Best Practices in YouTube Keyword Selection

What is YouTube Tag and How to Find Great Tags For Your Videos?

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

There are a huge number of videos uploaded to YouTube every day, and that is why it is so important to make sure your videos are sorted properly by the site using YouTube tags. If you don’t, potential viewers will miss out on the chance to discover and enjoy your videos.

Instead of forcing yourself through a painful brainstorming session, it can be easier to identify the best tags using these techniques that experienced content managers use to populate their tag lists.

In this article, I will show you how to find great tags for your YouTube videos as well as some answers to the frequently asked questions about YouTube Tags.

1. Use YouTube’s Auto-Suggest Tool
2. Try YouTube Tag Generators
3. Study Your YouTube Rivals’ Tags

Part 1: How to Find YouTube Tags [3 Effective Ways]

1. Use YouTube’s Auto-Suggest Tool to Get Tags

YouTube’s search engine can be your best ally on the quest for great tags. This tool was created to aid users who are looking for content on the platform, and content creators can benefit from it as well. By typing the general topic of your video, or a few words vaguely related to your video, into the search bar on YouTube you can see suggestions that reflect what viewers are searching for and take some of those suggestions into consideration for your tags. With every new phrase (and even every additional character you type), new options will appear. By playing around with this tool you will gain valuable insight into the searching habits of YouTube viewers.

This method may not be too precise, but the idea is to quickly gather information and perhaps get some inspiration for more creative or complex tags. Most of the suggestions will be logical, but there can be a few unexpected combinations you’d never think of. Be very careful when translating the findings to your own situation, since the fact that some terms are popular doesn’t mean they are relevant for your video. Another problem is that slightly altered terminology can significantly change the effectiveness of the tag, so you should ideally use the suggested phrases in the exact form as you found them or not at all. If you do make adjustments, you should test the new tag through the same auto-complete tool and see how it fares.

2. Try YouTube Tag Generators

If you’d like to dig a little deeper, there are multiple dedicated tools that can assist you in picking the most suitable YouTube tags for every video you upload. Let’s examine a few of them in greater detail:

#1. Keyword Tool

A very simple and reliable web-based tag generator that provides you with 750 frequently searched keywords that would be suitable for your video. The keyword list is based on YouTube’s search tool in a way similar to what we described in the previous chapter. However, since the analysis is automated with the Keyword Tool, you can get a huge list in just a few seconds. This generator is especially useful when you are looking for long-tail keywords that attract niche audiences.

#2. Rapid Tags

This tool is a bit more sophisticated and includes some analytic features on top of tag generating capacities, allowing you to manage your channel more effectively. It’s completely automated, so you won’t have to do any heavy lifting on your own. Just type the URL of your video into the appropriate field and let Rapid Tags do the rest. You can easily switch between the Generator, Analyzer, Ranker, and Tracker tools, so you can acquire a complete picture of the suitability of each tag and a better understanding of the projected performance of your video.

Want more tools to generate YouTube tags? Check our picks of the best YouTube video tag generators .

#3. BetterWaytoWeb

While this free-to-use tool has a very simple interface and won’t require any background knowledge to use, it still provides valuable information. It can suggest suitable tags for your new video based on the main keyword you provide, speeding up your research considerably. It can also analyze the tags placed on an existing YouTube video, which is important for deducing how other authors working in the same category are optimizing their content.

3. Study Your YouTube Rivals’ Tags

YouTube content authors can learn a lot by analyzing their top competitors. No matter what your videos are about, there are probably countless other creators that want to attract the same audiences as you. Only a tiny percentage of them will manage to gain significant viewership, and those are the ones you should be researching in detail.

If you are able to locate the most successful videos with content similar to yours you are already halfway to your goal, but one obstacle still remains. You can’t even see your competitor’s tags them when you click on their videos on YouTube. This type of information is not displayed, but some specialized solutions are able to reveal it upon request. Here is one YouTube certified analytic tool capable of doing that:

1. VidIQ

Currently used to manage more than 30,000 YouTube channels, this powerful video marketing suite can also help with tag selection. It can enlarge your tag library by a factor of 10, and provide you with a direct comparison with your chief competitors. In addition to increasing your views, this app can help you monitor your visibility on social networks, and track detailed statistics that describe the performance of your video. In other words, this is a comprehensive package that will help you manage your channel in a professional way.

