[0:00] YouTube SEO in 2026 works completely
[0:02] differently than it did a couple of
[0:04] years ago. And if you're still following
[0:06] the old way, you're basically setting
[0:08] yourself up for failure. I've been doing
[0:09] this for over 4 years now, ranking over
[0:12] a,000 videos and pulling in more than
[0:14] 200 million views using one specific
[0:17] strategy. The name of this entire
[0:18] strategy is KVS, and it's the framework
[0:21] that ties all of these steps together.
[0:22] And in this video, I'm going to break
[0:24] down each step so you can start ranking
[0:26] number one for any keyword you want. The
[0:28] K and KVS stands for keyword. Here's
[0:31] what a lot of people get wrong. They
[0:32] think they need to make the video first
[0:34] and then decide on the title and figure
[0:36] out how to rank for it. But it's
[0:38] actually the opposite. You want to first
[0:39] find the keyword you want to rank for
[0:41] and only then make the video. This way
[0:44] you're not guessing whether your video
[0:45] will rank number one. You already know
[0:47] there's demand before you even start
[0:49] recording. So, let me show you exactly
[0:51] how to find and analyze 10 out of 10
[0:53] keywords that you can actually rank for.
[0:55] Here are the three things that a 10 out
[0:56] of 10 keyword needs. Number one, low
[0:59] competition, so you can easily
[1:00] outperform everyone else ranking for it.
[1:03] Number two, good search volume, meaning
[1:05] people are actually interested in
[1:06] searching for it. Number three, no
[1:08] matching keyword. You'll be the only one
[1:10] using that exact keyword. This is the
[1:12] key to ranking quickly, even with a
[1:14] small YouTube channel. So, here's
[1:15] exactly how I find keywords like that.
[1:17] The tool I'm using is called Vid IQ, and
[1:19] it is by far the best SEO tool for
[1:22] YouTube. When you first sign up, you
[1:24] want to head over to keywords and type
[1:25] in any broad keyword in your niche. For
[1:28] me, that's going to be design. You want
[1:30] to go broad here and focus on the
[1:32] industry you want to reach. After that
[1:34] click on matching terms. This only shows
[1:36] keywords that contain your original
[1:38] search. Type in design, click matching
[1:40] terms, and you'll see matching keywords.
[1:42] This is powerful because it lets you
[1:44] move quickly from a broad industry term
[1:46] to a full list of more specific
[1:48] keywords. And that's exactly where the
[1:50] opportunity is. These longer, more
[1:52] specific keywords usually have lower
[1:54] competition, which makes it much easier
[1:56] to rank at the top and grow your
[1:58] channel. From here, I'm going to select
[1:59] something I'm interested in, which for
[2:01] me is motion design. I'm going to repeat
[2:03] the process to go even deeper. So, for
[2:06] this one, I'll click matching terms
[2:08] again and select motion design for Da
[2:10] Vinci Resolve. Then, I'm going to repeat
[2:11] this once more to get my final keyword
[2:14] which is how to do basic motion design
[2:16] in Da Vinci Resolve. Once I have that
[2:18] ready, I'm going to head over to
[2:19] YouTube. I'm going to paste my keyword
[2:21] into the search field. After the search
[2:24] I check competition, volume, and keyword
[2:26] match. When looking at competition, you
[2:28] want to check for big channels ranking
[2:30] for your keyword. In this example, some
[2:32] channels have large followings. But that
[2:34] doesn't mean this keyword is out of
[2:36] reach. I'll show you exactly why this
[2:38] matters in just a second. The next thing
[2:39] we want to look at is volume. Make sure
[2:41] the Vid IQ extension is installed in
[2:44] Chrome. It shows a video's views per
[2:46] hour. Some of these videos are getting
[2:47] over 10 views per hour, which is pretty
[2:50] solid for a small channel. This tells
[2:51] you people are actively searching for
[2:53] this topic right now. And the last thing
[2:55] is the key that makes it possible to
[2:58] rank for this keyword, even with bigger
[3:00] channels showing up. That's the matching
[3:01] keyword factor. We want to see if the
[3:03] videos currently ranking are actually
[3:05] using this exact keyword in their
[3:07] titles. You can check this by pressing
[3:09] Ctrl+F and searching for your keyword to
[3:12] see if anything comes up. For me
[3:14] nothing does. None of these videos are
[3:16] actually using this keyword in their
[3:18] title. And here's why that matters.
[3:20] YouTube always ranks the most relevant
[3:22] result. When your title matches exactly
[3:24] what someone searches for, your video
[3:26] becomes the most relevant result. When
[3:28] no other title includes that keyword
[3:30] your video becomes the top match for
[3:31] that search. Because you're the most
[3:33] relevant, people are going to click. And
[3:35] YouTube wants to keep viewers on the
[3:37] platform as long as possible. So, they
[3:39] prioritize giving searchers exactly what
[3:41] they're looking for. Let me show you
[3:43] exactly how this works by walking
[3:44] through a real example. If you look at
[3:46] this video ranking here, the title is
[3:48] how to edit stunning motion graphics in
[3:51] Da Vinci Resolve. Now, watch what
[3:53] happens when I search for that exact
[3:54] title. There it is. Number one. That's
[3:56] exactly how YouTube decides to rank
[3:58] videos. And that's exactly why the
[4:00] matching keyword factor is so powerful.
