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We know that starting a new business is hard, and it’s even harder when you have to prioritize what tools to use and where to spend your valuable time. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of free SEO tools for small businesses. These tools are easy to use and will save you time, which means more time for working on your business!
So whether you’re trying to rank higher on Google or just want an easy way to keep track of who visited your website, these tools will help you get there. Check them out below!
Free Seo Tools For Small Businesses Youtube
When you think of search engines, it’s usually Google, Microsoft Bing, and Yahoo. Yet YouTube is one of the largest search engines in the world, with more than 2 billion monthly active users.
Most people consider YouTube a social media platform. And it is, but it also behaves a lot like a traditional search engine. Visitors enter a query and get a list of videos ranked by relevance.
Optimizing your video content is critical for ranking in search so the audience can find you on YouTube. Fortunately, many of the traditional SEO rules apply to YouTube, too: Find the right keywords to communicate relevance, design a good user experience to drive engagement, and use analytics to find and fix whatever is not working.
Optimizing #video content is critical to rank well #YouTube, one of the world’s largest search engines, says @ab80 via @CMIContent.CLICK TO TWEET
With that said, here’s a rundown of tools to help you manage your YouTube SEO. Some are your general, run-of-the-mill SEO tools. Others are designed specifically for YouTube. But each one is useful for growing your YouTube presence.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: SEO Is Important for YouTube Too
Tools for researching trends and keywords
Use relevant keywords in your title, description, and tags to make sure your video content gets found. These tools will help you identify search trends and find the best keywords.
Google Trends
You may be familiar with Google Trends for tracking whether interest in your chosen topic is up or down. But you might not realize it also shows YouTube-specific trends. Click on “YouTube Search” to explore video-related trends and opportunities. Given that the data is coming from Google (which owns YouTube), it’s as trustworthy as it gets:
YouTube autocomplete
The first place to look for the right keywords is YouTube’s autocomplete feature – start typing your seed keyword into the search bar and see how YouTube interprets it by showing autocomplete suggestions:
A screenshot of YouTube’s autocomplete feature.
Use @YouTube’s autocomplete feature to identify the best keywords, advises @ab80 via @CMIContent. #SEOCLICK TO TWEET
Rank Tracker
If you have a bunch of keywords, you can automate the process with the help of a specialized keyword research tool. The free version of Rank Tracker (disclosure, I am the creator) allows you to use nine keyword research methods, which are likely to result in thousands of prospective keywords. Don’t worry – you can narrow the selection using custom filters (aim for the highest search volume and the lowest competition).
Keywords Everywhere
For something lighter and more convenient, look into Keywords Everywhere. The browser extension allows research of keywords on the go. It augments the autocomplete features of YouTube and Google with valuable metrics.
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is another handy solution for keyword research. This beautifully designed online tool allows you to research the most common questions associated with your keywords.
Keywordtool.io, Kparser, and Keyword Keg
These paid solutions for keyword research provide cost per click (CPC) and search volume information. Keyword Keg offers a limited version free, but you’ll need the paid version for larger-volume campaigns.
Keyword Planner
You can also turn to the Keyword Planner section of your Google Ads account and enter your seed keywords to get a bunch of closely related keywords. One downside with a free account is that you don’t get the exact search volumes for your keywords, just approximations.
Here’s a handy video guide my team put together that covers these and other YouTube keyword research and optimization tools:
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 7 Free Keyword Research Tools for Content Marketers
Tools for finding the most profitable YouTube tags
The tags people add to videos help YouTube place the videos into proper categories. But tags aren’t displayed on a video’s page, so researching them is a hassle.
You can open the page’s source code and look for tags there or install a browser extension that will do the job for you.
vidIQ Vision for YouTube
This tool analyzes videos on the go and provides a summary on the page, complete with tags and other information:
An image of vidIQ Vision for YouTube summary, complete with tags.