What’s your YouTube tag strategy?

Part 2: YouTube Tag FAQs

1. What is YouTube Tag?

YouTube tag is a keyword that you added to help Google and YouTube understand your video context, which is an important ranking factor in YouTube searching. Basically, the better you tag your video, the more views you can get. But you should keep in mind that adding excessive tags to your video description is against YouTube policy.

2. How Many Tags Should You Use on YouTube?

Though there is no restriction about the numbers of the YouTube tags, you should keep the total characters of all tags within 400 characters. In most cases, 5-8 tags are appreciated for a YouTube video. It is recommended to add as many relevant tags as you can, such as brand-specific tags, YouTube auto-suggest tags, or tags created with some tag generator.

3. Do Tags on YouTube Get More Views?

The short answer is Yes. Since Google is encouraging people to use tags to help them understand your video content, then it can recommend the videos to relevant users accordingly. With tags, YouTube can categorize your videos and make them discoverable easier. For example, when you search tag #FilmoraSchoolStory in YouTube, you can see all the videos with the tag in the search result. allowing viewers to find your content more easily.

Retouch YouTube Videos with Filmora

There are lots of filters, overlays and effects pre-programmed in Wondershare Filmora video editor , you can improve YouTube videos without costing any extra fees if you’ve subscribed to Filmora.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

There are a huge number of videos uploaded to YouTube every day, and that is why it is so important to make sure your videos are sorted properly by the site using YouTube tags. If you don’t, potential viewers will miss out on the chance to discover and enjoy your videos.

Instead of forcing yourself through a painful brainstorming session, it can be easier to identify the best tags using these techniques that experienced content managers use to populate their tag lists.

In this article, I will show you how to find great tags for your YouTube videos as well as some answers to the frequently asked questions about YouTube Tags.

1. Use YouTube’s Auto-Suggest Tool
2. Try YouTube Tag Generators
3. Study Your YouTube Rivals’ Tags

Part 1: How to Find YouTube Tags [3 Effective Ways]

1. Use YouTube’s Auto-Suggest Tool to Get Tags

YouTube’s search engine can be your best ally on the quest for great tags. This tool was created to aid users who are looking for content on the platform, and content creators can benefit from it as well. By typing the general topic of your video, or a few words vaguely related to your video, into the search bar on YouTube you can see suggestions that reflect what viewers are searching for and take some of those suggestions into consideration for your tags. With every new phrase (and even every additional character you type), new options will appear. By playing around with this tool you will gain valuable insight into the searching habits of YouTube viewers.

This method may not be too precise, but the idea is to quickly gather information and perhaps get some inspiration for more creative or complex tags. Most of the suggestions will be logical, but there can be a few unexpected combinations you’d never think of. Be very careful when translating the findings to your own situation, since the fact that some terms are popular doesn’t mean they are relevant for your video. Another problem is that slightly altered terminology can significantly change the effectiveness of the tag, so you should ideally use the suggested phrases in the exact form as you found them or not at all. If you do make adjustments, you should test the new tag through the same auto-complete tool and see how it fares.

2. Try YouTube Tag Generators

If you’d like to dig a little deeper, there are multiple dedicated tools that can assist you in picking the most suitable YouTube tags for every video you upload. Let’s examine a few of them in greater detail:

#1. Keyword Tool

A very simple and reliable web-based tag generator that provides you with 750 frequently searched keywords that would be suitable for your video. The keyword list is based on YouTube’s search tool in a way similar to what we described in the previous chapter. However, since the analysis is automated with the Keyword Tool, you can get a huge list in just a few seconds. This generator is especially useful when you are looking for long-tail keywords that attract niche audiences.

#2. Rapid Tags

This tool is a bit more sophisticated and includes some analytic features on top of tag generating capacities, allowing you to manage your channel more effectively. It’s completely automated, so you won’t have to do any heavy lifting on your own. Just type the URL of your video into the appropriate field and let Rapid Tags do the rest. You can easily switch between the Generator, Analyzer, Ranker, and Tracker tools, so you can acquire a complete picture of the suitability of each tag and a better understanding of the projected performance of your video.

