YouTube is the second most used search engine in the world after Google. More than thirty million Internet users visit the video-sharing platform every day. In this context, to succeed on YouTube, it is imperative to find the keywords of a YouTube video that will contribute to the best possible ranking of it on the platform’s search engine.
For judicious selection of the YouTube keywords associated with a video, there are keyword generator tools that will prove particularly useful for identifying these phrases. Good YouTube keywords will generate high traffic and will result in higher ranking on the platform, more audience and more views.
To attract more visitors to your YouTube channel, being able to choose the best keywords is essential. This article aims to explain the major role that these keywords play in the SEO process and details the most efficient methods to find the right YouTube keywords and thus highlight the videos of your channel in the search results.
YouTube channel keywords: a key role for SEO
Before tackling the crucial question of how to select keywords on YouTube, it is essential to define what a YouTube keyword is and see why it is so important in SEO.
What is a YouTube keyword?
Like Google, YouTube bases its referencing system on different rules and it is scrupulous respect for these that will allow a video or a channel to rise to the top of the results pages on the platform.
To achieve this, a detailed knowledge of these rules and conscientious work on the selection of YouTube keywords will provide quality SEO and higher than that of competing videos or channels.
The SEO rules applied by YouTube are embodied in algorithms which, following a search request on the platform, automatically classify the content according to precise criteria. You should know that the content of these algorithms is not the subject of any communication to Internet users.
If YouTube’s SEO rules are well-kept secrets, the main principles governing its system for ranking videos between them are nevertheless well identified by professionals. Here are the ones to remember:
- The choice of YouTube keywords used in the video title;
- The YouTube keywords appearing in the description of the videos;
- The length of the video descriptions;
- The “consistency” of the YouTube channel.
Understanding how YouTube SEO works is essential but not sufficient to place your videos at the top of the platform’s search engine results. One of the keys to success on YouTube is knowing, how to find the right keywords and this process must be based on a perfectly mastered methodology.
The role of YouTube keywords in SEO
For the optimization of its YouTube channel, the good use of keywords is one of the fundamental data for the acquisition of additional traffic. Finding the right YouTube keywords is something that many inexperienced YouTubers overlook by focusing too much on their videos themselves and too little on the text content of the videos.
This error can be partly explained by the fact that YouTube is a video sharing platform. However, the robots they use to rank the results and reference each of the videos do not currently have the ability to decrypt this category of content.
In other words, the platform applies a referencing policy for its video content that is very similar to that of any text content, hence the need to select its keywords with the greatest attention. Without rigorous work to find the right YouTube keywords, a channel’s videos will be much less likely to be viewed by Internet users.
In the context of a keyword research, you should know that expressions called “long tail” will be preferred in comparison with short and simple keywords. These “long tail” keywords, which are similar to sets of words or short sentences, have the advantage of being “nested”. In fact, on the occasion of a request made by an Internet user, the video will experience less competition and will be likely to be viewed by a large audience.
The challenge is therefore very simple: finding the right YouTube keywords will help optimize the video and allow it to appear among the first results of a search on the platform.
The methods available to collect keywords
How do you select the best YouTube keywords? Finding the key words is not such an easy task as it seems and if, in the case of the first videos, the inspiration will undoubtedly be there, the work will prove more and more difficult as the channel is enriched with new content.
One of the major challenges in keyword research is to offer your videos the greatest possible visibility over time and in search engines. For easy identification of the most searched keywords on YouTube, there are different methods you need to know to find them, regardless of the subject and theme considered.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming is arguably the most conventional method but also one of the most effective for finding YouTube keywords. For YouTubers fortunate enough to work in a team, this technique has the advantage of comparing ideas and allowing the analysis of identified keywords from several angles at the same time.
Brainstorming is, moreover, a completely free technique.
Automatic entry
Autocomplete is a technique little used by YouTubers in the context of their keyword research, but which deserves to be known. During a search on the platform, the Internet user sees search suggestions appear. It would be wrong to think that these YouTube keywords would be generated randomly.
Indeed, these keywords suggested by the platform are those that have been often searched before and, in fact, include the category of automatic suggestions.
This autofill technique is highly recommended to have a better understanding of what Internet users are looking for and especially what YouTube keywords they are using in their searches.
The methodology to follow when opting for automatic completion is to establish a list of YouTube keywords in line with the identity of the author or the brand of the channel. It is then necessary to confront the latter with the searches as well as the words suggested by the platform. It will then be easy to ensure that the keywords considered are the most likely to be searched by as many Internet users as possible.
Competitor analysis
Another way to better target the most searched keywords on YouTube is to simply watch what the competition is doing. One of the common mistakes in YouTube keyword research is thinking that words already used by a competitor can no longer be used, which is absolutely wrong.
If certain keywords generate more views and offer increased exposure on the platform, there is every reason to take advantage of them for your own YouTube channel.
