I’m trying to grow a small YouTube channel and I’m struggling to find good, free keyword tools that actually help with SEO, tags, and video ideas. I’ve tried a few Chrome extensions and websites, but most of the useful features are locked behind paid plans. Can anyone recommend truly free YouTube keyword research tools that show search volume, competition, and related keyword suggestions so I can better optimize my titles and descriptions?
Short answer from someone who’s tried way too many tools: use a combo, not a single “best” one. For small creators on $0, this stack works well:
- TubeBuddy free
Chrome extension.
Good for:
• Quick tag ideas.
• Basic search volume and competition indicators.
• Seeing what tags competitors use.
Workflow:
Search your topic on YouTube.
Look at the TubeBuddy box on the side.
Pick phrases with decent volume and “fair” or “good” score.
Use 1 main keyword in:
• Title
• First 2 lines of description
• First tag
- VidIQ free
Also Chrome extension.
Good for:
• “Related queries” and “video ideas” on the right side.
• Seeing search terms that top videos rank for.
• Checking how strong the competition looks.
Tip:
Sort results by “views in last 48h” to see topics still alive, not dead trends.
If your channel is small, go for low–competition phrases with clear intent.
Example:
Bad for new channel: “Fitness tips”
Better: “10 min dumbbell workout for beginners at home”
-
YouTube’s own Search Bar
This one is underrated and free.
Type your niche word, then a space, then a letter.
Example:
“drawing a”
You get:
• drawing a face
• drawing a hand
• drawing a rose
Those auto suggestions come from real user searches. Use those exact phrases in your titles. -
YouTube Analytics
Go to:
Analytics → Reach → “Traffic source: YouTube search”
Look at “Search terms”.
These are the phrases people already use to find your videos.
Turn those into new ideas.
If you see “how to edit in capcut” sending views, record:
• “Capcut editing tutorial for beginners”
• “Capcut text animation tutorial” -
Google Trends
Set location and “YouTube search”.
Compare 2 to 3 keyword ideas.
Pick the one with stable or rising interest.
Avoid stuff that flatlined months ago.
Practical setup for each video:
- Pick 1 main keyword from auto suggest or TubeBuddy.
- Put it near the start of your title.
- Repeat it in first line of description in a natural sentence.
- Add 3 to 8 related keywords as tags, not 30 random ones.
- Add 1 to 3 broad tags, like your niche and format.
Example:
Main: “how to draw anime eyes step by step”
Related tags: “draw anime eyes”, “anime eye tutorial”, “anime drawing for beginners”
Broad tags: “anime drawing”, “drawing tutorial”
Stuff I learned the hard way:
• Perfect tags do not fix weak thumbnails and watch time.
• Going for “high volume” keywords with huge channels on them kills small channels.
• Consistency and click through rate do more than over optimizing keywords.
If you want to stay 100 percent free, skip paying for TubeBuddy or VidIQ. Their paid scores help, but you get plenty with:
• Free extensions
• YouTube autosuggest
• Your own analytics
Treat tools like hints, not truth. Test ideas, watch retention and click rates, double down on what works, ignore what does not.
I get why you’re annoyed. Most “free” tools feel like a trap where the good stuff is paywalled after 10 clicks.
I actually agree with a lot of what @cacadordeestrelas said about using a stack, but I’d push it a bit further in a different direction: the best “keyword tool” for small YouTube channels is often anything that shows you real audience language, not another fancy score meter.
Here’s what’s worked for me without leaning too hard on Chrome extensions:
-
Use comments as a keyword mine
Watch 5 to 10 videos in your niche that are close to the level you want to be at, not the mega channels.
Then:- Sort comments by “Newest”
- Look for people asking questions or complaining
- Literally copy their phrasing for titles and hooks
Examples from my notes: - “my transitions look choppy how do I fix this” turned into
“How to Fix Choppy Transitions in CapCut (Smooth Transition Tutorial)” - “any cheap mic for voiceovers?” turned into
“Best Cheap Microphones for Voiceovers on a Budget”
This beats generic keyword tools because it’s raw pain points in human language.
-
Steal from Reddit & niche forums
Go to subreddits in your niche, filter by “Top” and “This month” or “This year.”
Look for:- “How do I…”
- “Why does…”
- “Is it worth…”
Those are long tail keywords in disguise.
Turn thread titles into video titles with tiny edits: - Thread: “Is Procreate worth it for beginners?”
- Video: “Is Procreate Worth It for Beginners in 2024?”
You’re not just getting keywords, you’re getting video ideas that people already proved they care about.
-
Use Google’s “People also ask” & “Related searches”
Yeah it’s Google, not YouTube, but a lot of searches overlap.- Search your topic on Google
- Check “People also ask”
- Scroll to the bottom “Related searches”
These are basically free keyword clusters.
Example: search “how to draw eyes” and you might get: - “how to draw anime eyes step by step”
- “how to draw realistic eyes for beginners”
That’s two separate, tightly targeted videos instead of one vague one.
-
Look at titles from small channels that popped
This is where I slightly disagree with relying too much on TubeBuddy / VidIQ scores.
Those tools don’t always reflect what works for tiny channels.
What I do:- Search your topic
- Filter by “Upload date”
- Manually scan for:
- channels under, say, 20k subs
- videos with views way above their average
Then reverse engineer:
- How specific is their title
- What exact phrases they use
- What they put in the first line of the description
You can “borrow” the structure and adjust to your version.
-
Use ChatGPT or similar as a refiner, not as the main tool
Since you’re already here:- Take phrases from comments/Reddit/Google
- Ask for variations grouped by search intent
Example prompt:
“Group these phrases into 3 clear video topics and give me title variations for each that sound like real YouTube titles, not blog posts.”
