one title for youtube, google and your page

the short version

every episode now has one title. the same words head its page, its tile in the directory and the vault, its youtube video and its google result.

until today an episode had two: a name for the people following the series, and a search title for youtube and google. you looked at the name on details and had no way of knowing it was not the title youtube got. that is gone.

why one title

youtube is where most people search for a video, and google ranks the same video by much the same words. a stranger finds a build by typing the problem or the question: why do users sign up and never come back, how to set up an spf record, how to get your first ten customers. a title that leads with those words gets found. a title only you understand does not.

the people following the series do not need a different title. they see the episode label beside it, they know the story, and they read the line under the title for the day itself.

two titles made one of them invisible. the one you could see on details was the one that mattered least for being found.

how the title is written

when the cut is chosen, underway reads what you said and checks which searches youtube's own suggestions complete about it. the name is then written to the rules a search title follows:

• under 60 characters, because that is what a search result shows.
• what people type first: the problem, the question or the how-to.
• your own facts after it, if there is room: i tested my own signup, after 63 days building.
• 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.
• no episode number, no series name, no clickbait, no capitals for shouting, no emoji.

nothing in it is invented. the facts are the ones you said, in the order you said them, the same as everywhere else in underway.

where the day's story went

to the line under the title. on details it reads as the subtitle: shipped titles and thumbnails while waiting for customers, one bug left. it is the diary's voice, and it sits right under the title on your page and in the card at the start of the episode.

choosing a different title

most episodes answer more than one search. under the title on details, and under the youtube box on share, one quiet line says which search the title is written for and why. 2 more ways to title it opens the others, each with who types it. use this renames the episode, everywhere at once: your page, the directory, the vault and the next post to youtube.

edit on details still lets you type any title you like. typing in the youtube box on share changes youtube's title only, for the rare time you want them to differ.

what happened to episodes already made

every episode that had a search title took it as its name today. the old names were kept, so one can be put back if you ask. a video already on youtube keeps the title it was posted with until you press update on youtube. the card at the start of a finished file keeps the old name until you make the file again, because making it again is always your button, never the clock.

on the phone

the same. details shows the title with the other ways to title it under it, and use this renames the episode there too. the share tab's youtube box works the same way.

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