Determining the right YouTube keywords can be a daunting task, especially ones that grow your channel. Here are some guides to discovering the right phrases to get more views, How to Track Keywords for YouTube, and rank higher on YouTube.
When posting a video on YouTube, it is important to do some keyword research beforehand. The right keywords reveal essential information on what your video is about, like the popularity of your topic and the words people use to find videos like yours.
We need to know these details to draw interest to our videos and get more views, especially now that YouTube is riddled with competition. You can use specific keywords to attract the right audience and ensure you get as many views as possible. And those same keywords will tell the YouTube algorithm what your video is about, and ensure that it appears on the right search pages.
Are you looking for more views? No problem. let’s explore the power of YouTube keyword research and get your views going through the roof.
What are YouTube keywords?
I know you’ve probably heard about keywords all the time. But what are they? On YouTube, a keyword is any group of words people use to search for videos. We use keywords all the time especially if you watch YouTube often. Anything you type into the search bar is a potential keyword that helps YouTube show you the right video.
Just look at how many searches pop up when we type “Jollof rice recipe.” YouTube uses our search term to pull additional yet relevant searches we might be interested in.
How to Do Keyword Research for YouTube
Discovering the best keywords on YouTube isn’t hard, and sometimes the entire process can be time-consuming. But if you’re short on time, we recommend using a YouTube keyword research tool like VidIQ. It reduces your research time significantly, it shows detailed information about various keywords, including:
- Monthly search volume
- Competitiveness
- Related keywords
- Questions people ask
- An overall keyword score, which assesses keyword volume and competitiveness
For this article, we shall be exploring the vidIQ keyword research tool! You can get all these and more, it can also help you understand how keyword research tools work.
So to get started, sign up for vidIQ and choose the Pro plan ($10/month) or, scroll down to see free research options.
1. Determine Your Video’s Topic
As a content creator having a clear topic for your YouTube video is important, so you can focus your keyword research. Exploring one topic in depth allows you to target your intended audience and discover the specific words they’ll use to find your video.
So define your purpose. Are you posting an agricultural tutorial? A vlog at Zuma rock? A travelogue to the ancient city of Ibadan?
Regardless of what you’re aiming for, try to summarize the video idea in 1-2 sentences. If you can do that successfully, you’re ready to move to the next step.
2. Create a List of Phrases to Describe Your Video
This step requires brainstorming a list of words to describe your video. This task is all about identifying what makes your video exceptional, so consider the key talking points you’ll discuss or unique details about the theme.
For example, let’s say your video is about buying dog food for senior dogs. Your list could look something like this:
- Senior dog food
- Best dog food for senior dogs
- Dog food for older dogs
- Feeding senior dogs
- Healthy food for senior dogs
Once you’ve made up a list of potential words, your research will go much easier. You won’t have to wonder, “What should I type into the keyword tool?” because you’ve already covered that part!
3. Paste Those Descriptors into vidIQ’s Keyword Tool
It’s now time to taste the potency of your word list. Make sure you’ve signed up for vidIQ Pro, open the research app, and click the Keywords tab.
Go to the search bar and paste in a phrase from your keyword list. Then hit enter!
We’ll use “dog food for older dogs” as an example.
4. Analyze Your Keyword(s)
Next, let’s see how the research tool analyzes monthly search volume, competitiveness, related terms, and additional questions people ask about a keyword.
Search volume and competition
Upon pushing enter on your search, you will notice directly below the search bar; a keyword score for the term you just typed. This figure represents the quality of your keyword in terms of search volume and competition.
Usually, it is best to use high-volume, low-competitive keywords on YouTube. For example, “dog food for older dogs” has a moderate search volume and low competition overall.
Since we know the search volume for this topic is high enough to get views without facing too much competition. That’s a great sign because it’s not easy finding low-competition keywords for YouTube (now you can breathe a sigh of relief).
Matching terms
Now to see various versions of the keyword you’re exploring. Take a look at the Matching Terms panel, which is right below the keyword score.
As you will realize, the tool shares additional keywords we could choose from. You might find some keywords that fit your video better or have a higher keyword score, so take advantage of this panel.
