YouTube Data API v3 Reference
YouTube mentions may correlate with AI visibility in some GEO research, but this file does not include a Google-owned source or methodology for a numeric benchmark. This API provides authoritative YouTube data directly from Google.
Endpoints Used
| Method | Quota Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
search.list |
100 units | Search for videos matching a query |
videos.list |
1 unit | Get video details, statistics, content |
channels.list |
1 unit | Get channel info, subscriber count |
commentThreads.list |
1 unit | Get top comments on a video |
Daily Quota
Default: 10,000 units/day (free). This allows:
- ~100 searches per day, OR
- ~10,000 video/channel lookups per day
Data Available
Video Search
- Title, channel, channel ID, published date
- Description (first 300 chars), thumbnail URL
- Views, likes, comments count, duration
Video Details
- Full description, tags, category ID
- Duration, definition (HD/SD), has captions
- Topic categories (Wikipedia URLs)
- Views, likes, comments, favorites
- Top 10 relevant comments with likes
Channel Info
- Title, description, custom URL
- Subscriber count, video count, total views
- Country, published date, thumbnail
Authentication
API key only (read-only public data). No OAuth needed.
Enable the API
- Go to console.cloud.google.com/apis/library
- Search for "YouTube Data API v3"
- Click Enable
No billing required. The API key you already have for PSI/CrUX works.