7 Best YouTube Keyword Research Techniques
Learn How to Elevate Your YouTube Keyword Research Game with These 7 Top Techniques
Introduction
Not only is YouTube a video content giant, with 62% of internet users watching YouTube daily, it is also the second most popular search engine, after Google. It achieves more monthly searches than Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com, and AOL combined.
Such popularity makes it an essential component of any digital strategy. The marketing potential of YouTube is enormous.
If you want your business to get found, increase its visibility, and show your expertise, there are some tricks and keyword research techniques you need to learn.
In this post, we’ll introduce some tried and tested keyword research techniques for your business YouTube channel. Cover photo by CardMapr.nl.
The Difference Between SEO and YouTube SEO
While SEO and YouTube SEO share the common goal of improving visibility and attracting more users, they operate in distinct ways. Let’s take a look at some of their differences:
Google SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Platform: Its primary focus is the optimization of content for the Google search engine.
- Content types: Includes blogs, articles, websites, and other written content.
- Keyword research techniques: Include the analysis of keyword search volumes, competition, and user intent to create valuable content.
- Ranking factors: Site structure, backlinks, user experience, and other technical aspects.
- Content optimization: On-page search engine optimization techniques such as headings, quality content, and meta tags.
- User intent: The aim is to user queries with relevant answers.
- Goal: To improve organic search rankings on Google.
YouTube SEO
- Platform: Specifically targets YouTube
- Content types: Primary focus is video content.
- Keyword research: Uses titles, descriptions, and video tags to understand content.
- Ranking factors: Video engagement metrics including views, likes, watch time, and comments.
- Content optimization: Optimization of video metadata, descriptions, and thumbnails.
- User intent: To aim is to attract users interested in engaging video content.
- Goal: To rank higher in YouTube search results and increase video visibility.
What is YouTube Keyword Research, and Why Is it Important for Your Channel?
YouTube video keyword research is the process of identifying keywords people use when searching for video content on YouTube. It is used by people who want to optimize their YouTube content for maximum visibility and traffic and is an essential element for video and SEO marketers.
If you can identify the keywords your target audience is using to search, it helps your video show up at the top of YouTube search results. It provides the perfect opportunity to get more views, comments, likes, and subscribers for your YouTube channel, whether it’s a faceless YouTube channel or one with a visible personality.
How to Find the Best Keywords for YouTube Videos
You can use many techniques to maximize your presence in search results, promotions, suggested videos, and ads. Ultimately, the following techniques will help you find the best keywords to ensure your videos are reaching the right people.
YouTube Autocomplete Function
This is a technique you might have already encountered without realizing its relevance. Search for something on YouTube and YouTube helpfully makes suggestions. This is the autocomplete function and a great way to find the most popular keywords.
The keyword suggestions are not just the most popular, they also tend to be “long tail” keywords of 5 words or more. These are generally competitive and easier to rank for.
Analyze Your Competitors Top Videos and Tags
Another excellent approach is to check out your competitors and see what’s working well for them.
Look for competitor channels that are around the same size as yours. Click on their video tab and sort by “Most Popular.”
This will bring up the videos with the most views and you can check the keywords they’ve used in the video’s title and description. You can use these proven keywords to optimize your videos.
The same applies to a video’s tags. For these, you’ll need to dig a little deeper into the page’s HTML. Right click on the page and click “View page source”. Search the page using “ctrl + f,” then type in “keywords.” This will bring us the video’s tags.
Your Own YouTube Analytics
YouTube has an SEO tool called YouTube Analytics. It provides insights on YouTube search terms and flags content gaps.
Use the tool to highlight searches YouTube viewers are making and how popular certain keywords are compared with others.
Other information you’ll find includes location data, device data, which cards were clicked, whether subtitles were used, and much more.
Check Out “Google Video Result” Keywords
Source: Freepik
Google can also be very helpful when it comes to ranking your videos. Google doesn’t show videos in search results for all keywords. Put some keywords into Google search and if you don’t see a video in the results it means that Google doesn’t consider it’s a Video Result Keyword.
If the keyword you input has one or more YouTube videos listed in the search results, you’ve discovered a Video Result Keyword. Use it and any others you find when optimizing your video and your chances of ranking in Google are higher.