Want more tools to generate YouTube tags? Check our picks of the best YouTube video tag generators .

#3. BetterWaytoWeb

While this free-to-use tool has a very simple interface and won’t require any background knowledge to use, it still provides valuable information. It can suggest suitable tags for your new video based on the main keyword you provide, speeding up your research considerably. It can also analyze the tags placed on an existing YouTube video, which is important for deducing how other authors working in the same category are optimizing their content.

3. Study Your YouTube Rivals’ Tags

YouTube content authors can learn a lot by analyzing their top competitors. No matter what your videos are about, there are probably countless other creators that want to attract the same audiences as you. Only a tiny percentage of them will manage to gain significant viewership, and those are the ones you should be researching in detail.

If you are able to locate the most successful videos with content similar to yours you are already halfway to your goal, but one obstacle still remains. You can’t even see your competitor’s tags them when you click on their videos on YouTube. This type of information is not displayed, but some specialized solutions are able to reveal it upon request. Here is one YouTube certified analytic tool capable of doing that:

1. VidIQ

Currently used to manage more than 30,000 YouTube channels, this powerful video marketing suite can also help with tag selection. It can enlarge your tag library by a factor of 10, and provide you with a direct comparison with your chief competitors. In addition to increasing your views, this app can help you monitor your visibility on social networks, and track detailed statistics that describe the performance of your video. In other words, this is a comprehensive package that will help you manage your channel in a professional way.

What’s your YouTube tag strategy?

Part 2: YouTube Tag FAQs

1. What is YouTube Tag?

YouTube tag is a keyword that you added to help Google and YouTube understand your video context, which is an important ranking factor in YouTube searching. Basically, the better you tag your video, the more views you can get. But you should keep in mind that adding excessive tags to your video description is against YouTube policy.

2. How Many Tags Should You Use on YouTube?

Though there is no restriction about the numbers of the YouTube tags, you should keep the total characters of all tags within 400 characters. In most cases, 5-8 tags are appreciated for a YouTube video. It is recommended to add as many relevant tags as you can, such as brand-specific tags, YouTube auto-suggest tags, or tags created with some tag generator.

3. Do Tags on YouTube Get More Views?

The short answer is Yes. Since Google is encouraging people to use tags to help them understand your video content, then it can recommend the videos to relevant users accordingly. With tags, YouTube can categorize your videos and make them discoverable easier. For example, when you search tag #FilmoraSchoolStory in YouTube, you can see all the videos with the tag in the search result. allowing viewers to find your content more easily.

Retouch YouTube Videos with Filmora

There are lots of filters, overlays and effects pre-programmed in Wondershare Filmora video editor , you can improve YouTube videos without costing any extra fees if you’ve subscribed to Filmora.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

There are a huge number of videos uploaded to YouTube every day, and that is why it is so important to make sure your videos are sorted properly by the site using YouTube tags. If you don’t, potential viewers will miss out on the chance to discover and enjoy your videos.

Instead of forcing yourself through a painful brainstorming session, it can be easier to identify the best tags using these techniques that experienced content managers use to populate their tag lists.

In this article, I will show you how to find great tags for your YouTube videos as well as some answers to the frequently asked questions about YouTube Tags.

1. Use YouTube’s Auto-Suggest Tool
2. Try YouTube Tag Generators
3. Study Your YouTube Rivals’ Tags

Part 1: How to Find YouTube Tags [3 Effective Ways]

1. Use YouTube’s Auto-Suggest Tool to Get Tags

YouTube’s search engine can be your best ally on the quest for great tags. This tool was created to aid users who are looking for content on the platform, and content creators can benefit from it as well. By typing the general topic of your video, or a few words vaguely related to your video, into the search bar on YouTube you can see suggestions that reflect what viewers are searching for and take some of those suggestions into consideration for your tags. With every new phrase (and even every additional character you type), new options will appear. By playing around with this tool you will gain valuable insight into the searching habits of YouTube viewers.