In the event that the keywords used by the competition could not be easily spotted, you should know that there are certain applications that will identify these famous keywords themselves, like TubeBuddy for example.
Also Read: 6 YouTube Analytics Metrics to Measure In 2021
The main YouTube keyword planning tools
As we saw above, identifying the most relevant keywords is fundamental to increasing your views on the platform tenfold. To achieve this, the very first step is to collect YouTube keywords. To this end, various essential tools must be mastered absolutely.
To see the keywords in a video and find those that best match your own channel, several tools therefore exist for optimizing your video content. Below are some of the best YouTube keyword generators:
YouTube Autocomplete
To find the best keywords for your videos and develop your SEO strategy, YouTube Autocomplete is an absolutely essential tool. This works on the same principle as the automatic entry mentioned above on this page.
From the keywords entered by the author of the video, YouTube Autocomplete will instantly offer the most popular and searched keywords on the platform. This tool is very easy to use and will allow you to find the most relevant YouTube keywords for your video in a few minutes.
Keywordtool.io
In terms of power, Keywordtool.io is undoubtedly the YouTube keyword generator that outperforms all the others by being able to offer a classification of keywords according to their popularity and by offering them by the hundreds.
Keywordtool.io will allow the creation of YouTube keyword lists but will also determine which questions are regularly asked by Internet users on the platform’s search engine around a specific request.
For a more efficient SEO strategy, this tool is one of the most complete on the market and is one of the best YouTube keyword generators available. Only downside, you will have to take out a subscription to be able to access all the features of Keywordtool.io.
How to find the best keywords in a YouTube video?
The collection of YouTube keywords is, of course, the initial step of any referencing process on the platform. However, once the YouTube keyword list is finalized, measuring the search volume for each of them will represent the next phase.
For this purpose and as for the development of a YouTube keyword list, there are specialized tools for measuring the search volume of each keyword.
It is useful to reiterate here the importance of long tail YouTube keywords in SEO. The so-called “priority” keywords are very frequently searched for on the platforms search engine and, in fact, generate high traffic. However, there is very strong competition around these keywords.
Incorporating “long tail” keywords into your YouTube SEO strategy will be a winning strategy. If the words that compose them do not generate significant traffic when searched individually, it will not be the same when incorporated into “long tail” words.
The best tools to refine your YouTube keyword list
In a process of optimizing its list of YouTube keywords, certain tools intended for analyzing the popularity of each of them, their search volume as well as the existing competition around them should be known imperatively. Here is our selection:
Google Trends
Completely free, this tool specializing in keyword research makes it very easy to target the most relevant and collect all the useful information relating to these queries. In addition, Google Trends offers the opportunity to limit the results relating to a particular country, which will be an undeniable advantage if the YouTube channel ever targets a specific demographic target.
VidIQ
VidIQ occupies a special place in YouTube keyword research since it is the only tool directly available on the platform as an integrated function. Its use is a model of simplicity since it will suffice to copy and paste the key words considered and to inform the country more particularly targeted by the search.
Within seconds, VidIQ will provide the user with the keyword competition level as well as the associated search volume. Another very useful feature offered by VidIQ, the tool will be able to assign a score to the keywords entered based on all the data obtained at the end of the analysis.
Another point to remember is that if VidIQ is suitable for all new authors of YouTube channels, it will however be necessary to take out a subscription to benefit from more detailed analyzes.
Keyword Keg
Keyword Keg is also a remarkable YouTube keyword research tool which has the particularity of offering an impressive catalogue of data sources including, among others, Wikipedia and PlayStore. This software for filtering your list of keywords allows you to target results by country and language.
Ubersuggest
It is impossible to finish this overview of the best keyword optimization tools without mentioning Ubersuggest which offers both the analysis of the search volume per keyword but also the level of competition of the latter. Very appreciable asset, this tool is completely free and does not require any subscription.
Also Read: 10 keyword tools that are guaranteed to find great keywords
How to add the best YouTube keywords to your channel?
The final step regarding YouTube keywords is their integration into the platform in order to obtain better SEO. After studying and selecting according to the type of content published and the personality of your channel, adding keywords is a model of simplicity.
Indeed, all you have to do is connect to your YouTube account, click on your profile picture and click on the “Creator Studio” icon and then select “Channel” and “Advanced”.
Once arrived on the “Advanced” page, you will have to type in your selected YouTube keywords and click on “Save”.
Important point: it will be necessary to separate your YouTube keywords with a space and to use quotes in case the search terms are short sentences.
In conclusion
What to remember in priority from this page devoted to YouTube keywords? Appearing in the text boxes on each of the videos on the platform, keywords are one of the major parameters used by YouTube (and Google) for the referencing of each video.
To find the keywords that will offer maximum visibility to your channel and a constantly increasing number of views, several solutions will be used such as automatic search or even YouTube keyword generators.
Finding the right keywords is a fundamental step to take into account in your SEO strategy.
