YouTube Competitor Evaluation: How I Do It in 5 Straightforward Steps

YouTube competitor evaluation is important to your video content material technique this 12 months. Take it from me — I lead HubSpot’s YouTube development technique, overseeing content material technique, development monitoring, efficiency reporting, and competitor evaluation.

As of 2024, YouTube is the most important video-sharing platform and the second-biggest social media on this planet, with over 2.70 billion customers. And consider me, it’s not slowing down anytime quickly, the variety of YouTube’s international customers is estimated to achieve 2.85 billion by 2025.

With this ongoing video development on the horizon, it’s vital to evaluate your competitors.

Desk of Contents

• What’s a competitor evaluation on YouTube?
• Why is a YouTube competitor evaluation vital?
• Do Competitor Evaluation on YouTube

What’s a competitor evaluation on YouTube?

Competitor evaluation on YouTube includes learning the content material created by rivals in your required area of interest or subject material space. These insights make it easier to perceive your rivals’ strengths, weaknesses, and methods.

This evaluation might be carried out on a month-to-month, quarterly, or annual foundation. Your objective is to be taught what rivals are doing properly and to emulate it in your personal model.

You’ll additionally wish to work out what they aren’t doing so you are able to do it and stand out within the aggressive YouTube panorama.

Why is a YouTube competitor evaluation vital?

Competitor evaluation helps you perceive the aggressive panorama on your goal market.

That is essential in my position as a result of it permits me to achieve invaluable insights into what different manufacturers are doing on the platform.

By understanding rivals’ methods, content material efficiency, viewers engagement techniques, and total presence on YouTube, I can determine trade tendencies and pinpoint areas the place content material gaps exist.

I may uncover alternatives for enchancment, and make knowledgeable selections to remain forward.

This evaluation will make it easier to higher perceive your viewers and create a complete YouTube content material technique.

Do Competitor Evaluation on YouTube

Step 1: Create a listing of your prime rivals.

You must begin your competitor evaluation by figuring out 5 to 10 YouTube channels which might be rivals.

These rivals might be based mostly in your particular trade (e.g., cosmetics), area of interest (e.g., clear, cruelty-free cosmetics), and/or target market (e.g., environmentally aware cosmetics customers).

In my expertise right here at HubSpot, I’ve realized the artwork of choosing a various vary of rivals.

This considerate strategy acknowledges the presence of area of interest rivals inside matters we cowl whereas aligning seamlessly with our channels which will discover broader topics.

I discover these rivals by trying to find particular matters I wish to cowl on YouTube and by discovering the top-ranking movies for every search consequence on YouTube.

Within the instance under, you’ll be able to see the top-ranking outcomes for the subject “Instagram advertising,” based mostly on the outcomes, Adam Erhart and Be taught With Shopify often is the present key rivals for this matter.

You may as well use YouTube Shorts to determine key rivals.

Begin by trying to find the main target key phrase and clicking the “Shorts” tab.

For instance, the present top-ranking Shorts rivals for the key phrase “Instagram advertising” are Vanessa Lau and Adam Erhart.

Make sure you go to the YouTube creator’s account to overview the movies they’ve posted previously 12 months to make sure that the matters they cowl align with the general content material pillars or matters that you just intend to cowl in your channel.

Step 2: Analyze competitor YouTube movies.

When you’ve recognized 5-10 rivals, it’s time to research the content material your rivals have revealed for the 12 months.

For instance, I simply carried out a 2024 competitor evaluation for HubSpot analyzing all of the movies created by our rivals in 2023.

I like to recommend contemplating the next issues when finishing a competitor evaluation:

• What matters are your rivals discussing?
• What kind of movies are they making (tutorials, vlogs, opinions, and so on.)?
• How typically are they publishing content material?
• How lengthy are their movies?
• What are their hottest movies from the previous 12 months?
• Do rivals have a video sequence or recurring theme?
• Are rivals utilizing interactive parts akin to polls, clickable hyperlinks, or end-screen options?

Let’s proceed with the Instagram advertising instance from Step 1.

Beneath are examples of information and data you might discover out of your evaluation of top-ranking Instagram advertising rivals:

• Matters mentioned: Common Instagram advertising, Instagram updates/tendencies, Instagram advertising instruments, Instagram advertising technique
• Kind of movies: Ideas, how-to tutorials, explainers
• Publishing cadence: As soon as per week
• Size of movies: 10-20 minutes
• Widespread movies: “Instagram Advertising and marketing for Enterprise” / “ Create a Instagram Content material Planner Calendar”

Professional Tip: I wish to discover how rivals set up their playlists and video sequence. I assess the technique behind grouping sure movies and making a seamless viewing expertise.

And don’t skip out on thumbnail analysis. I take note of the visible model of our rivals’ well-liked video thumbnails. I additionally determine tendencies in design, coloration schemes, and parts that seize consideration.

When you’ve aggregated this information, you should utilize it to determine and make observe of any recurring themes.

These insights can be instrumental in crafting your content material technique as a result of it should mean you can create content material that resonates along with your target market and ensures your channel is aggressive with different creators in an identical panorama.

Step 3: Establish website positioning key phrases and methods.

Subsequent, it’s time to look at your competitor’s video titles, descriptions, and tags.

This may mean you can perceive how your rivals are optimizing their movies for YouTube search.

You should use competitor analysis together with website positioning instruments like TubeBuddy and VidIQ to overview the month-to-month search quantity of the key phrases your rivals are utilizing.

