Part 01 · Follow the steps

Step-by-step YouTube keyword research workflow

1. 01Start with a specific topic

   Start with a subject you are considering for your next YouTube video. Open Keyword Search and use the two inputs below to tell TrendyTube what topic to investigate and which audience location to focus on. The search uses these inputs to find relevant existing videos; if you enable analytics later, it also requests demand information for the chosen geography where available.

   Define the topic and audience

   Enter keyword… — what you want to research

   Type a phrase viewers might search for, such as smartphone food photography. TrendyTube uses it as the search topic to retrieve matching YouTube videos, so you can see what creators already cover and how audiences respond. A specific phrase helps narrow the results to the content you are actually planning; try related variations later to compare angles.

   Country — whose audience interests you

   Choose the country whose video results and available search-demand signals you want to investigate. For example, choose United States if that is your target audience, even when you live or publish elsewhere. Country selection gives the search geographic context; choose the same country when comparing keyword variations so the results are more comparable.

2. 02Set the results you want to compare

   Choose how broad and recent your comparison should be before searching. TrendyTube uses these filters to select which matching videos appear in the results, so your chosen count, order and date range affect the competitor examples and metrics you see. For a first look, start with a manageable number of results and expand when the topic needs deeper comparison.

   Choose the result order

   Relevance

   Start with videos that most closely match your keyword. Use this to examine how creators cover the topic.

   Upload Date

   Bring recent uploads forward. Use this when you want to see new discussions or recently covered angles.

   Views

   Bring widely watched videos forward. Use this to compare videos with stronger view counts.

   Control coverage and recency

   Results count — 50 to 600 videos

   Choose 50 for a quicker shortlist of examples, or a higher number when you want a wider picture of competing coverage and more data to compare. Larger result sets can take longer to inspect and may include less directly relevant videos.

   Date After — focus on a time period

   Select an earliest upload date when you want to study recent discussions, such as videos published since a new product launched. Leave it unset when older evergreen coverage also matters. This filters the videos being compared, not the monthly search-demand history.

3. 03Decide whether to include demand analytics

   Choose whether you only want videos covering the topic or also want an estimated monthly demand trend. The extra analytics panel helps you compare interest in related phrases before choosing a subject. Review the displayed daily search allowance and credit estimate, then select Search.

   Video retrieval and demand analysis are separate tasks, so the video table may appear before the demand chart finishes.

   Search options

   Need Analytics off

   Search matching YouTube videos and explore their titles, channels, dates and performance. Uses one daily search from your allowance.

   Need Analytics on

   Search matching videos and request the additional Search Demand panel with monthly interest figures. Uses two daily searches from your allowance.

4. 04Read the matching-video results

   The results table shows how other YouTube creators approach the phrase you entered. Start with titles and upload dates to see the angles already covered; then use Columns to show only the metrics that help you compare them. Select a sortable column heading to find useful examples, rather than choosing a topic from one number alone.

   Why compare these metrics? Views show how often a video was watched; likes and comments show recorded interactions; Views Per Day puts old and recent uploads on a more comparable timeline; EVR and VSR help you compare engagement and reach relative to video and channel size.

   Understand the key columns

   Views Per Day

   Average views relative to the video's age. Use it to compare videos uploaded at different times.

   EVR — Engagement to View Ratio

   (likes + comments) ÷ views × 100%. For example, 200 likes and comments on 10,000 views gives 2% EVR.

   VSR — Views to Subscribers Ratio

   views ÷ channel subscribers. For example, 20,000 views from a 10,000-subscriber channel gives 2.0 VSR.

   Views, Likes, Comments and Channel Subscribers

   The underlying view and interaction totals, plus the channel's subscriber count when available.

   See examples of EVR, VSR and keyword results

5. 05Compare the overview and demand charts

   Use the charts to answer two different questions: How are the matching videos performing? and, when Need Analytics is enabled, how is search interest for the keyword developing? These are distinct views.

   Total Views adds the views of the videos returned in this search. Engagement summarizes their engagement context. View Trends compares groups of returned videos by upload age (for Views or EVR), which helps you see how recently published videos compare with older groups. Search Demand, when available, shows a separate month-by-month interest series for the keyword; use it to spot recent strength, seasonality or peaks.

   View Trends controls

   Views

   Compare the average view patterns of the returned video groups.

   EVR

   Compare how engagement varies across those video groups.

   Weekly / 1 Month / 3 Months

   Change the comparison period for the selected Views or EVR curve.

   Search Demand figures

   Latest

   The latest month shown in the demand series.

   Peak

   The highest monthly value in the series.

   Avg Monthly

   The average monthly value across the available series.

   Understand video benchmarks and demand signals

   Video coverage

   

   Compares videos by upload age.

   Estimated demand

   

   Estimated search interest, not exact YouTube searches.

6. 06Turn the research into a useful next step

   Now use your results to decide whether the keyword deserves a video. Check which titles and formats are already common, compare whether viewers engage with the results, and look for an explanation, demonstration or perspective that your channel can add. When monthly demand is available, compare the latest month with the average and peak rather than judging the topic by a single spike.

   A useful next action: search one or two related phrases with the same country and filters, then choose the topic with the best combination of audience interest, relevance to your channel and a distinctive video angle.

7. 07Reopen or download your research

   Use Saved Keywords when you want to return to an earlier research snapshot instead of repeating the same search. Opening it restores the results captured at that time; choose Search again when you need fresh video or demand data.

   Use Download HTML to keep or share a readable report of your results, or Download Excel when you want to filter, sort and compare results in a spreadsheet. These downloads preserve the data from that search, so they are useful when you are deciding between video topics later.

Help · Common questions

Common questions