21 YouTube SEO tools to boost your visibility
When it comes to Video SEO, YouTube is one of the major players in terms of hosting content, potential reach and sustainable growth. Although it’s easy to limit YouTube’s scope as a social media platform, as more and more people turn to video as a way to get their information and entertainment – understanding the fundamentals of YouTube SEO is crucial.
Unlike what many people think, YouTube not only behaves like a search engine but can be actively influenced by SERPS themselves. For example, users will type in a term and get a list of videos ranked by relevance – sound familiar?
So, to rank on YouTube, you must optimise your video content for search engines.
To help you get started – or even refine your existing strategy – our team of SEO experts has a definitive list of YouTube SEO tools for you to use. That way, your videos get clocked more easily and watched more, and who doesn’t love that?
YouTube Keyword Research Tools
1. Intermingle by Embryo
Intermingle is one of our industry-leading – and exclusive – in-house tools. With Intermingle, we can analyse thousands of individual keywords as they appear on the SERP, giving you a results-focused approach to drive your Youtube strategy. Basically, it tells us what your video SEO should be doing to win your chosen keyword – because planning smarter helps your strategies work harder.
Why not chat with one of our team to find out more?
2. Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a free tool by Google that helps you find and explore new keywords, as well as see their estimated monthly search volume. Google’s Keyword Planner can also help you target the keywords and search terms that people are actually searching for, so you can plan your video content accordingly.
3. SEMrush Keyword Magic
From one of the most well-known SEO voices on the web, this paid planning tool is an all-in-one SEO platform that provides a number of services, such as keyword research, competitor analysis, and rank tracking.
4. Ahrefs Keywords Explore
Another go-to tool for our team is the Ahrefs Keywords Explorer. This keyword research tool offers scope on in-depth data, with keyword search volume, competition, and related keywords across several countries and domains.
5. Google Trends
If you want to see how the popularity of a search term has changed over time, turn to Google Trends. This is particularly helpful for understanding what kind of video content is currently trending and what people are interested in learning more about, giving you inspiration for intent-rich content strategies.
6. YouTube Autosuggest
Sometimes you don’t need to click out of YouTube for the good stuff. Autosuggest is a savvy built-in feature that suggests keywords as you type in the search bar. It’s an old-school way of going about it, but this can be a great way to find new keyword ideas that are relevant to your video topic.
7. Serpstat
SERPstat is another paid SEO tool that offers keyword research, competitor analysis, and rank-tracking features.
8. Keyword Tool (.io)
If you don’t need to research but need a hand in ideation, then Keywordtool.io is an easy way to generate content ideas and interesting long-tail keywords.
On-page Youtube Optimisation Tools
9. TubeBuddy
TubeBuddy is a browser extension that offers both free and paid plans, with several features designed to help you optimise and boost YouTube video rankings for search. From keyword research to title and description optimisation, card and end screen creation, and much more, this tool is a jack-of-all-trades.
10. VidIQ
VidIQ is another browser extension that offers SEO insights specifically for YouTube, such as video analytics, competitor analysis and even keyword research.
11. Youtube Analytics
An oldie but a goldie, Youtube Analytics – now falling under Youtube Studio – is the platform’s built-in tool that gives you concrete data on your video performance. This includes total views, watch time, audience demographics, and traffic sources – which can be useful for understanding what kind of content is performing well and what’s needed to better engage your following.
Competitor Analysis Tools
12. Needle by Embryo
Needle is a suite of SEO data and business insights that lets you see where your competitors sit within your chosen industry. With a 3D-rendered model of the sector in question, you can analyse crucial metrics such as keyword reach, links and authority – so you can monitor trends that can help inform your YouTube SEO strategy.
Tag Suggestion Tools
13. TubeRanker
As the name suggests, this tool helps suggest relevant tags for your YouTube videos, using the keywords you enter as inspiration. In a place where metadata is king, your tags must be optimised to help search engines find and rank your videos.
14. RapidTags
Working in a similar way, RapidTags also offers insights into potential tags for videos based on the keywords or queries you enter.
Creative Tools for YouTube SEO
The following tools essentially do the same thing: help you quickly and easily create eye-catching thumbnails. As well as enticing users to click through (as we’re visual creatures) it also works similarly for search engines, who can glean metadata from them as part of its Useful Content Update.
The tools below have both paid and free plans to choose from:
15.) Canva
16.) Snappa
17.) Fotojet
YouTube Metadata Optimisation Tools
18. Hootsuite Video Description Generator
Using your input, this free tool can help you ideate keyword-rich video descriptions to help boost your rankings and get seen by Google.
19. Mrs Digital Metalength Checker
In traditional SEO, meta descriptions shouldn’t longer be 160 characters, with titles limited to 56. To be seen fully by a user and to create neat titles, use this tool to ensure your keywords are clear and won’t get cut off on the page.
Other Useful Tools
20. Google Search Console
This is the ultimate tool used by SEOs, straight from Google. Using the console, you can easily identify any issues affecting your search engine ranking and monitor the health of your website. Although not directly related to YouTube, it can help you understand how your overall web presence affects your channel.
Final thoughts
Optimising your YouTube can feel like a huge undertaking. But with the help of the following tools, fixing outstanding problems or even spot-checking your channel is much easier than the manual alternative. However, if you need a little extra help – or would like a full Video SEO strategy that’s designed specifically for your business – our experts can help.
