Youtube Seo Keywords

YouTube Keyword & Topic Research (Advanced)

Process

1. Capture seed: keyword, channel URL, or niche description. If only

a channel URL is provided, extract 5-10 seed topics from:

• The channel's top 25 videos by views (title + description entities)
• The channel's topic IDs from channels.list?part=topicDetails

1. Expand the seed set to 100-300 candidate keywords from

first-party sources only (third-party tools like VidIQ, TubeBuddy, Ahrefs, and SocialBlade rate-limit and generate errors — avoid them):

• YouTube suggest API (`https://suggestqueries.google.com/complete/

search?client=firefox&ds=yt&q={seed}) — no key, returns JSON, iterate by appending a-z` to the seed for long-tail expansion

• YouTube Data API search.list?part=snippet&q={seed}&type=video

— surface the top 50 ranking titles and mine their titles/tags for co-occurring terms

• yt-dlp ytsearch50:{seed} as an API-less equivalent
• Google autocomplete (`suggestqueries.google.com/complete/search?

client=firefox&q={seed}`) for parent-topic discovery

• User-provided seed list or topic outline

1. Classify intent for each keyword:

• Informational ("what is ...", "how does ... work")
• Tutorial ("how to ...", "... tutorial", "step by step")
• Commercial / Review ("... review", "best ...", "... vs ...")
• Entertainment (celebrity names, event names, memes)
• News / Topical (breaking or time-sensitive)
• Navigational (brand or channel names)

→ Each intent class maps to a different video format and surface.

1. Classify primary surface:

• Search-dominant: "how to", "tutorial", long-tail specific queries
• Browse-dominant: broad topics, personalities, trending
• Suggested-dominant: sits adjacent to an existing popular video

1. Entity mapping: for each keyword, identify the Knowledge Graph

entities involved (people, brands, products, concepts). Group keywords that share entities into topic clusters.

1. Competition analysis per keyword (top 10 SERP):

• Median subscriber count of ranking channels
• Median video age (weeks)
• Median view count
• Presence of mega channels (>1M subs) in top 3
• Thumbnail/title quality median (estimate)
• SERP features (Shorts shelf, mix shelf, promoted result)

1. Seasonality: pull Google Trends 5-year curve per keyword cluster.

Classify:

• Evergreen: flat or slowly rising
• Seasonal: predictable annual peak (gift guides, tax season)
• Trending: fast-rising, Third-party analytics (VidIQ, TubeBuddy, Ahrefs, SocialBlade,

> NoxInfluencer) are intentionally excluded — they rate-limit or > error. If the user volunteers a CSV from one of these, it is OK to > read it, but never instruct the user to go acquire one.

Output

Keyword Sheet

| Keyword | Intent | Surface | YT Vol | Difficulty | Fit | Entity% | Trend | Opportunity | |---------|--------|---------|--------|-----------|-----|---------|-------|-------------| | how to ... | Tutorial | Search | 12k | 42 | 85 | 90% | Evergreen | 78 | | ... vs ... | Commercial | Search | 4.2k | 55 | 72 | 65% | Evergreen | 64 | | ... 2026 | News | Browse | 8k | 68 | 80 | 50% | Trending | 71 |

Sort by Opportunity descending. Limit to top 30-50.

Topic Clusters (3-6 clusters)

For each cluster, report:

• Theme: one-sentence description
• Shared entities: 5-10 Knowledge Graph entities
• Pillar video: title, format, length, target keyword (highest-

opportunity broad keyword in the cluster)

• Satellite videos: 5-10 specific long-tail follow-ups, each with

title + target keyword

• Suggested playlist: title + description
• Topical authority contribution: how this cluster strengthens the

channel's classification

Intent Mix Chart

Report the intent distribution of the recommended keywords:

Tutorial:       40%  ████████
Commercial:     25%  █████
Informational:  20%  ████
Entertainment:  10%  ██
News:            5%  █

Flag if the mix is mismatched with the channel's current format strength.

Gap vs Channel (when channel URL provided)

• Keywords competitors cover that the channel does not
• Entities competitors own that the channel does not reference
• Format gaps (e.g., no reviews, no tutorials, no comparisons)

Content Calendar (optional, 8-12 weeks)

Alternates:

• Evergreen pillar (every 3-4 weeks): broad, high-opportunity

keyword, long-form, binge-playlist anchor

• Topical/reactive slot (weekly): trending or news keyword
• Satellite fill (weekly): specific long-tail serving the pillar

Seasonality Calendar

Report any Seasonal-classified keywords with their peak windows so the user can plan 4-6 weeks ahead of each peak.

Integration

• Hand off top keywords to youtube-seo-optimize for metadata generation
• Hand off cluster plan to youtube-seo-channel for playlist structure
• Hand off competitor-entity gaps to youtube-seo-competitor for deeper

analysis

Error Handling

| Scenario | Action | |----------|--------| | No API key AND WebFetch blocked | Fall back to yt-dlp ytsearch50: + suggest API (both key-less); if still failing, ask the user for 5-10 seed keywords directly | | API quota exhausted mid-run | Cache partial results, switch remaining expansion to yt-dlp + suggest API, continue | | Niche too narrow (no volume data) | Pivot to broader parent topic, report the gap, score as "low demand, qualitative only" | | Brand/product name with no search volume | Research category terms and comparison keywords instead | | Trending keyword with <2 weeks of data | Flag as unstable; suggest pairing with an evergreen pillar | | Google Trends returns empty | Skip seasonality classification for that keyword — do not guess the curve |

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: deeployCO
• Source: deeployCO/youtube-seo-skills
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.