Guide to Tags

Index (click to jump):

* What are Tags?
* Where Are Tags Shown on Twitch?
* How Can Streamers Use Tags?
* Frequently Asked Questions

## What are Tags?

Tags are used to describe a live stream beyond the game or category being broadcast. Viewers can use tags to find streams they’re interested in watching by filtering streams within a directory, searching for specific tags, or when they’re browsing front page recommendations.

Twitch manages the list of available tags, but new tags are regularly added based on community feedback. If you’d like a specific tag added, you can suggest new tags here: Tags and Categories Suggestion Form.

For a list of all currently available Tags, click here.

## Where Are Tags Shown on Twitch?

Tags are shown alongside the video thumbnail, stream title, and the game or category anytime you see a video on Twitch.

**Directory Pages** - Viewers can use tags to filter individual game or category directories based on what they’re looking for. For example: a viewer could filter the Art directory so they only see streams with the Painting, and Digital Art tags applied.

**Personalized Recommendations** - Twitch’s recommendation system will take tags into account when recommending new streams based on a person’s viewing history. For example, if a person watches a lot of streams tagged as Competitive, the recommendations system may show that person more streams that use the Competitive tag.

**Search** - When a person searches for a tag, live streams that use that tag will be included in the search results.

## How Can Streamers Use Tags?

Tags are added to live streams in the Stream Information section of the Live Dashboard. Channel Owners and Editors can apply tags, and some tags, like language, are applied automatically if a streamer sets their language in the Stream information section of the Live Dashboard.

Like a stream’s Title, Tags should be updated to describe the current broadcast each time a channel goes live. If you use third party broadcasting software to go live, please be sure to visit your Live Dashboard to apply tags for each broadcast or have your Channel Editors apply tags for you.

Tags are meant to help viewers find streams they’re interested in watching and are not tied to a specific game or category. You can select whichever tags describe your stream best, whether you’re playing a game or streaming non-gaming content.

Please do your best to describe your stream objectively and accurately to help us recommend your stream to the right Viewers. As an example, streamers who play competitively but do not apply the ‘Competitive’ tag would not be included in the list of recommended ‘Competitive’ streams.

## Frequently Asked Questions

* Q. Why don’t we have tags for things like “Variety Streamer” or “Chill Stream”?
* A. The purpose of tags is to help viewers more easily decide what to watch by surfacing additional context about the content of each stream. To accomplish this, our tags describe streams as opposed to streamers. Tags covers things that are objective in nature. For example, whether something is “Funny” or not is very subjective, and as such we do not have such a tag, whereas “Standup Comedy” is a specific type of performance that we do have a tag for.
* Q. Why do I have to set my tags every time I stream?
* A. We currently require tags to be set for each stream to ensure tag accuracy, but we’ve heard your feedback loud and clear and are exploring different ways to approach this. Stay tuned for more on this!
* Q. Why can’t I use tags like “Horror” or “FPS” on my stream?
* A. Genre tags like “Horror” are applied to categories like Dead by Daylight, not to streams. However, we are working on some changes here that we think you’ll be excited for. More info on this soon!
* Q. I speak more than one language, and it’s now more difficult to find content that matches my languages!
* A. We are hearing your feedback on this and are looking into ways to address it. We’ll announce something as soon as we have more info to share!