The trick: you feed it real-world language from step 1–3, not let it hallucinate generic keywords.
-
Think in terms of “specific viewer moments” instead of tools
Every video should answer a very specific moment in a viewer’s life:- “I just opened CapCut for the first time, what now?”
- “I can’t land a kickflip, what am I doing wrong?”
Turn those into: - “CapCut Tutorial for Absolute Beginners (First 10 Minutes)”
- “Why Your Kickflip Fails & How to Fix It Fast”
Tools will never beat you being painfully specific.
-
Reality check on tags
Hot take: for small channels, tags are maybe 5 percent of the equation.
Titles, thumbnails, and watch time are 90 percent.
Tags help YouTube slightly understand context, but they won’t drag a weak idea into success.
I’d rather see:- One clean, human title
- A first line of description that repeats the main phrase naturally
- 5 to 8 tight tags that are variations of that idea
than 40 scrambled tags “for SEO”.
If you want a literal “tool name” answer anyway:
- Free: TubeBuddy & VidIQ are fine
- But “best”: YouTube search + comments + Reddit + your analytics, used together
And yeah, it sucks that most tools tease you then upsell, but honestly, once I stopped hunting for the magic free extension and started stealing phrases directly from humans, my clickthrough and suggested traffic went up way more than anything a “keyword score” ever did.
Short version: there isn’t a “best” free YouTube keyword tool, there’s a stack, and the core of that stack is actually hiding in YouTube Studio.
Since @cacadordeestrelas already covered external sources like comments, Reddit and Google, here’s a different angle that lives mostly inside YouTube itself plus a couple of lightweight helpers.
1. Your actual best free keyword tool: YouTube Studio > Research tab
Most people sleep on this because it looks basic, but for small channels it is pure signal.
What it gives you:
- What your viewers are searching for on YouTube
- How often those terms show up (low / medium / high)
- Whether a topic is marked “Content gap”
How to use it:
- Go to Analytics → Research
- Type broad niche terms: “digital art,” “valorant settings,” “budget camera,” whatever
- Save queries that show “content gap” or have medium / high search volume but few solid videos
Use those phrases in:
- Title core: “How to Color Lineart in Procreate (Beginner Friendly)”
- First 1–2 lines of the description in natural language
- 5–10 tags that are close variations, not spam
This is not as flashy as a Chrome extension score, but it is based on your actual audience behavior, not generic averages.
2. YouTube search bar + filters as a live keyword map
Type a seed phrase and let autocomplete finish it. That is YouTube telling you what people are already searching.
What to do differently from what has already been suggested:
- Type your core idea, then a space, then each letter of the alphabet
- “capcut t” gives “capcut transitions smooth,” “capcut text animation,” etc.
- For each autocomplete phrase, click it, then:
- Filter by “This year” and sort by “View count”
- Find videos from channels close to your size that still have decent views
- Instead of copying titles, steal the angle:
- Are they promising speed (“in 5 minutes”)
- Result (“cinematic transitions”)
- Difficulty (“for absolute beginners”)
I slightly disagree with ignoring bigger channels completely. You can still use them as benchmarks for angles. They show you what the algorithm understands well, you just niche down the same topic.
3. vidIQ / TubeBuddy free tiers, but used like a sniper
You said a lot of the good stuff gets paywalled. True. The trick is to use them for 2 things only, not as “decision gods.”
Use them for:
- “View velocity” and “historical performance” of similar titles
- Basic keyword variations in the sidebar
Then stop. Ignore the “overall keyword score” obsession. Scores are based on fuzzy math and huge channels. For a small creator:
- Relevance to your specific video
- Clarity for a human reading it
- Match with your thumbnail promise
are more important than a green bar.
4. YouTube Analytics as a free intent detector
Once you have a few videos, your own data beats every external tool.
Inside each video:
- Go to “Traffic source: YouTube search”
- Look at the specific search terms that brought views
- You will see slightly different phrases than what you targeted
Use those terms to:
- Reword future titles to match how people actually searched
- Add 1–2 of the strongest phrases into your descriptions and tags
This is where I disagree a bit with the “tags are only 5 percent.” They are still minor, yes, but for small channels with chaotic niches, clean, focused tags can help YouTube cluster your video with the right neighbors. Not magic, just a tiny advantage that stacks over time.
5. Reality check on “free YouTube keyword tool” expectations
Most keyword tools, free or paid, share the same problems:
- They estimate volume based on partial data
- They can’t see watch time or satisfaction
- They overvalue broad phrases that are useless for a tiny channel
So instead of hunting for The Perfect Free Tool, set this rule:
- Every video idea must answer one specific question or scenario a real person could say out loud
Then:
- Use Studio Research and YouTube search to get phrasing
- Use Analytics to refine over time
- Use extensions sparingly to speed up research, not dictate it
You’ll get more growth from 20 sharply defined videos than 200 “SEO-optimized” but vague ones.
Pros & cons of this “YouTube-native stack” approach:
Pros
- Completely free, built into YouTube
- Based on what your viewers and similar viewers actually do
- No limits, credits, or trial walls
- Scales with your channel instead of guessing from generic data
Cons
- Less “shiny” than tools with fancy scores
- Takes more manual thinking and pattern-spotting
- No clear “this keyword is 87/100, go make it” simplicity
- Requires at least a few uploads before Analytics really shines
@cacadordeestrelas is absolutely right that real human language is the gold. I’d just anchor it more inside YouTube Studio and search instead of spreading your time across too many sites. Think of external tools and websites as accelerators, not decision makers.