Which YouTube Category Should I Use?

You spend hours making each video, and you don’t want it to disappear into the endless abyss of YouTube videos. Without defined categories, your videos quickly disappear out of view.

Preventing this from happening is one benefit of using the correct YouTube category. For example, imagine you run a fitness channel. You upload workout videos, discuss dieting plans, and share fitness tips. These topics fall under entertainment and how-to. Here are the details.

Table of Contents

Why YouTube Categories are Important

If you make an amazing video, you want it to get more views. You probably want people to see it at the earliest. You also want them to find it and watch it later.

Moreover, you want to generate more traffic on your channel to watch your older videos. And if you’re a business, you want to convert them to loyal fans of your channel.

Many YouTubers in California create great content and then let them disappear from view. This makes it harder for new people to find their content.

The videos often feature no categories, no hashtags, and no descriptions. Without using categories, you will struggle to get visitors to your channel.

Most visitors who want information will not find your videos and end up on a competitor’s channel.

How to Choose the Best Category for Your Videos

Say you are starting a fitness channel that focuses on helping busy professionals find time to work out.

And you’re going to do everything to help out your audience. You will also use comedy to entertain your crowds.

In this case, you have several YouTube categories to work with. You can choose film and animation, entertainment, how-to and style, and even sports.

Suppose you upload a day-in-the-life video to show snippets from your life. In this case, you can choose the category People and Blogs.

The category doesn’t have to be related to the niche your YouTube channel is centered around. You can choose different categories depending on the subject and style of the content.

Several categories may overlap with each other. For instance, you might provide comedy and entertainment in the same video.

You can only assign one category to each YouTube video. In this case, it makes sense to choose a category that represents the majority of your content.

So a satirical video on fashion could be uploaded under comedy. But a serious video on fashion should be uploaded under “How-to and style”.

You might also opt for entertainment. But entertainment is a broad category, and your video is more likely to get buried under a swarm of videos. This is why it is better to select Comedy for a satirical video.

You must make a judgment call to decide which category best represents your video. The best part is that you can always return to change the video category.

YouTube allows you to change the category at a later date.

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How to Select Category on YouTube

There are three ways of selecting and/or changing the category on YouTube:

When you first upload a video
When you return to your video for editing the footage
By visiting the settings page

Let’s discuss each category.

Uploading a Video

On the top right corner of the screen, click on the option “Create” with a video icon next to it. Now click on “Upload Video.

A window will pop up with options to select your desired video. You could choose files by navigating to the correct folder or simply drag-dropping the video to the window.

Once you have selected the video, you will be asked to provide details about the content. After filling in the Title (required) and Description (optional), scroll down to click on “Show More”.

This will reveal advanced options to fine-tune your video further. Scroll down until you see the Category option.

You will be presented with 15 options. One option will be grayed out, representing your channel’s default category of videos.

Once you have selected a category, hit “Next” to reveal other options. Make sure the video is set to Public under Visibility settings.

If you accidentally set the video to Private, you will not get any viewers!

Editing a Video

You can always return to change the video category by editing it.

Simply visit your YouTube channel and open “Your channel” in the main profile menu in the top right corner.

Now click the video that you want to edit.
Click on the “Edit Video” button to see the available video.
This will open up the edit interface. Scroll down to reveal the option “Show More”
This will give you the option to choose YouTube categories.

Visit the Settings Page

You can change the default category for your channel by going to settings.

Here’s how:

Go to settings
Click on the Upload defaults
Navigate to Advanced Settings
Select the new Default Category

That’s all there is to it. You can endlessly change YouTube categories. According to our knowledge, YouTube does not impose a penalty on you for choosing the wrong category.

However, if you want to leverage the power of the YouTube algorithm, it is worth choosing the right category for your videos.

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List of YouTube Categories

This section of the article will explore various YouTube categories. Let’s get down to brass tacks!

Cars and vehicles
Comedy
Education
Entertainment
Film and animation
Gaming
How-to and style
Music
News and politics
Non-profit and activism
and others.

Cars and vehicles

Do you want to post videos about car repairs, muscle cars, car modifications, and other types of car-related content?

You can discuss current trends related to cars and always find some area to cover. If you are posting about new cars, you can create unique videos about the current and upcoming vehicles in the market.

If you are making videos about repairing cars, you can upload videos about the latest recalls and common problems for car owners.

Comedy

Comedy is one of the toughest genres to break into. This is because there is no exact science or formula to humor.

Every person has their eccentricities and tipping into them can be a challenge. The good news about comedy is that it is one of the most rewarding genres on the platform.