[4:02] Now, we know we can rank for this
[4:04] keyword. There's search volume and no
[4:05] big competitors. So, we move to the V in
[4:08] KVS video. Because if your video isn't
[4:10] good, it doesn't matter how perfect your
[4:12] keyword is. YouTube wants to rank
[4:14] content that viewers actually enjoy
[4:16] watching. So, your job is to create
[4:18] exactly what the viewer is looking for
[4:20] when they type in that search. Here's
[4:22] how I make sure my videos outperform the
[4:24] competition. First, I revisit the top
[4:27] ranking videos and watch all of them
[4:29] from start to finish. I'm paying
[4:30] attention to what they cover, how they
[4:32] explain things, what visuals they use
[4:34] and most importantly, what they're
[4:36] missing. Then I do something that almost
[4:38] nobody thinks to do. I take the time to
[4:40] read through the comments and see what
[4:41] people are actually saying. The comment
[4:43] section is basically free market
[4:45] research. People are literally telling
[4:46] you what they liked, what they wish the
[4:48] video had included, and what confused
[4:50] them. Someone already made a video on
[4:52] this topic and viewers already gave
[4:54] their feedback. All you have to do is
[4:56] take that feedback and apply it to your
[4:57] video. This way, you're not just
[4:59] creating a similar video, you're
[5:01] creating a better version of what
[5:02] already exists. And that's exactly what
[5:04] YouTube wants to rank. Now, let's move
[5:06] on to the final letter in the KVS
[5:08] strategy. The S in KVS stands for SEO
[5:11] and this is where we tie everything
[5:12] together. First, the title needs to
[5:14] clearly include the main keyword people
[5:16] are searching for. So, if I want to rank
[5:18] for how to do basic motion design in Da
[5:20] Vinci Resolve, my title is going to look
[5:23] like this. How to do basic motion design
[5:25] in Da Vinci Resolve. Notice how the
[5:27] entire keyword is right there in the
[5:29] title. Beginner tutorial at the end
[5:31] makes the title clearer. Adding the year
[5:33] step by step or beginner friendly helps
[5:35] people know what to expect. This builds
[5:37] trust before they even click. With the
[5:39] title finished, let's move on to the
[5:41] description. The first thing I always do
[5:42] is take the keyword from my title and
[5:45] paste it right at the top of my
[5:46] description. This reinforces to YouTube
[5:49] exactly what your video is about. All
[5:51] right, the title is done. Now, let's
[5:52] move on to the description. To find
[5:54] these, I go back to Vid IQ and click on
[5:57] related keywords. This gives me a list
[5:59] of related terms people are searching
[6:01] for that connect to my main keyword. I
[6:03] pick the ones that are most relevant and
[6:05] naturally work them into my description.
[6:07] We do this for two reasons. First, it
[6:09] tells YouTube more about our video so it
[6:11] knows when to recommend it. And second
[6:13] it gives us a chance to rank for these
[6:15] other keywords, too. So, for this
[6:17] example, my description looks like this.
[6:19] In this video, you'll learn how to do
[6:21] basic motion design in Da Vinci Resolve
[6:24] step by step. This Da Vinci Resolve
[6:26] tutorial shows how to use Fusion and Da
[6:28] Vinci Resolve Fusion to create simple
[6:30] motion design elements explained clearly
[6:33] and made simple for beginners. Perfect
[6:35] if you're new to Motion Design and want
[6:37] Da Vinci Resolve made simple. See how
[6:39] I've included multiple related keywords
[6:42] but it still reads like a normal
[6:43] sentence. That's exactly what you want.
[6:45] Now, when it comes to creating your
[6:46] thumbnail, the most important thing is
[6:48] that it has to be better than the
[6:50] competition you're ranking against. So
[6:51] if we go back and look at the videos
[6:53] we're competing with, you'll notice most
[6:55] of them are using pretty dark
[6:56] thumbnails. Very few of them actually
[6:58] include a face. This makes creating a
[7:00] standout thumbnail easy. A high contrast
[7:02] thumbnail with a face grabs more
[7:04] attention. The way I create thumbnails
[7:06] and what I recommend you do, too, is by
[7:08] using a tool called pixels. Here's how
[7:10] it works. If you head over to the
[7:11] recreate feature, you can paste in a
[7:13] link to a YouTube video or a thumbnail
[7:16] that you like. Pixels will use that as a
[7:18] reference. So, you're not starting from
[7:19] scratch. you're building off something
[7:21] that's already proven to work, then you
[7:23] can add yourself into the thumbnail by
[7:25] selecting your persona. If you don't
[7:27] have one yet, just click create and
[7:29] upload a few images of yourself. Pixels
[7:31] then generates a thumbnail that follows
[7:33] the same style and includes you. And
[7:35] just like that, I have a professional
[7:37] thumbnail ready to go for my video. I'll
[7:39] leave a link to a full Pixels tutorial
[7:41] in the description if you want a deeper
[7:43] breakdown of how to use it. Now, the
[7:45] last thing we need to cover is tags.
[7:47] Honestly, tags don't matter nearly as
[7:49] much as they used to, but I still fill
[7:51] them in because it takes 10 seconds.
[7:53] Here's what I do. I take the keyword I
[7:54] want to rank for, copy it, and head over
[7:57] to a website called rapid tags.io. I
[7:59] paste in the keyword, click search, and
[8:01] it gives me a list of relevant tags. I
[8:03] just copy those and paste them directly
[8:05] into my video. And that's the entire KVS
[8:08] strategy. You now know how to rank
[8:10] number one on any video you want in
[8:12] 2026. Think about it. You can step into
[8:14] any niche, find a keyword, create a
[8:16] better video than what's already
[8:17] ranking, and set up your SEO so YouTube
[8:20] naturally puts you at the top. And with
[8:22] Vid IQ, you can do all of this in
[8:24] minutes, making the entire process
[8:26] effortless. Click the link in the
[8:28] description to sign up for Vid IQ and
[8:30] start ranking your next video. I'll see
[8:31] you in the next