How to Write a Killer YouTube Script (2025 Algorithm)

Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever wondered why some videos go viral on YouTube and get millions of views, while others struggle to get a single click? Well, the answer isn't luck. Instead, top creators know how to write killer scripts that keep viewers watching all the way through, boosting their attention and making their videos go viral. In this video, I'm going to reveal how to write better scripts than 99% of YouTubers using my five-step formula. This formula can easily be copied onto your videos to increase your watch time, drive your engagement, and ultimately blow up your channel.

So, what I'm going to do is walk you through all five steps, and then at the end, I'll show you how you can download the script template for free. But first, let me give you an example so you know that this script-writing system actually works. My other YouTube channel has over 1 million subscribers, and my videos regularly get hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views. That's because I use this viral script-writing system. Before I used it, my channel looked like this: after three years of posting nearly 100 videos, I was only getting a few thousand views a day, which wasn't great for the number of videos I had posted.

However, this video here was the first time I applied the formula that I'm about to teach you, and my channel just blew up. I managed to get hundreds of thousands of views and tens of thousands of subscribers. I had my first 1,000-view day, which was crazy! Since then, I've kept using this formula, and my videos now regularly get hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views. For instance, here's one that I made a couple of months ago, and it's already got half a million views using this exact formula.

The point is, this copy-and-paste script-writing formula works. Obviously, it's not a guarantee that your video is going to go viral, but it will put it in the best possible position to do so. So, let's break it down.

Step 1: The Thumbnail Alignment Rule

This is the most overlooked part of script writing, and it's something that 99% of new YouTubers don't do. You could have the funniest, most perfect, most incredible YouTube script in the world, written by MrBeast's team, but if the content of that script doesn't clearly align with your title and thumbnail, people are just going to start watching your video and then click off. This is because the title and thumbnail set the expectations for your video.

The purpose of your script in the first five seconds is to ensure that those expectations set by your title and thumbnail are met. If you don't meet these expectations, people will just click off your video, and the video will get basically no views. Recently, MrBeast confirmed this: your title and thumbnail set expectations. At the very beginning of the video, to minimize drop-off, you want to assure viewers that those expectations are being met.

You can't meet the expectations of your title and thumbnail when writing a script if you don't have a title and thumbnail in the first place. Therefore, step one to making an amazing YouTube script is slightly counterintuitive: make your title and thumbnail first before you start writing the script. Your title and thumbnail will inform what the script says later on.

Once you've got a title and thumbnail, ask yourself these two questions: First, what expectations is my title and thumbnail creating? Secondly, what reason to watch this video did I just give? Really think to yourself, what do people want to know or see when they click on this title and thumbnail? For example, let's use this title, "Eight Simple Editing Techniques and Concepts to Make Better Videos." The thumbnail looks like this.

Think about this example. The main questions that I got were: What are the techniques and concepts to make better videos? What is it that I'm not doing? Will it work on my channel? What is the proof that this works? Is it really simple?

Take the three most important questions you've generated; these will inform your script later on. We'll come back to these questions later when we actually start writing the scripts. Once you're 90% confident you've got a great title and thumbnail that generate at least three interesting questions, you're ready to move on to the most crucial part of your script: the hook.

Step 2: The Hook

The hook is basically what you say at the start of your video; it’s like the opening sentence. The start of your video sees the biggest drop-off in retention. If you can have an amazing hook that increases retention at the beginning, you will, by default, improve the retention of the entire video.

Top creators use one of three hooks at the start of their scripts:

Question Hook: Pose a question that the viewer wants to know the answer to. For example, “Have you ever wondered how geckos walk on walls and ceilings?” Or for the video we just looked at, it could be, “Is your video editing really as effective as it could be?” Make it relatable to your title and thumbnail, and super interesting.
Context Hook: Drop the viewer into your video where the stakes are at their highest, creating tension. For example: “This is me hunting for anacondas at night with a remote tribe in a country that no one’s heard of.” At the start of that clip, we’re dropped into a very tense moment where the viewer wants to know what happens next.
Statement Hook: Make a shocking or surprising statement as soon as the viewer clicks on the video. For example, a fitness YouTuber named Coach Greg starts off his video with a bold claim: “Women, on average, put less effort into sports—powerlifting, weightlifting, basketball—every sport you name it. Men, on average, try harder than women.” This statement shocks the audience, but then he goes on to discuss the claim and both sides of the argument. The viewer is hooked.

