Field notes
Playbooks, teardowns and the occasional argument — everything we have learned helping creators grow across every major platform.
Google gives a desktop snippet two lines and a phone three. The useful target is one clear promise inside about 155 characters — and Google may still use a passage instead.
A title tag is cut by width, not by character count. The desktop column is about 600 pixels — which is anywhere from 45 to 75 characters depending on the letters.
A search snippet is assembled, not published. Google picks the title, often rewrites it, chooses the description from the page, and cuts both to fit a fixed column.
The same link renders two different cards. Facebook gives a title 88 characters on desktop and about 65 on a phone — and the phone is where most of the taps are.
Copying hashtags out of a screenshot by hand is how most people do this. Here is how to pull them off a public post from its URL, and what the limits are.
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 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.
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 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.
Copy this YouTube description template: the three visible lines, chapters, links that get clicked, and the boilerplate that belongs at the bottom.
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.
YouTube video tags are hidden in the page source, not the interface. Here are three ways to read them, and what they are actually worth.