This method may not be too precise, but the idea is to quickly gather information and perhaps get some inspiration for more creative or complex tags. Most of the suggestions will be logical, but there can be a few unexpected combinations you’d never think of. Be very careful when translating the findings to your own situation, since the fact that some terms are popular doesn’t mean they are relevant for your video. Another problem is that slightly altered terminology can significantly change the effectiveness of the tag, so you should ideally use the suggested phrases in the exact form as you found them or not at all. If you do make adjustments, you should test the new tag through the same auto-complete tool and see how it fares.

2. Try YouTube Tag Generators

If you’d like to dig a little deeper, there are multiple dedicated tools that can assist you in picking the most suitable YouTube tags for every video you upload. Let’s examine a few of them in greater detail:

#1. Keyword Tool

A very simple and reliable web-based tag generator that provides you with 750 frequently searched keywords that would be suitable for your video. The keyword list is based on YouTube’s search tool in a way similar to what we described in the previous chapter. However, since the analysis is automated with the Keyword Tool, you can get a huge list in just a few seconds. This generator is especially useful when you are looking for long-tail keywords that attract niche audiences.

#2. Rapid Tags

This tool is a bit more sophisticated and includes some analytic features on top of tag generating capacities, allowing you to manage your channel more effectively. It’s completely automated, so you won’t have to do any heavy lifting on your own. Just type the URL of your video into the appropriate field and let Rapid Tags do the rest. You can easily switch between the Generator, Analyzer, Ranker, and Tracker tools, so you can acquire a complete picture of the suitability of each tag and a better understanding of the projected performance of your video.

Want more tools to generate YouTube tags? Check our picks of the best YouTube video tag generators .

#3. BetterWaytoWeb

While this free-to-use tool has a very simple interface and won’t require any background knowledge to use, it still provides valuable information. It can suggest suitable tags for your new video based on the main keyword you provide, speeding up your research considerably. It can also analyze the tags placed on an existing YouTube video, which is important for deducing how other authors working in the same category are optimizing their content.

3. Study Your YouTube Rivals’ Tags

YouTube content authors can learn a lot by analyzing their top competitors. No matter what your videos are about, there are probably countless other creators that want to attract the same audiences as you. Only a tiny percentage of them will manage to gain significant viewership, and those are the ones you should be researching in detail.

If you are able to locate the most successful videos with content similar to yours you are already halfway to your goal, but one obstacle still remains. You can’t even see your competitor’s tags them when you click on their videos on YouTube. This type of information is not displayed, but some specialized solutions are able to reveal it upon request. Here is one YouTube certified analytic tool capable of doing that:

1. VidIQ

Currently used to manage more than 30,000 YouTube channels, this powerful video marketing suite can also help with tag selection. It can enlarge your tag library by a factor of 10, and provide you with a direct comparison with your chief competitors. In addition to increasing your views, this app can help you monitor your visibility on social networks, and track detailed statistics that describe the performance of your video. In other words, this is a comprehensive package that will help you manage your channel in a professional way.

What’s your YouTube tag strategy?

Part 2: YouTube Tag FAQs

1. What is YouTube Tag?

YouTube tag is a keyword that you added to help Google and YouTube understand your video context, which is an important ranking factor in YouTube searching. Basically, the better you tag your video, the more views you can get. But you should keep in mind that adding excessive tags to your video description is against YouTube policy.

2. How Many Tags Should You Use on YouTube?

Though there is no restriction about the numbers of the YouTube tags, you should keep the total characters of all tags within 400 characters. In most cases, 5-8 tags are appreciated for a YouTube video. It is recommended to add as many relevant tags as you can, such as brand-specific tags, YouTube auto-suggest tags, or tags created with some tag generator.

3. Do Tags on YouTube Get More Views?

The short answer is Yes. Since Google is encouraging people to use tags to help them understand your video content, then it can recommend the videos to relevant users accordingly. With tags, YouTube can categorize your videos and make them discoverable easier. For example, when you search tag #FilmoraSchoolStory in YouTube, you can see all the videos with the tag in the search result. allowing viewers to find your content more easily.

