Youtube is the second most popular search engine and you can use it to bring quality traffic to your website.
It is a great platform and people love watching videos. It is a great way to showcase your products in front of a large audience.
As you already know, Youtube has more than 1 billion active users per month. That’s why many marketers are using Youtube.
If you want to use Youtube for video marketing then you need some tools that can analyze your performance and help you improve it.
In this article, we will share some best and free SEO tools for Youtube that can help you analyze your video performance.
Best Free Youtube Seo Tools
Boosting your YouTube reach and video rankings is about more than just pumping out video after video. You’ll get better results when you focus on quality over quantity. That’s how you can rank higher and nab that top spot, skyrocketing your video views and subscribers – or at least stop putting out mediocre videos because you’re trying to meet some arbitrary quota. But as anyone who’s ever tried to boost their reach and increase video views on YouTube can tell you, it isn’t easy. Fortunately, we’ve found 26 awesome YouTube SEO tools that can streamline your path to a growing and engaged YouTube following.
26 Top YouTube SEO Tools to Boost Your Reach and Rankings:
- 1 . TubeBuddy
- 2. YouTube Analytics
- 3. vidIQ
- 4. YouTube Autosuggest
- 5. Google Keyword Planner
- 6. Keyword Tool (Keywordtool.io)
- 7. Rank Tracker
- 8. Ahrefs Keywords Explorer
- 9. Kparser
- 10. YTRank
Why YouTube Optimization Matter
YouTube is a powerful search engine. In fact, it’s the second most popular search engine in the world behind Google. And, Google loves YouTube content. When you do a Google search, video content stands out from the rest of the search results:
When you focus on creating the right YouTube content using the right keywords and tags, you put yourself in an excellent position to rank higher on Google and YouTube’s internal search. That’s why we’ve put together this list of 26 YouTube optimization tools you can use to get more YouTube followers and improve your ranking without spending countless hours creating videos just for the sake of creating videos.
26 Best YouTube SEO Tools
When you consider that video is the top-performing content across all social media platforms it just makes sense to focus on creating the best, most optimized YouTube videos possible. You can then share them across your social networks, growing your followers, and increasing your reach. But with more than 2 billion users on the platform, getting your videos found can be a bit difficult.
That’s where these YouTube optimization tools come in.
Here you’ll find all the tools you need to create great videos, find the right keywords and tags, find out what your competitors are up to, and track the performance of your YouTube channel.
Manage Your YouTube Channel
A successful YouTube channel requires a bit more than just posting videos. You also need to track the performance of your videos to make sure that you’re not wasting time and money on content that’s missing the mark. In this section, you’ll find YouTube optimization tools that will help you understand how your channel is performing so you can take steps to correct its course or share the content that’s performing well to your other social networks.
1 . TubeBuddy
TubeBuddy is a browser extension that offers tons of different ways to effectively manage your YouTube channel. It includes productivity, video SEO, data and research, promotion, and bulk processing tools. Using TubeBuddy, you can create and schedule your YouTube videos, use saved responses for easy content moderation, and build end-screen templates, among other cool things.
2. YouTube Analytics
Source: convertkit.com
YouTube’s own analytics tool is one of the best tools you can use to find out where your channel is succeeding and where it isn’t. You can use it to learn more about your audience and the content that grabs them, improving your YouTube video views, and keeps them engaged. You’ll also be able to check out the watch time on your videos (a signal in YouTube’s search algorithm) and how your following is growing.
3. vidIQ
VidIQ is a browser extension that shows you the stats you need to track your YouTube performance. You can also add competitor channels to see how they compare to your own as well as set up email alerts to find trending topics. There’s even a Facebook Syndication feature that lets you share your video instantly across social media platforms.Related Content:
- How to Create a Successful YouTube Channel
- 50 YouTube Video Ideas for Creators To Get Inspired
- 5 of the Best YouTube Video Editing Tools Money Can Buy
Identify Your Best Keywords
Descriptions and titles are important information for YouTube users. When you include the right keywords in your YouTube video descriptions and titles, users are better equipped to decide if your video is right for them. In this section, you’ll find YouTube optimization tools that can help you find the keywords that will get your videos ranked and viewed.
4. YouTube Autosuggest
If you’ve ever searched for a video on YouTube, you know that the moment you start typing, YouTube starts offering suggestions for keywords and phrases to help you along:
This is a great tool for users but it’s also an extremely useful tool for creators. Similar to Google Trends, you can enter your keyword or topic into the search field on YouTube and use the autosuggest results to find keywords that you should include in your video description, tags, and title.
