VidIQ has been very helpful for us so far. Feel like it made a big difference. I heard tube buddy is pretty much the same. More on reddit.com

YouTube Search is all you need. Use the filters to see what similar sized channels are doing in your niche. Look for concepts that are performing well and adapt them for your channel. More on reddit.com

I'd say it's generally better to be a bit more strategic rather than just using the maximum allowed. The key is to really focus on the most relevant and specific terms that your target audience is searching for. Trying to cram in every possible keyword can actually work against you by making your content harder to categorize properly. Instead, I'd recommend doing some keyword research to identify the top search terms in your niche, and then use those as the foundation for your tags and descriptions. This will help your videos be more discoverable to the right people. As for upload frequency, once a week is a pretty solid starting point, especially when you're getting things off the ground. The most important thing is consistency - pick a schedule you can realistically stick to, whether that's one video per week or more. Viewers respond well to channels that post new content on a regular basis. More on reddit.com

Tags don't make a big difference anymore. Don't bother. I use tubebuddy free to see what other "competitors" are using. When you have the extension installed and watch a video it shows what tags they use. You can use that to learn, but otherwise just write some relevant tags yourself. Tags are mostly used to cover typos and maybe some keywords that are not present in the title or description. My advice, but take it with a grain of salt, is to focus more on titles and descriptions. For shorts even these are less relevant. I've seen shorts-focused channels that use titles like "HAHA" or "LOL" with lots of emojis, no description, no tags, and still have hundreds of MILLIONS of views. So I don't know what to think anymore. More on reddit.com