Inspiration

A Detailed Guide on YouTube Keyword Research

by codegrape / August 5, 2022

YouTubers try to figure out the ways that would help them attract more views on their channels. But it is not as easy as it may seem.

The main reason is that they don’t target topics people search on YouTube.

Therefore, the solution is to run proper YouTube keyword research.

In this guide, you will find out how to find the right keywords to target for your YouTube channel.

Let’s get the ball rolling.

1. Start with mapping out an hierarchy of topics

Keyword research is a first-to-go step that every successful SEO strategy has. Yes, you can make the process easier by hiring SEO specialists from a digital marketing company. But the problem is that keyword research demands full-time control. Therefore, it is far better to know how to do this process from A to Z by yourself.

Where to start?

Your first step in YouTube keyword research is mapping out a hierarchy of topics.

For example, you decided to make money online and launched an online store that sells music equipment. You can decide to create a YouTube channel where you plan to unbox new music instruments to attract potential customers.

You might think that it would be great to target broad topics with a high level of search volume.

However, if you create video content that covers broad topics, you may attract an irrelevant audience. In contrast to this, if you target highly niche-related topics, you may end up not attracting enough customers.

Likely, you can find a solution by mapping out a hierarchy of topics.

And here is what it would look like in practice.

Let’s say you have a few main product categories – electric guitars, bass guitars, keyboards, etc. These topics are broad. Then split into sub-categories per brand name like – Warwick, Yamaha, Ibanez, MusicMan, Fodera, etc.

These subcategories look like broad topics as well. Hence, cover more specific topics that would review exact bass guitar models – Warwick Corvette 5-String bass, Yamaha TRBX505, Ibanez SR305E, MusicMan StingRay, Fodera Emperor Classic.

2. Explore keyword ideas with good search volume

Assume you already have a list of topics for your future video content on YouTube. The next step is to find what people explore on YouTube related to your business.

To get this information, you should use one of the SEO tools.

Frankly speaking, there are many SEO tools in the market. But when it comes to keyword research, these tools reveal Google search volume, not a YouTube one.

How to help yourself out?

Here are three tools to work with:

Keywords Explorer

Keywords Explorer tool from Ahrefs allows you to find keyword opportunities specifically for the YouTube search engine.

Type your seed keyword and see how many searches it has monthly. For instance, “keyboard” has a 9.9K search volume that gets 3.4K clicks in the US.

You may notice that the topic is broad. It isn’t related to your music niche for one hundred percent. Which doesn’t correlate with your overall video marketing strategy.

Why?

People explore different things on YouTube by typing this keyword. Remember that “keyboard” embraces not just musical instruments, but PC/Laptop technical instruments as well.

Your video content should attract the right audience. Then target more specified keywords.

Go to the “Matching terms” report and click the “Phrase match” tab.

Here you can see 192K keyword ideas with your seed keyword included. Your goal is to skim through the list and pick up those keywords related to your business.

To narrow down the results, type a niche-related topic into the “Include” filter and rip the benefits.

YouTube Ads

YouTube ads are the most straightforward way to show your video content for target keywords on YouTube. But it costs you money.

For instance, you own a web development company and uploaded a cybersecurity service video on YouTube. You run a YouTube ad that targets the keyword “cybersecurity service.”

Wait a month and see how this ad helps in promoting your video. Go to Google Ads and check the “Search Terms” report. Pay attention to the number of ad impressions on a keyword by keyword basis.

Keep in mind that the number of impressions a target keyword gets equals search volume.

Google trends + YouTube autosuggest

YouTube search bar works in the same way as Google’s one. In other words, it suggests related queries to your target search request.

If you type whatever keyword, you will get a list of suggestions that people might search as well:

You can analyze the most promising search request suggestions with Google Trends. Don’t forget to change the dropdown to “YouTube search” and review their popularity.

As you can see, people search for “Samsung Galaxy A12” more often compared to “Samsung Galaxy A8.”

3. Take into consideration search intent

YouTube search engine works as much as Google’s does. To put it simply, it suggests search results according to what people want to find.

Thus, you should help YouTube provide your target audience with the search results they need.

How to do this?

By following search intent.

Search intent is a “what and why” behind each search people type across search engines. For example, if you type a search request like “Tesla”, YouTube will suggest video content on the automotive company.

But you won’t get results that suggest videos about famous physicist Nikola Tesla.

Hence, it is critically important to understand the nature of search intent.

If people search for “Ibanez SR305E”, they want to get detailed technical information about this bass guitar model. However, if the request is “Ibanez SR305E demo” – people want to hear how the bass sounds.

Besides, some keywords make it hard to figure out search intent.

For example, “Samsung apps” can be one of such requests with a dim search intent behind it. Just take a look at what video content YouTube suggests on this: