Advanced Video Search in Plain English
Searching videos on YouTube is simple but if you know a few tricks, it becomes even more fun and accurate. The YouTube team has considerably simplified their video search function making it easier for people to perform advanced searches on YouTube without learning any complicated syntax. Let’s look at some real-world examples:
Find a specific YouTube channel
Code:
royal wedding, channel
YouTube will have numerous videos related to the royal wedding but if you are only looking for their official YouTube channel, add the word channel to your query separated by a comma.
Limit your search to recently uploaded videos
Code:
oprah winfrey, this week
This will only show recent videos related to Oprah that have been uploaded to YouTube in the past week. You may also use “today” or “this month” to limit your search to videos that were uploaded in the past month.
Find only official videos, no fan material please
Code:
Metallica - Master of Puppets, partner
If you are looking for the ‘official’ Justin Bieber track and don’t want to see any parodies or fan material in the search results, add the word ‘partner’ to your search query.
Find movies on YouTube
Code:
jackie chan, movie
Yes, you can find full-length movies on YouTube (including Bollywood titles). The search operator for finding movies is, you got it right, movie.
Find high-quality videos on YouTube
Code:
the king's speech trailer, hd
Add the keyword hd to your search query and YouTube will only show High-definition video clips that are either 720p (1280x720) or 1080p (1920x1080 pixels).
Find 3D video clips on YouTube
Code:
avatar, 3d
Got a pair of 3D glasses? Add the keyword 3D to your search query and discover 3D videos. You may also enjoy some 3D content on YouTube without the glasses – see details.
Find video playlists on YouTube
Code:
Children Of Bodom, playlist
Playlists are a great option if you want to find and watch (or listen) multiple related videos in one go – like all the Old Spice commercials or your favorite Iron Maiden tracks.
Find lengthy videos on YouTube
Code:
tom and jerry cartoons, long
Add the keyword long to your search query and YouTube will only return videos that are at least 20 minutes in length.
Perform exact-match searches on YouTube
Code:
allintitle:"Draconian - The Last Hour of Ancient Sunlight"
You can borrow the popular allintitle search operator from Google on YouTube to perform exact title matches. Might be useful when the original video is not available in your country due to geographic restrictions.
Mix and Match
Code:
ted talks, hd, this month, long
The best part about YouTube search is that you combine multiple search operators with commas and apply them all to your query (much like the Boolean AND operator).