5. Google Keyword Planner
Google offers tons of free tools that creators can use to find just the right keywords to include in their content. Google Keyword Planner is a great tool. You can access Google Keyword Planner from your Google Ads dashboard (you don’t have to run ads to use it). It will help you find the keywords that are worth the most for Google searches so you can plug those keywords into your YouTube descriptions and titles.
6. Keyword Tool (Keywordtool.io)
Keyword Tool is a freemium tool you can use to find topics that your viewers might be interested in based on what they’re likely to search for. Just enter a high-level keyword or topic and Keyword Tool will give you suggestions in the form of questions, prepositions, and even hashtags. The paid version starts at $69/month and gives you access to search volumes, cost-per-click, competition data, and trends.
7. Rank Tracker
Rank Tracker is another freemium keyword research tool. You can use it to pull keywords from YouTube’s suggestions and view search volume, competition, expected visits, and more. Rank Tracker is great for finding keywords that will put your videos in the running for that coveted featured snippet position that puts you at the top of the search results. The paid version starts at $72/year.
8. Ahrefs Keywords Explorer
Ahrefs Keywords Explorer has one of the largest databases of YouTube keywords. You can search for your keyword and find local and global search volume, clicks, click percentage, and clickstream data so you can find out how many people search a certain term on YouTube each month. There are also keyword ideas reports that can give you some great keyword or topic ideas.
9. Kparser
Kparser is another easy-to-use paid keyword research tool that focuses on long-tail keywords. You can add keywords before and after your target keyword (similar to Keyword.io) but Kparser lets you choose the parsing depth.
10. YTRank
YTRank is a super simple free tool you can use to track YouTube rankings for a target keyword. Just choose the location you want, add your YouTube video URL, and add your keywords.
Research Profitable Tags
YouTube tags are words and phrases that let YouTube know what your video is about. Like keywords, tags are an important ranking factor in YouTube’s search algorithm. Here you’ll find YouTube optimization tools that will help you find the most profitable tags for your YouTube videos.
11. RapidTags
RapidTags is a free tool that quickly generates tags you can use for Youtube. You can apply a language filter for different locations. Just enter your target keyword into the search box and you’ll get a list of tags you can use on your YouTube videos.
12. TagsYouTube
Similar to RapidTags, TagsYouTube lets you enter your target keyword to get a list of related tags you can add to your YouTube content. This tool also includes features like a thumbnail generator, advanced title, and description.
Find Out What Your Competitors Are Doing
Researching your competitors on YouTube is a great way to come up with better video marketing strategies of your own as well as get inspiration for new content. In this section, you’ll find YouTube optimization tools that will help you get a leg up on your competition.
13. Rival IQ
Rival IQ offers YouTube analytics information that will help you understand your competitors so you can make better decisions about your own channel and get better results. Rival IQ will show you how often your competitors post content, the engagement their content gets, likes, dislikes, subscribers, views, comments, and more.
14. SE Ranking
SE Ranking is a keyword tracking tool that lets users run daily checks on YouTube rankings for any location and device. You can even set a target URL for each search and all of the non-target URLs will show up in red. You can track rankings on five search engines and up to five competitors.
15. SerpStat
SerpStat is a keyword research tool that gives you insight into what your competitors are doing. You provide one target keyword and SerpStat will provide suggestions that you can rank for as well as finding search terms that potential leads are looking for.
16. TagsForYouTube
The free TagsForYouTube Chrome extension lets you see the video tags for any video by clicking show more under the video description. This is a great way to find out what tags your competitors are using in their videos so you can use them, too.
Keep Your Comments Clean
Moderating your YouTube comments is important. Not only do comments play into YouTube’s algorithm, but keeping your comments clean helps to keep the information your audience receives accurate and improves your brand’s reputation and credibility. Here you’ll find YouTube optimization tools that will help keep your comment sections safe.
17. YouTube’s Comment Moderation
YouTube’s built-in comment moderation tool lets you customize settings to automatically filter out comments that are inappropriate. You can add specific users to approve their comments automatically, enter a list of words you want to block, and block messages that include hashtags and URLs.
18. Smart Moderation
Smart moderation is a paid tool that provides comment moderation for social media platforms. It connects to your social profiles and deletes unwanted comments as they’re posted. It’s AI-based so can moderate comments nearly as well as a human can. And, thanks to the AI, the tool learns the longer you use it. Pricing starts at $79/month.
