space. The description gives you room to clearly explain what the video covers, include relevant terminology naturally, and provide additional information about the topic.

It gives interested viewers somewhere to go next. Someone who just watched your video may want the product you reviewed, the tool you demonstrated, the resource you mentioned, or another video that continues the topic. Your description can make those next steps easy to find.

It can turn attention into action. If YouTube is part of your business, your description can connect a viewer to a lead magnet, product, service, free trial, consultation, affiliate offer, or another conversion point.

It holds information that doesn't belong in the video itself. Chapters, sources, product links, sponsor information, disclosures, contact details, and other resources can all live in the description without interrupting the video.

That doesn't mean every viewer will open your description.

They won't.

But the viewers who do are often looking for something: a link, a product, a source, a next step, or more information.

That's why the description shouldn't be an afterthought.

Your video does the work of creating interest. Your description can help an interested viewer act on it.

What About YouTube Description SEO?

Descriptions can also help YouTube and viewers understand what your video is about.

That doesn't mean you should turn them into keyword storage boxes.

A tutorial about replacing a shower head will naturally use words such as "replace a shower head," "shower head," and even "install" because that's what the video is actually about.

That's useful context.

This isn't:

“Learn how to replace a shower head in this shower head replacement tutorial showing how to install a shower head and complete your shower head installation...”

Write for the person reading the description. Use the language someone would naturally expect when describing the topic.

Your description can provide useful context without becoming a wall of keyword variations.

How Long Should a YouTube Description Be?

YouTube gives you up to 5,000 characters, but that's a maximum, not a target.

Your description should be as long as it needs to be.

A tutorial with three tools and one related video may have a relatively short description.

A detailed product review might contain multiple products, alternatives, accessories, chapters, and affiliate disclosures.

A sponsored video may need additional information required by the sponsor.

Instead of asking: "How many words should my YouTube description have?"

Ask: "Does the viewer have the information they need, in the order they're most likely to need it?"

If yes, the description is long enough.

What Can You Reuse Between Videos?

Once you start thinking about descriptions this way, you'll probably notice that some parts change constantly while others barely change at all.

Video-Specific Information

This might include:

• Video summary
• Primary CTA
• Products
• Resources
• Chapters
• Related videos
• Sponsor information

Repeatable Information

This might include:

• Channel description
• Website
• Contact information
• Standard disclosures
• Frequently used links
• Social profiles
• Other boilerplate

This is where templates become especially useful.

You don't need to remember your preferred structure every time you publish.

Build the structure once, then customize the parts that actually change.

From Template to Finished YouTube Description

Templates remove a lot of unnecessary decisions.

But there's still a workflow.

You have to find the right template, copy it, replace the placeholders, add your links, format the text, check your chapters, and prepare the finished description for YouTube.

And formatting introduces another challenge.

When you're using YouTube's formatting syntax, the raw description you're editing isn't necessarily what your viewer will ultimately see.

That's one of the problems TubeThink's description editor is designed to solve.

TubeThink lets you build your description using YouTube's formatting syntax while previewing the rendered result before the video is published.

Instead of trying to mentally translate formatting characters into the finished description, you can see what your viewer will see while you're creating it.

Your description templates can also live directly inside your TubeThink workflow, so you don't have to hunt down a document and copy the right structure every time you start another video. You just choose the one you need.

So your process becomes:

Choose the right structure → Customize the pieces → Preview → Publish

And that's ultimately a better way to think about YouTube descriptions.

Don't start with an empty box and ask: "What am I supposed to put here?"

Start with three questions:

1. What is this video supposed to accomplish?
2. What does this viewer need to see first?
3. How can I make everything else easy to find and use?

Answer those questions once, turn the answers into a repeatable structure, and you won't have to reinvent your description every time you publish.