@vidIQ analyzes #videos and provides a summary on the page complete with tags, says @ab80 via @CMIContent. #toolsCLICK TO TWEET
YouTube Tags
Another browser extension option, YouTube Tags, shows the tags for each opened YouTube video. It provides an excellent overview of any video ranking for your topic.
RapidTags
RapidTags generates multiple tags related to your topic. Put in the URL or topic of your video and see what tags come up. One downside, though, the free version is limited.
Add #video’s URL or topic to @RapidTagsPromo to see multiple tags related to your topic, says @ab80 via @CMIContent. #toolsCLICK TO TWEET
Tools for managing and auditing your channel
Keep an eye on your video successes and failures. Knowing which videos work for your brand – and which ones don’t – can help you understand the effectiveness of your keywords and inform future opportunities.
YouTube analytics
YouTube’s native tool provides an overview of your channel, accessible through your channel dashboard. It tells you who your audience is and what other kinds of videos they enjoy watching. You can see the timeline of views/engagement with your audience as well. It’s made for people who already have several videos and want to survey their success.
TubeBuddy
TubeBuddy is one of the most feature-rich apps for running and optimizing your YouTube channel. You can use it to analyze your channel’s stats and perform competitive research. You can also use it to edit your video data (thumbnails, annotations, and descriptions).
@TubeBuddy is the most feature-rich app for running & optimizing your @YouTube channel, says @ab80 via @CMIContent. #toolsCLICK TO TWEET
tubics and quintly
Try tubics for keyword research, channel audit, and more. A similar tool, quintly, provides a convenient reporting feature in addition to data on subscribers, engagement, watch time, and so on. Though quintly wasn’t specifically created for YouTube, it’s easy to integrate.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Will This Real-Life Search Turn Up a Keyword Ranking Opportunity?
Research your competitors
Several tools can give you a rich profile of your competitors’ YouTube presence. Use this information to create more effective videos and text-based content.
Rival IQ
With Rival IQ, you can see a general outline of a competitor’s growth, what works, what doesn’t, what tags they are using, and so on.
A screenshot of a detailed profile of a competitors’ YouTube presence using Rival IQ.
@RivalIQ can give detailed profiles of your competitors’ @YouTube channels, says @ab80 via @CMIContent. #toolsCLICK TO TWEET
NoxInfluencer
This tool helps you evaluate your channel and shows you the best-performing videos in a category or location. That makes it indispensable in SEO research.
Socialinsider
Socialinsider’s YouTube competitor analysis tool provides an in-depth look at the history of ranking and performance of your and your competitors’ content.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Do a Competitive Content Marketing Analysis
Tools for moderating your comment section
Though you may not think of it as an SEO factor, the comments section can have an indirect effect on your rankings. Comments can make or break your YouTube channel. The comments under the most innocuous, helpful videos can become a vile pit of rot that harms your brand.
Comments can make or break your @YouTube channel, says @ab80 via @CMIContent. #SEOCLICK TO TWEET
YouTube comment moderation
YouTube’s comment moderation feature is probably the best tool for this task. It lets you add filters to automatically deal with inappropriate commenters and create a list of forbidden words to quarantine comments incorporating them.
Smart Moderation
Smart Moderation does the same thing YouTube’s moderation tool does but across several platforms at once. And it doesn’t just quarantine comments with forbidden words – it deletes them.
Watch your YouTube SEO
YouTube is the definitive content platform for billions of people around the world. To make the most of it, brand marketers need to think about SEO before the content gets created – and follow through long after the videos are posted. Not doing so means you’re investing in videos that will never realize their potential on YouTube.
best free seo tools for youtube
Video is the best performing content type on all social platforms, and if you’re looking to utilize video in your digital marketing approach, you also need to be considering YouTube, and building a YouTube presence.
