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YouTube Insights ​

See How Viewers Find Your Podcast on YouTube ​

YouTube Insights connects your podcast's YouTube channel to PodSEO so you can see how people actually find your videos: the real searches that bring viewers in, where your views come from, and how each episode's video performs. It then compares those searches with the keywords you already track and suggests specific, keyword-based changes to your video titles.

Most podcast analytics stop at the listening apps. If you publish full episodes or clips on YouTube, a large part of your discovery happens in YouTube search and recommendations, and YouTube's own reports don't tell you which of those searches match your podcast keyword strategy. YouTube Insights brings both views together on one page.

To access: Click YouTube in the sidebar (it sits between Social Publishing and PR & Media Coverage and carries a Beta label). The page title is YouTube Insights.

Getting Started: Connect and Activate ​

YouTube Insights uses the same YouTube connection as Social Publishing. Setting it up takes two steps: connect the channel, then activate Insights.

Step 1: Connect your YouTube channel ​

If no channel is connected yet, the page shows Connect the YouTube channel of "[your podcast]" with a Connect YouTube button.

  1. Click Connect YouTube.
  2. Google shows its account chooser. Pick the Google account (or Brand Account) that owns your podcast's YouTube channel. If you're signed in to several Google accounts, take a moment here: the account you choose is the channel PodSEO connects.
  3. Approve the permissions Google asks for. They let PodSEO read your channel's statistics and, if you choose to use it later, publish Shorts from Social Publishing.
  4. You return to PodSEO with a confirmation such as "Connected [channel name]."

If your channel is already connected for Social Publishing, you can skip this step: there is no need to sign in again.

Step 2: Activate Insights ​

Connecting a channel doesn't start reading its analytics on its own. Open the YouTube page and you'll see Your channel "[channel name]" is already connected. Click Activate Insights.

PodSEO then imports your channel, starting with the last six months of data. This usually takes a few minutes, and the page shows Importing your channel while it works. Come back a little later and your insights will be ready. After that, PodSEO refreshes your channel's data every day.

The Command Center also reminds you with an Activate YouTube Insights task when a channel is connected but Insights isn't active yet.

Read-only by design. YouTube Insights only reads data. PodSEO never edits your videos, titles, or channel settings: every change is something you make yourself in YouTube Studio.

What You'll See ​

Channel header ​

The top of the page shows your channel's name and picture, subscriber count, number of videos, and when the data was last updated. Admins also see a Manage channel link, which opens Social Publishing where the connection is managed. The How it works button opens a short explanation of the page.

If a few video matches are waiting for your review, a banner tells you how many need confirmation, with a Review matches button that jumps to the episode list.

Channel performance ​

Choose a time range with the 7 days, 28 days, and 90 days tabs. For the selected period you'll see:

  • Views: total views on your channel
  • Watch hours: total time viewers spent watching
  • Subscribers: the net change (subscribers gained minus subscribers lost)
  • Views from YouTube search: the share of views that came from people searching on YouTube, with the number of views behind it

Each figure is compared with the previous period of the same length (for example "vs previous 28 days"). When there isn't enough history yet, you'll see "Not enough history to compare yet." If YouTube hasn't reported every day of the period, a note under the figures says how many days are covered, and the comparison uses per-day averages so missing days don't distort it.

The numbers come from YouTube Analytics. YouTube finalizes its figures with a delay of about two days, so the most recent day or two may not be included yet.

Where your views come from ​

This breakdown shows the main traffic sources for the selected period, such as YouTube search, Suggested videos, Browse features, Shorts feed, External, Channel pages, and Playlists, with the share of views each one brought. YouTube search is highlighted because it's the source you can influence most directly with keywords. Smaller sources are grouped under Other.

How viewers find you ​

This section has two tabs:

YouTube searches lists the actual search terms that brought viewers to your videos in the last 28 days, with the views each one produced. A summary line tells you how many real searches brought viewers in. Two badges help you read the list:

  • Tracked: the search matches one of the keywords you track in PodSEO
  • Show name: the viewer searched for your show by name. These viewers already know you, so they're shown in a lighter style: the other searches are the ones that reveal how new viewers discover you

Tracked keywords shows your tracked podcast keywords and how many YouTube views came from searches that exactly match each one over the last 28 days. A link at the bottom takes you to the full Keyword Tracker.

Comparing the two tabs is where the value lies: searches that bring viewers but aren't in your keyword strategy are candidates to add, and tracked keywords that bring no YouTube views show where your videos aren't being found yet.

Episode insights ​

The episode list shows your most recent podcast episodes alongside their YouTube videos, with views over the last 28 days. For each episode you'll see:

  • Video: whether the episode has a matching YouTube video. Matched means the video is linked; Needs confirmation means PodSEO found a likely match and wants you to check it; Not on YouTube means no video of your channel is linked yet. If you've published Shorts from that episode, their count appears here too.
  • Views 28d: views of the episode's video in the last 28 days
  • From search: the share of those views that came from YouTube search
  • Next action: what to do next for that episode, such as Confirm match or reviewing a title suggestion

Click an episode title (or its action button) to open the episode's detail window.

Matching Videos to Episodes ​

PodSEO automatically pairs your YouTube videos with your podcast episodes by comparing titles, episode numbers, and publish dates. Strong matches are linked straight away; less certain ones are marked Needs confirmation so you can decide. Shorts are treated as clips and are never matched automatically as a full episode.

