YouTube can be a goldmine, but only if you manage to make your channel popular.

Getting genuine views is something that requires a LOT of hard work.

Even if you make a huge number of super-interesting videos that are useful for users, it doesn’t mean that you’ll get enough views.

Your effort will go to waste unless your videos don’t reach your potential audience in the first place!

So, how do you make sure your videos get views?

One of the best ways is by optimizing your content for search engines, and in today’s guide we are covering YouTube Tag Optimization!

By mastering the simple process we teach, each video you make will receive better treatment from YouTube algorithms.

In this guide we go over:

YouTube SEO is a MUST!

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is the process of making your content search-engine friendly. If you do your SEO job well, you can be sure that your videos will rank very high on the search results page on YouTube!

How are you supposed to explain your video to the YouTube?

Using keywords that describe your video the best!

Once you find the best keywords for your videos, it’s time to use them. In this guide, you’ll learn how to find the best YouTube tags and get more views!

What are YouTube Video Tags?

If you’ve ever uploaded a video to YouTube, you must have noticed the tag option.

This feature has been there for ages, but the truth is that not many people even know what it is. If you’re one of them, we’re gonna help you learn everything about YouTube tags, starting from the very beginning!

Tags are the words and phrases that help YouTube algorithms understand what your video is about.

For example, if your video is dealing with makeup tips, usually tags like this are used: “makeup”, “beauty”, “makeup tips”, and so on.

Unfortunately, things are not so simple, because in order to get the most of YouTube tagging, you need to choose proper keywords!

Fool-Proof Tag Formula

What tags should you use on YouTube?

Using common sense when choosing the tags is a pretty good option. The bad news is that it might not be enough to help you rank better than your rivals. This is especially true if your video is dealing with a popular subject.

That is why it is essential to find the keywords that are very popular among YouTube users, but which are also not commonly used by your competitors.

And the best way to do that is combining your creativity with the best keyword research tools.

Your Creativity + Keyword Tools = Tags That Will Get You Views

So, what tools can we use to generate a list of tags?

Unfortunately, since 2014, the official keyword research tool of YouTube is no longer available.

To get a good idea about which keywords people are looking for, Google recommends it’s official tool Keyword Planner. Although this tool is focused on search results on Google exclusively.

Keep in mind that search volume presented in the image above is only for Google searches.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a tool that provides search volume for YouTube, so we just have to assume how much volume keywords have based on data we can get.

Top 3 FREE Keyword Tools for Generating Popular Tags

Google Keyword Planner is not the best solution for finding YouTube keywords, but it’s free so we still suggest using it as part of your arsenal.

The good thing is, there are other amazing FREE keyword research tools that can provide you a list of keywords.

Here are some of them that definitely deserve your attention:

 1.   Keywords Everywhere

This is a completely free tool that you install as a browser extension (Chrome or Firefox).

Biggest advantage of this tool is that you don’t have to leave YouTube.com.

Anytime you search something on YouTube or Google, it is going to give you the search volume for the keyword you searched on your screen.

This feature alone makes it worth installing.

And the best part?

When you search something on Google, it shows you related keywords and keywords that others search for.

 2.   Keywordtool.io

This is another free keyword research tool that will help you find the perfect keywords for your YouTube tags. The best thing about this keyword generator is that it’s super easy to use. In fact, all you got to do is type in a word that best describes the video you are uploading, choose the targeted country and language, and click search!

After clicking the search button, the tool will provide you with a list of keywords, ranked by the search volume.

Unfortunately, in order to get additional info, such as the exact number of monthly searches, estimated cost-per-click, and competition, you will need to become a paid member. But in reality you don’t need the additional info so I recommend just sticking with free version.

 3.   Ubersuggest

Here’s another great keyword tool. Recently Ubersuggest has been acquired by Neil Patel, who then upgraded it with lots of features and is still free for everyone.

For YouTube tags, the feature we need is Keyword Ideas, as you can see on the image.

Feel free to play with this new upgraded tool and it’s other features, the thing I like the most is the simplified competition checker. So before you even make a video, you can see what you will be dealing with in terms of other videos out there.

3 Steps for Finding Best YouTube Tags

Now that we got the tools, it’s time for action.

These are general guidelines to steer you in the right direction.

Out of the total 30-50 tags we end up with, many of them will be very different in terms of search volume and competition, so use the metrics just as a general guideline.

Here’s a simple 3-step beginner friendly process you can repeat for each video you make:

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 1)  Think of 5-10 Seed Keywords

Think of the words that would describe your video the best.

For example: If you are making a video about The Best Gaming Keyboards in [year], these would be the initial seed keywords I would go for:

gaming keyboards, best gaming keyboards, gaming gear,

 2)  Plug Seed Keywords into Tools

To truly succeed, you need to find the longtail keywords and use them!

This means that if there’s a phrase that explains in detail what your video is about, you must include it in the YouTube tags.

Plug all the seed keywords into the tool one at a time and write down all the tags you like.

I’d recommend writing down total of 30-50 tags and maximizing the 500 character limit.

 3)  Spy On Your Competition

If your rivals are getting much more views than you, it means that they’re doing something right. The chances are that their SEO is pretty good.

You can get a very good idea on which tags to use for your videos by taking a peek at your competitors!

 To find out what tags your competition is using, you will need to use software that can uncover the tags. This is because YouTube does not show them to everyone. 

Luckily, such tools are available for free or at pretty affordable rates:

VidIq and TubeBuddy, for example. Both tools come in the form of a browser extension.

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FAQ

How many tags does YouTube allow?

YouTube allows you to use up to 500 characters in the tag field. This means that you won’t be able to use all the keywords that come to your mind. Choose wisely with the process we’ve outlined above.

Does the order of the tags you type in into the tag box matter?

Our recommendation is to put in the most relevant tags first as YouTube’s algorithm may weigh the keywords in the beginning more. 

Best YouTube Tags for Music or Gaming?

Many people are searching for specific tags for certain niches or industries like music and gaming. Unfortunately, there are no specific tags for each niche, you will have to approach each video you make as something new and make a list of tags yourself.

Conclusion

That would be it for the tags, I hope I answered your question on what tags to use on YouTube.

But tags aren’t the only thing to optimize for, as I mentioned above, Title and Description might be even more important. I already have a guide for writing YouTube descriptions.

If you have any questions or tips yourself on finding the best YouTube tags, please let me know in the comments and good luck with your YouTube channel! 🙂