YouTube Shorts Description: How to Add One and What to Write

To add a description to a YouTube Short, open the Short in YouTube Studio (Content, then click the Short) or in the YouTube app (profile picture, Your videos, More, Edit), type into the Description box and save. The limit is 5,000 characters, but viewers see only the first lines before tapping "more", links you paste there are not clickable, and hashtags are. Write one plain sentence with the words people would search, add one to three hashtags, and stop.

This guide covers every way to add or edit a Shorts description (computer, phone, YouTube Studio app), what the description actually does for a Short, what to write, copy-paste templates, and the mistakes that waste the field.

Where the description goes: pick a method

You can add the description while uploading or any time afterwards. The fastest route depends on where the Short is.

Your situation	Best method	Where the Description box is
Uploading a vertical file from a computer	YouTube Studio upload	Details step, right under Title
Recording or uploading in the YouTube app	Add details screen, then edit after posting if needed	The upload screen asks for a title (max 100 characters); tap Show more for extra details
Short already published, you are at a computer	YouTube Studio, Content	Details page of the Short
Short already published, you only have your phone	YouTube app or YouTube Studio app	Edit screen of the Short
Many Shorts with the same footer text	Upload defaults in YouTube Studio (Settings, Upload defaults)	Default description, filled in on every new upload from a browser

YouTube lets you change a video's details at any time after upload, so if you skipped the description on a phone, you can add it later without uploading the Short again.

How to add a description to a YouTube Short on a computer

While uploading

Any video with a square or vertical aspect ratio that is up to three minutes long is categorized as a Short (for standard channels, uploads from October 15, 2024 onward), so a regular YouTube Studio upload of a vertical file becomes a Short automatically. The description goes in during the Details step.

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. In the top-right corner, click Create, then Upload videos, and select your vertical file.
3. On the Details step, fill in Title (100 characters max), then click into Description and type or paste your text.
4. Use the formatting options at the bottom of the box if you want bold, italic or strikethrough text.
5. Finish the remaining steps (audience, visibility) and publish.

If you upload Shorts in batches, the Reuse details option on the Details step copies selected details from a previously uploaded video, which saves retyping a standard footer. YouTube Studio lets you upload up to 15 videos at a time; click Edit on each file to give each one its own description.

After the Short is published

1. Sign in to YouTube Studio.
2. From the left menu, select Content and find the Short.
3. Click the Short's title or thumbnail.
4. Edit the Description box and click Save.

The same Details page is where you add tags, change the title and, if your channel has advanced feature access, pick a Related Video. More on that below, because it is the only clickable link a Short can carry.

How to add a description to a YouTube Short on a phone

While uploading in the YouTube app

1. Open the YouTube app, tap Create and select Short.
2. Record or pick your clip, edit it, then tap Done and Next to add details.
3. Add a title (max 100 characters). Tap Show more to see the additional details for the upload.
4. Choose the audience setting and tap Upload Short.

The mobile upload screen is built around the title. If you do not see a separate description field on your version of the app, publish first and add the description from the edit screen straight away. It takes under a minute.

After posting, in the YouTube app (Android, iPhone, iPad)

1. Open the YouTube app and tap your profile picture.
2. Tap Your videos.
3. Next to the Short, tap More (the three dots), then Edit.
4. Tap the description field, type your text and tap Save.

After posting, in the YouTube Studio app

1. Open the YouTube Studio app.
2. From the bottom menu, tap Content and select the Short.
3. Tap Edit, update the description and tap Save.

On mobile you can format text too: highlight it to open the editing bar, and start a line with "*", "+" or "-" followed by a space to make a bullet list.

Does the description matter on a Short?

Less than on a long video, but it is not useless. Here is what it does and does not do.

• Search matching: yes. YouTube's own tips page says search terms are matched with the video and the text in the description. Shorts appear in YouTube search results, so a description that names the topic in plain words gives the Short a second place to match a query besides the title.
• Context for the system: yes. The same page says descriptions tell the YouTube algorithm and your viewers what the video is about. A clear sentence helps when your title is a hook ("I tried this for 30 days") rather than a topic.
• Hashtags: yes. Hashtags in the description link to a results page of other videos with the same hashtag, and up to three of the most engaging ones can appear by your title.
• Feed performance: barely. In the Shorts feed, viewers swipe from one Short to the next and decide in the first seconds whether to keep watching. The description is tucked away there, so the hook does that work, not the text.
• Links: no. YouTube makes URLs in Shorts descriptions and Shorts comments non-clickable, to reduce spam and scams. A pasted link shows up as plain text.

So the practical rule is: spend one minute on the description, put the searchable words up front, and put your real effort into the first two seconds of the video and the title. If you want the full picture on metadata for Shorts, see YouTube Shorts tags: do they matter, which covers the hidden Tags field and how it differs from hashtags.

What to write in a YouTube Shorts description

YouTube suggests thinking of a description in two parts: what viewers see before they tap "more" and what they see after. On a Short, almost nobody gets to part two, so build it like this.

