Optimize Your Videos

Crash Course: How To Use Metadata, Tags & Categories

Crash Course: How To Use Metadata, Tags & Categories on Pornhub

By Pornhub | July 18, 2022 | 4 mins

What’s the use in making great content if no one can find it? This is where optimizing metadata comes in!

If you haven’t already read our crash course on video titles, you can find it here.

What is Metadata? Information such as video titles, tags and categories that describe your content. When uploading a video, you can select metadata that will help group and identify your videos.  Metadata helps fans find what they’re looking for. Tags refer to the specific actions, settings and props featured in the video, while categories are used to categorize the types of performers and production style.

Using ACCURATE metadata is the key to successfully having your videos noticed.

When uploading a video, make sure to select the orientation that best relates to your video so it appears to the right audience. You can select the following from the dropdown menu: Straight, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, Bisexual Male.

Under “Choose a Production”, you can select "Professional" or "Homemade." If you are an amateur model producing your own content, you should select homemade. If you’re working with a professional studio using professional-grade equipment, select professional. Note that "Professional" does not mean the quality or video is better, it simply refers to the production style. "Amateur" is one of the most popular categories on Pornhub, and many users prefer homemade content. Select the production style that most accurately reflects your content.

Select a language from the drop-down menu under “Language Spoken in Video”. This will allow users to find videos in that specific language, helping increase the reach of your video in searches.

Categories

Properly categorizing your videos is very important as it can affect ratings and views. Select up to 8 that are accurate, relevant, and best represent your video. Viewers like to know what they can expect from a video, so misleading viewers with categories that don’t match your video could bring on bad ratings. Bad ratings can affect views and your video’s chance of getting featured on the front page.

‘Exclusive’ is one of the most-watched categories, so if you haven’t signed up for exclusivity, this is another great reason to do so. The exclusive category is automatically added if you've enabled exclusivity; it's not a category you can add yourself (click here for more info).

You can select categories that refer to actions, performers (number of performers, body type, age group, ethnicity), scenarios (such as babysitter, casting, massage, etc.), and production style (such as amateur, cartoon, compilation, webcam, etc.)

Since you can only select 8 from these, use them strategically. Selecting categories that don’t apply to your video will not make them more visible, but rather increase your chances of being downvoted.

Tags

How you tag your video affects your video’s rating and ultimately views and ad revenue. Properly picking and adding accurate tags to your video will help drive search results and expose your video to users who are looking for that kind of content. For example, if a user searches “doggystyle” and your video includes that tag, it will be included in the search results.

Each video can have up to 16 tags; we suggest you use them up and select wisely. Think about your videos and pick words that describe actions (rimming, scissoring), positions (doggystyle, cowgirl), settings (kitchen, library), objects (dildo, handcuffs) and attributes (petite, trimmed). Avoid picking tags that have already been chosen as categories. The website will automatically select tags that are associated with the categories you chose.

We'd also suggest keeping your tag words as short as possible, as if you're texting someone with one hand (because you know, the other hand is busy). For example, if you want to include "blowjob," consider including "BJ" as well. If someone is looking for a clip that would involve a threesome, they might just search the terms "three" or "3some." Think of how you would search for something specific.

Once your video is uploaded, you can add action tags directly on the video. Click on “edit” next to the video in question, then click on “Add Action Tags”. You can select the exact time a certain action takes place and tag that action using the drop-down menu. When users watch your videos, they can see exactly what actions take place at what times.

Do not tag pornstars or models that do not appear in your videos; this will give the impression that you are a spam or scam account.

If our moderation team finds the tags or categories chosen to be inaccurate, appropriate tags and categories will be added to improve user experience

Choose your metadata wisely and carefully! You've only got one shot to select your tags and categories when you upload your video.

A great rule of thumb when creating and marketing your own content is to think about what you like to see when you’re browsing for videos. Isn’t it disappointing when you're looking through a category and the video you select doesn't match? Make and market content you would want to engage with and the fans will follow.

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