YouTube keyword research process involves finding relevant topics or phrases for your video content. It shows you the terms your audience is using while searching for information on the platform. This guide has the best practices, tools, and mistakes to avoid along the way.
Knowing the words or phrases people use to find videos will help you optimize your content to rank higher on YouTube searches. You can use popular keywords in your titles, descriptions, and within content. Then get more organic views, and grow your YouTube channel.
The research process doesn’t have to be complicated. But you must adopt the best practices, use tools, and avoid the mistakes discussed herein. That way, you’ll manage to optimize your videos to rank higher on search. And promote your brand while earning from your channel.
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YouTube Keyword Research Process
YouTube keyword research helps you find a highly demanded but less competitive niche or topic for your channel. And gives you unlimited content ideas for your videos. Here’re a few steps you can take to conduct comprehensive keyword research for your channel:
#1: Identify your Target audience
You should first understand whom you want to create content for, and what type of content you’re seeking to create. What’s your goal: to educate or entertain? What are the age group, location, and interests of your target audience? Are they experiencing any problems?
The choice of your audience will depend on the products or services you’re aiming to sell, currently or in the future. For instance, if you’re interested in selling marketing courses, you can choose freelancers as your target audience. Then create videos on digital marketing topics.
#2: Think and List Topics
Before you think of using research tools, I want you to think of some topics your target audience may be interested in, and list them down. You can use different approaches, including identifying what problems your audience may be facing or analyzing your own problems.
Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes, and come up with different topics and questions they might want answers to. Doing so will help you understand your niche and strategize your channel. Or even suggest different playlists or categories for your content.
#3: Use Keyword Research Tools
Use different keyword research tools like Semrush and Ahref to find relevant search terms and phrases. The tools will show you the competition, search volume, cost-per-click (CPC), and search intent for your keywords. They help you prioritize what topics to create videos on first.
Let’s assume you want to create a video about ‘content writing services.’ Based on Semrush, this keyword has a global monthly search volume of 7.4k, mainly from the US (2.4k) and India (1.9k). The tool also shows you 732 variations, 16 questions, and 530 related keywords.
The keyword has a high keyword difficulty of 61%, a search volume of 2.4k in the United States, and a CPC of $9.09. Most importantly, you get to understand the search intent (transactional). Therefore, most people searching for it online are looking for information.
#4: YouTube & Google Autocomplete
You already have some topics you’re interested in creating content around. But before you start creating your videos, I want you to head to YouTube/Google search. Then start typing any target keyword into the search bar, and take note of the content suggestions that come up.
You can check the ‘people also ask’ section for relevant questions to include or answer in your content. For instance, check out the topics related to the question – what is keyword research? Answering these queries will increase the relevance and visibility of your videos.
#5: Analyse your Competitors
Before creating any videos, find your competitors, or people you’re sharing similar content and target audience. What keywords are they using in their video titles, tags, and descriptions? How are they using them? Also, monitor the trends; what videos or topics are getting more views.
You can also get inspiration on what your competitors are doing to increase engagement on their channels. How often are they publishing their content? How have they categorized their videos? Check how their viewers are commenting or questions that they are asking to get ideas.
#6: Optimize your Videos for Search
For every video, identify a relevant target keyword you’re aiming to rank for. You should then mention it, alongside its synonyms, variations, and long tail versions, while creating your content. And then include it in the SEO title (preferably at the beginning), description, and tags.
You can answer relevant questions about your topic. That way, you exploit everything your target audience wants to know about the topic, and increase engagement, views, and audience retention. These metrics show YouTube that your content is great, and boosts your rankings.
#7: Monitor Results & Keep Improving
After publishing your videos in your niche, you should collect feedback from your audience, and make the necessary adjustments. YouTube will show you the main search terms people use to find your videos online, and you can edit your description and tags to include them.
You can also use the search terms to create your next content. By doing so, you can attract more views, as people already associate your channel with such type of content. Just keep monitoring your videos, and replicate the process while creating your subsequent YouTube videos.
Best YouTube Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research tools help you find relevant phrases and topics for your videos. They enable you to optimize your videos for the YouTube search algorithm. The best research tools include:
- YouTube & Google Search – when you can start typing on the search bar, their autocomplete feature shows you long-trail variations of your keyword and popular questions.
- Semrush shows you the search volume, CPC, competition, and questions. It is best for everyone, including beginners and experts, and they have a free version.
- Google Keyword Planner allows you to find keywords and get data on search volume, competition, and more. Use it to find keywords that are relevant to your content.
- Google Trends is a free tool by Google that helps you find trending terms in your niche and country. It helps you find popular topics to create content on and get more views.
- Ahrefs: Ahrefs is a comprehensive keyword research tool that provides data on search volume, CPC, and competition for keywords, as well as related keywords and phrases.
- Ubersuggest by Neil Patel is a powerful keyword research tool you can use to get ideas, questions, and search volumes for your target keywords in specific locations.
- Keyword Tool: Keyword Tool is a free online keyword research tool that generates many relevant keywords for your video content using Google Autocomplete.
- TubeBuddy is a YouTube optimization tool that provides data on search volume, CPC, and competition for keywords and related keywords and phrases.
- Keywords Everywhere is a browser extension showing search volume, CPC, and competition data for keywords on YouTube, Google, and other websites.
- VidIQ is a YouTube optimization tool with a keyword research feature that can help you find keywords for your video titles, tags, and descriptions.
Mistakes to Avoid when Finding Ideas
The main mistake most creators make is failure to understand their target audience. Before creating any video, you need to know why and for whom you are creating it. What answer is your audience looking for, or interested in, and why? Failure to do so will cost you views.
More so, you have to fight inconsistency at all costs. When it comes to building an online community and loyal followers, consistency is vital. So, I want you to be posting videos regularly. And stick to a consistent schedule, to retain and increase engagement and views.
Another mistake you should avoid is creating inauthentic content. Only pick a topic you’re familiar with, interested in, and relevant to your audience. Focus on sharing authentic content, other than creating videos that feel fake. Such an instance will make damage your brand trust.
You should also not ignore the competition. What are other YouTubers in your niche creating content on? What unique or different topics can you address on your channel? You should not copy your competitors, but use this information to create more outstanding videos.
Now, stop procrastination, and start creating your YouTube videos. You’ll make mistakes while getting started. But as long as you pick an interesting topic, you learn new things along the way. Eventually, you’ll be creating excellent content that your audience will love.
Conclusion: What Next?
Keyword research is important for any YouTube creator as it helps you understand what terms and phrases their target audience is searching for. Then you can optimize your titles, descriptions, and tags to rank for these keywords, and increase your visibility in search results.
The research process involves:
- Identifying the target audience for your content
- Using your mind to suggest topics and terms
- Using keyword research tools to find ideas
- Getting suggestions from YouTube autocomplete
- Analyzing your competitors and getting tips
- Optimizing your videos for SEO
- Monitoring results and improving
Just start creating your videos, and learn more information along the way. And let me know if you have any concerns about the YouTube keyword research process, tools, or mistakes.
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