Retouch YouTube Videos with Filmora

There are lots of filters, overlays and effects pre-programmed in Wondershare Filmora video editor , you can improve YouTube videos without costing any extra fees if you’ve subscribed to Filmora.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

There are a huge number of videos uploaded to YouTube every day, and that is why it is so important to make sure your videos are sorted properly by the site using YouTube tags. If you don’t, potential viewers will miss out on the chance to discover and enjoy your videos.

Instead of forcing yourself through a painful brainstorming session, it can be easier to identify the best tags using these techniques that experienced content managers use to populate their tag lists.

In this article, I will show you how to find great tags for your YouTube videos as well as some answers to the frequently asked questions about YouTube Tags.

1. Use YouTube’s Auto-Suggest Tool
2. Try YouTube Tag Generators
3. Study Your YouTube Rivals’ Tags

Part 1: How to Find YouTube Tags [3 Effective Ways]

1. Use YouTube’s Auto-Suggest Tool to Get Tags

YouTube’s search engine can be your best ally on the quest for great tags. This tool was created to aid users who are looking for content on the platform, and content creators can benefit from it as well. By typing the general topic of your video, or a few words vaguely related to your video, into the search bar on YouTube you can see suggestions that reflect what viewers are searching for and take some of those suggestions into consideration for your tags. With every new phrase (and even every additional character you type), new options will appear. By playing around with this tool you will gain valuable insight into the searching habits of YouTube viewers.

This method may not be too precise, but the idea is to quickly gather information and perhaps get some inspiration for more creative or complex tags. Most of the suggestions will be logical, but there can be a few unexpected combinations you’d never think of. Be very careful when translating the findings to your own situation, since the fact that some terms are popular doesn’t mean they are relevant for your video. Another problem is that slightly altered terminology can significantly change the effectiveness of the tag, so you should ideally use the suggested phrases in the exact form as you found them or not at all. If you do make adjustments, you should test the new tag through the same auto-complete tool and see how it fares.

2. Try YouTube Tag Generators

If you’d like to dig a little deeper, there are multiple dedicated tools that can assist you in picking the most suitable YouTube tags for every video you upload. Let’s examine a few of them in greater detail:

#1. Keyword Tool

A very simple and reliable web-based tag generator that provides you with 750 frequently searched keywords that would be suitable for your video. The keyword list is based on YouTube’s search tool in a way similar to what we described in the previous chapter. However, since the analysis is automated with the Keyword Tool, you can get a huge list in just a few seconds. This generator is especially useful when you are looking for long-tail keywords that attract niche audiences.

#2. Rapid Tags

This tool is a bit more sophisticated and includes some analytic features on top of tag generating capacities, allowing you to manage your channel more effectively. It’s completely automated, so you won’t have to do any heavy lifting on your own. Just type the URL of your video into the appropriate field and let Rapid Tags do the rest. You can easily switch between the Generator, Analyzer, Ranker, and Tracker tools, so you can acquire a complete picture of the suitability of each tag and a better understanding of the projected performance of your video.

Want more tools to generate YouTube tags? Check our picks of the best YouTube video tag generators .

#3. BetterWaytoWeb

While this free-to-use tool has a very simple interface and won’t require any background knowledge to use, it still provides valuable information. It can suggest suitable tags for your new video based on the main keyword you provide, speeding up your research considerably. It can also analyze the tags placed on an existing YouTube video, which is important for deducing how other authors working in the same category are optimizing their content.

3. Study Your YouTube Rivals’ Tags

YouTube content authors can learn a lot by analyzing their top competitors. No matter what your videos are about, there are probably countless other creators that want to attract the same audiences as you. Only a tiny percentage of them will manage to gain significant viewership, and those are the ones you should be researching in detail.

If you are able to locate the most successful videos with content similar to yours you are already halfway to your goal, but one obstacle still remains. You can’t even see your competitor’s tags them when you click on their videos on YouTube. This type of information is not displayed, but some specialized solutions are able to reveal it upon request. Here is one YouTube certified analytic tool capable of doing that:

1. VidIQ

Currently used to manage more than 30,000 YouTube channels, this powerful video marketing suite can also help with tag selection. It can enlarge your tag library by a factor of 10, and provide you with a direct comparison with your chief competitors. In addition to increasing your views, this app can help you monitor your visibility on social networks, and track detailed statistics that describe the performance of your video. In other words, this is a comprehensive package that will help you manage your channel in a professional way.

