How to Track Keywords for YouTube Channel: YouTube Keyword Rank Tracking Guide
By Dan Published Updated 9 min read
Quick answer
To track keywords for a YouTube channel, research YouTube-specific keywords first, then check where your videos rank for them and review the YouTube search terms report in YouTube Studio once a week or month. Give a new or edited video at least 7 to 10 days before you judge it.
Key takeaways
- Research keywords with a YouTube-specific tool, not just Google data.
- YouTube Studio shows which search terms bring viewers to each video.
- Check rankings weekly or monthly, not daily.
- Wait 7 to 10 days after publishing or editing before you change anything.
- Study the top-ranking videos for your keyword to see what works.
Whether you’re starting a channel for fun or you’re using it to grow your existing business, YouTube keyword rank tracking is of the utmost importance. Without it, how would you know what sort of impact your videos are having? How would you make adjustments to strategy?
We’ll walk you through how to track keywords for YouTube channel in this guide along with some general YouTube SEO tips, starting with finding the right keywords to track.
Our free SEO tools are trusted by more than 10,000 users, from individual websites to Amazon storefronts, Pinterest boards, and of course, YouTube channels.
Our free YouTube keyword tool helps you find the keywords worth tracking in the first place. See for yourself what a difference it can make in growing your channel today.
Why YouTube Keyword Rank Tracking Matters
YouTube has evolved into the second-largest search engine globally, making it one of the best opportunities for content creators and businesses alike. You can pursue your passion and cultivate a following, or you can tap into a whole new audience to sell your product or service.
But no matter how you use YouTube, it’s not as simple as uploading videos and waiting for the views to roll in. There is a whole lot more strategy that goes into it. That’s where YouTube keyword research comes in.
This empowers you to structure your channel and videos in a manner that attracts the right audience. You can optimize video titles, descriptions, tags, and more for your target keywords.
Optimization is just the first step, though. You need to actively track YouTube channel keyword rankings to determine whether your efforts are actually paying off or not.
This allows you to make data-driven decisions on which keywords are driving traffic, what content is resonating with your audience, and where improvements can be made. Otherwise, you could be spinning your tires and failing to harness the full potential of the YouTube platform.
However, YouTube keyword rank tracking doesn’t necessarily involve your own rankings. You can also spy on your competitors using the same strategy to see what terms are moving the needle for them.
In turn, you can identify opportunities in emerging trends, optimize for long-tail keywords, and stay ahead of competitors. The more you refine your strategy based on keyword performance, the more likely your channel will grow in visibility, engagement, and ultimately, subscribers.
How to Track Keywords for YouTube Channel
The best part is that learning how to track keywords for YouTube channel is incredibly simple! You just need to leverage the right YouTube keyword rank tracking tool and get it set up.
From there, it’s just a waiting game while you monitor rankings and make changes as you see fit. KeySearch helps with the first part: finding YouTube keywords and judging how hard they are to rank for.
That being said, it all starts with effective YouTube keyword research – so we’ll begin there.
Start With YouTube-Specific Keyword Research
If you haven’t already gathered a list of keywords for your channel as a whole along with your individual videos, you need to start there. We have a detailed guide on how to do keyword research for YouTube to help you jumpstart this journey.
Begin by uncovering keywords that are relevant to your content niche and resonate with your target audience. Some of this will be common sense – at least, for finding your seed keyword to start with.
For example, if you want to start a channel reviewing golf equipment, “golf reviews” might be a good seed keyword. From there you can refine your efforts. Are there keyword opportunities for “golf club reviews,” or “golf ball reviews”?
Or, if you wanted to start more of an educational golf channel, you could simply enter the seed keyword “golf” and filter by question keywords. The possibilities will be endless for you to create videos around.
Whatever approach you take, we recommend you enter your seed keyword into a YouTube-specific keyword research tool. The reason is every platform – from Google to Etsy to Pinterest to Amazon to YouTube – has its own algorithm, search volume, and competition.
Using a YouTube-specific tool gives you the ability to make the most data-driven decisions possible. Your analysis will be specific to YouTube’s own search algorithm.
Focus on both broad keywords and long-tail keywords to ensure you're covering high-volume terms and capturing niche search queries. You might find that broad keywords are a better choice for your channel as a whole, whereas more specific long-tail variations make for good video ideas.
Always gauge competition level in correlation with search volume to avoid wasting your time and resources on keywords you simply won’t be able to rank for.
Learn what is a good keyword difficulty in our blog. We also have more tips on how to find a profitable niche and how to find niche keywords if you’re still getting started. Or, simply follow our keyword research checklist and learn how to automate keyword research.
But for the sake of this conversation, we’ll assume you’ve already got a great list of keywords for your channel as a whole and specific videos you’ve created/will create. From there, it’s just a matter of setting up YouTube keyword rank tracking.
