YouTube Marketing

Overview

This skill helps AI agents plan YouTube content (long-form, Shorts, titles, descriptions, thumbnails), automate uploads and playlists with the YouTube Data API v3, and read channel analytics with the YouTube Analytics API. Field limits, quotas and Partner Program rules below come from Google's documentation. Claims about what the recommendation system favours are heuristics: YouTube publishes no ranking formula, so test them against your own Analytics.

Instructions

Discovery (heuristics)

• Search: title, description, chapters and captions are text the system can match against a query, so put the real topic in plain words early
• Recommendations: click-through rate on the thumbnail and title, how long people watch, and whether viewers are satisfied. Read your own Analytics (impressions CTR, average view duration, retention graph) rather than trusting rules of thumb
• What hurts: a title or thumbnail that promises something the video does not deliver, long intros, hiding the answer

Content formats

Long-form: Hook in the first seconds, state what the viewer will get, then deliver in clear sections with chapters. Upload at 1080p or higher in MP4 (H.264) with clean audio. Retention tools: pattern changes, open loops, visual variety. Check the retention graph and cut where it drops.

Shorts: vertical video. YouTube Help says Shorts can be up to 3 minutes long; the maximum upload resolution is 1080p. Open with the hook, one idea per Short, loop-friendly ending. Use Shorts to point to long-form playlists. Public view counts start when a video begins to play, for Shorts and long-form alike (Shorts since March 31, 2025, all formats since August 27, 2026); monetization and most core metrics stay on engaged views and engaged watch hours (engagedViews in Analytics).