Line 1: what the Short is about, in search words

One sentence that names the topic the way someone would type it. YouTube recommends picking one or two main words that describe the video and featuring them in both the title and the description. If the title is a hook, the first line is where the plain topic goes.

• Weak: "You won't believe this..."
• Better: "How to remove background noise from a voice recording in Audacity, in three clicks."

Line 2: one to three specific hashtags

Pick hashtags that describe this exact Short (#audacity, #podcasttips) rather than generic ones every Short uses. Of all the hashtags in your description, up to three that YouTube considers most engaging appear by your title. If a video has more than 60 hashtags, YouTube ignores every hashtag on it, and over-tagging can get a video removed from search, so a long block of tags hurts rather than helps. Our YouTube Hashtag Generator suggests a short, on-topic set from your video if you want a starting point.

Optional: credit, context or a pointer

Use the rest of the field for things a curious viewer may want: who is in the clip, the source of a quote, the name of the long video the clip comes from, or a channel mention. If the Short is cut from a longer video, saying so ("Full episode on the channel") gives interested viewers a reason to look, even though the link itself will not be clickable.

How long should it be?

The hard limit is 5,000 characters, the same as any YouTube video. For a Short, one to three lines is usually enough: a wall of text under a 30-second clip mostly goes unread. Write longer only when the Short needs credits, sources or a disclosure.

Copy-paste Shorts description templates

Swap the bracketed parts. Keep each one specific to the Short: YouTube recommends a unique description for every video, which also makes each one easier to find in search.

Tutorial or tip
How to [do the thing] in [tool or time frame]. [One detail the viewer will want, like the setting name or the exact step.]
#[topic] #[tool]

Clip from a podcast or long video
[Guest name] on [specific topic] from [show name], episode [number]. Full conversation on the channel.
#[showname] #[topic]

Story, reaction or entertainment
[What happens, in plain words, without spoiling the ending.] Part [n] of [series name].
#[series] #[topic]

Product or review
Quick look at [product] after [time used]: [the one thing you found]. [Disclosure if it is sponsored or you got it free.]
#[product] #[category]

Default footer (set once in upload defaults, applies to browser uploads)
New Shorts every [day/week] on [topic]. Longer breakdowns on the channel.

The links problem, and what to use instead

The biggest surprise for creators moving from long videos to Shorts: any URL you type in a Short's description or comments is shown as plain text, not as a link. YouTube's help page on sharing links lists the options that do work for Shorts.

Option	Clickable on Shorts?	Notes
URL in the Shorts description	No	Made non-clickable to reduce spam and scams
URL in Shorts comments	No	Same rule as descriptions
Related Video	Yes	Links the Short to one of your own videos, Shorts or lives; shown below your channel handle; needs advanced feature access
Channel profile links	Yes	Up to 14 links on your channel page
Hashtags in the description	Yes	Link to a results page for that hashtag

To add a Related Video: in YouTube Studio, open Content, click the Short, choose a Related Video from your channel and click Save. The video you link has to be public or unlisted. This is the best way to send Shorts viewers to the full-length version, which is usually the point of posting a clip in the first place.

Writing descriptions for a batch of Shorts

The description is quick for one Short. It becomes a chore when you cut ten clips from one podcast or webinar and each needs its own first line, its own hashtags and a pointer back to the full episode. Three things keep it fast:

1. Set a default description in YouTube Studio under Settings, Upload defaults, with the parts that never change (your series name, the "full episode on the channel" line). It is applied to uploads made in a browser; uploads from the mobile app do not use these defaults.
2. Write only line 1 per clip. The topic sentence is the part that has to be unique. Pull it from what the speaker says in the clip, not from the episode title.
3. Reuse a small hashtag set for the show and add one topic hashtag per clip.

If you are still cutting the clips by hand, Short.now's Long Video to Shorts converter finds the strongest moments in a long video and turns each into a captioned 9:16 Short, so the description is the only part left to write. For the editing side of that workflow, see how to make YouTube Shorts from long videos.

Common mistakes with Shorts descriptions

• Pasting a link and expecting clicks. It will not be clickable. Use a Related Video or your channel links instead.
• Hashtag walls. Thirty hashtags under a 20-second clip look like spam, and more than 60 means YouTube ignores all of them.
• Repeating keyword lists. YouTube's hashtag policy says ordinary descriptive tags or repetitive sentences in the description are prohibited and can get a video removed or penalized.
• Unrelated trending hashtags. Misleading hashtags that have nothing to do with the video break YouTube's misleading metadata rules.
• Copying the same description onto every Short. Keep the footer shared, but make line 1 unique each time.
• Burying the topic. If the first line is a joke or an emoji string, the words people search for never show before "more".

Check what is working

Once a few Shorts are live, open YouTube Analytics and look at how viewers find your content. YouTube says those reports show the most commonly used search terms viewers use to find your videos. If people search for words that are missing from your descriptions, add them to the next Shorts' first lines. Pair this with the other basics that decide whether a Short gets watched: a custom thumbnail and a length that suits the idea (see how long YouTube Shorts can be). For writing titles, captions and hashtags as one system, the Academy lesson on titles, captions and hashtags goes further.