Most YouTubers are sabotaging their own growth without even knowing it.

And if you're still picking keywords based on what feels right or trusting random scores from tools you don't understand, you might be one of them. I've spent over $800 testing every major keyword research tool out there, and what I found was surprising. Most of these tools are giving creators completely wrong information. They're showing green scores and high opportunity labels on keywords that are dominated by channels with over 500,000 subscribers and million view videos. That makes you think you're making a smart decision when really you're just setting your video up to never get seen.

And it's not your fault. Most of these were built for SEO professionals trying to rank websites, not creators trying to grow channels. That's not strategy. That's guessing. And guessing is the fastest way to stay stuck under 1,000 views. Because no matter how good your content is, if no one's searching for it, it will never get seen.

What I'm Doing About It

Today, I will finally put an end to that. So, in this post, I will show you the four best tools I tested, the ones that actually seem promising. I tested how quickly they give results, how accurate the keyword suggestions were, how easy they are to use, and most importantly, whether they actually help you to find topics you can rank for and grow with.

YouTube Search: The Quick Pulse Check

Let's start with what most YouTubers already use. And honestly, it's what most think keyword research really is: just typing into the YouTube search bar something like how to edit faster and picking the one that looks most clickable. And to be fair, this isn't useless. Those suggestions will help you with making videos. So, if you're looking for fast inspiration, this is probably the quickest way to get it.

The good part is the results you see are coming straight from YouTube's own algorithm. That means they're usually aligned with what the audience actually cares about. So, yeah, from a raw relevance standpoint, this method is somewhat solid. You're not getting garbage terms pulled from some outdated SEO database, which makes it a good pulse check on your niche.

But the problem is that's all you get. A few suggestions per term, maybe a couple decent ones, and then that's it. There's no data. You don't know how competitive any of these terms are. You don't know how many people are searching for them per month. You're basically taking a screenshot of the search bar and hoping for the best. And that's where it becomes dangerous because on the surface, it feels like you're being smart. You're choosing topics people want to watch, but without the extra layer of context, like how saturated the keyword is or how strong the top ranking videos are, you're still guessing.

You could be picking a term that's totally out of your league and you won't know until it's too late and the video gets 48 views and three likes. So, for most people, especially if you're not yet getting consistent views, this becomes a trap. It's too easy to convince yourself you're being strategic when really you're still gambling with your time. It's super beginner friendly at the front end, but there's no follow through. It gives you ideas but not decisions. And unless you pair it with another tool to validate what you're seeing, it leaves you stuck in the same loop.

It is also completely free, which is a great plus. But what you save in money, you spend in time and missed opportunities and in that constant, I thought this one would work frustration that comes from having no real visibility into what you're walking into. If you're just brainstorming or spitballing ideas, YouTube search is fine. But if you're looking to rank and grow, this method alone won't cut it. It's a starting point, not a strategy.

TubeBuddy: Fast and Familiar — But Limited

Next, let's talk about TubeBuddy. The tool almost every YouTuber bumps into at some point. You've probably seen it mentioned in tutorials, and even I mentioned it in some of my old videos, and it seems like a solid option. It looks simple and gives you answers fast, so it feels like you're being strategic, but those scores are often completely wrong.

I tested some keywords with it and TubeBuddy told me it was a solid choice with green scores and high numbers. But without the extra layer of context, like how saturated the keyword is or how strong the top ranking videos are, you're still guessing. That's where it becomes a problem because now you think you've got a winning keyword and you build your whole video around it. But what you didn't know is that the keyword is already locked down by creators with 10 times your reach.

You didn't know because TubeBuddy doesn't really show you the full competitive landscape. It gives you an overall score, but it doesn't tell you whether you can rank. It's not personalized to your channel unless you manually toggle into weighted mode. And even then, the way it explains that data is vague. For a new creator who doesn't know what any of this means, it's confusing.

In terms of speed, it's decent. You don't have to leave YouTube to use it. Just click the extension, type a phrase, and get results in a second or two. It even shows suggested tags and related searches while you upload a video, which is helpful if you're trying to optimize titles and descriptions quickly. So, for a quick workflow where you just want to get some general ideas and speed up the upload process, TubeBuddy holds up.

Ease of use largely depends on your experience. If you're brand new, you'll probably appreciate the simplicity of the interface, but at the same time, you'll have no idea what some of the scores actually mean. You still need to know how to read between the lines, which most beginner creators don't. When it comes to accuracy, it's hit or miss. Sometimes it points you in the right direction, especially for longtail keywords or niche topics. But other times, it tells you to go after terms that are way too competitive for a smaller channel. And when that happens, you waste time and energy chasing a keyword you never had a shot at in the first place.

I've seen creators follow TubeBuddy scores religiously and still get stuck in the 30 to 60 view zone, video after video. Not because their content was bad, but because the targeting was off and they didn't realize it.

Finally, the price. The free version is fine for just giving it a try. You can do some basic keyword lookups and tag suggestions, but you hit limitations very fast. Limited keyword results, locked metrics, and no deeper analysis. If you want real data, you've got to pay. But even with Pro, you're not unlocking the deeper stuff like AB testing or trend alerts. For that, you need the legend plan. And now you're paying $40 to $50 a month. At that point, you really have to ask, "Is this giving me a strategic advantage or just showing me green bars faster?"

