PostEaseThe short answer
Tags are descriptive keywords you can add to a YouTube video in YouTube Studio. They are hidden from viewers, and YouTube’s Help Center is direct about their weight: “Tags can be useful if the content of your video is commonly misspelled. Otherwise, tags play a minimal role in your video’s discovery.”
YouTube says the title, thumbnail and description are the more important pieces of information for discovery, because they are what viewers use to decide what to watch. Hashtags are a different feature: they go in the title or description, are visible, and link to a page of other videos using the same hashtag.
Tags and hashtags
YouTube’s Help Center describes them separately:
| Question | Tags | Hashtags |
|---|---|---|
| Where they go | The Tags field, under Show more in the video’s details | The title or description, typed with a # |
| Seen by viewers | No | Yes; up to three from the description appear by the title |
| What they do | Help with commonly misspelled topics; otherwise a minimal role | Link to a results page of videos and playlists sharing the hashtag, and help search |
| Limit | Not stated on the tags page | More than 60 on a video and YouTube ignores all of them |
How to add tags
For a new video, upload in YouTube Studio and, in the Details step, click More options to add tags. For a video already uploaded, open it from Content, click Show more and add them. Tags can also be edited in the YouTube app.
The details that matter more
YouTube lists the title, thumbnail and description first. Their limits, from YouTube’s Help Center:
| Field | Limit | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Title | 100 characters | No invalid characters |
| Description | 5,000 characters | Can hold chapters, corrections and hashtags |
| Hashtags | Ignored above 60 on one video | Up to three shown by the title |
What not to do
YouTube treats tag stuffing as spam. It says adding excessive tags to a video’s description is against its policies on spam, deceptive practices and scams, and that adding ordinary descriptive tags or repetitive sentences to a description is prohibited. Hashtags must be related to the video; misleading or unrelated ones, or over-tagging, can get a video removed from search or from your uploads.
Where to spend the effort
Following YouTube’s own order of importance:
- Write a title, within 100 characters, that says what the video is and why to watch it.
- Make a thumbnail that matches the title’s promise.
- Use the description, up to 5,000 characters, for context, chapters and two or three relevant hashtags.
- Add a few tags only for names or terms people often misspell.
- In PostEase, you set a YouTube video’s title in the composer, and your caption becomes its description, so hashtags in the caption land there.
Questions
Do YouTube tags help SEO?
Very little. YouTube says tags play a minimal role in discovery, except for content that is commonly misspelled. The title, thumbnail and description matter more.
What is the difference between YouTube tags and hashtags?
Tags are hidden keywords in the video’s details. Hashtags are typed with a # in the title or description, are visible, and link to a page of videos sharing the hashtag.
How many hashtags can I use on YouTube?
YouTube ignores all hashtags on a video that has more than 60. Up to three from the description appear by the title.
How long can a YouTube title and description be?
A title can be up to 100 characters and a description up to 5,000.
Sources
- YouTube, Add tags to your YouTube videos, checked October 2026.
- YouTube, Find playlists & videos using hashtags, checked October 2026.
- YouTube, Edit video settings, checked October 2026.