7 Ways to Make Your YouTube Channel Visible in Search

youtube channel search

If you create content for YouTube, you surely know how important it is for a channel to appear in the search results. This kind of visibility is essential because the most common way to find a channel on YouTube is, obviously, just going to the platform and searching for its name.

However, some channels may face some trouble in gaining this kind of visibility and can end up losing some potential subscribers and important interactions with their content. This can heavily affect the enthusiasm of some content creators, who can become quite bewildered by the whole situation.

But the great thing is, we can totally help you to understand why this kind of thing happens. Also, we can guide you through the process of making your channel more searchable both on YouTube and Google, so you can finally reach out to new audiences and boost the popularity of your videos!

Ready to finally get that recognition you think your content deserves? So, let’s go!

Why Doesn’t my YouTube Channel Show Up When I Search for it?

For starters, let’s just try to understand a little bit about this problem and why it could be happening to your channel. There are some common reasons why channels won’t initially appear on YouTube’s search results, and they are:

  • Your channel is new.
  • Your channel name is often used in other people’s video titles.
  • You have a very common channel name.
  • Your channel name is not appropriate for all audiences.

However, if your channel doesn’t fit any of these circumstances, we’ll show what you could do to improve the chances of it appearing in those search results.

How to Make Your YouTube Channel Searchable on YouTube

A few options for what you can do:

1. Add Your Channel Name as the First Keyword On Your Channel Settings

Go to your YouTube Studio and click on “Settings” and then, click on “Channel”. In the Basic Info section, add your channel name as the first keyword on the list of keywords. There’s no problem in leaving other keywords on the list — that’s actually advisable — but it’s important that your channel name is the first one in there.

2. Add Your Channel Name as a Tag in Every Video

This can be done in the basic editing section of the video before you post it. If you already posted the video, you can still change the tags and insert your channel name.

3. Put Your Channel Name in the Description of The “About” Page

Go to “Your Channel” and then click on “About” and proceed to edit your description. You can also do this by going to your YouTube Studio > Customization > Basic Info. Try to put the channel name in there naturally and not in a very robotic manner. Potential viewers and subscribers appreciate well-written and informative content.

4. Set Up a Custom URL for Your Channel.

You must have 100 subscribers or more and your channel has to be at least 30 days old to unlock this feature. Here’s how you do it: go to YouTube Studio and then click on “Customization”. Go to the Basic Info section and then click in “Set a custom URL for your channel”.

If a URL with the exact name of your channel is already taken, try to take one as similar as possible so that your channel can still be optimized in the search results.

Heads up!

If you want to check the searchability of your channel, it is advised that you use an incognito window on your browser. Using your normal account won’t set up an impartial standard, seeing that your channel will most likely show up on the search results.

Using an incognito window can replicate the experience of a user who has never been in contact with your content before — and that’s what you want!

How to Make Your YouTube Channel Searchable on Google

Here are some things you can do to make your channel searchable on Google as well:

1. Find The Right Keywords for Your Channel

First, find the right keywords for your channel. You can go by simple association, selecting themes and words naturally linked to your content, or seek the help of an online tool or website that could improve your keyword research. There are multiple options for these online. 

I love using YouTube’s own suggested search feature. Just type a subject you’re going to talk about in your video and it will instantly show you tons of keywords to use for your video titles and descriptions:

2. Insert Important Keywords on Your Channel Description or “About” Page

Follow the instructions in our previous section on this post to insert important keywords on the description of your channel on the “About” page. Writing concisely while still inserting important keywords in the description text is extremely important for people to find your content not only by looking directly for the name of your channel but also when searching for subjects you bring to your videos.

Remember that people may never have heard of your channel, but they might be looking for the type of content you’re producing anyway.

3. Add Relevant Keywords for Your Channel to Your Channel Keywords And Video Tags

Go to your YouTube Studio and click on “Settings” and then, click on “Channel”. In the Basic Info section, not only add your name and channel name but also any relevant keyword related to your videos. You should also do that for every new video that you publish.

For example, if you do a lot of cooking tutorials, you can insert keywords like “cooking”, “how to cook”, “vegan recipes”, etc. Just make sure you add only keywords that are truly relevant to your channel. If you don’t, search engines might be confused about what your channel is about.

My YouTube Channel Remains Not Searchable. What Should I Do?

If your channel is still not searchable after following the instructions we provided, you should consider changing the name of your channel. Here’s how you do it:

  1. Go to your channel’s main page and click on “Customize Channel”.
  2. In the Basic Info section, hover over the option “Edit channel name” and then change the name.

Try to select a simple yet informative name that is also unique. Or even better, create your own brand name that is easy to remember:

When choosing a new name for your channel, here are some things you should avoid:

  • Selecting the name of an already existing popular channel. That won’t benefit your channel or content in any way whatsoever. 
  • Selecting a name that is too common. For example, if your channel is about film review content, don’t simply title your channel as “Film Reviews”. There are probably thousands of channels out there with the same name and that would make visibility to your channel extremely hard. Use your creativity to come up with an original and attractive name.
  • Don’t use cuss words on the title of your channel. Using swear words or any kind of ambiguous language that implicates obscenity or profanity of some kind can definitely narrow the visibility of your content and make your channel invisible when it comes to search results appearances.