How To Make a Playlist on YouTube: Easy Step-By-Step Guide

YouTube playlists do more than just organize your videos — they help increase engagement and grow your audience. By grouping videos around a theme or topic, playlists make it easy for viewers to find and watch more of your content. Whether you’re sharing cooking tips, gaming videos, or fitness advice, playlists keep your audience interested and encourage them to watch more in one go.

Read on to learn how to make playlists on YouTube with tips and tricks to attract viewers.

What’s a YouTube Playlist? 

A YouTube playlist is a collection of videos grouped under a common theme, topic, or purpose. They play in order, allowing viewers to watch multiple related videos without interruptions or manual searching. Curating playlists makes your YouTube videos more discoverable and increases engagement, as audiences tend to watch multiple videos in a row.

For example, a cooking channel might add all its pasta recipes to a playlist, making it easy for viewers to go through different recipes in a single session. Or, a gaming channel could compile a Let’s Play series to help audiences watch the entire game from start to finish.

4 Reasons To Create Playlists on YouTube

Making playlists on your YouTube channel is a simple way to make your page more user friendly. Here are four benefits of building these collections.

1. Improve Watch Time

Playlists cue up one video after the other without interruption, which helps reduce drop-offs and create a more immersive experience. This encourages people to watch multiple videos in one sitting, which can increase your channel’s total watch time — a metric the YouTube algorithm values highly. The longer viewers stay on your channel, the more likely YouTube will promote your content across the platform.

2. Boost Search Rankings

YouTube treats each playlist as its own separate item, meaning it can show up in search results just like individual videos. You can optimize your playlists with relevant keywords in titles and descriptions, improving their chances of ranking for specific search terms. The added visibility boost makes playlists an effective way to increase your channel's reach and attract more viewers.

3. Strengthen Discoverability

Playlists give structure and organization to your channel, making it easier for people to find related content in a single place. Viewers who land on one of your videos are more likely to discover other YouTube videos they love through playlists rather than manually searching.

4. Increase Engagement

Bundling related videos into a playlist creates a seamless and continuous viewing experience that keeps people hooked to your content. Instead of choosing what to watch next, viewers can sit back and enjoy your videos on autoplay. This boosts engagement and encourages binge-watching, helping you build a loyal audience that spends more time on your channel.

How To Create YouTube Playlists: 3 Steps

Here's a step-by-step guide to building an engaging YouTube playlist, with tips for curating and customizing it to appeal to your target audience.

1. Create a New Playlist

Open YouTube on your computer, or go to the YouTube App. Login to your YouTube account and head to YouTube Creator Studio. Select "Playlists" from the left menu. On the top right, click "New Playlist." This will open a window where you can set up your playlist's initial details.

Choose a topic or theme that ties the videos together and appeals to your audience's interests. For example, if your channel covers fitness, you can make YouTube playlists like "At-Home Workouts" or "Gym Bag Essentials."

2. Name Your Playlist

Give your playlist a name that tells viewers exactly what they'll find in the collection. You can also add an optional description or specific tags to provide more context, which can help with search rankings. For example, a description like "Boost your productivity with these quick tutorials!" can help viewers find your playlist and understand its value immediately. 

After filling out these details, set the playlist's visibility to “Public” so it’s accessible to all viewers, and click "Create." You can also add unlisted YouTube videos to a public playlist so everyone can see and share them.

3. Add Videos to Your Playlist

Start including videos in your new playlist. Click the pencil icon next to your playlist title to make edits. This will take you to the playlist settings, where you can add content.

Arrange the order of videos by dragging and dropping each video up or down in the list. Start with an introductory or high-interest video to grab attention, and arrange the content to naturally lead viewers from one topic to the next.

YouTube Playlist Best Practices

To maximize your playlists’ potential, follow these best practices.

Use Relevant Titles and Descriptions

Strong titles and descriptions make it more likely people will find and click on your videos. A descriptive title tells viewers what to expect, while a well-crafted description provides context and includes relevant keywords that help with YouTube's search rankings.

Captions' Prepare Social Post tool analyzes your video's dialogue to generate related titles, descriptions, and hashtags. For instance, if your playlist is about guitar tutorials, Captions will suggest a title like "Essential Beginner Guitar Techniques." Our platform may also recommend hashtags like #StrummingTips or #LearnGuitarAtHome for better reach.

Add Your Best Videos First

The first few videos in your playlist make a first impression and can determine whether people stay for the whole experience. If your playlist isn’t chronological, place your best-performing or most engaging viewers at the start to hook viewers and encourage them to watch the rest of the posts. A great opening video captures attention and sets a positive tone for the remaining content.

Use the Best Thumbnail

Along with titles, thumbnails are essential for capturing attention. Appealing, eye-catching thumbnails can attract more clicks, so choose one that represents the playlist's content and aligns with your channel's branding. 

Avoid text-heavy or cluttered thumbnails, as these can be distracting. Instead, use a high-quality image or frame from one of your best videos in the playlist. For example, a travel channel can use a scenic snapshot of a destination to attract people interested in that location.

Organize Your YouTube Playlist

Putting your YouTube videos in order ensures a cohesive viewing experience. If you post tutorials, for instance, organize videos from beginner to advanced levels. Start with an introduction or overview video and gradually progress into more detailed lessons. 

A makeup artist might arrange videos from "Beginner Makeup Basics" to "Advanced Contouring Techniques." Meanwhile, a sketch channel may introduce recurring characters early in the playlist to familiarize viewers with the people regularly appearing in their YouTube videos.

Encourage Viewers To Subscribe

Conclude your playlist with a video that includes a call to action (CTA) to subscribe to your channel. A gentle reminder at the end of the series can push viewers to subscribe before they navigate away from the platform.

Create a closing video that briefly summarizes the playlist's highlights or provides a sneak peek into other playlists on your channel. It's a great way to keep viewers engaged with your content and prompt them to become regular subscribers. You can also add subtle CTAs to share your content for the last few videos of the series before asking them to hit the subscribe button.

Turn Newcomers Into Subscribers With Captions

A well-organized YouTube playlist lures interested viewers in and can turn them into subscribers by the end of the session. Whether you’re just starting out or have an existing audience, you can build a larger following with the right video editing tools. 

Captions offers AI features and social posting tools to improve the whole content creation process. Start with an AI-generated script, use an avatar to star in your post, and let AI polish your footage before posting. Plus, Social Studio can help you create a content plan and schedule posts for future uploads.

Try Captions today to make professional-quality videos and grow your channel.