YouTube Channel Video Metadata Extractor to Google Sheets - n8n Workflow

YouTube content strategists tracking competitor performance.
Marketing analysts needing structured video metadata for dashboards.
Developers looking for robust n8n templates for data extraction.
Researchers collecting video data at scale using a reliable n8n workflow.

This powerful n8n workflow solves the challenge of manually aggregating YouTube video data across multiple channels. By using a Google Sheet as a dynamic input list, this n8n automation ensures scalability and trackability. The n8n logic intelligently handles various input formats—whether raw channel IDs, standard channel URLs, or custom handle URLs—by using the YouTube Data API to normalize the data before extraction. This reliable n8n node combination automatically processes each channel, fetches the desired video metadata, and updates the Google Sheet with both the results and the status (finished or error) of the processing run, making it a highly effective n8n workflow for large-scale video data collection. This n8n template streamlines data piping from YouTube directly into your analytics environment.

This n8n workflow is designed for efficient, batch processing of YouTube channels:

1. Start and Trigger: The n8n process begins manually using the 'When clicking ‘Test workflow’' n8n trigger.


2. Read Channels: The 'Google Sheets - Get Channel URLs' n8n node reads channel URLs/IDs from the 'Channel Urls' tab, specifically filtering only for entries where the status is 'ready'.


3. Process Iteration: The 'Loop' n8n node iterates through each ready channel entry read from the Google Sheet.


4. Input Normalization: The 'Switch - Detect Channel ID or Channel URL' n8n node inspects the input format. If a custom URL or username is detected, the n8n workflow extracts the username and uses the 'HTTP Request - Get Channel ID' n8n node to convert it into a standard channelId required for API calls.


5. Fetch Videos: The 'HTTP Request - Get Channel Videos' n8n node calls the YouTube Data API v3 /search endpoint using the verified channelId. It respects the optional video limit specified in the input sheet (defaulting to 10).


6. Response Check: The 'If - Check Success Response' n8n node confirms if the API returned any videos by checking if the totalResults count is greater than zero.


7. Data Preparation (Success): If successful, the 'Split Out - Videos' n8n node separates the video list into individual items.


8. Save Results: The 'Google Sheets - Update Data' n8n node then appends or updates the detailed video metadata (video URL, title, description, thumbnail link, and formatted publish date) into the 'Videos' tab, using the videourl as a unique identifier for updates.


9. Update Status: Finally, a Google Sheets n8n node updates the original row's status in the 'Channel Urls' tab to 'finish' (on success) or 'error' (if the API failed or returned no results), along with the lastfetched_time for tracking.

To deploy this powerful n8n workflow, follow these steps:

1. Import: Download the n8n workflow JSON provided and import it into your n8n instance.


2. Google Sheet Setup: Duplicate the template Google Sheet linked in the workflow's sticky note. Ensure your sheet contains tabs named 'Channel Urls' and 'Videos' with the correct column headers.


3. Credential Setup: You will need two types of credentials configured within n8n:

1. Populate Data: In your Google Sheet 'Channel Urls' tab, add the channel URLs or IDs you wish to crawl, and set the status column to 'Ready'. Optionally, set a limit for the number of videos to fetch per channel.


2. Execution: Activate the n8n workflow and click 'Test workflow' or 'Execute Workflow' to start the processing.

Manual Trigger: The initial n8n trigger, used to manually start the data extraction job.
Google Sheets - Get Channel URLs: Reads source data. Function: Retrieves all channel URLs/IDs where the row status is ready from the designated sheet.
Switch - Detect Channel ID or Channel URL: A critical flow control n8n node. Function: Determines if the input is a direct Channel ID or a URL, routing the data accordingly to ensure proper API formatting.
HTTP Request - Get Channel ID: Function: If a URL/handle is provided, this n8n node calls the YouTube API to resolve the canonical channelId.
HTTP Request - Get Channel Videos: Core extraction node. Function: Calls the YouTube Search API to retrieve video snippets, using dynamic maxResults based on the input sheet data.
If - Check Success Response: Logic n8n node ensuring the API call returned valid results before proceeding to save data.
Split Out - Videos: Function: Splits the list of videos returned by the YouTube API into individual n8n items, allowing subsequent n8n nodes to process and log each video separately.
Google Sheets - Update Data: Saves the results. Function: Appends or updates detailed video metadata (title, URL, description, etc.) to the 'Videos' tab in Google Sheets.

• Google Sheets - Update Data - Success/Error: Function: Updates the status (finish or error) and timestamp in the original 'Channel Urls' tab, ensuring complete tracking of the n8n workflow run.