Create Great Videos
Creating great YouTube videos starts with a great topic but you’ll also need to create eye-catching YouTube thumbnails and edit your video to ensure that it flows well—and to add titles and visual effects. Here you’ll find YouTube optimization tools that will help you create YouTube videos people want to watch.
19. Google Trends
Google Trends is an easy-to-use option for finding excellent video topics. Simply type in your general topic or keyword and specify YouTube Search. From there, you can choose a location, category, and time period to get the most relevant results.
20. Camtasia
Camtasia is a brilliant YouTube opti
mization tool for those of us who do webinars, tutorials, and presentations because it gives you a way to record your screen, including the movement of your mouse and keystrokes. You can then edit your videos to add effects, animations, annotations, quizzes, notes, and more as well as including music or narration.
21. Canva
Canva is one of the best tools around for creating YouTube video thumbnails that really pop. You can start your design from scratch or find a beautiful template from the thousands Canva has to offer. Canva has a drag-and-drop interface that makes it delightfully easy to create eye-catching visuals that will get your YouTube videos noticed.
22. FotoJet
FotoJet is a Canva alternative that includes an advanced YouTube thumbnail creator. It lets you edit and optimize your thumbnail to your heart’s content by adding filters, cropping and resizing, rotating images, and a whole lot more. Like Canva, FotoJet has a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to use.
23. Snappa
Snappa is an all-in-one graphic design software that has tons of great templates that make it easy to create stunning YouTube thumbnails. Snappa also walks you through the design process step by step, which is great for those with limited design skills.
24. iMovie
If you use an Apple product to create your YouTube videos, chances are you’re more than a little familiar with this video editing tool. iMovie has an intuitive interface, letting users easily crop, trim, and rearrange videos however they want. You can also add visual effects and titles, as well as easily publish to YouTube.
25. Blender
Blender is a free video editing tool that offers some advanced features. You can use Blender for VFX, animation, modeling, rendering, 3D, and even to create video games. In addition to those fun tools, Blender lets you trim videos, and add filters and transitions to make your YouTube videos unique and fun to watch.
26. Corel VideoStudio
Corel VideoStudio is a paid Windows-only video editing tool that has the standard tools you’d expect (crop, resize, trim, rearrange, etc.) as well as a split-screen interface stop motion animation, and more. You can even upload your videos to YouTube directly from the software.
Youtube seo for beginners
Video is quickly emerging as one of the top mediums of choice for marketers, and with good reason—it’s easily digestible.
Consider these facts:
Video in e-mail leads to a 200-300% increase in click-through rate
Including a video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80%
73% of B2B companies that use video marketing see significant ROI from it
80% of Internet traffic will come from video soon.
People only remember 10% of the information they hear three days later, but will remember 65% of it when it’s in video format
Sales videos increase intent to purchase by 67%
How to Rank Your Videos with YouTube SEO
This section contains the essential background information you’ll need to understand before you dive into YouTube optimization tactics.
YouTube SEO Step #1: Start with Keyword Research
youtube seo for beginners
Given that YouTube is a video search engine, you should approach content creation in a strategic way, as you would when optimizing your website.
This means conducting keyword research to find out what your audience is interested in and how they talk about it online.
It’s easy to start your YouTube keyword brainstorming.
Simply go to YouTube and start typing a keyword in the search box. As you type, you will get popular searches suggested to you by YouTube Suggest, which is the autocomplete feature built into the search box on YouTube.
These suggested keywords are GREAT.
Why?
Because these are terms that people actually type into YouTube. So there’s no need to wonder if they’re popular or not. If YouTube suggests them to you, they 1000% are.
You can also go to a popular video in your niche… and copy the same keywords that video is optimized around.
As you probably know, keyword optimization is a KEY part of YouTube SEO. So if a video has lots and lots of views, chances are, that video is optimized around a popular keyword.CLICK TO TWEET
Second, find the best keyword from your list
Okay, so now that you’ve generated a big list of keywords, it’s time to choose the best one from your list.
Specifically, you want to target low-competition keywords.
This is ESPECIALLY important if your channel doesn’t have that many subscribers. If you swing for the fences and go after competitive keywords, your video is gonna get buried in the search results.
Instead, you want to find keywords that don’t have a lot of competition.
How do you check?
You can check this from a keyword tool like KeywordTool.io that helps you find specific keywords for YouTube, as well as analyze their search volume and competitiveness.
youtube seo for beginners
Finally, a bonus tip: search for your keyword in Google
Here’s the deal:
Most views on YouTube come from within YouTube’s platform. But don’t stop there. Your video can get 2-5x more views if you can ALSO get it to rank in Google.
