Become a YouTube Search Wizard
YOUTUBE – Improve your YouTube search abilities with these five (5) powerful tips, just like a pro.
YouTube operates as a versatile global platform where individuals can share their content, functioning not only as a streaming service but also as a search engine and a social media hub, effectively competing with other prominent sites in these categories. In a previous article, we shared a step-by-step guide on how to create a podcast on YouTube.
The process of discovering content on YouTube is straightforward, typically involving entering a few words into the search bar. However, there are additional methods to refine your search, such as focusing on live events or excluding parodies, creating playlists, or specifying the time frame for the content you’re seeking.
Here’s how you can use these features and more:
1.How to find live events
Various concerts and events are streamed live on YouTube, allowing you to join a worldwide audience in real-time. To access these live streams, you can add the term “live” to your search query or explore upcoming and ongoing livestream events. On your computer, you can visit youtube.com and select “Live” from the left column. On mobile, you can open the YouTube app, tap “Explore,” and then select “Live.”
2. Narrow your search
With over 2 billion monthly logged-in users and more than 500 hours of new content uploaded every minute, navigating YouTube’s vast content library can be challenging. Refining your search by the video’s posting date can be crucial. To find specific content, you can try adding “this week” or “this month” to your search terms. Alternatively, you can use YouTube’s filters by visiting youtube.com on your computer, selecting the Filters dropdown box after your search, and choosing the desired upload date, ranging from the Last hour to This year. On mobile, you can tap the three dots icon, then tap Search filters.
3. Find the actual music video, not just the parodies
YouTube, available in over 100 countries and supporting 80 different languages, is the second-largest search platform globally, with Google being the only one to surpass it. Users worldwide share parodies, fan videos, and reactions to trending topics. If you’re searching for a specific music video amidst various fan-created content, simply type the artist and song name, followed by a comma and the word “partner” to streamline your search results. For example, searching for “Lady Gaga poker face, partner” can yield the official music video.
4. Make a playlist of songs
To have YouTube compile a playlist of your preferred songs, you can use the search term “playlist.” If you want to find a playlist specific to an artist, you can enter “Artist Name playlist,” and the results will include fan-made compilations that merge various songs into a single extended upload.
Creating a personalized playlist is also possible. From your computer, you can locate the video you wish to include in a playlist, click the three-dot menu near the top right of the video, and select “Save to playlist.” You can choose an existing playlist or create a new one. On mobile, you can tap “Save” below the video to automatically save it to your last playlist or the “Watch Later” playlist.
5. Find a movie to watch
To search for movies, you can incorporate the term “movie” in your query. However, note that you may need to purchase or rent a movie if it’s not available for free on the platform.
Bonus Search Tips:
- Use the + or – keys to include or exclude keywords from your search results.
- Enclose your search query in quotation marks to find an exact phrase.
- Add “long” or “short” to your search to locate videos of a specific duration.