Related keywords
With related keywords, you will see how people search for the smaller details that are related to a topic, which is always good to know.
But even better, related keywords can expose the content gaps in other YouTube videos — the “subtopics” viewers care about but don’t get to see because they’re missing from a video. So you can use related keywords to fortify your content with information people are looking for.
To see related keywords, go to the Related Keywords section on the right side of the screen. Click View all Keywords.
When we expand the list, we get more related keywords, including:
- Senior dog food recipe
- homemade dog food
- Best senior dog food for small breeds
People are searching for these related topics, so it makes sense to cover them in the video.
Questions people ask
You can make your video 10 times more valuable by providing a clear, helpful answer. people are asking questions about a topic on YouTube all the time. You can use this to your advantage.
To do this, head to the Questions panel in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Occasionally you won’t see any questions if your topic lacks substance, like the one we’ve chosen (dog food for older dogs). When that happens, try expanding your search to a broader term.
Other Ways to Find YouTube Keywords
The use of a dedicated tool is the easiest way to research keywords, but there are other ways to get the job done. Here’s a quick list of all the possibilities!
Find Keywords Using the YouTube Search Bar
You must have observed that the YouTube search bar auto-completes every query you make. You could type the phrase “how to cook” – a simple search – and YouTube will share a list of relevant searches to explore.
If YouTube is recommending keywords to you whenever you are searching. Pay attention to these suggestions, it’s because viewers are searching for them right now. You can use these “freebies” to kick off your research.
To make the suggestions more targeted for your niche. Make sure you’re using the correct verbs. We used “cook” in the example above, which works well for a culinary channel. But there are plenty of words you can use to get better suggestions:
- grow (gardening, finance, personal growth)
- build (DIY, construction, personal growth)
- install (technology, construction)
- Increase (works for almost anything)
Find the Related Google Searches Associated with Your Video
Have you heard of related Google searches? You’ll see them at the bottom of Google search pages.
How do keywords affect your content?
Use Google Trends to Find Popular Topics/Keywords. Do you produce quality YouTube videos (that have keywords from related searches)? Google might recommend your content at the top of search pages. Imagine all of that free traffic going straight to your videos!
If you wish to find How to Track Keywords for YouTube and know the ones you can trust. Go to Google Trends and type in any phrase related to your content. Google will show you the relative popularity of that keyword over time, the regions people are searching from, related topics, and questions people ask.
And if you want, you can change the search filter to “YouTube” to get relevant results.
At any rate, Google Trends can help you identify popular keywords and topics for your audience. It can also help you optimize your videos for search engines and improve your visibility on YouTube.
Find Your YouTube Channel’s Keyword List
Are you aware that YouTube tracks the most popular searches on your channel? To see this information, Go to the YouTube Studio and head to the Research tab (YouTube Studio > Analytics > Research).
Once there, you’ll find a feature called Your Viewers’ Searches.
This reveals what your viewers search for on YouTube, so you know which videos to make next and the specific keywords to pair them with.
If you produce videos on content creation, you might be seeing searches like “how to increase subscribers,” “how to make thumbnails,” and “best video editing app for Android.”
How to Add Keywords to a YouTube Video?
After you have discovered the right keywords, how do you attach them to your videos?
You can start by adding relevant keywords to:
- Your video title
- Your video description
- Your video chapters
The YouTube algorithm will then analyze those keywords to understand your video better, rank it within YouTube search, and suggest it to specific viewers.
It’s All in the Research
As a content creator, it’s important to find keywords for your YouTube video. You never know who’s looking for a specific video, so it’s imperative to know How to Track Keywords for YouTube, if any, to help people find your content and get more views.
To quickly summarize, here’s how to get keyword suggestions for YouTube:
- Get ideas from a YouTube keyword research tool.
- Use the autocomplete function in the YouTube search bar.
- Look at related Google searches for your topic.
- Find popular topics/keywords using Google Trends.
- Explore potential keywords using the research tab (YouTube Studio).
We hope with all the information you’ve been given, your next video gets thousands of views from all the research you’re about to do and the insights you discover. Good luck!