YouTube citation strategy

1. What gets cited

1. Pick 3–10 search intents the business should own (from keyword-research or the AI visibility gap list).
2. find_youtube_videos_cited_by_ai with intents, max_videos_per_intent: 3, transcript_mode: "summary" ("full" only for a few videos in depth), country: "auto". Free.
3. Per intent note: whether an AI Overview appeared and cited videos, which channels win, length and format, what the transcripts cover that a written article does not.
4. Size each intent: research_youtube operation: "keyword_research" with query (the intent) — Google volume plus a low/medium/high competition reading of the YouTube results (1 keyword lookup credit). For a winning video, research_youtube operation: "video_details" with video, transcript: true (free).

2. Plan

One row per video to make: intent, angle that beats the cited video, format, target keyword, competition level. Prefer intents where AI cites video and competition is low or medium.

3. Topics and scripts (needs a connected YouTube channel)

plan_youtube_videos:

• operation: "strategy" and "topics" for the existing plan; "starter_topics" works without a channel.
• operation: "add_topic" with title, target_keyword, format and brief per planned video (EDITOR); "suggest_titles" with target_keyword for title options.
• operation: "write_script" with topic_id — background job (poll check_job_status), one YouTube-script credit. Say so before starting.
• operation: "read_script" with script_id to review: citation-readiness checks, YouTube title, description, tags.
• operation: "edit_script" with script_id and instruction for AI edits (at least 1 AI credit, more if it researches); "update_script" with body, seo_title, seo_description, seo_tags and base_version for your own edits (free).
• operation: "export_script" with export_format: "md" (or "txt" for a teleprompter).
• delete_script / delete_topics only when the user asks.

Guardrails

Distinguish the four AI Overview outcomes the tool reports (cited, no AI Overview, uncited, lookup failed). A failed lookup is not a finding — retry. Never claim a video is cited without the tool showing it. YouTube volumes are Google web search volumes; say so.