What’s your YouTube tag strategy?

Part 2: YouTube Tag FAQs

1. What is YouTube Tag?

YouTube tag is a keyword that you added to help Google and YouTube understand your video context, which is an important ranking factor in YouTube searching. Basically, the better you tag your video, the more views you can get. But you should keep in mind that adding excessive tags to your video description is against YouTube policy.

2. How Many Tags Should You Use on YouTube?

Though there is no restriction about the numbers of the YouTube tags, you should keep the total characters of all tags within 400 characters. In most cases, 5-8 tags are appreciated for a YouTube video. It is recommended to add as many relevant tags as you can, such as brand-specific tags, YouTube auto-suggest tags, or tags created with some tag generator.

3. Do Tags on YouTube Get More Views?

The short answer is Yes. Since Google is encouraging people to use tags to help them understand your video content, then it can recommend the videos to relevant users accordingly. With tags, YouTube can categorize your videos and make them discoverable easier. For example, when you search tag #FilmoraSchoolStory in YouTube, you can see all the videos with the tag in the search result. allowing viewers to find your content more easily.

Retouch YouTube Videos with Filmora

There are lots of filters, overlays and effects pre-programmed in Wondershare Filmora video editor , you can improve YouTube videos without costing any extra fees if you’ve subscribed to Filmora.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Navigating YouTube’s Systems After Video Upload

How Does YouTube Work After a Video Is Uploaded

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

You use YouTube to watch videos, post your own content, and build up a following. That is how YouTube works for you. This article is about how YouTube works technically. There are a lot of steps which occur between you clicking ‘upload’ and a viewer clicking ‘play’. Understanding this process can be useful to YouTubers because it can help shed light on where problems may be occurring when you have issues uploading or watching videos. Generally when there is a problem it is on your end and there are multiple simple things you can do to fix it.

This article will explain what goes on behind the scenes when you upload a video, where that video really goes, and what happens when somebody clicks play.

How Does YouTube Work

1. What Happens When You Upload?

When you upload a video your computer or device packages it into IP packets. Packets are fragments of information containing both data from your video and the address you are sending it to, in this case YouTube. The packets are encoded into radio signals which are sent through a wifi or cellular network. Your video travels through switches and routers on the internet until they reach YouTube’s servers. Your video is then reassembled and stored.

If uploading takes a long time for you it probably has nothing to do with YouTube; there is a lot that needs to happen for your video to even get there. How long the upload process takes depends on a number of factors including how many devices share your internet connection, how strong your wifi signal is, and the age of your router. If your uploads are taking too long consider compressing your videos before you upload them. You can also try uploading from your college campus or public libraries as institutions like these tend to have fast internet speeds.

2. Where is Your Video Stored?

As it is owned by Google YouTube uses Google’s ‘Bigtable’, a compressed data storage system which allows it to store the 500+ hours of video uploaded to its servers every minute. Bigtable is software, though, not hardware. YouTube and Google both have massive amounts of data and it needs to be physically housed somewhere.

Google has Modular Data Centers all over the world where it keeps its servers. These centers could cost as much as $600 million dollars each and consume huge amounts of electricity. There are six of them in the United States, three in Europe, two in Asia, and one is South America.

3. What Happens When Someone Watches Your Video?

When a viewer clicks on your video their computer sends an encoded request through the internet to YouTube’s servers. After YouTube receives the play request it chooses which format to play the video in based on the viewer’s browser. Your video is again turned into packets, which are again sent as radio signals over the internet to your viewer. Your viewer’s computer or device reforms the packets into your video and their browser plays it.