Set Up YouTube Keyword Rank Tracking Tools
There are specific third-party tools out there for tracking positions in YouTube search. KeySearch’s rank tracker covers Google results, not YouTube search, so for YouTube we suggest starting with these free options:
- YouTube Studio: In Analytics, open a video’s traffic sources and look at YouTube search. It lists the search terms that brought viewers to that video, which is the most reliable data you’ll get.
- Manual checks: Search your target keyword in a private browser window and note where your video appears. Do it on the same day each week so the numbers are comparable.
Keep a simple sheet of your top keywords, the video targeting each one, and its position over time. That way you can assess performance at a glance.
Tips on Monitoring Rankings Over Time
Setting up rank tracking is just the first step. Once you’ve got the tool configured and it starts pulling in your rankings you need to regularly review them to assess performance.
But, you don’t want to fall into the trap of constantly refreshing your dashboard and looking for ranking improvements. This habit can drive you crazy. Even daily analysis is unnecessary and oftentimes, problematic.
One of the biggest mistakes we see people make in SEO in general – be it on YouTube, Google, or some other platform like Amazon/eBay – is making changes too frequently because they’re not seeing progress.
Instead, set a regular schedule – like once a week or even once a month – to review rankings and see what type of movement has occurred, be it positive or negative.
In addition to YouTube keyword rank tracking, there are a few other metrics that might be of relevance to you. These include views, watch time, and click-through rates (CTR). The more data you have to sift through the more informed decisions you can make.
For example, noticing a drop in rankings for a specific keyword could prompt you to cross-reference engagement metrics to see if the decrease is related to content quality, keyword relevance, or other factors like video length or thumbnail effectiveness.
When to Make Adjustments to Keyword Targeting
While you don’t want to make changes too frequently, you do need to be swift to pivot your strategy when it’s not working.
Our rule of thumb is to give a newly published video – or any edits to an existing video – at least 7-10 days before even bothering with analysis. It takes the YouTube algorithm time to crawl your video and rank it accordingly.
So, if after this timeframe you feel the video is underperforming (meaning it’s not climbing in search results despite optimization efforts), you may consider making changes. This could be updating your video’s metadata (title, description, tags) or targeting a new keyword altogether.
It’s also important to be on the lookout for new, trending keywords relevant to your niche. You can update your older content to target these newer terms and breathe fresh life into a video that’s gone stale. YouTube rewards content updates, so optimizing existing videos for fresh keywords can pay off!
The Role of Competitor Keyword Tracking
While you may have come here to learn how to track keywords for YouTube for your own channel, this is just one way you can use rank tracking to your advantage. You can also monitor close competitors in your niche to see what is moving the needle for their channel.
KeySearch’s YouTube Research shows the top-ranking videos for any keyword, so you can see which competitors rank and how hard they’ll be to beat. Dig into the most popular videos for your competitor and see what keywords are driving views. Then, assess the structure of their title, description, and tags and mirror that optimization for your own channel.
Grow Your YouTube Channel With Ease Using KeySearch!
With a solid understanding of how to track keywords for YouTube channel it’s time to get started. KeySearch provides you with a wealth of resources to make the most of any SEO strategy, be it on Google, YouTube, Amazon, or anything in between! Here are other platform-specific tools:
But you also gain access to everything from a free keyword grouping tool to our free keyword density tool, keyword difficulty tool free, LSI tools, long tail keyword generator, and even a niche finder tool if you aren’t sure where to start this journey into creating a YouTube channel.
Our standalone tools are free, and you can try the full KeySearch app free for 7 days, with plans from $24 a month. You’ll also enjoy how easy it is to navigate these tools with our intuitive dashboard that minimizes the learning curve so you can hit the ground running fast.
Join 10,000+ SEO beginners and experts alike who rely on KeySearch to streamline their analysis, planning, and execution. From A to Z, we’ve got everything you need to become a top contender in your niche. See for yourself today!
Parting Thoughts on How to Track Keywords for YouTube Channel
YouTube keyword rank tracking is a must for anyone trying to grow their channel, whether you’re pursuing a passion and trying to become an authority or looking for another segment to tap into for your business.
Hopefully, this guide on how to track keywords for YouTube channel has left you with a clear understanding of your next steps. With the right rank tracking tool it takes just a few clicks. Then you can conduct regular analysis to make informed decisions on optimizing further.
You can learn more about what to do after keyword research, how to use keywords on Etsy, how to find keyword density, how to do Etsy keyword research, long tail keyword benefits, does keyword density still matter, LSI vs long tail keywords, how to do Pinterest keyword research, how to do Amazon keyword research, and more in our blog. Or, compare KeySearch to the field:
The best way to understand the power of KeySearch is to put it to the test yourself, starting with our free YouTube keyword tool.
It’s time to turn your YouTube channel into a traffic magnet. Maximize the reach of your channel as a whole and every single individual video you publish going forward!
