Viewers type before they watch. Make the video they typed for.
YouTube is the second place people go to search, and the phrases they type are different from Google's: 'how to', 'tutorial', 'for beginners', 'vs', 'review', 'in 10 minutes'. A channel that plans around those phrases gets found by search long after the upload day, which is the traffic that compounds.
This guide walks through YouTube keyword research with Brainito's YouTube tool: suggestions from YouTube's own search box with monthly volume, a twelve-month trend and CPC, filters that isolate the formats you make, and a way to turn one list into a month of titles.
Free account. A search is 5 credits, cached for 30 days. Plans from $20 a month.
- Suggestions from YouTube's own search box
- Monthly volume, trend and CPC per phrase
- Filters for 'how to', 'review', 'for beginners' and more
- 5 credits a search, cached for 30 days
Search traffic is the part of YouTube you can plan
Browse and suggested traffic depend on the algorithm's mood and your recent performance. Search traffic depends on whether a video answers a phrase people keep typing. A tutorial that ranks for 'how to clean a cast iron pan' earns views every week for years, from people who want exactly that. That is the demand a keyword list shows you in advance.
The tool's CPC column matters for creators too. A phrase advertisers pay for is a phrase with a commercial audience, which typically means better ad rates on the video and more interest from sponsors. A list sorted by CPC is a list of the topics that pay, which is a useful counterweight to a list sorted only by volume.
- Titles guessed from what feels catchyTitles built on the exact phrase viewers type
- Topics chosen after the competition saturated themRising phrases spotted in the twelve-month trend
- Tags copied from a bigger channelClose variants from the same suggestion list
- A content calendar that starts blankOne search filtered into twenty video ideas
What the YouTube keyword research tool gives a creator
Viewer suggestions
Up to about 700 phrases from YouTube's own search suggestions around your seed, including the formats viewers ask for: tutorial, review, comparison, challenge, 'explained'.
Monthly volume
How often each phrase is searched on YouTube in the selected country. The number that separates a title people look for from one they would never type.
Twelve-month trend
Which phrases grew this year. A rising phrase with modest volume is often the best video to make next, before larger channels notice it.
CPC as a monetization signal
What advertisers typically pay per click on the phrase. Higher CPC topics usually carry better ad rates and sponsor interest. Sort by it to find the topics that pay.
Filters for the formats you make
Include 'how to' to see only tutorials, or 'vs' for comparisons. Exclude 'free download' or channel names. When an include term is thin, one extra search runs for it, labeled with the cost.
Country selection
Research the audience you actually reach. A phrase that is large in the United States may be small in India and the reverse, and the tool reports each separately.
Tags and descriptions from the same list
The close variants below your title phrase are your tags and the natural wording for the first two lines of the description, where YouTube reads for relevance.
YouTube keyword research in four steps
Using a cooking channel in the United States as the worked example.
Seed with the topic, not the title
Search 'cast iron' on the YouTube page with United States selected. The result set shows what viewers want around cast iron: seasoning, cleaning, restoring, recipes, 'vs' comparisons.
Filter to the format you make
Include 'how to' and read the combined volume of the tutorials. Swap to 'vs' for comparison videos. If 'restore' is thin, accept the second search for 'restore cast iron' and the long tail appears.
Pick by trend and CPC, not just volume
Among the tutorials, choose the phrases with a rising trend and a CPC above the rest. Those are the videos that will grow and the ones advertisers want to be next to.
Write the title, description and tags from the rows
Title leads with the exact phrase. Description repeats it in the first two lines in plain language. Tags are the five or six closest variants from the list. Repeat the search for the next topic, free from the cache within 30 days if you return to this one.
Goes with
- YouTube keyword research toolRun the searches in this guide.
- Free keyword research toolThe hub: all fifteen platforms and what each one shows.
- TikTok keyword research toolCheck the same topic for Shorts and short-form search.
- Google keyword research toolSee whether the topic also earns a blog post.
- Long-tail keyword generatorInclude filters plus an automatic second search for the long tail.
- Instagram keyword research toolHashtag post counts for the clips you repost.
Search your topic. Film the phrase viewers already type.
A search is 5 credits and returns up to 700 viewer phrases with volume, trend and CPC. Plans from $20 a month, cancel any time.