If videos take a long time to load for you then there are a few things you can do to speed them up. First, consider changing the channel of your wifi router. Most people stay on the channel their router was set to when they first got it and so there is a good chance you and your neighbors are all on the same channel. This causes your networks to interfere with each other. You can also delete the temporary files on your computer. Besides helping you stream video faster this will free up storage space. Another thing you can do is make sure there are as few devices connected to your network as possible while you are watching videos. Besides mobile phones and laptops you may have appliances, like coffee machines and refrigerators, which are wifi enabled. Disconnect them temporarily and it will help your videos to load faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

You use YouTube to watch videos, post your own content, and build up a following. That is how YouTube works for you. This article is about how YouTube works technically. There are a lot of steps which occur between you clicking ‘upload’ and a viewer clicking ‘play’. Understanding this process can be useful to YouTubers because it can help shed light on where problems may be occurring when you have issues uploading or watching videos. Generally when there is a problem it is on your end and there are multiple simple things you can do to fix it.

This article will explain what goes on behind the scenes when you upload a video, where that video really goes, and what happens when somebody clicks play.

How Does YouTube Work

1. What Happens When You Upload?

When you upload a video your computer or device packages it into IP packets. Packets are fragments of information containing both data from your video and the address you are sending it to, in this case YouTube. The packets are encoded into radio signals which are sent through a wifi or cellular network. Your video travels through switches and routers on the internet until they reach YouTube’s servers. Your video is then reassembled and stored.

If uploading takes a long time for you it probably has nothing to do with YouTube; there is a lot that needs to happen for your video to even get there. How long the upload process takes depends on a number of factors including how many devices share your internet connection, how strong your wifi signal is, and the age of your router. If your uploads are taking too long consider compressing your videos before you upload them. You can also try uploading from your college campus or public libraries as institutions like these tend to have fast internet speeds.

2. Where is Your Video Stored?

As it is owned by Google YouTube uses Google’s ‘Bigtable’, a compressed data storage system which allows it to store the 500+ hours of video uploaded to its servers every minute. Bigtable is software, though, not hardware. YouTube and Google both have massive amounts of data and it needs to be physically housed somewhere.

Google has Modular Data Centers all over the world where it keeps its servers. These centers could cost as much as $600 million dollars each and consume huge amounts of electricity. There are six of them in the United States, three in Europe, two in Asia, and one is South America.

3. What Happens When Someone Watches Your Video?

When a viewer clicks on your video their computer sends an encoded request through the internet to YouTube’s servers. After YouTube receives the play request it chooses which format to play the video in based on the viewer’s browser. Your video is again turned into packets, which are again sent as radio signals over the internet to your viewer. Your viewer’s computer or device reforms the packets into your video and their browser plays it.

If videos take a long time to load for you then there are a few things you can do to speed them up. First, consider changing the channel of your wifi router. Most people stay on the channel their router was set to when they first got it and so there is a good chance you and your neighbors are all on the same channel. This causes your networks to interfere with each other. You can also delete the temporary files on your computer. Besides helping you stream video faster this will free up storage space. Another thing you can do is make sure there are as few devices connected to your network as possible while you are watching videos. Besides mobile phones and laptops you may have appliances, like coffee machines and refrigerators, which are wifi enabled. Disconnect them temporarily and it will help your videos to load faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

You use YouTube to watch videos, post your own content, and build up a following. That is how YouTube works for you. This article is about how YouTube works technically. There are a lot of steps which occur between you clicking ‘upload’ and a viewer clicking ‘play’. Understanding this process can be useful to YouTubers because it can help shed light on where problems may be occurring when you have issues uploading or watching videos. Generally when there is a problem it is on your end and there are multiple simple things you can do to fix it.

This article will explain what goes on behind the scenes when you upload a video, where that video really goes, and what happens when somebody clicks play.

How Does YouTube Work

1. What Happens When You Upload?

When you upload a video your computer or device packages it into IP packets. Packets are fragments of information containing both data from your video and the address you are sending it to, in this case YouTube. The packets are encoded into radio signals which are sent through a wifi or cellular network. Your video travels through switches and routers on the internet until they reach YouTube’s servers. Your video is then reassembled and stored.

If uploading takes a long time for you it probably has nothing to do with YouTube; there is a lot that needs to happen for your video to even get there. How long the upload process takes depends on a number of factors including how many devices share your internet connection, how strong your wifi signal is, and the age of your router. If your uploads are taking too long consider compressing your videos before you upload them. You can also try uploading from your college campus or public libraries as institutions like these tend to have fast internet speeds.

