Starting a youtube channel is basically like shouting into a massive crowd and hoping one person looks your way. You spend hours filming and editing then you hit publish and just wait. Most of the time nothing happens. The views stay at zero and you start wondering if you are just bad at this. But honestly you are probably not bad at it. You are just making videos about things that nobody is looking for.
Finding the right keywords is the difference between a video that dies on day one and one that keeps getting views for years. You do not need to be a data scientist to figure this out. You just need to know where the people are already hanging out and what they are typing into that little search bar.
The secret of the search bar
The easiest way to find what is trending is already right in front of you. When you go to youtube and start typing something like how to fix the search bar starts finishing your sentence. That is not just a random guess by the algorithm. It is literally telling you what thousands of other people have typed recently.
If you see a suggestion pop up it means there is a crowd waiting for that specific answer. Try this right now. Type a broad topic in your niche then hit the space bar. Look at the long list of suggestions. Those are your keywords. They are free and they are updated in real time.
The trick is to use those suggestions to find long tail keywords. Instead of just trying to rank for a big word like fitness you should look for things like fitness for busy parents or fitness routines for small apartments. Those specific phrases have much less competition and the people searching for them are way more likely to click on your video.
Why search volume is not everything
A lot of people think they should only go after keywords with millions of searches. That is a huge mistake for smaller creators. If you try to compete for a word like gaming or cooking you are going up against giants with huge budgets. You will get crushed.
You need to find the sweet spot where search volume is decent but the competition is low. This is where you find your hidden gems. Use a tool that shows you a difficulty score. If the score is too high just walk away. There are millions of other keywords out there that are much easier to grab.
Focus on intent as well. Ask yourself why someone is searching for those words. Are they looking for a quick tutorial or do they want a deep dive. If your video matches their intent the youtube algorithm will push you to the top of the results much faster.
How to do it with Creator Insights
We built some specific tools at Creator Insights to make this process much faster. You can find them at https://creatorinsights.in and they basically do the heavy lifting for you.
First you have the Trending Engine. Instead of you guessing what is hot right now the engine scans the platform and shows you what is actually picking up steam. It looks at growth velocity. This means it finds topics that are starting to spike before everyone else jumps on them. If you can get a video out while a trend is still rising you are going to see a massive boost in views.
Then there is the Competitor Search tool. This is my personal favorite. You can find more about it at https://creatorinsights.in/product/discovery. You just put in a channel that is similar to yours and the tool shows you their best performing keywords. You can see which of their videos are still getting views months after being posted. That is pure gold. It tells you exactly what topics have a long shelf life in your niche.
Using the search engine is simple. You type in your core idea and it gives you a list of related keywords along with their performance metrics. It tells you if a keyword is worth your time or if you should skip it. You can also use our extension at https://creatorinsights.in/product/extension to see this data right on your youtube dashboard while you are browsing.
Comparing manual research versus automated tools
- Manual search is free but it takes a lot of time and you might miss the data behind the words.
- Automated tools give you the hard numbers like search volume and competition level.
- Manual research is good for getting a general feel for the niche.
- Automated tools are better for finding the exact gaps where you can actually rank.
- Manual research relies on your gut feeling.
- Automated tools rely on millions of data points from the actual platform.
Stealing like an artist from your competitors
You do not have to reinvent the wheel. Look at the people who are already winning in your niche. Go to their most popular videos and look at their titles and descriptions. What words are they using.
Do not just copy them word for word though. Look for the gaps. Maybe a competitor made a video about the best cameras but they forgot to talk about the best cameras for beginners. That is your opening. Use their success as a blueprint and then make something better or more specific.
You can also look at their comment sections. People literally tell you what they want to see next. They ask questions that the video did not answer. Every single one of those questions is a potential keyword for your next video.
Where to put your keywords once you find them
Finding the keywords is only half the battle. You have to put them where the algorithm can see them. The title is the most important part. Your main keyword should be as close to the beginning of the title as possible.
But keep it human. Do not just stuff keywords in there like a robot. It still needs to be something a real person wants to click on. The description is also huge. The first two sentences should explain what the video is about while using your main and secondary keywords naturally.
Tags are not as important as they used to be but they still help the algorithm understand the context of your video. Use a mix of broad tags and specific ones. If you want to dive deeper into this check out https://creatorinsights.in/blog for more detailed guides on video optimization.
Why some keywords die fast
Trends are like milk. They have an expiration date. Some keywords are seasonal like things about the holidays. Others are just flashes in the pan. You need a mix of both.
Evergreen keywords are the ones that people search for all year round like how to tie a tie or how to boil an egg. These will give you steady views for a long time. Trending keywords will give you a big spike but they will eventually fade away. A healthy channel needs both to survive and grow.
If you see a keyword starting to drop in the search volume charts it might be time to move on to the next thing. Do not keep making videos for a dead trend just because it worked for you last month. Stay fresh and keep checking the data.
Questions people usually ask about youtube keywords
Do I need to pay for keyword tools to get views? Not necessarily but it helps a lot once you are serious. You can start with the free search bar trick but if you want to scale up and save time then a tool like Creator Insights is worth every penny.
How many keywords should I focus on per video? Pick one main keyword for your title and then find three or four related keywords for your description. If you try to rank for too many things at once you will end up ranking for nothing.
Does the algorithm care about keywords in the actual video audio? Yes it does. Youtube transcribes your video automatically. If you say your keywords out loud during the video it helps the algorithm confirm that your content is actually about what you say it is about in the title.
Getting started with your keyword research
The best time to start is before you even turn on the camera. Spend twenty minutes researching before you film a single second. It will save you hours of wasted effort later on.
Go to https://creatorinsights.in and try out the discovery tools. See what is popping in your niche. Look at what your competitors are doing. Find that one keyword that has high volume and low competition then go make the best video possible about it.
The views are out there. You just have to make it easy for the people to find you. Stop guessing and start using the data that is already available to you. Your channel will thank you for it.
Check out our tools and start growing today at https://creatorinsights.in/
