YouTube Ranking

What is it?

The YouTube Ranking screen (title YouTube Rankings) shows where your videos rank in YouTube search for your tracked keywords. It works like Bing Rankings, with an Overview tab and a Keywords tab.

Why use it?

• To see which keywords your videos rank for.
• To find the video that ranks for each keyword.
• To track gains and losses over time.

Before you start

You need a YouTube tracking project. An admin creates it in Project settings, using your Channel ID. Add keywords as shown in Keywords and prompt files.

How to use it

1. Open YouTube Ranking

   In the sidebar, under Search Rankings, click YouTube Ranking.

2. Set the filter bar

   Pick your project, then Select Brand, Category and Sub Category if needed.

3. Pick dates

   Choose a Start Date and an End Date. Only dates with data can be picked.

4. Check keywords

   Open Keywords and expand a row to see the ranking video.

Understanding the screen

Overview tab

• A Comparing (previous date) → (end date) chip.
• KPI cards All Keywords, Without Changes, Dropped, Lost, Improved, New Keywords and Average Position, with the same hover text as on Google SERP.
• Ranking Trend, with Top 1, Top 2-3, Top 4-5, Top 6-10 and > 10, plus Avg Pos and Visibility lines.
• Group Wise Ranking, with keyword counts per rank group and date. Click the download icon (hover: Export Excel) to save it as an Excel file.

Keywords tab

• Search with Search keywords… and filter with the buckets All Keywords, Top 3, Trending Up and Trending Down.
• Columns: Keyword, Position, Trend. "was #N" is the position at the previous check.
• Expand a row to see:
  • Your channel, with its logo, name and Channel ID.
  • Ranking Video and Best URL: — the link to the video that ranks for that keyword.
• Use Export and Opportunity to download files.

Understanding the data

Position is where the video appears in YouTube's results for that keyword. A lower number is better. How often new data appears depends on the project's frequency. See Tracking frequency.

Example

For example, your channel ranks at position 4 for "how to set up google analytics". You expand the row. The Best URL: link opens an old tutorial. You make a new, up-to-date video and check the keyword again after the next check.

Tips

• If two of your videos swap places often, check which one you want to rank and link to it from the other.
• Watch Lost keywords. Check that the video that used to rank is still public.

Common issues