"Tags" and "hashtags" sound like the same thing, and plenty of creators use the words interchangeably. On YouTube they're two separate features that live in different places, do different jobs and follow different rules. Getting them straight saves you time and keeps you clear of a few policy traps.
The short version
| Hashtags | Tags | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you add them | In the title or description, starting with # | In YouTube Studio, in the Tags field |
| Who sees them | Viewers, on the watch page | Not shown on the watch page |
| What they do | Link to a page of videos with the same hashtag and help related content be found in search | Help YouTube understand your topic, especially misspellings and alternative names |
| Main limit | More than 60 and YouTube ignores all of them | Studio caps the total length of the Tags field |
What hashtags are
According to YouTube Help, hashtags are keywords preceded by a # symbol. They connect your video with other videos and playlists that share the same hashtag, and they let viewers find related content through search.
Where hashtags show
You can add hashtags to a video's title or description. A few details from YouTube Help:
- Next to the title. Out of the hashtags in your description, up to three that are considered the most engaging appear by your video title.
- In the description. All your hashtags still appear there.
- As links. Hashtags in the title and description link to a results page featuring other videos that share the hashtag.
- In search. Your videos can still appear in search results.
When you type a hashtag in Studio, YouTube suggests popular hashtags based on what you've typed. For Shorts, YouTube Help says you'll see hashtag suggestions when you add text to a Short and start typing a hashtag.
YouTube's rules for hashtags
YouTube Help lists clear rules. Breaking them can get your hashtags hidden, or the video removed.
- No spaces. A hashtag is one unbroken string, such as #sourdoughbaking, not #sourdough baking.
- Don't over-tag. YouTube Help says not to add too many tags in a single video or playlist. If a video or playlist has more than 60 hashtags, YouTube ignores each hashtag on it. Over-tagging may also lead to the video being removed from your uploads or from search.
- Don't mislead. Don't add hashtags that aren't directly related to the video. Misleading or unrelated hashtags may lead to the removal of the video.
- No harassment or hate. Hashtags used to harass, humiliate or intimidate, or that promote violence or hatred, break the policy.
- No sexual or explicit hashtags. These may lead to the video's removal.
- Watch the language. Profanity or offensive terms in hashtags may lead to an age restriction or removal.
YouTube Help also says hashtags that violate the policy won't show below your content and may be removed.
Notice that the 60 limit isn't a goal. Going over it switches off every hashtag on the video, and a long list of loosely related hashtags runs into the over-tagging and misleading rules well before that.
What tags are
According to YouTube Help, tags are descriptive keywords you can add to a video to help viewers find your content. You add them in YouTube Studio: when uploading, under More options in the Details section, or later from Content by opening the video and selecting Show more.
Tags don't appear on the watch page, so viewers don't see them. They're still part of the public page data YouTube sends to browsers, which is how tools like ours can show them.
How much tags matter
YouTube Help is direct about this: tags play a minimal role in discovery. Your title, thumbnail and description are more important pieces of metadata.
That doesn't make tags useless. YouTube Help says tags can be useful if the content of your video is commonly misspelled. They also help when a topic goes by several names. For example:
- A video about a brand or product with a tricky spelling
- A topic that people write in two languages, or with and without a space
- A name that has an official form and a common nickname
In those cases a few tags covering the variations can help YouTube connect a viewer's search to your video. Write the correct spelling in your title and description, and leave the variations to the tags.
One rule for tags in descriptions
Some creators paste a block of keywords at the bottom of the description, hoping it works like tags. YouTube Help says adding excessive tags to your video description is against its policies on spam, deceptive practices and scams. Keep keywords in the Tags field and write the description for people.
Practical recommendations
Here's a simple routine that covers both features without overthinking either.
For hashtags
- Use a few that are directly about the video. Two or three relevant hashtags usually say more than twenty loose ones.
- Put them in the description. YouTube may show up to three of them by the title. If you want a specific one to be seen, you can also put it in the title, but it takes up title space.
- Check the hashtag page first. Tap the hashtag on YouTube and see what else uses it. If the page is full of unrelated videos, pick a more specific one.
- Keep a consistent channel hashtag if it helps viewers. A hashtag for a recurring series makes its videos easy to find together.
For tags
- Start with your core topic phrase, the same one you put near the front of your title.
- Add common misspellings and alternative names of that topic.
- Add a few closely related phrases a viewer might search.
- Stop there. Tags that don't describe your video can mislead, and YouTube treats misleading metadata as a policy issue.
Whatever you do with tags, spend more time on your title, thumbnail and description. YouTube Help says those matter more.
How our Tag Extractor helps
The Tag Extractor shows both lists side by side for any public YouTube video. Paste a link and you'll see the tags the creator added in YouTube Studio, in the order they entered them, plus the hashtags from the title and description and the channel's keywords. A meter shows how much of the tag length limit the video uses.
You can copy tags as commas, new lines, #hashtags or quoted text, tap a tag to leave it out of the copy, and open any hashtag to see other videos that use it on YouTube. It works for Shorts and live links too. Shorts often have no tags, so their hashtags are usually the more useful list.
The limits: many creators add no tags at all, and a video's tags show what the creator aimed for, not what made it succeed. Use them to learn a topic's vocabulary and its common misspellings, then write your own.
Worth keeping in mind
- Hashtags are visible and clickable. Tags are hidden keywords in Studio.
- More than 60 hashtags and YouTube ignores all of them. A few relevant ones are better.
- Unrelated or misleading hashtags can get a video removed.
- Tags play a minimal role in discovery. They're most useful for misspellings and alternative names.
- Never stuff keywords into the description. It's against YouTube's spam policy.