…unless you want to hear an important YouTube tip, that is. At Pixability, we always recommend keeping your video’s title on the short side. This is due to the fact that YouTube will simply cut off your title after about 45 characters when it appears in search results or the Suggested Videos tab.
You may think a viewer will get the point of the title even if the end is chopped off, but this is a risky assumption. Having the end of your title scrubbed can actually turn your message around and make it say the opposite of what you intended.
Take this example we came across. The video is about how to land a new job. When it shows up in search results or YouTube’s suggested videos, the title reads “#1 Job Interviewing Tip: Never go to a job.” Unless you’re looking for a telecommuting position, that’s a horrible tip. It’s like saying “#1 Social Video Marketing Tip: Never publish a video.” Intrigued, we clicked through to watch the video.
Once the video loaded, we realized that the full title was actually “#1 Job Interviewing Tip: Never go to a job without a Job Match summary.” The title has gone from telling the viewer to never go to a job to telling him or her to go the extra mile, all because it was over 45 characters in length. A better title might have been “Use a Job Match Summary to Land a Job” or “Get Hired by Using a Job Match Summary.”
So when you’re deciding on a title for your video, remember to include multiple keywords but limit the length of the key message.
And don’t forget: when using our software to edit your title, you will see an alert under the title bar if you exceed the limit. That’s just our way of reminding you to use a title that will get cut off with caution.