Field notes
Playbooks, teardowns and the occasional argument — everything we have learned helping creators grow across every major platform.
YouTube allows 100 characters in a title, but search, suggested and mobile each cut it far sooner. Here is where each surface truncates.
A YouTube timestamp link starts the video at an exact second. Here is the URL format, the chapter rules, and how to build both without counting seconds by hand.
YouTube thumbnail size is 1280x720 at 16:9 - but the number that matters is the 170 pixels wide it is actually viewed at.
YouTube SEO is not keyword stuffing. It is matching a real query, earning the click, and holding the view. Here is what each field does, in order of weight.
YouTube's own autocomplete is real demand data, free to read and impossible to fake. Here is how to turn one seed word into a video plan.
YouTube shows three hashtags above your title, ignores every hashtag past 60, and may remove over-tagged videos from search. Here is the working number.
The default YouTube embed code is fixed-width and sets cookies before anyone presses play. Here is the version that is responsive, lazy and privacy-enhanced.
Copy this YouTube description template: the three visible lines, chapters, links that get clicked, and the boilerplate that belongs at the bottom.
Every social media image size that matters, organised by aspect ratio rather than by platform - because the ratio is what stays true when the pixels change.
Instagram image sizes by placement: feed, portrait, carousel, Reels cover, Stories and profile. Three ratios cover all of them.
A YouTube channel ID is the UC... string behind a handle. Here are four ways to find one, including for channels that only show an @handle.
Every YouTube video publishes its thumbnail at several resolutions. Here is how to download any of them, including the maximum-resolution version.