YouTube creators can now optimize educational videos with additional metadata that will be displayed in search results in the future.

This update was announced during YouTube’s weekly news roundup that includes a number of smaller changes for creators that are worth knowing about.

Here’s a recap of the latest news for YouTube creators, starting with the metadata update.

New YouTube Metadata For Educational Videos

YouTube is bringing additional metadata to English language videos that are educational in nature.

Videos can be marked as educational during the upload flow via a drop down menu where you can select a category.

Selecting Education as a video category will grant access to a new set of metadata you can use to describe the content.

The new metadata fields include:

• Type of video
• Academic system
• Education level
• Exam, course or standard

Each of these fields are optional. You can utilize some, all, or none of them during the upload process.

Image Credit: Screenshot from YouTube.com/CreatorInsider, February 2022.

This is an important update for YouTube channels because, in the future, this metadata will be added to YouTube’s search results to help viewers decide whether the content meets their needs.

It’s one more tool you can use to optimize your videos and get them to stand out in search.

This has been rolled out to all English language educational videos.

Other Updates For YouTube Creators

Several smaller updates this week include a new way to add custom thumbnail, and new way to highlight Shorts videos on desktop.

Custom Thumbnails On Mobile

Image Credit: Screenshot from YouTube.com/CreatorInsider, February 2022.

YouTube is giving creators the ability to add custom thumbnails when uploading videos using the mobile app.

Previously, custom thumbnails could only be added when uploading videos on desktop.

This update is rolling out to everyone on iOS be the end of the week, and will launch soon on Android as well.

Dedicated Shorts Shelf On Desktop

Image Credit: Screenshot from YouTube.com/CreatorInsider, February 2022.

YouTube channel pages on desktop will now have a dedicated section for all the creator’s Shorts videos.

This update has the potential to drive more views to Shorts content, and brings channel pages on desktop to parity with the mobile experience.

New Shorts shelf on desktop is now available to all creators that publish Shorts content.

Source: Creator Insider

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