You don’t necessarily have to do stand-up comedy. PewDiePie, for instance, is a channel that primarily focuses on video games. Felix almost always adds a funny touch to just about every topic he discusses.

Penguinz0 is another YouTuber whose channel is centered around making funny critiques of the latest trends.

Enter this genre only if you’re naturally funny and have a knack for making people laugh.

Education

Have you ever thought about starting an education channel? The education industry is a multi-billion dollar industry.

It is one of the few industries that can survive the ebbs and flows of the economy. And if you can corner this market, you’re looking at a massive payday.

Your channel can be about anything from mathematics to chemistry and everything in between.

Are you good at coding? Then that’s what you should make videos about. Perhaps you’re good at art and want to teach others how to make art.

This niche is incredibly broad and it can be difficult to narrow your focus. One of the best educational channels on YouTube that has helped thousands of students with their exams is patrickJMT.

Entertainment

If you are an entertainer, YouTube is a great place to host your material for free. There are plenty of topics you can cover.

Examples include reviews of movies, television, and games. You could also make video game walkthroughs to help gamers complete various levels and beat challenging bosses.

You could also make short movies and upload them on YouTube. It could be your stepping stone to a more serious career in movies.

Chris Stuckmann is a bonafide example of someone who started out as a reviewer. Over time, his channel grew to a point where he was able to acquire enough resources to make his own movies for Hollywood.

Film and Animation

The barriers to entry in this niche are slightly higher. This is because animation requires a more specialized skill set that not everyone possesses.

Examples of channels that specialize in this category include MeatCanyon, PapaMeat, Flashgitz, and Curious George Official.

You might want to hire an animator or a filmmaker for success in this category. You may still retain control over the direction of the content by choosing to write the content for the script.

There are plenty of animators on Fiverr who will make animations for you for as low as $5. Who knows, you might find a diamond in the rough.

Gaming

YouTube has always been the home of gaming videos. The video streaming giant later expanded to include other categories but gaming occupies a special place in the YouTube community.

The problem with the gaming niche is that it is beyond saturated. Breaking into the gaming niche is not easy.

Most channels that do well in the gaming niche have been doing this for years and have built an audience over a long period of time.

Examples of gaming channels include PewDiePie, Jacksepticeye, and W2S. The best way to stand out from the crowd is to create guides about killing difficult bosses on the newest games.

Try to be one of the first YouTubers in California to get there before everyone else. This will help you secure more traffic for your channel until the video game loses its notoriety.

How-to and style

How-to and style videos are examples of evergreen content. They almost always stay in style no matter what.

There are thousands of creators who specialize in how-to blogs. The reason for this is simple: there are hundreds of thousands of people who run into all kinds of problems.

And instead of going to a professional, these DIY enthusiasts want to fix these problems on their own.

The problem with this genre is that it requires you to be extremely creative. You will have to learn about the problems that people commonly encounter and solve them on camera.

Examples of this category include YouTube channels with television repair, reflowing circuits, overclocking CPUs and GPUs, and others.

You could also provide DIY guides on repairing furniture, basic plumbing, HVAC units, and more.

As long as your advice is sound and the quality of the video is high enough, you can make a lot of money off of How-to and style.

Music

Indie artists are on the rise thanks to YouTube. Music aficionados want to explore non-mainstream content that is original and unpolluted by trends.

Examples of indie artists include Josh Fudge, Crywolf, and Beachhouse. Your music may also get picked up by Hollywood and the video gaming industry.

You can also provide tutorials on how to make music. Composerily is an example of a YouTube channel that provides tutorials on how to use various instruments.

News and politics

This category is controversial – and one that is most likely to get censored by the algorithm. This is because politics is a sensitive topic that often touches on hot-button issues.

The algorithm may or may not penalize you if your opinion goes against the norm. This is why we don’t recommend starting a channel on news and politics. Unless, of course, you’re comfortable breaching topics that can easily get you banned.

Non-profit and activism

Are you campaigning for a cause that you care about? Why not post about it on YouTube?

MrBeast’s channel has branched off into philanthropy and generates a lot of interest from viewers. The Gates Foundation, from Bill and Melinda Gates, is another prominent YouTube channel in this category.

You don’t have to be a multimillionaire to start a channel in activism. You can always work at a grassroots level in your local area and document your success, failures, and struggles.

Who knows, you might even start a movement for the greater good of your community and inspire your viewers to make the world a better place.

Wrapping Up

So there you have it, a detailed guide on YouTube categories. If you’re a YouTuber in California, you now know which category to choose. And remember, there is no penalty for choosing the wrong category. You can always return to choose the correct YouTube category!