How to write YouTube Shorts titles and descriptions

What YouTube actually lets you write

The hard limits are short and official. At the time of writing, YouTube's upload help page says video titles have a character limit of 100 characters and descriptions have a limit of 5,000 characters, and neither can include invalid characters. The page does not give a separate limit for Shorts, so those are the numbers to plan around.

The same page is blunt about tags. It describes tags as descriptive keywords that help viewers find your video when your content is commonly misspelled, and says that otherwise they have a minimal effect on discovery. For a faceless channel that is a reason to spend your time on the title and the first line of the description, not on a long tag list.

What does not appear in YouTube's help pages is a figure for how many characters of a title show on a phone before it is cut off. Third-party tools quote numbers from 40 to 70, and they disagree with each other. Treat any such figure as a rough guess and check your own Shorts on a real phone, because the answer changes with the screen and the app version.

• Title: up to 100 characters.
• Description: up to 5,000 characters.
• Tags: small effect, mostly useful for common misspellings.
• Hashtags: covered separately below, with their own limits.

A title is a promise, and YouTube checks the promise

The rule that matters most for titles is not about length. YouTube's spam policy says it does not allow content, metadata or behaviour designed to take advantage of the YouTube community, and lists malicious clickbait: using maliciously misleading titles, thumbnails, descriptions or imagery to trick users. Its example is a title that offers a full sports match when the video shows only a clip.

For a Short the translation is simple. If the title says 'The hidden reason this ship sank', the video has to deliver a reason within its length. If the title promises three facts, show three. A title that sells something the script never says might get a tap, but it is the quickest way to a video that people swipe away from, and it is the wording the policy is aimed at.

Honest does not mean dull. The best titles on a faceless channel name the specific thing the viewer will learn and leave the answer to the video: the question, the odd number or the surprising object. The script then pays it off in the first seconds, which is the same job as the hook, covered in our guide to writing a hook for YouTube Shorts.

Read more: How to write a hook for YouTube Shorts

Four title shapes that work for faceless channels

You do not need clever wordplay. You need a shape you can repeat across a hundred videos without every title reading like the last one. These four cover most faceless formats, and you can mix them across a series.

The examples below are generic patterns, not results from any channel. Swap the nouns for your own topic.

• The question: 'Why did the lights go out for four minutes?' Works when the video answers it inside the first half.
• The specific object or number: 'The 400-year-old tree that grows in a circle'. Concrete nouns beat adjectives like 'amazing' or 'crazy'.
• The contrast: 'Everyone thinks this is a cheese. It is not.' Good for myth and fact formats, as long as the video really corrects the myth.
• The plain label: 'How a lighthouse lens works'. Easy to search for, and the right choice when the topic is something people look up.

Put the searchable words early, and write for the human first

A Short is mostly found by recommendation, but not only. YouTube's help pages on hashtags say a hashtag in a title or description links to a results page of other videos that use the same hashtag, and that people also search for videos directly. A title that contains the words a person would type, near the front, helps with both the search results and the person reading it.

Do not stuff it. A title packed with keywords reads as spam to a viewer and gives you nothing a clean title would not. One topic, one promise, in plain words.

Capital letters, symbols and emoji are a taste call. YouTube's rules do not limit them in a title beyond the invalid-character note, but a title in capitals reads as shouting on a small screen, and a string of symbols can look like the engagement bait that the spam policy covers. Keep it readable at a glance.

What goes in the description, and what goes first

The description has far more room than anyone fills. A Short's description is where the useful, slower detail lives: a one-line summary that repeats the promise in different words, the sources behind a fact, and links you want people to find. Put the most important line first. YouTube's upload help page says the description appears below the video.

Because the screen is small, assume the first line is the only one many people read. Say the topic in plain words there, then add the extras underneath.