How?
The trick is to optimize your videos around keywords that already have video results in Google.CLICK TO TWEET
You see, Google only includes videos in the search results for certain keywords.
Unlike a normal first page with 10 webpage results, for certain keywords Google reserves a good chunk of the first page for video results like below:
YouTube on Google
How do you know the types of keywords that Google display video results for?
Simple…
It all boils down to search intent. Google’s algorithm is able to figure out, from certain keywords used, the search intent of the searcher and whether or not, a video would be preferred.
Some popular keyword types with video search intent include:
How-to keywords
Product reviews
Tutorial
Product demos
Anything fitness or sports related
Funny videos
Keyword brainstorming is one thing, but you probably need to be able to compare keywords to each other to see which ones are searched on more frequently.CLICK TO TWEET
There’s a tool for that, it’s completely free, and one of the many free Google marketing tools:
Google Trends.
It’s surprising how many SEO practitioners don’t realize Google Trends has a “YouTube search” option underneath the “Web search” option, which will give you YouTube-specific search volume data.
This tool doesn’t give you actual numbers, unfortunately (everything is in percentages), but nonetheless, it is quite handy for comparing keywords to each other.
YouTube SEO Step #3: Publish a Captivating and High-Retention Video
youtube seo for beginners
Here’s the truth:
If you want your videos to rank, you need to keep people watching.
The amount of your video that people watch is known as Audience Retention.
And YouTube has gone on the record saying: “Audience Retention” is a HUGE ranking factor.
To quote YouTube:
In other words, if your video keeps people on YouTube, YouTube will rank your video higher in the search results.CLICK TO TWEET
(After all, YouTube wants people to stay on the platform so they click on ads. And if you help them with that goal, they’ll promote your video).
The question is:
HOW do you create a video that keeps people engaged?
The bottom line is:
If your video stinks, it won’t rank…no matter how optimized it is for SEO.
Unlike Google — which can use backlinks and other signals to evaluate the quality of a piece of content — YouTube has no such luxury. So they rely on Audience Retention.
That said, Audience Interaction is one of several ranking signals that YouTube uses in its algorithm.
As long as your video is valuable and interesting to watch, you’re good to go.
YouTube SEO Step #3: Optimize your Videos for Ranking
youtube seo for beginners
Now that you understand how to perform basic YouTube keyword research, it’s time to get down to business.
Here’s how you can optimize your videos for success on YouTube.
Say your Target Keyword
You’ve probably noticed that YouTube now automatically transcribes your videos.
So if YouTube sees that you mention your target keyword in your video, they’ll “hear” it.
And because you’re actually SAYING the keyword that your video is optimized around, YouTube will better understand that your video is about that term.
Pimp your Video Title
The video title should be punchy and should grab the user. It shouldn’t be too wordy — instead, it should concisely convey why the user should bother watching your video. Hit them with the good stuff!
Before you decide on your title, do your keyword research (as described above), and then take a look at your competitors for those keywords.
These are the videos you’ll be going up against, so you want your title to be as good as theirs, if not better.
Titles play a large part in the ranking of your video, so make sure they are at least five words long and include the keyword that you want to rank for.CLICK TO TWEET
Hammering Thumbnail
A video’s thumbnail image is actually more important than the title in terms of attracting the click from the YouTube searcher.
You could do every other thing right for your SEO, but if you have an unappealing thumbnail, no one is going to click on your video.
Think about it: The thumbnail is the only image that gives people a sense of what they’re about to invest their time in watching. If it looks unprofessional or boring, people aren’t going to consider it a good use of time.
For the best results, go with a “custom thumbnail” (you will need to be verified by YouTube in order to do this) and have that thumbnail image include graphical text.
Dos:
Customize your thumbnail image with titles/fun graphics
Have professional shots taken with the thumbnail in mind. (Note: You don’t have to use a frame from the video as the basis for the thumbnail)
Make it intriguing
Ensure it is well-lit
Don’ts:
Have an intrusive logo
Use clashing colors
Have a random, unprofessional-looking still
Make your thumbnail all text
Optimize your Description
Many people make the mistake of only writing a few sentences for the description. This is your chance to expand on the information in the video with links, calls to action and performer bios.
If you want people to click on a link to your website, include it “above the fold,” before the “Show more” prompt.
Also, include some sort of enticing hook in that first sentence that will get people to click “Show More” to see the rest of your video’s description.
You’ll want a long description so users can get more insight into the video; don’t be afraid to include lots of information. This also gives you another shot at including relevant keywords.