Find Trending Keywords Using Google Trends
You can use the free Google Trends tool to help you gain insights for your YouTube and video content strategy. Using it is straightforward; here’s a quick overview:
- Visit the Google Trends website.
- Type your potential keywords into the search bar.
- Under the “Web Search” dropdown, select “YouTube Search.”
- Select your desired geographical region and time range.
- Analyze the search interest graph and related queries for insights.
Using the information, you can gauge the popularity of your keywords and get an idea of what your potential viewers are interested in, whether the topics are increasing in popularity, seasonality, and much more.
Focus on Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords are longer and more niche phrases, generally related to any primary and secondary keywords you use.
Their highly specific nature offers a way for you to connect with a precisely defined audience. Using these long-tail keywords to optimize video titles, descriptions, tags and video editing means you can better match the nuanced searches of potential viewers.
Determine the Search Intent of Your Keywords
With a thorough understanding of search intent, you can:
- Have a more effective content strategy targeting keywords that align with the needs of your target audience.
- Create relevant content because you understand your users’ needs and create content that fulfills them. You can use AI to help you with that as long as the content you produce is error-free, humanized, and high-quality.
- Rank higher in search results by showing search engines that your content is valuable and relevant to their users.
Take Advantage of the Top YouTube Keyword Research Tools
There are several helpful YouTube SEO tools on the market today that can be a pivotal part of your lead generation strategy. By using these tools, you can optimize your YouTube channel, analyze the performance of individual videos, track keyword rankings, and more, all of which contribute to effectively generating leads and enhancing your online presence.
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a powerful tool provided for free by Google. You can use it to help you find the right keywords to target for your YouTube videos. Use the tool to:
- Research and analyze keywords: The tool allows you to explore specific keywords and learn about their search volume, competition, and trends.
- Identify relevant keywords: Choose the most appropriate keywords after analyzing data on search volume, competition, and suggested bid for each keyword.
- Optimize video content: The insights you gain from the tool mean you can strategically incorporate relevant keywords into your video titles, descriptions, and tags. In addition, you can publish and promote your events, which will broaden the reach of your audience and increase the visibility of your brand.
- Understand keyword history and seasonality: The tool provides historical data, allowing you to track keyword trends over time. With such information, you can tailor your content to match seasonal interests and search patterns.
Ahrefs’ YouTube Keyword Tool
Use this tool to highlight reliable search volumes for any keyword. You can see search volume numbers for any keyword in 170 countries and the average monthly number of clicks on the search results. Other advantages include:
- Reliable search volumes: The tool does this by processing extensive clickstream data to provide accurate search volumes for any keyword.
- Endless keyword ideas: Simply enter a broad topic and the tool instantly generates thousands of relevant keyword ideas.
- Efficient workflow: You can use a variety of filters to identify the best video topics for your channel. Filter options include search volume, word count, clicks, clicks per search, and return rate.
- Keyword lists: You have the option to save your favorite keywords using the “Lists” feature in Keywords Explorer.
SEMrush’s Keyword Analytics for YouTube
SEMrush’s Keyword Analytics for YouTube offers several benefits when it comes to YouTube keyword research techniques. The advantages include:
- Understanding viewer intent: You can use the tool to gain insights into what your target viewers are searching for and create content that aligns with their interests and needs.
- Keyword research techniques: The tool reveals what your target viewers are searching for on YouTube. You’ll get data on search volume and keyword competitiveness.
Keyword Analytics for YouTube allows you to discover new keyword ideas, identify fast-growing keywords, find low-competition, high-value search terms, and understand commonly searched phrases.
It’s also possible to explore the top videos associated with each keyword, and filter the keywords by country, and view daily, weekly, or monthly data.
Wrapping Up
YouTube’s popularity as a search engine and content platform continues to grow which means its potential for content marketing, promotion, and syndication increases exponentially.
Optimizing your YouTube video content is no longer nice to have. Instead, it’s become essential, and keyword-research-based SEO plays a key role in the process. Not only does it build awareness of your products, services, and business, but it also helps you reach new audiences.
Following the techniques in this post will ensure your success when it comes to using the YouTube platform today and in the future.
