YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine, which means marketers are increasingly focused on developing thoughtful YouTube SEO strategies. Those strategies encompass a lot of factors, but one of the major components of successful SEO is incorporating the right keywords – and YouTube keyword tools help eliminate a ton of guesswork. With the best YouTube keyword tools, you can have years of growth to come from this list by Render Perfect Productions.
A YouTube keyword tool is a digital program that helps you identify what YouTube users are searching for on the platform, giving you insights into consumer habits and, potentially, an edge over the competition.
YouTube Keyword Search – The Basics
Keyword research is an SEO best practice marketing pros use to find the most relevant search terms and discover alternate search terms that people enter when looking for information. This research helps businesses understand what keywords to work into website copy, page titles, tags and more, to help them optimize organic content discovery.
Specifically, as it relates to YouTube, keyword research is discovering what search terms users type into the video platform when looking for content. How many people search for your keyword – and similar ones?
Once you know what your target audience is searching for, you can add those keywords to your video’s name, tags, description and transcript to boost your results and appear higher in SERPs (search engine results pages).
But more than this, you’re creating video content that you know your audience will probably look for.
Businesses of all sizes, including one-man shops, local eateries and small businesses, need to approach search engine optimization thoughtfully and strategically. But not every business can afford to hire an SEO agency to do that work – which is why YouTube keyword tools, like the ones on this list, are so helpful.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a marketing analyst’s best friend. This tool has a vast collection of SEO, competitor analysis, keyword research and keyword identification functions to help you optimize your digital content. With clients like Facebook, Netflix, and Uber, you know it’s big time. We’re really impressed with the platform’s YouTube Keyword Tool, which pulls YouTube search volumes for keywords from up to 243 countries.
The tool is managed in a sleek, easy-to-use dashboard. Simply type your keyword in the search bar and Ahrefs pulls data from around the world to show you the total search volume for each term and how many clicks that search phrase earned.
If clicks are low, it might mean that users aren’t happy with the results they’re seeing; maybe they need an engaging video from you to be satisfied with their search results. Low clicks could also mean a video’s thumbnail, title, and description aren’t interesting enough for people to bother clicking on them; for more on that, check out this post.
Ahrefs also pulls a few other interesting data points, including relevant search phrases that use your keyword and other keywords or phrases that apply to your term, making this tool not just a research platform but a keyword generator, too.
Ahrefs offers four pricing tiers, ranging from $99 per month for a single user to $999 per month for 5 users. It’s one of the more expensive options on this list, but if you’re serious about keyword research, it might be worth the investment. You should definitely take advantage of the tool’s 7-day trial for $7 to see whether you like it before you subscribe.
Keywordtool.io
When you search for a video on YouTube, the platform gives you a longer list of recommended results based on what other people searched for in the past. Keyword Tool leverages that data to help marketers like you improve your YouTube SEO.
Keyword Tool is a YouTube autocomplete keyword program that generates popular search phrases from base terms. For example, a company that makes clothes for toddlers and infants might regularly use the term “baby clothes” as a keyword.
After using Keyword Tool, that company could improve its keyword strategy with additional phrases like “baby clothes diy” and “baby clothes quilt,” both of which rank high as common search terms. You can also use the platform’s trend data to see what times of the year certain keywords perform best to change your strategy depending on consumer habits and holidays.
You can access Keyword Tool’s most basic features for free, but it has plenty of other features that are worth paying for, like cost-per-click data and competitor keyword analysis. Keyword Tool’s monthly plans range from $69 to $159 a month, depending on the volume of keywords you plan to analyze.
Keyword Keg
Keyword Keg is a 5-tool suite focused solely on keyword research, which collects data from 12 APIs in total. Where YouTube is concerned, Keyword Keg’s primary use is as a tag generator.
All you need to do is pop your keyword into the search bar and wait for the tool to populate a list of suggested keywords. You can then use these to help you decide which keywords to use in your titles, descriptions and tags.
Pretty standard so far, right? Well, there’s a neat little trick on offer – you can filter the results to only show keywords related to buyer intent, allowing you to shortlist keywords that are more likely to convert.
Another handy bit of info can be found in the ‘Trend’ column – here you’re able to see whether a keyword is trending up or down based on search volume. Anything trending sharply downward might not be worth your time.
Packages range from $38 per month for website owners and entrepreneurs to $762 per month for agencies, but you can save up to 40% on these prices with an annual package.
VidIQ
VidIQ helps video content creators determine the best keywords for improving searchability. When you research a search term, VidIQ pulls data from YouTube to give you a look at what’s going on with that term. You’ll be able to see helpful information like recommended tags and what top-performing videos are currently displayed in SERPs.
If you want to get more granular, you can also use VidIQ to explore additional related keywords and look at search volume reporting in the past month or year, or even since YouTube was created.
This tool is great for helping marketers confirm whether they’re using the right keywords, explore new keyword options, and assess who they’re competing against for higher search rankings. VidIQ comes with dozens of other features designed for video creators, but the keyword research tool requires a subscription. However, at only $7.50 per month, it’s pretty affordable for even small businesses with tight budgets.
Keyword Tool Dominator
With a name like Keyword Tool Dominator, our expectations for this platform were high. While it isn’t quite as mind-blowing as its moniker would have you believe, it is a pretty easy-to-use tool for keyword research newbies.
Simply type a term into the search bar, and viola – Keyword Tool Dominator generates a lengthy list of the suggested YouTube search phrases that incorporate your term.
You can pick which keywords you want to add to a custom list and export your list all from the same screen. This tool keeps keyword research – and it’s pricing model – simple.
Keyword Tool Dominator is free for up to two searches per day. If you want to search more terms more frequently, you can get stuck in for a onetime price of $29.99. Keyword Tool Dominator also works with other major search engines, like Amazon, Etsy, eBay and more.
About Render Perfect Productions:
Render Perfect has been built from the ground up to service growing businesses and help them realize their full visual storytelling and digital marketing potential. We’ve created a service offering and skill-set that spans video production, post-production, motion graphic design, 3D animation, web development, and video marketing strategy. Our insight and experience allow us to help clients make better planning decisions and get more out of their video production effort.
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