Answered Can't find any keywords that work... what am I doing wrong?

[Louis The Stressball]

Hi,

I've spent days solidly trying to find keywords that will rank my videos somewhere in search results, but had no success so I paid for membership with hope that unlimited access to the keyword tool would help.

Alas after hours of use, it seems all tags showing as "good" in the keyword explorer, have no ranking once applied to the video.

SEO studio shows 100% completed & in the green, but the tags are still un-numbered so can't be sorted. I've also tried countless different keywords/spellings/manipulations to no avail, even including extra spaces or mis-spelled words. Nothing seems to work. Also tried different topics entirely!

I've watched over 20 youtube videos and read many articles on tubebuddy / keywords, but none of the suggestions have so far worked.

Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong?

Here is my video:

View: https://youtu.be/7cSBBVcuqMI


btw, I managed to find ONE keyword that was ranked but no more (I must've tried thousands!). Will attach screenshots once I can work out where the attach button is!

Fanks

 

[SILTHW]

Lots of posts, so let's try and dissect them a it...

How you specifically rank with a keyword is different that how someone else ranks with that keyword. The only way to know is to use the keyword and make the video public to see how you rank.

The reason you are getting pointed to videos explaining the feature is because it is clear from your questions that you don't understand the tool and how to read the data it returns. In fact, in the screenshot you posted, it shows that you would need at least 87 views to rank the keyword at a time when you average 47 views. It is also showing there are 27.7M videos returned in that search. Understanding that alone answers most of the questions you have posted in this thread.

Take the time to learn the tools.

 

[Louis The Stressball]

PS- I have incognito mode in settings, and I've watched loads of videos from tubebuddy e.g.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqPv1kdweZI
and loads others. It seems when he does it, he gets numbered tags, but when I do it, the chance of getting a numbered tag is around 0% - I even don't get a ranking for the same tags he uses in his video tutorial with which he gets high ranking!

Ouch. I was hoping someone might know the answer.

More issues:

- Tag "nintendo switch stopmotion unboxing" lists my video as number 4 in search results. But in the tag section, tubebuddy lists it as number 14. Why the discrepancy?
- When I delete high-ranking tags and immediately add them again, tubebuddy doesn't display any ranking on them. Why & how do you force it to refresh? I've tried the 'sort' button but it still doesn't refresh. This can't be down to youtube results changing because I still see it in a manual search, in the top 4 results.

A lot of issues going on here, but no answers...

Okay well I heard back from tubebuddy support but didn't get the impression they had read the question as they just send me some generic basic videos to watch about keywords, that I've already seen.

They said they think the discrepancies between tubebuddy results in different windows (very good in one, bad in another), is due to my thumbnail or title not looking attractive enough to click on... ! Obviously these are two different things.

FYI My thumbnail/title click-through rate is around 30% according to youtube, so this doesn't support their theory either.

 

[EvaWar]

Bro, it looks like you only started a week ago? You have 4 videos and they are starting to get some views daily.

I'd make use of that stressball that you have, focus on making more videos and the rest will start to come naturally. I think it may take some time for YouTube to trust a channel enough to rank it for everything, unless it detects some viral pickup on one of your videos. Even then, having one viral video, doesn't guarantee that YouTube will rank any of your other videos.

 

[SILTHW]

Lots of posts, so let's try and dissect them a it...

How you specifically rank with a keyword is different that how someone else ranks with that keyword. The only way to know is to use the keyword and make the video public to see how you rank.

The reason you are getting pointed to videos explaining the feature is because it is clear from your questions that you don't understand the tool and how to read the data it returns. In fact, in the screenshot you posted, it shows that you would need at least 87 views to rank the keyword at a time when you average 47 views. It is also showing there are 27.7M videos returned in that search. Understanding that alone answers most of the questions you have posted in this thread.

Take the time to learn the tools.

 

[TubeBuddy]

Hi,

I've spent days solidly trying to find keywords that will rank my videos somewhere in search results, but had no success so I paid for membership with hope that unlimited access to the keyword tool would help.

Alas after hours of use, it seems all tags showing as "good" in the keyword explorer, have no ranking once applied to the video.

SEO studio shows 100% completed & in the green, but the tags are still un-numbered so can't be sorted. I've also tried countless different keywords/spellings/manipulations to no avail, even including extra spaces or mis-spelled words. Nothing seems to work. Also tried different topics entirely!

I've watched over 20 youtube videos and read many articles on tubebuddy / keywords, but none of the suggestions have so far worked.

Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong?

Here is my video:

View: https://youtu.be/7cSBBVcuqMI


btw, I managed to find ONE keyword that was ranked but no more (I must've tried thousands!). Will attach screenshots once I can work out where the attach button is!

View attachment 8218

View attachment 8219

View attachment 8220

View attachment 8221

Fanks

Sorry for late response. As @SILTHW said large forums and lots of places. The barrier to entry is 87 and that can't be discounted. your target keyword needs to be re-iterated in the tags too. I see it in close ways, but not a 1 for 1 match YT looks for.

I'd say it's understanding how they all work together. It's really close, but some more changes are needed.

I even don't get a ranking for the same tags he uses in his video tutorial with which he gets high ranking!