The online video leader is now the second most-visited website in the world, and boasts an astonishing 1.9 billion active users. YouTube is also considered to be the web’s second-largest search engine, behind parent company Google’s main app, with a growing number of visitors seeking out videos to help them contextualize their various queries and questions.
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Given these considerations, YouTube marketing will very likely be worth the effort – but if you want to maximize your YouTube performance, you need to ensure that your videos align with those search trends, and are ‘findable’ when users go looking for related content.
To that, you’ll need the help of some tools. These apps and tips will help you optimize your YouTube videos for user search behaviors.
- Find a topic with Google Trends
Nothing helps YouTube optimization quite as much as the audience’s genuine interest in the topics you cover. ‘YouTube-able’ content comes in all shapes and sizes – the trick is to find yours.
Start exploring with Google Trends. To do this, type in your focus topic, specify ‘YouTube Search’, then pick a geographical region, category, and time period at which to narrow down the results.
You can take this a step further by adding a topic to compare your focus topic to, in order to see how they compare against each other.
Google Trends also offers a list of related queries for each topic, as well as maps which highlight audience interest across regions. You can also download, embed and share all of this data if needed.
Side perk: Spot breakout trends as part of related queries to boost your videos ranking potential
Pricing: Absolutely free
- Fetch keyword ideas from Google Ads
Taking the time to find the perfect keyword/s for your content is probably the best investment you can make while laying out your YouTube strategy.
While we’re on the free first-hand data sources, let’s turn to Google Ads’ Keyword Planner. With a topic in mind, you can run a raw keyword research in order to identify search terms and queries with the highest potential.
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Keyword Planner fetches tons of keyword ideas based on your seed keyword/phrase, search settings and filters (if any) specified. You can take a closer look at the average monthly searches and competition to single out the best fits. You can then export your keyword list in one click, with all metrics included.
Side perk: Enter up to ten keywords at a time – putting in a URL also works
Pricing: The tool is free
- Step up your keyword research with Rank Tracker
For next-level keyword research, you can also use YouTube autocomplete – either on the platform itself or via a designated keyword research and analysis tool such as Rank Tracker.
Rank Tracker lets you pull keyword ideas from YouTube’s suggestions, and highlights vital metrics, such as search volume, expected visits, competition, etc.
You can also use Rank Tracker to run a quick ranking check, and yield the keywords that deliver video results in featured snippets. Take note of the keywords with the highest search volume – those are most likely to help you rank in organic search.
Side perk: Set YouTube as the search engine to track your videos’ rankings once they’re up and running
Pricing: Paid versions start at $124 (Professional) and $299 (Enterprise) – free version and trial available
- Do your metadata homework with TubeBuddy
Optimizing your video content is just as essential as optimizing the content of your webpages – only that there’s no time to waste when it comes to YouTube SEO. Forty-eight hours after your video goes live is your metadata optimization deadline – once you miss that, the algorithm marks your content as less timely, which makes it extra hard to make a comeback.
Tool up with TubeBuddy, a browser extension which eases channel maintenance, and lends a helping hand with things like titles, descriptions, tags, annotations, cards and more.
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Once integrated into YouTube, the tool will provide you with valuable insights on all the YouTube videos that you open. Maximize your organic reach by fetching any videos’ tags, and save tons of time you’d spend looking for the best fits within the 500-character limit.
TubeBuddy also provides optimization tips, and suggestions for boosting your channel’s growth. Additionally, the tool can provide automated checks to ensure that your videos are set up correctly (i.e. meeting YouTube’s recommendations).
Side perk: Utilize the ‘Vid2Vid’ feature to promote your older videos in the descriptions of new uploads
Pricing: Paid plans start at $9/mo (Pro), $19/mo (Star), $49/mo (Legend) – a free version is also available
- Manage like a pro with VidIQ
VidIQ is another channel management toolkit which operates as a browser extension, displaying crucial stats for all the YouTube videos you open – which means effortless competitor research and advanced analytics for each and every video you can find.
