Field notes
Playbooks, teardowns and the occasional argument — everything we have learned helping creators grow across every major platform.
Your YouTube channel description is truncated early and appears in search results. Here is what belongs in the visible part, and what belongs below it.
The best YouTube upload schedule is the one you do not miss. Here is how to pick a cadence, build the calendar, and survive the week it goes wrong.
YouTube has no comment search. Here are three ways to search YouTube comments anyway, and what each one can and cannot reach.
How to cite a YouTube video in APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard: which fields you need, where to find them, and how to handle a channel with no real name.
A YouTube handle is the @name people can mention and search. Here are the rules, how to check availability, and what changing one actually breaks.
A YouTube subscribe link opens the subscribe confirmation instead of the channel page. Here is the format, where to use it, and the rule about not begging.
Every YouTube channel and playlist publishes an RSS feed. Here is the URL format, how to find the ID it needs, and what the feed does and does not include.
Before blaming the algorithm, eliminate the five settings that remove a video from search outright. Each has a check that takes under a minute.
A YouTube page publishes far more about a video than the interface draws. Here is the full list of fields, what each one controls, and how to read them.
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.