Take a look at your video and think about which hook applies best to the video you're creating, and use that as your opening sentence in your script.

Step 3: The Rest of Your Intro

After you’ve got your hook planned out, you’re then ready to move on to step three, which is scripting out the rest of your intro. This is where it gets interesting. Your script needs to do two things:

Give Context: If viewers don’t have context for your video, they don’t know what it’s about and may just click off, contributing to that massive drop in retention. If you provide context in the correct way, you can boost attention in the first 15 seconds, which, by default, boosts the attention of the entire video.
Exceed Expectations: You want to exceed the expectations set by your title and thumbnail.

To provide context, use the "three points preview" technique. Go back to the three questions from your title and thumbnail that we talked about in step one, and address those questions in a couple of sentences. This provides context to the video, so viewers know what to expect from it and re-hooks them because you’re saying you’re going to answer the questions they really want to know.

For our earlier example, the main three questions were: What are the techniques and concepts used to make better videos? What is it that I'm not doing? Will it work on my channel? We can address these questions at the start of the video, meaning our script would look like this:

“Is your video editing really as effective as it could be? In this video, I'm going to reveal eight simple techniques and concepts that any YouTuber can use to easily transform their videos. 99% of editors don’t use these simple hacks, so in this video, I’ll walk you through them. But first, let me give you some examples of YouTubers blowing up their channels using these techniques.”

Step 4: Scripting Out the Actual Content

Now we’re ready to move on to step four, which is scripting out the actual content of your video. If you get this wrong, everything else I've just told you goes to waste.

The content of your video is where you deliver on what you promised in your hook and introduction. Generally, if you package your information into a list format—like “Top 10” or “Five Easy Ways to Do X”—this boosts viewer engagement, as people want to stick around to listen to all the steps.

After your hook and introduction, add all the points that you're going to make in numbered headings. This forms the backbone of your script. However, where most people fail is in how they deliver these points to the viewers.

The way you deliver your points can make a huge difference in viewer retention. Most new YouTubers make the mistake of simply stating a point and then explaining it. For example, in our video editing example, the mistake would be saying, "Tip number one to making better videos is to add graphics. The reason you should have graphics is that they boost your attention."

That's not how the top 1% of YouTube scripts are written. The key is something called the payout: the moment in which the audience gets the answer to the central question they’ve been waiting for.

In a detective film, the payout is when the killer is unmasked; in a fairy tale, it’s when the hero defeats the villain. In a YouTube video, the payout is when you answer the points that viewers want to know.

Top 1% YouTube scripts have their payout at the end of their point, not at the start. Instead of having the payout up front for each point, unpack your points differently to maximize engagement.

The structure should be as follows:

Re-hook the viewer for each point with a statement or question.
Tell a story that builds to the payout, which is at the very end.

For example, Alex Hozie discusses business deals by starting with a relatable scenario: “Imagine you’re dating and there’s only one girl on the planet...” This approach makes the point more interesting and keeps the viewer engaged until the end.

Step 5: Understanding the Relink Hack

If you want your channel to blow up, there's just one more thing you need to do: understand the relink hack. YouTube doesn’t care about your videos; they care about viewers staying on their platform for as long as possible. This way, they can show more ads and earn more money. Therefore, the algorithm rewards channels that keep viewers on the platform longer.

At the end of your script, direct viewers to another one of your videos. This keeps them on YouTube longer, increasing your channel's watch time and making the algorithm more likely to boost your channel.

Instead of just saying, “Thanks for watching! Please subscribe,” use another hook to encourage viewers to watch another video. For instance, in our editing example, you could say, “Thanks for watching, but everything I just told you in this video is completely useless if you don’t have the right computer. Check out this video that explains what computer you need to edit better videos.”

This will encourage viewers to binge your content, increasing your channel's watch time and making them more likely to subscribe.

Speaking of the relink hack, I’m going to do it right now: everything in this video won’t mean anything if you don’t have a really good thumbnail in the first place. Remember, the first point was to start off with a killer thumbnail, as that informs your entire script. Therefore, please click the video that’s somewhere on the screen and watch my video where I break down the entire thumbnail creation process. Also, check the link in the description to download my script-writing template completely for free. You can just copy and paste it onto your next video.

Anyway, see you in a bit!

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Partha