TubeBuddy Tactics | Get the Most out of the FREE Version of the Popular Software for YouTubers

TubeBuddy is one of the most underrated softwares on the market. It has dozens of features but in this article, I'm going to showcase what I think are the most powerful ones AND just the ones that are included in the free version.

I'm going to assume that you already have at least a free plan set up with TubeBuddy and of course, an active YouTube channel.  If you do not have a free plan, ->please click here to start one<- and then come back. It takes literally under a minute.

I'll wait....

Ok, good? 

Tactic #1 Spy on Your Competitors and Swipe Their Tags for Improved Rankings

Tags are an important but often overlooked part of YouTube videos. How important they are is surely up for debate but it's undeniable that tags will help YouTube understand what your video is about and where to show it in search results. 

YouTube is smart and can often understand what a video is about with little explanation, but adding more information is helpful and can speed up the process.. 

Once you've installed the TubeBuddy Chrome extension, you'll have access to their "Videolytics" features to the right of every video you watch. 

This is great but we can take it even further. We can see exactly which tags the video is ranking for the most! 

The ones with more rankings are generally more appealing.

In the example above, we can see that tags like "mlb" and "jake peavy" aren't working well while phrases "barry bonds ped" (25x) are doing very well. This could also be a place for video topic inspiration! Seeing this might inspire you to film a video titled The Truth about the Barry Bonds PED Scandal.

Of course, we need to keep things in mind like the size of the channel and other competitive advantages that they may have that would make it more difficult for us to compete on the same terms. 

Use this to spy on the top existing videos on your topics (ones you've already made and want to optimize or videos you're planning on making in the future). 

You can also build custom lists of tags that you can pull from at a later time. If you're in a hurry, you can also simply copy to your clipboard and paste wherever you want.

Don't blindly copy the tags but use them as inspiration or as a starting point for your own videos!

Tactic #2 Use the Best Practices Checklist to Create Perfectly Optimized Videos Every Time

Growing your YouTube channel can take some time but the more consistently you optimize your videos, the faster your results will come. 

The problem is that there are a lot of best practices and we often forget them when we're creating videos. 

The TubeBuddy best practices card shows us exactly what our videos are missing so we can quickly deploy the fixes. 

All you have to do now is get into the habit of reading the recommendations and implementing them!

Tactic #3 Review the Audience Demographics (Age and Gender) to Boost Engagement and Performance by Targeting the Right Viewers

The biggest mistake YouTubers can make is trying to create content for everyone. Content made to interest everyone usually interests no one. 

Instead, we should focus on one niche and define the "avatar" who will watch our videos. 

If you've already been creating videos, you can get a good feel for who you're already resonating with using TubeBuddy's audience insights. 

Note: This is found in the actual TubeBuddy dashboard, not on the Chrome extension. 

Here's how to see this data in TubeBuddy.

>Data and Insights

--> Health Report

----> Audience (bottom right of screen)

------>Demographics

Tactic #4 Find Trends and Get Views Fast by Being the First to Cover a Topic!

Let's face it, you're behind the 8 ball for a lot of common search terms. 

Lots of videos are already competing for evergreen terms like "Funny Cats" or "Shed Plans." Focusing on those topics is a recipe for slow growth. 

Instead, we can see what video topics are about to become popular and work to be "first to market" and create videos that put us ahead of the curve. 

This means early views which can positively influence views over time as competitors start to cover the same topics.

Here's a video that shows you exactly how!

Tactic #5 Save Time by Editing Videos in Bulk

If you're like me, you want to update things a lot. 

Meta descriptions, titles, tags etc. 

This process can be time consuming BUT TubeBuddy has a solution. 

With TubeBuddy, you can access all the videos you want to edit at the same time. 

Check out this video to see how!

Tactic #6 Save (More) Time by Using Canned Comment Responses

As your channel grows, a new (but nice to have) problem grows as well. 

You will start to get TONS of comments to reply to. 

You want to reply to these while remaining personal. TubeBuddy's free canned reply template will help you do just that!

Note: This is limited to just one reply on the free plan unfortunately.

Want Even More?

Looking to take your YouTube channel even further and looking for some of the functionality that goes beyond the free plan? Check out the paid options below. 

Note: You can cut your payment dramatically if you meet any of the following...

• Pay yearly
• Have under 1,000 subscribers
• Work for a non-profit.