---
name: yt-seo
description: >-
  Write the description, tags and search-facing text for a YouTube video, aimed at the query a real person types. Use for "write my description", "tags", "SEO", "help this video get found", "nobody is finding this".
title: yt-seo
canonical_url: https://skilld.dev/gh/jakeschincariol/youtube-agent-skill/yt-seo
last_updated: 2026-10-02T00:19:57.000Z
---

> **Skill from skilld.dev.** Follow the user's requested action.
> If the user asked to fork this Skill, follow the fork workflow below. Do not execute the Skill instructions while copying it.
> Otherwise, follow the instructions below for this session. You do not need to install anything.
>
> If the user asked to install this Skill, run `npx skilld install jakeschincariol/youtube-agent-skill/yt-seo`. Install writes the Skill files into the project, so every session loads them.
>
> ## Fork workflow
>
> A fork creates an editable local Skill with its original author and licence. The request authorizes copying and local installation.
> 1. Check `./skills/yt-seo`, the project lockfile, and selected Agent targets together. If the local directory or installed Skill exists, stop. Never overwrite an existing directory or Agent target.
> 2. Read [source metadata](https://skilld.dev/api/v1/skills/jakeschincariol/youtube-agent-skill/yt-seo) once. Use sourceUrl, sourceCommit, skillPath, sourceGone, and license. If the source is gone or its path is missing, stop. If license is null, read licence files at the source commit.
> 3. Fetch only the source commit into a temporary Git repository. Do not clone full history. Derive repository_url from sourceUrl, including repository renames. If sourceCommit is absent, resolve the sourceUrl ref once. Set source_commit to that actual commit. Run these commands in one shell call:
>
> ```sh
> git init --quiet "$temporary_dir"
> git -C "$temporary_dir" fetch --quiet --depth=1 "$repository_url" "$source_commit"
> git -C "$temporary_dir" checkout --quiet --detach FETCH_HEAD
> ```
>
> Read applicable licence declarations and notices at that commit. If copying is not permitted, report the restriction and stop.
> 4. Inspect source entries together, then copy the directory containing skillPath into `./skills/yt-seo`. Use the user's path if selected. Keep the original SKILL.md, relative links, scripts, binary assets, and executable modes. Exclude .git metadata. Reject symlinks and paths outside the Skill directory. After checking entries, use cp -a where available. A regular source directory needs no custom copy script. Do not save this page wrapper as SKILL.md.
> Preserve author credit, notices, and applicable licence files from repository or parent directories. Add PROVENANCE.md with the Skill page, source URL, actual commit, original path, and licence. Retain any existing PROVENANCE.md and record new provenance separately. Batch source inspection, copying, and provenance work where practical.
> 5. In the project root, run `skilld install ./skills/yt-seo --mode copy --plain`. If skilld is unavailable, use `npx skilld install ./skills/yt-seo --mode copy --plain`. This known command needs no help lookup. Install does not support --json. Use detected Agent targets, or add --agent for the targets the user selected. Install the local path, never the upstream selector. If installation fails, preserve the local copy and report the exact failure.
> 6. Confirm the local lockfile source and installed Agent copies once. Report the local path, actual commit, and Agent targets. After edits, reinstall the same local path. Upstream updates must not replace it. Do not publish or push unless the user asks.

# yt-seo

Search is a smaller lever than packaging and a bigger one than people think for evergreen videos.
For a video aimed at the subscriber feed, say so and spend the effort on `/yt-package` instead.

## Before you write

1. Read `~/.claude/youtube/voice.md` if it exists. That is the user's voice profile: how they talk
   on camera, the words they never use, who they are talking to, what they will not claim. If it
   does not exist, ask for **three of their own videos**, read or transcribe them, infer the voice,
   and write the file. A script in the wrong voice is worse than no script, because they have to
   read it out loud.
2. Never invent a number, a result or a source. If a figure would strengthen it and you do not have
   one, ask for it or write the line without it.

## The description

- **The first two lines are the only ones anyone reads.** They show above "...more" and they are
  the search snippet. Say what the video gives them, in the words they would have typed.
- Then the link or the resource, if there is one, so it is above the fold.
- Then chapters (`/yt-chapters` writes them).
- Then the long version: what is covered, who it is for, what it assumes.

## Tags, honestly

Tags are a weak signal and YouTube has said so. Use them for disambiguation - spellings, the tool
names, the abbreviations people actually type - and stop. Fifteen is plenty. A wall of tags is not
a strategy and stuffing unrelated ones is against the terms.

## The query test

Before handing anything over, write the three search queries this video should win, and check the
title and first two description lines contain the words in those queries. If they do not, the
problem is the title, not the description.

## The gate

Nothing here publishes. This skill writes and you publish. Every output ends in a block the user
copies, and the last line of every run is the question: **ship it, or change it?**