Transcript
The video transcript (i.e. captions) serves as additional copy that is considered in YouTube’s rankings algorithm.
Don’t rely on YouTube’s automated transcription process — there are going to be errors in that transcript, guaranteed.
Either proofread and edit that automated transcript or use a transcription service or a VA (Virtual Assistant) to create a transcript of the video.
If you do the latter, remember that it needs to be time-stamped to match the audio track.
Tags
Tags aren’t super-important…but they help.
Here’s how I use video tags for my videos:
My first tag is my exact target keyword (Example: “Google SEO”).
I also include a few variations of that word or phrase (Example: “Google search engine optimization”)
Finally, I make a few of my tags other topics that my video covers (Example: “Link building”, “Content marketing”)
In short: just include a few keywords to help YouTube and Google learn what your video is about.
Don’t be afraid to use the same tags that your competitors use. In fact, it’s a YouTube marketing best practice that has worked for YEARS.
When the video someone’s watching has a similar tag as your video– boom!– you’re added to the sidebar.
And that’s all there is to optimizing your video to rank on YouTube.
With that out of the way, it’s time for a step that many people skip over: video promotion.
Links
Make sure you are linking in the description to everywhere that you want your potential fan base to go:
All of your social channels, your site, other videos of yours (to boost the overall viewership and get more subscribers) and wherever else you might want to send viewers, like to a squeeze page.
Choose your most important link to display above the fold in the description. You can also promote some of these destinations with YouTube cards, which is a perfect segue to my next point.
Call to action
The end of your video should practically subscribe for the user. Give them a one-click option to subscribe, and then tell them why they should.
YouTube SEO Step #4: Promote your Videos
youtube seo for beginners
We talked a lot about creating videos that maximize Audience Retention and user experience signals. Which is important.
But for YouTube to measure these signals, you need to get views on your video!
Here are some strategies you can use to get targeted views to your video:
Tell people to comment
If your videos get a lot of comments, that tells YouTube your videos are popular.
Just like Google, YouTube prioritizes content that’s popular. Comments are one of the metrics YouTube uses to decide what people like the most.CLICK TO TWEET
It’s a good idea to end your video with a question to get a discussion started.
Encourage people to subscribe
Subscribing is a big deal on YouTube.
It’s one of the factors YouTube’s algorithms use to rank videos.
Liking or commenting on a video is a one-time action, but subscribing means that people will see your content on a regular basis.
For YouTube, that’s a giant factor that reflects the amount of value you provide.
Pro tip: Many YouTubers ask people to like, comment, and subscribe all at once. However, if you prioritize one of those metrics, focus on encouraging subscriptions.
Make an eye-catching thumbnail
Your video thumbnail isn’t a ranking factor that YouTube uses directly, but it still has a huge impact on your SEO.
A good thumbnail means more clicks, and that means better SEO.
Make sure your thumbnail stands out and tells viewers what your video is all about.
Many people will view videos just from looking at the thumbnails, so don’t skip this step.
Send an email to your list
The email list is one of the most effective forms of marketing.
You can send out an email to thousands of people in the blink of an eye, and in a few hours, you can get countless eyes on your content.
This will increase the number of views you get, which is crucial for good YouTube SEO.
Get featured on another channel
This is a tricky tactic, but if you do it right, it can give you some big results.
It’s tricky because you ideally want to team up with YouTube channels that complement but don’t necessarily compete with your channel.
If you pick a channel in the exact same niche as yours, you could find yourself losing viewers to the other channel.
So if you have a YouTube channel about food, find a channel that’s all about beverages. If you have a marketing channel, find a sales channel.
You get the idea.
Send out some requests and see if other channels are willing to feature you. As long as you give away something valuable, you should have no problem getting featured.CLICK TO TWEET
Oh, and make sure you get a link to your channel! You can even ask for an annotation.
Conclusion
The biggest thing that’s different about how YouTube ranks their content compared to Google lies in the fact that search engines today can’t crawl and analyze the quality of video content.
Instead, they rely on video descriptions and user engagement factors to see how well people respond to it.
As the Internet gets more and more saturated with content, our ability to process everything decreases.
Because of that, we respond to content that’s easily digestible, and video content is easier to digest than a long-form blog post.
In fact, according to Cisco, 80% of Internet traffic will come from video. So getting your videos to rank high in both YouTube and Google is the best way to adapt to these changes.
This is the more reason you should register to join our digital marketing training so that you can get the comprehensive and practical tips and how-tos on Google and YouTube SEO to increase your views and conversions.
Conclusion
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