Video titles are critical for the discoverability of educational User-Generated Content (UGC) on YouTube, particularly in Japanese, where multiple script systems allow for various keyword notations. This study empirically investigates how different title notations for “Microsoft Excel”—specifically alphabetical (“Excel”), Katakana phonetic (“エクセル”), and uppercase alphabetical (“EXCEL”)—impact view counts of Japanese Excel tutorial videos. We analyzed 10,048 videos (published 2010–2023), categorizing them by the keyword notation used in titles and statistically comparing their log-transformed view counts. Results indicate that using “Excel” alone was associated with significantly higher view counts than using “エクセル” alone or “EXCEL” alone. The combination of “Excel” and “エクセル” did not outperform “Excel” used solitarily. Notably, the combination of Katakana “エクセル” and uppercase “EXCEL” yielded the highest average view counts among the analyzed categories. We conclude that the choice of keyword notation in Japanese YouTube titles significantly and complexly influences video viewership, offering practical insights for content creators to optimize visibility.