So, if you're a creator who's just starting out, TubeBuddy can help with some tasks. But when it comes to the most important question, should I even make this video? it won't give you a clear answer. And that's the part that matters most because if you're not picking the right topic from the start, everything after that is just polishing a video that won't get seen.

RFS: Powerful Data — But Not Built for YouTubers

Now, let's talk about RFS, one of the most hyped tools in the entire SEO world. And yeah, for websites it's a beast, but for YouTube, not so much. The second you open it, you already feel like it wasn't made for you.

Now, once you finally switch it to YouTube mode and start searching keywords, it does throw a ton of data at you, like numbers on monthly searches, click-through rates, and competition metrics. But all that data is just overwhelming, and it's not presented in a way that helps you as an aspiring YouTuber to make a decision. There's no real direction, just rows and rows of metrics that feel like they were built for an SEO analyst at an agency, not for someone who just wants to know if the video is worth making.

I tested some of my go-to keyword ideas, and yeah, it gave me numbers, but it didn't tell me if those keywords were already dominated by giant channels. It didn't show me what size creators were ranking. It just buried me in charts. And let's be honest, if you're a YouTuber trying to grow your channel, you don't have time to decode 10 layers of marketing jargon every time you want to brainstorm a video.

Speed-wise, it pulls up the data fast, but the speed doesn't really help when you're stuck trying to figure out what the data means. Like, yeah, I can see this keyword gets a lot of searches per month, but can I rank for it? Will it bring consistent views to my channel, or is it just another trap that's going to leave me sitting at 53 views again? AS doesn't tell you that, and that's the part that matters most.

Then we get to the price, and this one's wild. The cheapest plan is $99 a month. If you want to unlock YouTube keyword research and see actual results beyond the free snippets, you're paying triple digits every single month. That might make sense if you're doing client SEO or running a full-time agency. But if you're a YouTuber just trying to grow your channel and not manage Fortune 500 content campaigns, it's way too much.

And I get it. Some people say, "But the data is accurate." And yeah, the data might be statistically solid, but it's not practically useful. There's a difference between precision and utility. If you can't take that data and apply it in a way that actually grows your channel, what's the point? So, RF is accurate, but completely disconnected from the way YouTubers actually work. It's fast at pulling results, but slow at helping you act on them. And it's by far the most expensive tool on the list, while giving you the least guidance for how to actually grow with it. If you're an advanced data guy who loves spreadsheets, maybe it's fun to play with. But if you just want to know which keyword you can rank for this week and how to build a video around it, this is not the tool. Not even close.

VidIQ: Clarity, Speed, and the KVS Method

So after spending all that time clicking through tabs and trying to make sense of charts that didn't tell me what to actually do next and testing every tool under the sun just to get hit with the same surface level results, I needed something that actually showed me what to do. And not if something just looked good, but something that told me if I could actually rank for a video or not. That's when I found Vid IQ. And I'll be real with you. At first, I used it like every other tool, and even then, it worked surprisingly well.

It's beginner friendly with very fast processes and accurate results. But what really made Vid IQ stand out amongst every other tool I tested was the sheer amount of clarity it offered. Because once I stopped chasing scores and started learning how to actually read the data Vid IQ was giving me, that's when everything changed. And Vid IQ allowed me to start using what I now call the KVS method. And for years, it got me insane results.

I'd start with a broad idea, something like AI video generator, and then I'd hit matching terms. That's where Vid IQ did something that would have taken hours to do manually. It gave me dozens of longtail keywords people were actually searching for. They were pulled straight from YouTube's real search data without having to run 26 different combinations through the search bar. And then I get hyper specific and go deep on phrases like free AI image to video generator without watermark.

Then I take that keyword and search it on YouTube. I look at the top three to five ranking videos. And in this part, I was checking the channel size and analyzing things like are small creators ranking and are those videos getting consistent traffic. That's where Vid IQ's historical data graph came in. A feature I haven't seen in any other tool. It let me see if those videos were still pulling in views or if they had a spike and died. If the traffic was steady and the competition wasn't stacked with massive channels, that was a green light.

Then came the trick that made this method so powerful. I'd check if anyone was using that exact phrase in their title. If not, that was the opening. Because YouTube is a search engine after all, and the most relevant title compared to what someone searches for wins. So, it's not about being better. It's all about being more specific.

Once I'd confirm the keyword was solid, I'd start building the actual video. That's where I'd open the top ranking ones and watch what they did. I would do this by scrolling through the comments and looking for gaps, asking questions like, "What did people ask for? What was missing? and what confused them." That's where I'd find my angle. And then I'd build my video to fill that gap with a clear keyword in the title, supporting terms in the description, and a thumbnail that was made for intent.

But over time, I realized I could do it better. I started refining the process, and removing friction, spotting opportunities faster and making it easier to know if a video would hit. That's what led me to building a completely new system. So, if you've ever had a video finally get traction, not because it went viral, but because it was built to rank, then you know how powerful that feels. And if you haven't felt that yet, this is your shot because I've linked a step-by-step video below where I'll walk you through my entire blueprint to rank number one on YouTube.

It goes way beyond the KVS method and builds on everything I've learned throughout my 4 years on YouTube. This is the system I wish I had when I started because it's not about getting lucky. It's about giving YouTube exactly what it's looking for.

Final Choice

So, right now you've got two options. You can keep uploading and hoping something works out, or you can learn this method, start finding the right keywords, and rank number one. Click the video on the screen right here, or the link in the description.