How to Use Description Formatter (2026 Guide)

Most descriptions are written once, in a hurry, at the moment of upload. The Description Formatter takes what you already have — a title, some key points, maybe a rough paragraph — and restructures it into the layout that performs: keyword-led first lines, clean paragraphs, chapter block, single clear call to action, ordered links, hashtags last. It also scores the result so you can see what changed and why.

This guide covers the scoring criteria, the difference between formatting and rewriting, and how to build a reusable description template from the output.

The six checks

First-three-lines optimisation: does the primary keyword appear before the fold and is there a reason to expand? Keyword density: 1–2% for the primary, no phrase more than four times. Chapter integration: is the timestamp block correctly formatted and positioned after the summary? CTA placement: exactly one primary ask, positioned after the content summary and before links. Link hierarchy: most important link first, affiliate disclosure present if needed, no more than eight links. Hashtag positioning: three to five, on the last line, none in the first 150 characters.

Format, not rewrite

The formatter preserves your voice and facts. It moves sentences, splits paragraphs, adds structure and flags gaps ("no CTA found — add one here"). If you want it to write the copy itself, use the AI Description Generator; if you already have copy and want it to perform, this is the right tool.

Building a template

Run the formatter on your three best-performing videos. The structure that comes back will be nearly identical; save it as a template in YouTube Studio's upload defaults with placeholders for the unique top 150 words. New uploads then take two minutes to describe properly.

Tips

• Paste your existing description as-is, including the mess. The formatter works better with more material than with a tidy two-line summary.
• Include the video title in the input so the formatter can check that the title's keyword appears in line one.
• If the CTA score comes back low, it is almost always because you asked for three things. Ask for one.

Common mistakes

• Hashtags at the top — YouTube shows the first three hashtags above the title only if they appear in the description; placing them first pushes real content below the fold for no gain.
• Links before the summary — Search engines index the top of the description. A wall of URLs there is wasted space.
• Ten social links — Every link is a potential exit. Keep the two that matter.

Worked example