LongTailLab

YouTube Keywords and Tags: What They Are and How to Find Them

Updated

YouTube keywords are the phrases viewers type into YouTube search, and you place them in your title, description and script so YouTube can match your video to them. Tags are an optional hidden field for related terms.

Open the free YouTube keyword generator

What are YouTube keywords?

YouTube keywords are the words and phrases viewers type into YouTube search. You use them in your title, description, spoken script and chapters so YouTube can match your video to what people want. The best ones are specific phrases, which means they are the same long-tail keywords you would use for a website.

What is the difference between YouTube keywords and tags?

Do YouTube tags still matter?

Only a little. YouTube's own help says tags can be useful when your topic is commonly misspelled, and otherwise play a minimal role in helping viewers find a video. The title, thumbnail and description matter much more. Add a few accurate tags, but spend your time on the visible parts.

How to find the keywords of a YouTube video

  1. Read the title, description and any hashtags. They show the phrase the creator is targeting.
  2. Open the video page, view the page source (Ctrl+U) and search for "keywords" to see the tags if the creator added them.
  3. Type the video's topic into YouTube search and note the autocomplete predictions. They show what viewers search for.

Treat tags as a hint, not as proof of what makes a video rank.

How to search for a keyword in a YouTube channel

Open the channel, then use the search icon in the channel header or on the Videos tab and type your keyword. You can also search Google for the keyword plus the channel name. This is a quick way to see whether a channel has already covered a topic.

How to find keywords in YouTube comments

Comments show the exact words viewers use and the questions they leave unanswered. For your own channel, open the Comments page in YouTube Studio and search or filter them. For other videos, load the comments and use your browser's find shortcut (Ctrl+F). Repeated questions are strong ideas for your next video.

How to generate YouTube keyword ideas for free

  1. Enter a seed topic in the free YouTube keyword generator and choose YouTube as the engine.
  2. Add the alphabet and question modes to uncover more phrases.
  3. Pick the phrases that match a video you can make, and use the best one in the title and the first lines of the description.
  4. Check demand in YouTube Studio's Research tab, where available, or in Google Trends, because autocomplete tools do not show search volume.

Many viewers also search Google for the same topic, so it helps to know how Google autocomplete works too.

Frequently asked questions

What are YouTube keywords?

YouTube keywords are the words and phrases viewers search for on YouTube. You use them in your title, description and script so your video matches those searches.

How to find the keywords of a YouTube video?

Read its title, description and hashtags, or open the page source and search for "keywords" to see the tags the creator added. Autocomplete predictions in YouTube search also show related phrases.

How to search for a keyword in a YouTube channel?

Open the channel and use the search icon in its header or on the Videos tab. You can also search Google for the keyword together with the channel name.

Do YouTube tags still matter?

Only a little. YouTube says tags can help with commonly misspelled terms and otherwise play a minimal role. Title, thumbnail and description matter more.

What is the difference between YouTube keywords and tags?

Keywords are the phrases people search for and appear in visible fields. Tags are an optional hidden field for related terms.

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