2. Where is Your Video Stored?

As it is owned by Google YouTube uses Google’s ‘Bigtable’, a compressed data storage system which allows it to store the 500+ hours of video uploaded to its servers every minute. Bigtable is software, though, not hardware. YouTube and Google both have massive amounts of data and it needs to be physically housed somewhere.

Google has Modular Data Centers all over the world where it keeps its servers. These centers could cost as much as $600 million dollars each and consume huge amounts of electricity. There are six of them in the United States, three in Europe, two in Asia, and one is South America.

3. What Happens When Someone Watches Your Video?

When a viewer clicks on your video their computer sends an encoded request through the internet to YouTube’s servers. After YouTube receives the play request it chooses which format to play the video in based on the viewer’s browser. Your video is again turned into packets, which are again sent as radio signals over the internet to your viewer. Your viewer’s computer or device reforms the packets into your video and their browser plays it.

If videos take a long time to load for you then there are a few things you can do to speed them up. First, consider changing the channel of your wifi router. Most people stay on the channel their router was set to when they first got it and so there is a good chance you and your neighbors are all on the same channel. This causes your networks to interfere with each other. You can also delete the temporary files on your computer. Besides helping you stream video faster this will free up storage space. Another thing you can do is make sure there are as few devices connected to your network as possible while you are watching videos. Besides mobile phones and laptops you may have appliances, like coffee machines and refrigerators, which are wifi enabled. Disconnect them temporarily and it will help your videos to load faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

You use YouTube to watch videos, post your own content, and build up a following. That is how YouTube works for you. This article is about how YouTube works technically. There are a lot of steps which occur between you clicking ‘upload’ and a viewer clicking ‘play’. Understanding this process can be useful to YouTubers because it can help shed light on where problems may be occurring when you have issues uploading or watching videos. Generally when there is a problem it is on your end and there are multiple simple things you can do to fix it.

This article will explain what goes on behind the scenes when you upload a video, where that video really goes, and what happens when somebody clicks play.

How Does YouTube Work

1. What Happens When You Upload?

When you upload a video your computer or device packages it into IP packets. Packets are fragments of information containing both data from your video and the address you are sending it to, in this case YouTube. The packets are encoded into radio signals which are sent through a wifi or cellular network. Your video travels through switches and routers on the internet until they reach YouTube’s servers. Your video is then reassembled and stored.

If uploading takes a long time for you it probably has nothing to do with YouTube; there is a lot that needs to happen for your video to even get there. How long the upload process takes depends on a number of factors including how many devices share your internet connection, how strong your wifi signal is, and the age of your router. If your uploads are taking too long consider compressing your videos before you upload them. You can also try uploading from your college campus or public libraries as institutions like these tend to have fast internet speeds.

2. Where is Your Video Stored?

As it is owned by Google YouTube uses Google’s ‘Bigtable’, a compressed data storage system which allows it to store the 500+ hours of video uploaded to its servers every minute. Bigtable is software, though, not hardware. YouTube and Google both have massive amounts of data and it needs to be physically housed somewhere.

Google has Modular Data Centers all over the world where it keeps its servers. These centers could cost as much as $600 million dollars each and consume huge amounts of electricity. There are six of them in the United States, three in Europe, two in Asia, and one is South America.

3. What Happens When Someone Watches Your Video?

When a viewer clicks on your video their computer sends an encoded request through the internet to YouTube’s servers. After YouTube receives the play request it chooses which format to play the video in based on the viewer’s browser. Your video is again turned into packets, which are again sent as radio signals over the internet to your viewer. Your viewer’s computer or device reforms the packets into your video and their browser plays it.

If videos take a long time to load for you then there are a few things you can do to speed them up. First, consider changing the channel of your wifi router. Most people stay on the channel their router was set to when they first got it and so there is a good chance you and your neighbors are all on the same channel. This causes your networks to interfere with each other. You can also delete the temporary files on your computer. Besides helping you stream video faster this will free up storage space. Another thing you can do is make sure there are as few devices connected to your network as possible while you are watching videos. Besides mobile phones and laptops you may have appliances, like coffee machines and refrigerators, which are wifi enabled. Disconnect them temporarily and it will help your videos to load faster.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

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