If you’re diving into YouTube marketing and wondering which SEO tool is best for boosting your rankings, you’ve likely heard of VidIQ and TubeBuddy. These are two of the most popular options out there, and they have their strengths. However, there’s a major caveat I need to share with you. In fact, there’s a specific YouTube strategy where relying on these tools can actually hinder your success. Let me break it down for you, show you the flaws in these tools, and reveal a better approach that can truly get your videos ranked at the top of YouTube.
Two Different YouTube Strategies
Before we even start looking at tools, it’s important to understand that there are two distinct YouTube strategies. Choosing the right one for your goals is essential, because they don’t mix.
- YouTube Search Strategy: This strategy leverages YouTube’s search traffic to generate leads and revenue for your business. If you already have a business, YouTube is a fantastic tool to drive targeted traffic that converts into leads and sales.
- Suggested Traffic Strategy: This strategy focuses on getting as many views as possible through YouTube’s suggested videos and viral recommendations. Here, you’re a content creator aiming to grow a channel that eventually earns ad revenue from YouTube. YouTube becomes your “boss,” paying you a share of the ad revenue.
The key here is that these strategies don’t mix. If you try to blend them, your channel will suffer. I’ve personally experienced this with over 60 YouTube channels, and let me tell you, mixing the two strategies led to a sharp drop in performance on one of them, forcing us to restart with a new channel. If you want a deeper dive into these strategies, check out my video, What is the Best Traffic Source for YouTube.
The Major Flaw in TubeBuddy and VidIQ
Now, let’s get into why VidIQ and TubeBuddy might not be the best tools for everyone. Both tools are designed to help optimize your content, but there’s a huge flaw when it comes to ranking your videos for search traffic.
Here’s the scenario:
When I search for “how to discipline a depressed teenager” on YouTube, my video ranks at the top, but according to VidIQ’s score, it only gets a 43 out of 100. Despite being at the top of the rankings, VidIQ is telling me that my video has poor search volume and excellent competition—both of which are misleading for this specific case.
The reason for this discrepancy? VidIQ and TubeBuddy often provide recommendations based on outdated SEO tactics that don’t align with YouTube’s current ranking system. These tools prioritize a checklist of factors that have little to do with your video’s actual ranking potential, and in fact, many of these factors are based on general website SEO strategies that are no longer relevant for YouTube.
You see, the scoring system these tools use focuses on ticking off a list of items. But that checklist doesn’t correlate with how well your video is performing or ranking. In short, these tools often give you a good SEO “score” that doesn’t translate into better visibility or more views.
Behind the Scenes: Tracking Video Rankings
Let me take you behind the scenes of a strategy that actually works. We use a custom tracking system to monitor our video rankings over time. We track everything like a tree: each area of content is a “branch,” and every specific question people are searching for is a “leaf.” By closely monitoring this and making strategic adjustments, we consistently rank at the top for search terms.
For example, in our strategy, we keep track of various questions like “How to discipline a depressed teenager” or “How to discipline a narcissistic teenager.” We track these over several months, updating our strategy based on how each video performs in search results. You can see a dramatic difference as we turn many “No”s into “Yes”s—meaning, our videos go from not ranking at all to consistently appearing at the top of search results.
This approach is far more effective than relying on VidIQ or TubeBuddy’s keyword recommendations. In fact, we often leave the keyword section blank in these tools because the results don’t matter. It’s about focusing on the right strategy, not just checking off boxes.
The Real Key to Ranking on YouTube
So, what’s the secret? The key is to track your rankings directly through YouTube’s built-in analytics, and use a custom spreadsheet to monitor your progress. This is how we track the exact questions we’re targeting, monitor their performance, and adjust as needed.
While VidIQ and TubeBuddy provide some insights, they don’t replace the real value of having a clear strategy and keeping track of how your videos are performing on YouTube’s platform. Don’t get caught up in the fake “keyword magic” that these tools try to sell you. Instead, focus on consistent content production and strategy refinement based on real, organic performance data.
A New Scoring System for Success
In my tracking system, I use a custom scoring method where I track the number of “Yes”s (successful rankings) and “Starting”s (videos that are still climbing). I give each “Yes” a score of 1 and each “Starting” a score of 0.25. By doing this, I can clearly see progress over time and adjust our efforts accordingly.
Here’s what this looks like in action: In a recent project, a client in the real estate space went from mostly “No”s to all “Yes”s within a few months by focusing on the right search terms and videos. This wasn’t a result of using VidIQ or TubeBuddy—it was about strategically filming the right content and monitoring its ranking.
Conclusion: Forget TubeBuddy and VidIQ
The truth is, YouTube Analytics is the best tool you have, and creating your own tracking system is far more effective than relying on TubeBuddy or VidIQ. These tools might help with basic SEO checks, but they won’t get your videos ranked at the top of YouTube—your strategy and attention to performance data will.
If you want to learn more about my leaf strategy and the step-by-step process we use to rank videos, check out my video, The YouTube SEO Secret Strategy. It’s the real strategy behind the success of these channels, and it doesn’t rely on TubeBuddy or VidIQ. I’ll see you there!
