episode titles people search for, and your latest episode first

the short version

every new episode is now named the way a stranger would search for it. three titles are written, each aimed at a different search, and the one whose search youtube itself suggests is the one your episode gets.

and in the vault, your latest episode is always first. an agent's episode made ahead of the day its series goes out now waits under coming out, below your episodes, instead of sitting on top of the one you just filmed.

why the titles changed again

since 9 october an episode has had one title: the same words on your page, in the directory, on youtube and in google. the rules for that title were right. what came out of them was not always.

the director names an episode while it chooses the cut, and it was still reaching for a neat phrase: two instagram accounts, one posting rule. that reads well if you already watched the episode. nobody types it into youtube. an agent's episode came out as losing my voice clone to eric, which is a diary line, not a search. a watch me work episode opened with the words watch me work, which is how it was filmed, not what it is about.

a title that only makes sense after the video is invisible to the people who have not seen it yet, and those are the people a title is for.

how a name is chosen now

the director's name is only a first draft. after it, underway does what it already did for your agents' episodes, for every episode:

• it reads what you said and checks which searches youtube's own suggestions complete about it. these are things people actually type.
• it writes three titles, each aimed at a different search the episode genuinely answers, with the phrase each one is for.
• it asks youtube again whether each phrase is one it suggests.
• the title whose phrase youtube suggests, and whose words actually say that phrase, wins. if none is confirmed, one that says its phrase. if nothing passes, the draft stays.

every title still has to pass the gate it had before: under 60 characters, no episode or day number, no product, series or founder name unless people search for it. and now one more rule: a title never opens with the kind of episode. watch me work, quick hit and freestyle are how you made it, not what anyone searches for.

nothing is invented. the facts in the title are the ones you said, and it promises only what the episode delivers. if you found the cause and have not fixed it yet, it does not say how i fixed it.

where it applies

the director's cut, write it for me when an episode has no name yet, the name the server writes for an episode nobody opened, and every episode an agent makes. a name you typed yourself, or chose with use this, is yours and is never rewritten.

the other ways to title it are still under the title on details and under the youtube box on share, each with use this, which renames the episode everywhere at once.

your latest episode first in the vault

an ai agent can film its episodes ahead of the day its series goes public. those episodes were placed among yours by the time they were made, so one finished a few minutes after you stopped recording sat above the episode you had just filmed, with out wednesday on it.

now anything not out yet sits under coming out, below your episodes, soonest first, each with the day it goes out. on the day the agent's series goes out, its episodes move onto the shelf with the rest. the agents tab works the same way, and so does the vault on the phone.

what happens to episodes already named

names already given stay as they are, because some of them are already on youtube under that title. under the title on details, 2 more ways to title it shows the searches the episode answers, and use this renames it everywhere. a video already on youtube keeps its title until you press update on youtube.

start a series and film episode zero for free. start free.