To find keywords in YouTube comments, pick recent, narrow videos in your niche, pull their newest and top comments, keep only questions and problem statements, group them, and check each group’s head phrase for search volume. Skip the top comments on giant videos: they are mostly noise.
By Vlad Ivanov · Last updated: October 2026Key Takeaways
- We read the 20 top comments under Ahrefs’ “Keyword Research Tutorial: From Start to Finish” (about 465,000 views) on 7 October 2026. None asked a question.
- 11 of those 20 were short, near-identical praise comments, which is useless for keyword research.
- “youtube keyword research” gets about 720 US searches a month (KD 32) and “youtube comment scraper” about 170 (KD 1), per DataForSEO.
- When we asked ChatGPT how to find keywords from YouTube comments, it ran no search and suggested copying comments and using Ctrl+F.
- ICP Keywords’ Productority YouTube method reads comments under niche videos and splits phrases by how close the commenter is to buying (ICP Keywords).
- Comment APIs typically return up to about 1,000 top comments per video, so pick videos carefully rather than pulling everything.
Why look for keywords in YouTube comments?
A video answers one question. Its comments show the next five: the viewer’s actual situation, the step they got stuck on, the tool they are comparing. That wording rarely appears in keyword databases, because it is phrased as a sentence, not a search. It is the same reason Reddit keyword research works, with one difference: YouTube commenters have just watched a specific answer, so their questions sit one step further along.
What did we find when we read the top comments on a big tutorial?
We pulled the top 20 comments under one of Ahrefs’ most-watched keyword research tutorials (video, about 465,000 views) on 7 October 2026. Not one was a question. Most were thanks, and 11 were short, near-identical praise lines posted around the same time. Popular videos sort engagement to the top, and engagement is not curiosity.
The lesson: do not mine the biggest video in your niche. Mine the specific ones, and sort by newest as well as top. That is also why a tool needs a filter for what to ignore, not just a scraper.
How do you find keywords in YouTube comments step by step?
- Pick 10 to 20 videos. Search YouTube for your topic plus words like “problem”, “vs”, “review” or “tutorial”. Prefer videos under two years old with 5,000 to 100,000 views.
- Pull newest and top comments. By hand for a few videos; with the YouTube Data API or a comment export tool for more.
- Keep only questions and problems. Drop praise, jokes and spam. Expect to keep 5 to 20% of comments.
- Group by meaning. “which tool for a new site” and “what to use with zero backlinks” are one group.
- Check the head phrase of each group for search volume and look at the live SERP.
- Decide the format. Some groups become an article, some an FAQ entry, some a video.
Step 5 is where most comment phrases fail or win, especially on a new site (see keyword research for zero-DR sites). Use the SERP checks in why keyword difficulty misleads and finding low competition keywords.
Which tools help with YouTube comment keyword research?
1. ICP Keywords (Productority YouTube): best for buyer-filtered comment phrases
Productority YouTube reads real comments under videos in your niche and hands back the phrases buyers use, split by how close they are to buying. A one-line product description tells it what to ignore, which is exactly the problem the Ahrefs test above shows. Each phrase can then be scored against your Ideal Customer Profile and checked for volume. Its Video Gap feature tells you which of those keywords YouTube has not answered yet; see YouTube video gap tools. Try it free.
2. Keywords Everywhere: volume overlay on YouTube
The browser extension adds search metrics on YouTube and Google while you browse, so you can check comment phrases as you read them. It does not read comments for you.
3. TubeBuddy: YouTube keyword explorer for the video side
Use it to check YouTube search demand for the phrases you collected, then to package the video. It does not mine comments.
| Tool | Reads comments | Filters for buyers | Search volume | Entry price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICP Keywords | Yes | Yes, ICP scoring | Yes | $25 pack / 100 free credits |
| Manual + YouTube Data API | Yes (you) | You decide | No | Free |
| Keywords Everywhere | No | No | Yes | $84/yr |
| TubeBuddy | No | No | YouTube search | $12/mo |
How do you turn comment phrases into pages and videos?
Questions that share Google results become one article; the rest become FAQ entries using the commenter’s wording. Questions where YouTube’s top 10 has no good answer become videos. For B2B products, filter hard for buyer language; see B2B keyword research and buyer intent keywords. Comment wording also matches how people ask AI assistants, which helps with ChatGPT fan-out queries.
How did we run the test?
We searched YouTube for “keyword research for beginners” sorted by popularity, picked Ahrefs’ “Keyword Research Tutorial: From Start to Finish”, and pulled its top 20 comments through a YouTube comments API on 7 October 2026. We counted questions and near-duplicate praise by hand. One video is a small sample; repeat it on your own niche before drawing conclusions.
ICP Keywords’ Productority YouTube keeps the questions and problems and scores them against your buyer. 100 free credits, 7 days, no card.
Frequently asked questions
Can you find keywords in YouTube comments?
Yes. Comments show the words viewers use for their problem, the follow-up questions a video did not answer, and the products they compare. Those phrases become long-tail keywords, FAQ wording and video ideas.
Which YouTube videos have the best comments for keyword research?
Mid-sized, recent videos on narrow topics. In our test, the top 20 comments under a 465,000-view Ahrefs tutorial contained no questions at all, mostly short praise. Smaller, specific videos attract people asking about their own situation.
Is there a tool that extracts keywords from YouTube comments?
ICP Keywords’ Productority YouTube method reads comments under videos in your niche and returns the phrases buyers use, split by how close they are to buying. Generic comment scrapers export raw comments that you then have to sort yourself.
Should I sort YouTube comments by top or newest?
Use both. Top comments show what resonated; newest comments show current questions and problems. Comment APIs typically return around 1,000 top comments or several thousand newest comments per video.
Do keywords from YouTube comments have search volume?
Some do, many do not. Treat comment phrases as wording and angles, then check the shortest version of each phrase in a keyword tool before building a page around it.
Is scraping YouTube comments allowed?
Use the official YouTube Data API or a reputable data provider, respect YouTube’s terms, and do not republish personal data. Reading comments for research is what most creators already do by hand.
How is this different from YouTube keyword research?
YouTube keyword research usually means finding what people search on YouTube. Comment mining finds what they say after watching, which is better for content angles and for B2B wording.
Vlad Ivanov runs the Words At Scale YouTube channel (26,000+ subscribers) and nine Search Console-verified sites, and built ICP Keywords, a keyword research tool for B2B and niche sites. LinkedIn
