Free YouTube Keyword Research Tools That Can Help You Earn More Views

YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, owned by Google, the largest search engine in the world. That alone should tell you something about how people use the platform.

They search for things. A lot of things.

And if you're creating content without checking whether anyone is actually looking for what you're talking about? You might be making videos for an audience of one.

That's not me being harsh. That's me being honest because I've done it too. I've made that mistake, and I bet a lot of you reading this have as well.

The good news is that checking for interest before you hit record doesn't have to cost you a thing. There are completely free tools available right now that can help you see if there's demand for your next video idea. I recently did a full livestream walkthrough of these tools, and I want to break down the key takeaways here so you can start using them today.

First, Let's Get Something Straight About Keyword Research

Before we get into the tools, I need to clear up one of the biggest misconceptions I see creators make with keyword research. It's something I don't think I've been clear enough about in the past, and I want to make sure I rectify that now.

Keyword research does not guarantee you views.

What it does is tell you if there's interest in a topic. That interest translates to impressions, meaning YouTube will show your video to people. But impressions alone don't equal views. You still need a compelling title and a thumbnail that makes people want to click. Impressions multiplied by your click through rate is what gets you to views.

So think of keyword research as opening the door. Your title and thumbnail are what invite people to walk through it.

Google Trends: Your Free Starting Point

The first tool every creator should have bookmarked is Google Trends. It's completely free, available worldwide, and gives you a look at what people are actively searching for right now.

Here's what most people miss though: when you land on Google Trends, it defaults to web search. For YouTube creators, you want to switch the filter to YouTube Search. The results are very different, and that distinction matters a lot when you're planning video content.

Google Trends shows you interest over time on a scale of 0 to 100. A score of 100 means peak popularity for that term. A score of 50 means it's half as popular. And zero? That means there wasn't enough data, meaning not enough people are searching for it to even register.

One of the most powerful things you can do in Google Trends is compare multiple terms at once. During the stream, I showed how you can take a broad topic and layer in related search terms to see which angle has the most interest. That comparison view can completely change how you approach a video title or even whether you combine two related ideas into one piece of content.

In the livestream, I walked through exactly how to do this comparison step by step, including how to read the data for short term versus long term trends. You can follow along with the full walkthrough here.

Timing Is Everything

One thing I want to stress because I see this mistake constantly: if you find a trending topic through keyword research, you need to act on it as quickly as you reasonably can.

That doesn't mean rushing out a half baked video. Give it the effort it deserves. But be aware that trends have shelf lives. YouTube's own data looks at the last 28 days for a reason. If you did keyword research three months ago and are just now making the video, that trend may have already passed.

Here's a tip that has saved me more than once: always recheck your keyword data before you film. I've had ideas saved that looked great in December, but by April the interest had dropped significantly. Seasons, holidays, current events, and even the general rhythm of the year all affect what people are searching for.

Trends Are Contextual

Think about it this way. At the start of every new year, people want to try new things. "How to start a YouTube channel" trends upward. By April, most of that initial energy has faded. That's not a YouTube thing, that's a human behavior thing.

The same applies to your niche. If you teach English, interest spikes at the beginning of school years, semester breaks, and the new year. If you cover sports, interest follows the season schedule. Understanding when your audience searches is just as important as understanding what they search for.

YouTube Studio's Built In Tools (Yes, They're Free Too)

Google Trends is great for broad research, but YouTube actually gives you tools built right into your studio dashboard that are tailored to your audience. And I don't see enough creators talking about these.

The Trends Tab

Inside YouTube Studio, go to Analytics and then click on the Trends tab (instead of Overview, Content, Audience, or Revenue). This tab shows you what your specific viewers are interested in right now.

What makes this different from Google Trends is the personalization. It's not just showing you what's popular globally. It's telling you what your subscribers and viewers have been actively watching over the last 28 days. That's a huge distinction.

You'll see search terms categorized by volume: high, medium, and low. I personally shoot for medium to high volume terms. Low volume isn't bad by any means, but it just needs more time and might be very niche.

One of my favorite features here is content gaps. These are topics where YouTube has identified that there's viewer interest but not a lot of content covering it yet. That's a goldmine if you can find gaps that align with what you already talk about.

During the stream I showed how to read these signals, how to spot a series idea hiding inside your trends data, and how the volume indicators can help you prioritize which video to make first. Check out the full breakdown here.

The Inspiration Tab

YouTube recently redesigned the Inspiration tab (found under Content in your Studio dashboard), and there are some changes worth knowing about. It now uses AI to brainstorm video ideas, suggest titles, and even show you how those ideas relate to your existing content.

I'll be real with you: some of the suggestions are solid, and some need a lot of creative adjustment. The AI is a starting point, not a finished product. But what I find genuinely useful is how it connects ideas back to what your audience has already shown interest in.

One thing I noticed with the redesign is that it now surfaces ideas even when only a small part of your audience watches similar content. The previous version was a bit more filtered in that regard. Something to keep in mind as you evaluate the suggestions it gives you.

A Reality Check Worth Having

If the Inspiration tab isn't giving you great recommendations, YouTube actually tells you why. It might be that you haven't created enough content yet, or it could be that your content is spread across too many different topics and it's confusing the recommendation engine.

Let me reframe that the way YouTube means it: you may be confusing your audience. The algorithm follows the audience. If your viewers don't know what to expect from your channel, neither does YouTube.

That's not a punishment. It's just feedback. And it's free feedback at that.

The Honest Truth About Making Videos Nobody Searches For

Here's something I think more creators need to hear, and I say it with love.

If you do keyword research and see that nobody is searching for the topic you want to cover, and you make the video anyway? That's completely fine. But you cannot be surprised when it's only you watching it.

I've done this. I've made videos that were really just for me. And sometimes you find clever ways to title them or package them so they still reach people. But more often than not, if a video was only made because you wanted to make it and there's no demonstrated interest from an audience, the results will reflect that.

That doesn't mean every video needs to be driven purely by keyword data. It means you should go in with your eyes open about what to expect.

How I Decide If a Video Is Worth Making

Over the years, across multiple channels and teams (including helping grow the TubeBuddy YouTube channel from 6,000 to over 500,000 subscribers during my time there), I've developed a framework for evaluating whether a video idea is worth pursuing.

It's called the KANDO Method, and it covers five areas: Knowledge, Audience, News, Data, and Optimization. Each element builds on the others, and together they give you a clear picture of whether your next video idea has the foundation it needs to perform.

I walked through the entire framework during the livestream, including an interactive checklist you can use before you publish your next video. Watch the full KANDO Method breakdown here.

Quick Recap: Your Free Keyword Research Toolkit

Here's what you can start using right now without spending a dime:

Google Trends (trends.google.com) for broad interest research. Remember to switch to YouTube Search for the most relevant results.

YouTube Studio Trends Tab (Analytics → Trends) for audience specific interest data, including search volume indicators and content gaps.

YouTube Studio Inspiration Tab (Content → Inspiration) for AI powered brainstorming tailored to your channel and viewer behavior.

And the overarching principle tying it all together: keyword research shows you where the interest is. It's your job to create something compelling enough that people actually click, watch, and come back for more.

Watch the Full Walkthrough

Everything I covered here, I demonstrated live with real examples, real data, and real audience questions. If you want to see exactly how to use these tools, how to read the data, and how to make decisions based on what you find, the full stream is ready for you.

👉 Free YouTube Keyword Research Tools That Can Help You Earn More Views — Full Livestream