The tool’s ‘Most Viewed’ feature lets you identify and match YouTube’s best performing videos against each other. For further intelligence, you can add specific competitor channels, and compare them against your own. With your own 24/7 channel audit on hand, you can see which practices you should consider implementing to boost performance.
You can take it a step further and set up email alerts to keep an eye on trending topics within your field (or your competitors’ channels). And for enhanced outreach, you can use the ‘Facebook Syndication’ feature, and share your video instantly across platforms (though you should exercise caution when cross-posting).
Side perk: Bulk copy cards and end screens, bulk edit end screens.
Pricing: Paid plans start at $7.50/mo (Pro), $39/mo (Boost); free and Enterprise versions available.
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- Introspect your channel with YouTube Analytics
YouTube Analytics is simply the best when it comes to identifying your channel’s strengths and weak points.
Learning more about your audience, the content that grabs their attention – and makes them stay – as well as the videos they want to share, gives you crucial insights for maintaining and growing your YouTube presence.
We know for a fact that longer videos perform better. We also know that all YouTube algorithms are focused on watch time, so it makes perfect sense to have a closer look at Watch Time and Realtime reports to examine your average view duration, average percentage viewed, as well as audience retention.
Being aware of which of your videos drive subscribes is also a must, since new subscribers give you a significant advantage in YouTube search. Encouraging your audience to subscribe, like and comment – when executed successfully – is a sure way to get a ranking boost.
Side perk: Study your Interaction reports from the last six months to spot patterns in likes, favorites, comments, or sharing
Pricing: The tool is absolutely free.
- Track and grow user engagement with Awario
User engagement with the video remains number one ranking factor on YouTube. Therefore, keeping an eye on the kind of buzz that surrounds your YouTube content – on the platform itself and elsewhere – is a must.
With a social monitoring tool like Awario, fetching mentions of your video and keywords is made easy – you can simply enter your video’s URL to set up an alert, and collect linkless mentions that are already a ranking signal for Google.
For more specific queries, you can try a Boolean search – configure a targeted search to collect existing mentions and identify new link sources.
Add specific search operators, combine groups of keywords, apply additional language or country filters, and much more – whatever it is, Awario has you covered.
Views, likes, comment and subscriber counts, including new subscribers, are all ranking factors – some more than others. Comments, however, are of particular interest as they speak volumes of user engagement.
You can Like and comment directly from Awario’s dashboard to ensure that none of your audience’s feedback remains unaddressed.
Side perk: Use Awario to run competitor research by setting the tool to track YouTube results only
Pricing: Paid plans come at $29/mo (Starter), $89/mo (Pro), and $299/mo (Enterprise); free trial available.
- Mix up your visuals with Canva
Channel art may not be the first thing on your mind when laying out the course of your YouTube optimization strategy. However, in a world of tools like Canva, getting creative has never been easier – so why miss out?
A freemium graphic design app, Canva is there to help you manifest your inner designer, via all sorts of visuals – be it a logo or a mind map. As part of your YouTube SEO efforts, expressing your artistic self can be done through developing channel art and thumbnails to increase your click-through rates.
You can start from scratch or browse through the categories and pick any of the templates the app has to offer: Canva’s drag-and-drop interface lets you use professionally designed layouts to further customize them, creating unique and compelling visuals, and re-inventing your channel’s looks.
Side perk: You can also use Canva’s mobile app to create designs and collaborate on projects while on the go
Pricing: Canva Pro comes at $12.95/mo, Enterprise is available on request. There’s also a free plan.
Summary
With YouTubing now a universal pastime, and profitable line of work alike, video optimization is a skill for every marketer to acquire – and sooner rather than later. YouTube SEO is neither quick nor easy – however, when mastered, it can prove to be extremely rewarding.
Download the tools that look like the best fit for your process, and use this listing as a roadmap to make the most of the platform’s ever-growing potential.
Conclusion
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