Getting to know what works for your competitors is a crucial first step to thriving on YouTube. A thorough YouTube competitor analysis can provide you with valuable insights to inform your chosen tactic and strategies.
Here’s why it’s important – consistency is key;
- Understand your niche, what’s hot and trending, and what’s a fad or distraction
- Use it to benchmark your competitors, set your goals, and tailor your content strategy
- Refine your value proposition and make your brand stand out
How to Conduct a YouTube Competitor Analysis
YouTube competitor analysis involves several key steps:
1. Identify Your Competitors
Start by identifying channels that operate in your niche. These could be direct or indirect competitors, such as ones that create content that overlaps with your channel.
There’s a good chance that you’ll find a long list of YouTube channels that you can consider as your competitors. To help narrow down your search and keep your sanity in check, here are top 3 criteria to look for when pinpointing your competitors;
- They’re marketing their channel to the same targeted audience
- They’re offering to solve the same problem or serve up the same content as you do
- They’re offering a solution or content that is similar to yours
Below are the best ways to find out who your competitors are:
Search Relevant Keywords
Use both YouTube Search and Google Search to identify keywords related to your content. List down search suggestions, key them in, and identify shared competitors between the two platforms. You should also explore Suggested Channels.
Find Out What Channels Your Subscribers Follow
Scroll through the activity of your Followers. Find out which other channels they’re subscribed to and identify a pattern. Check out the channels you repeatedly find on their lists to see how closely it resembles your content or what you’re intending to share.
Use tools like VidIQ, TubeBuddy, and Keyhole
Download VidIQ and TubeBuddy as Google Chrome extensions. Type in a search term on the YouTube Search bar. Then, click either extension to view “Most Used Tags” or “Related Queries”.
2. Analyze Their Content Strategy
Look more closely at your competitors’ content to gain insights into the tactics and strategies they use. Here are some elements for you to take note of:
- Content Themes. What topics do they cover?
- Video Structure. Do they use vlogs, reviews,or tutorials?
- Frequency of posting. How often do they upload new videos?
- Video Length. How long do they make their videos? Do they post YouTube Shorts?
- Live streaming. Do they live stream? How often do they go live?
This analysis can reveal content gaps, both the ones that are being covered by your competitors that you don’t, and ones that nobody else is talking about — yet.
If you’d like to dig deeper, go on ahrefs Keyword Research tool and start looking for keywords to rank for by keying in a generic one-word or two-word keyword you’d like your channel to rank for. Then, use the ‘filters’ to narrow down and specify your search. Find out which channels are ranking for the keywords you’re targeting and start observing what’s working for them and what else could be missing.
3. Evaluate Engagement Metrics
These metrics provide practical insights about how well your competitors’ content resonates with viewers. Find out which of your competitors’ content are trending by noting:
- View Counts. The average number of views on a video is a strong indicator of searchability as well as relevance to the audience
- Shares. This metric is another indicator of relevance, more specifically of how well it resonates with the audience
- Likes. Use this metric to gauge audience approval
- Comments. Scroll down comments to get a feel of feedback received and level of interaction
Tools like VidIQ, TubeBuddy, and Keyhole can help monitor these metrics for you.
4. Study SEO Tactics
Effective search engine optimization (SEO) increases visibility:
- Titles. Note what keywords your competitors are using in the video titles
- Descriptions. Take note how your competitors are optimizing for search using keywords in their descriptions
- Tags. Identify hashtags that are common across your competitors’ channels and videos
- Thumbnails. Examine design elements more closely. Thumbnails must help attract attention but also be able to communicate clearly what your video is about in one glance
- Backlinks. Yes, backlinks work to increase your channel’s authority and search rankings too. Likely, it also determines if your channel would show up on AI search results as well. Find out who’s linking to your competitors’ channels by pasting the URL on ahrefs
Understanding these tactics can help you optimize your own videos for better reach.
How to Apply Insights to Your Channel
After gathering and analyzing data, here are some ways you may use these insights to enhance your channel:
- Drive Content Creation. There’s so much content that can be created but once you know which videos are driving traffic to your competitors’ channels, you can prioritize developing those first. Use your observations to inform every element of your videos, including your thumbnails, theme, and color palette.
- Enhance SEO. Optimize titles, descriptions, tags, and hashtags, and identify backlink-building tactics and opportunities to help Google understand the breadth of your content.
- Engagement Boost. Pattern your strategies and video elements after videos and tactics that drive engagement to your competitors’ channels.
YouTube Competitor Analysis and Your Channel
YouTube Competitor Analysis shouldn’t be taken as a one-time undertaking. You should check on your competitors from time-to-time, including on days where there’s a big buzz in your niche. That includes industry events, news and updates.
Growing your channel means constantly benchmarking with your competitors. Always know where your channel stands. It helps you make wise decisions and quick adjustments to stay competitive within your niche but also to carve out a unique space for your channel.