That's because of the authority we at TubeBuddy have. I think you're on the right track, but would encourage you to do an SEO review on our discord server: https://discord.gg/tubebuddy

 

[Louis The Stressball]

you would need at least 87 views to rank the keyword at a time when you average 47 views. It is also showing there are 27.7M videos returned in that search. Understanding that alone answers most of the questions you have posted in this thread.

Thanks... indeed that alone does help with understanding, so thank you for answering. That's the job of this forum after all.. to answer questions, right?

That leads to a couple more questions:

- If youtube ranks according to views, isn't that a 'chicken & egg' scenario as in, newer channels will never be able to get off the ground; they need views to rank, but they need to rank to get views? This would explain why so many youtubers with quality content & loads of videos on their channel, have fewer views than other channels with similar content / quality & number of videos.

- The number you're referring to shows I would need at least 16 views for another keyword, to rank the keyword at a time when I average 47 views, yet it still doesn't appear in search results (i.e. isn't numbered in the tag list). Why the discrepancy?

It's really close, but some more changes are needed.

Can you give an example? Examples speak a thousand words.

do an SEO review on our discord server: https://discord.gg/tubebuddy

I tried that link, could you point me in the direction of the SEO review button / section / bit?

 

[SILTHW]

Thanks... indeed that alone does help with understanding, so thank you for answering. That's the job of this forum after all.. to answer questions, right?

That leads to a couple more questions:

- If youtube ranks according to views, isn't that a 'chicken & egg' scenario as in, newer channels will never be able to get off the ground; they need views to rank, but they need to rank to get views? This would explain why so many youtubers with quality content & loads of videos on their channel, have fewer views than other channels with similar content / quality & number of videos.

- The number you're referring to shows I would need at least 16 views for another keyword, to rank the keyword at a time when I average 47 views, yet it still doesn't appear in search results (i.e. isn't numbered in the tag list). Why the discrepancy?

Every new video gets a boost from YouTube once it is posted. That boost is what you are trying to take advantage of to get people to watch your video. And not just watch part - you want great average view duration and audience retention. Those signal to YouTube that people like your content and cause them to include your video more frequently in recommended and suggested videos.

OK, so how do you make the most out of that "new video" boost? You need really good SEO, because that boost isn't going to overcome crappy SEO/poor discoverability. You need a popular topic (think keyword) that people may be looking for. And you need a thumbnail that makes people want to click your video when they see it next to a bunch of other videos on the same topic.

So then you get into an interesting cycle. The higher your average view duration and audience retention is, the more chance that youtube will continue to promote your video over once the "new video" boost is done. And if you keep delivering high AVD and AR you keep getting boosted in recommended and suggested.

This is actually why someone with a small channel MIGHT beat someone with a huge channel. Let's say you have a niche and you have really high AVD and AR and they do some videos in your niche but their AVD and AR are much lower than yours for that content type. They you are very likely to rank above them in search.

As for the difference in where a keyword may rank and where it actually ranks on publish, no one knows exactly how the YouTube algorithm works. And if they say they do, they are full of crap. But companies like TubeBuddy who have a very long, direct relationship with YouTube have a really good understanding and are giving you a SWAG based on all of the best available data, including what YouTube says publicly about how it works. But until your video is public and being ranked by the actual algorithm, there is no way to actually know where you rank.

 

[Louis The Stressball]

Every new video gets a boost from YouTube once it is posted. That boost is what you are trying to take advantage of to get people to watch your video. And not just watch part - you want great average view duration and audience retention. Those signal to YouTube that people like your content and cause them to include your video more frequently in recommended and suggested videos.

OK, so how do you make the most out of that "new video" boost? You need really good SEO, because that boost isn't going to overcome crappy SEO/poor discoverability. You need a popular topic (think keyword) that people may be looking for. And you need a thumbnail that makes people want to click your video when they see it next to a bunch of other videos on the same topic.

So then you get into an interesting cycle. The higher your average view duration and audience retention is, the more chance that youtube will continue to promote your video over once the "new video" boost is done. And if you keep delivering high AVD and AR you keep getting boosted in recommended and suggested.

This is actually why someone with a small channel MIGHT beat someone with a huge channel. Let's say you have a niche and you have really high AVD and AR and they do some videos in your niche but their AVD and AR are much lower than yours for that content type. They you are very likely to rank above them in search.

As for the difference in where a keyword may rank and where it actually ranks on publish, no one knows exactly how the YouTube algorithm works. And if they say they do, they are full of crap. But companies like TubeBuddy who have a very long, direct relationship with YouTube have a really good understanding and are giving you a SWAG based on all of the best available data, including what YouTube says publicly about how it works. But until your video is public and being ranked by the actual algorithm, there is no way to actually know where you rank.

So what you mean is someone could produce e.g. a better quality review of a product than someone else, but the way youtube works the worse video (with the best SEO) would get promoted more. This does not bode well for most users who produce great content but don't know about SEO!

 

[SILTHW]

So what you mean is someone could produce e.g. a better quality review of a product than someone else, but the way youtube works the worse video (with the best SEO) would get promoted more. This does not bode well for most users who produce great content but don't know about SEO!

This is more or less correct. If, for some reason, the better video quickly gained more AVD and AR, then it would start showing up in recommended and suggested and could outpace the video with better SEO.

The videos the Search and Discovery team have put out on the Creator Insider channel have stressed that the playing field is way more "even" than people realize and that it is more about paying attention to the right metrics (AVD, AR, CTR) then the wrong ones (Subs, view hours), and optimizing for search.