Three things are worth including every time. First, a short list of your sources for any factual claim, which also helps if a viewer questions you. Second, credit for any music, footage or images that require attribution under their licence. Third, a correction line if you get something wrong: YouTube's upload help page says to write 'Correction:' or 'Corrections:' in English on its own line, with a timestamp and an explanation, after any chapters.

That corrections feature is not available if a channel has active strikes or the content may be inappropriate for some viewers, so it is no substitute for checking the script before you post.

Hashtags and the AI disclosure are separate from the words

Hashtags have their own rules. At the time of writing, YouTube's hashtag help page says only up to three hashtags appear above a video's title, chosen from those in the description, that a video with more than 60 hashtags has every hashtag ignored, and that over-tagging can lead to a video being removed from uploads or search. Two or three relevant hashtags is plenty. Our article on hashtags for YouTube Shorts goes into it.

The altered or synthetic content disclosure is a setting you tick when you upload, not a line of text. YouTube's disclosure page says creators must disclose realistic content that makes a real person appear to say or do something they did not, alters footage of a real event or place, or generates a realistic scene that did not occur. It does not require disclosure for clearly unrealistic content such as animation or fantasy. Writing 'AI generated' in the description does not replace the toggle, and the toggle does not replace an honest title.

Test your wording with the numbers YouTube gives you

You do not have to guess which title works. YouTube Studio's Content analytics for Shorts includes a 'Shown in feed' figure and a 'Viewed vs swiped away' figure, which YouTube's help pages describe. If you change only the title style over ten Shorts and keep the topic type and length the same, a rise in the share who stay on the Short tells you more than any title formula.

Be modest about what a title can do. It cannot rescue a weak first two seconds, and an honest title on a good video is almost always better than a sharper title on a video that does not deliver. If a Short is being swiped away, look at the hook before you rewrite the title.

A practical routine for a faceless channel: write the hook line first, turn it into a title of one clear promise, put the topic in plain words in the first line of the description, add sources and credits below, choose two or three hashtags, and set the disclosure toggle if it applies. FacelessVideoCreator writes a draft title and description with each video, and you can edit both before anything is posted. Read them as a viewer would, and cut anything the video does not deliver.

Questions

How long can a YouTube Shorts title be?

At the time of writing, YouTube's upload help page gives a limit of 100 characters for a video title and 5,000 characters for a description, and does not list a different limit for Shorts. How much of the title is visible on screen depends on the device, so check a real Short on your phone.

Do I need a title at all for a Short?

YouTube's help page on uploading videos lists a title as part of the details you add, so write one. A clear title also gives you something to scan in Studio when you compare Shorts later, which matters once you have more than a few dozen.

Do tags still matter for Shorts?

Very little. YouTube's upload help page says tags are most useful when your content is commonly misspelled and otherwise have a minimal effect on discovery. Put your effort into the title, the first line of the description and the video itself.

Is a clickbait title against the rules?

Not by itself. YouTube's spam policy targets maliciously misleading titles, thumbnails and descriptions used to trick viewers, with a title that offers a full match when the video shows a clip as its example. A curiosity-led title is fine if the video delivers what it promises.

How many hashtags should I add?

Two or three relevant ones is a sensible habit. YouTube's hashtag help page says only up to three show above the title, and that more than 60 on a video causes all of them to be ignored. There is no benefit in adding dozens.

Can I put a correction in the description?

Yes. YouTube's upload help page says to write 'Correction:' or 'Corrections:' on its own line with a timestamp and an explanation, after any chapters, and viewers then see a corrections card. The feature is unavailable on channels with active strikes or content that may be inappropriate for some viewers.

Sources

Platform rules change. These pages are the authority; this article summarises them as of the date above.

• YouTube Help: Upload YouTube videos (title and description limits, tags, corrections)
• YouTube Help: Spam policy (malicious clickbait)
• YouTube Help: Find playlists and videos using hashtags
• YouTube Help: Disclosing use of altered or synthetic content
• YouTube Help: Content tab analytics tips (Shorts), including 'Shown in feed' and viewed vs swiped away