Hashtags are a popular way to discover everyone’s views are on a certain topic. Twitter and Facebook are heavily reliant on hashtags to improve discovery and serve you more content. And today, YouTube has joined the fray and launched hashtag landing pages to make better use of this feature.
The platform allows creators to add hashtags to their videos, which appear above the video title on their website. They have been around for a long time and it is only now that YouTube has chosen to utilize them. Clicking on a hashtag will now take you to a dedicated page that displays videos marked with that hashtag.
“Starting today, anyone clicking on a specific hashtag on YouTube, either on the desktop or mobile app, will see a new dedicated page that only contains videos with the hashtag, which are sorted to keep the best videos at the top,” said Team YouTube in an official forum post.
The hashtags can also be found in the video descriptions. Some creators like to add hashtags to the very top or bottom of the description. Now, I tested out this feature, and while it works as advertised for hashtags added to videos by creators. However, there’s no way to access landing pages by searching for a hashtag right now. You will only see popular videos that include the said hashtag in the search results.
In its official video on the Creator Insider channel, YouTube states that the hashtag search functionality is live. But, it is not. A YouTube spokesperson has confirmed to Engadget that the feature is coming over the next few weeks. This essentially changes how hashtags work on the streaming website. You will no longer see videos related to the hashtag but those that have been tagged by creators themselves.
The dedicated hashtag landing pages are rolling out and will available across YouTube on the web and mobile, including iOS and Android. So, go ahead and click on a hashtag to explore some new creators and videos.