In the episode window, under YouTube video:

  • Confirm match links the suggested video to the episode, so its numbers and title suggestions apply to that episode.
  • Not this episode tells PodSEO the suggestion is wrong. That video won't be suggested for this episode again.
  • Choose a video to link (or Choose a different video) lists your channel's recent videos so you can link the right one yourself when PodSEO didn't find it.

Your decisions are kept: PodSEO never overrides a match you confirmed or rejected.

The Episode Window ​

Besides the video match, each episode's window shows:

Performance across platforms ​

Side-by-side tiles show how the same episode is doing on each platform:

  • YouTube views for the last 28 days, the share from search, and the average view duration
  • Apple episode rank: the best position the episode holds on Apple Podcasts for one of your tracked keywords (top 20), with the keyword
  • Spotify show rank: your show's current position on Spotify for that same keyword, shown when a recent rank is available

The figures are shown separately and never added together, because each platform measures something different. If the video match still needs confirmation, the section is marked "provisional match."

Title suggestions ​

Once a video is matched, PodSEO checks whether its YouTube title is missing a keyword the episode already performs well for. The suggestion looks like Put "[keyword]" in the video title, and explains why: for example, the episode ranks #4 on Apple Podcasts for that keyword, and real YouTube searches on your channel contain it. You'll see:

  • Current title: the title on YouTube today
  • Example: your current title with the keyword added, as a starting point. If the example is longer than YouTube's 100-character title limit, a note reminds you to shorten it.
  • Copy suggested title: copies the example so you can paste it into YouTube Studio
  • Mark as applied: records that you've made the change, so the suggestion shows as Applied with the date

If the title already contains every word of the keyword but not the exact phrase people search, PodSEO tells you which words are there and suggests reworking the title so the phrase appears as written.

When there's nothing to suggest, the window says so: either the title already includes the tracked keyword the episode ranks best for, or the episode isn't in Apple's top 20 for any tracked keyword yet.

Suggestions only appear for confirmed matches (or very confident automatic ones), so you're never told to rename the wrong video. Open suggestions also appear as tasks in the Command Center (up to two at a time); clicking one opens that episode's window directly.

When There Isn't Much Data Yet ​

If your channel had fewer than about 100 views in the last 90 days, you'll see Not much data from your channel yet. YouTube doesn't report search terms or traffic sources for very small channels, so those sections stay empty until your audience grows. You can still match videos to episodes and use the title suggestions in the meantime.

Similarly, No searches reported yet simply means YouTube hasn't listed any search terms for your videos so far. It appears once enough viewers find you through search.

Keeping the Connection Working ​

Google connections can stop working, for example if you remove PodSEO's access in your Google account settings or Google expires the authorization. When that happens, the page shows Reconnect YouTube to keep your insights up to date with a Reconnect YouTube button. Until you reconnect, PodSEO stops reading the channel and the page shows the numbers from the last successful update.

Your YouTube data is deleted if the connection stays broken. Following YouTube's data policies, PodSEO deletes a channel's YouTube data 30 days after the connection stops working, and right away if you disconnect the YouTube account in Social Publishing (unless the same channel is still connected to another of your podcasts). If the data was deleted, connecting the channel again and clicking Activate Insights starts a fresh import.

Who Can Do What ​

In an organization, only Admins and Owners can connect or reconnect the channel, activate Insights, confirm or reject video matches, link videos, and mark suggestions as applied. Other team members can view the page and open each episode's window; where an action is needed they'll see a note asking an account admin to do it. In a personal account, you can do everything.

YouTube Insights isn't available for draft podcasts that don't have a feed yet.

Integration with Other Features ​

  • Keyword Strategy: YouTube searches that bring viewers but aren't tracked are good candidates for your Secondary keywords. The title suggestions are built from your tracked keywords, so a focused strategy means better suggestions.
  • Keyword Tracker: with a channel linked to your podcast, the tracker can also show where your channel ranks in YouTube search (youtube.com) for your tracked keywords, separately from YouTube Music.
  • Episode Rankings: the Apple episode ranks in the episode window are the same data, used here to find keywords your YouTube titles are missing.
  • Social Publishing: the same YouTube connection lets you publish Shorts made from your episodes.
  • Command Center: activation reminders and open title suggestions appear as tasks.

Availability ​

YouTube Insights is available on every plan.

  • Free: channel performance (views, watch hours, subscribers, search share, traffic sources), one reported search term, and insights for your latest episode, including its video match and title suggestion.
  • Paid plans: every reported search term and insights across your recent episodes (the 20 most recent are listed), with a title suggestion for each matched episode.

On the free plan, older episodes and additional search terms are counted in the list (for example "3 more episodes available with a paid plan") with a Compare access link. Suggestions always depend on the data available and on confirmed matches.

Pro Tips ​

  • Before you click Connect YouTube, check which Google account owns the channel. Choosing the wrong account is the most common reason a connection fails.
  • Review Needs confirmation matches first: until an episode's video is matched, it can't get title suggestions.
  • Read the YouTube searches list with your keyword strategy open. Searches that bring viewers but aren't tracked are free keyword research from your real audience.
  • Look at the Views from YouTube search figure over time. If it grows after you apply title suggestions, your keyword work is paying off on YouTube too.
  • Use Mark as applied so you can keep track of what you've already changed, and focus on the suggestions that are still open.