Video Titles

For video titles, study how every competing video is structured and determine any widespread key phrases/phrases. These titles talk what key phrases resonate along with your viewers and inform their searches on YouTube.

This evaluation will inform the way you form your titles to incorporate key phrases or phrases that your target market needs to see.

In our Instagram advertising instance, the title within the top-ranking video says: “The Full INSTAGRAM FOR BUSINESS GUIDE (Reels, Tales, Verification, Instagram Purchasing & Extra!)”.

This title contains the main target key phrase “Instagram for enterprise” in all caps, it signifies that it’s the full information, and offers a preview of what is going to be mentioned within the video.

Video Descriptions

For video descriptions, analyze your competitor’s video description based mostly on construction, if/the place they embrace related key phrases, hyperlinks, and extra context. This may assist develop the framework on your video descriptions.

In our Instagram advertising instance, an outline from a top-ranking social media advertising competitor could say: “Instagram For Enterprise Tutorial: Develop your Instagram and use it to drive your on-line gross sales.”

This means that the competitor is utilizing the first focus phrase (“Instagram for enterprise”) inside the first sentence and tells the viewer precisely what to anticipate within the video.

Video Tags

For video tags, make observe of any tags rivals use to reinforce discoverability.

Video tags assist categorize your content material and point out to your viewers what your movies are about.

Utilizing the suitable video tags on your video will finest enable YouTube to share your content material with viewers who’re serious about that content material.

In our Instagram advertising instance, video tags from a top-ranking Instagram competitor could also be: #instagramtutorials #instagramforbusiness.

This communicates to YouTube and the viewer that they’ll obtain details about Instagram, a tutorial, and particularly for companies.

Professional Tip: Past content material evaluation, I dive into rivals’ viewers interactions. I determine recurring key phrases in feedback and observe how rivals have interaction. Pinned feedback provide invaluable insights into favored phrases. I then leverage these findings to tailor my engagement technique.

Step 4: Observe group engagement and viewers suggestions.

On this step, I like to look at how rivals have interaction with their YouTube group and the way the viewers responds to their content material.

Neighborhood Engagement

Neighborhood engagement might help a creator join with their viewers.

You’ll wish to look into how your rivals are utilizing group options on YouTube to interact with their viewers.

I search for patterns in how rivals reply to feedback, run polls, and handle suggestions.

Additional, you’ll wish to maintain an in depth eye on whether or not your rivals are partnering with different creators to create their content material. This may mean you can refine and adapt your group engagement technique.

For instance, below the “Instagram for enterprise” video a viewer left a remark asking for readability about part of the video. Be taught with Shopify responded and offered further assets for the viewer.

This means to the Channel’s viewers that Be taught with Shopify is actively reviewing feedback and seeking to reply questions and supply instructional assets for his or her viewers.

That is one thing you’ll wish to make observe of and incorporate into your technique.

Conversely, in case your competitor has a number of questions below their movies which might be left unanswered, which will function a degree of differentiation on your movies.

You might wish to create movies about these unanswered questions, and/or create an interesting presence in your feedback to harbor a higher sense of group along with your viewers.

Viewers Suggestions

Analyzing the viewers interplay on competitor movies akin to likes may even mean you can perceive how the viewers obtained the video.

For instance, if I discover {that a} video has quite a lot of views and ranks #1 for the subject, however it has restricted likes, this may occasionally counsel that the viewers didn’t benefit from the content material that was delivered.

Reviewing feedback on competitor movies may give you quite a lot of useful perception too. Viewer feedback could inform you precisely what they preferred or disliked in regards to the video, what they wish to see subsequent, and what they wished was included.

These feedback can set the stage for what it’s best to embrace or keep away from in your movies.

Within the instance under, below the “Instagram for enterprise” video, viewers left a number of optimistic feedback about how a lot they loved the video. It is a nice indicator that the video efficiently delivered worth to viewers.

You may take inspiration from this video by analyzing how the video is structured, how info is introduced, the size of the video, together with different insights.

Keep in mind, taking inspiration from a competitor doesn’t imply copying. You wish to create authentic content material that delivers worth to your viewers independently and initially.

Viewers don’t want one other video like this, they want one thing distinctive.

Additional, there’s a remark requesting a step-by-step information on the best way to create movies. This remark signifies that there’s a want for the sort of video.

If it matches your content material technique, this can be a video that you would be able to create on your viewers.

Step 5: Establish content material gaps and use them to face out.

It’s time to take the entire competitor insights you’ve discovered and switch them into content material methods on your YouTube channel.

You’ve evaluated and made observe of what your rivals are doing properly and the place they’re falling brief. You’ll attempt to use what they’re utilizing properly as inspiration.

The areas the place your rivals are falling brief are known as content material gaps.

To spherical out our Instagram advertising instance, let’s say I observed that rivals are making lengthy movies with out outlined chapters.

This might be an awesome likelihood to not solely undertake their profitable parts however to additionally improve the viewer expertise by incorporating clear chapter markers.

This strategic differentiation is your key to standing out amidst rivals and delivering extra refined and fascinating video content material.

Professional Tip: I wish to discover how rivals use captions and transcriptions. I additionally assess whether or not they present partaking supplementary content material. For instance, HubSpot supplies its viewers with free content material provides on the HubSpot Advertising and marketing Channel as supplementary instructional content material.

Degree up your content material technique with a competitor evaluation.

YouTube competitor analysis might help take your content material technique to the following stage.

Competitor analysis and evaluation function a compass for guiding your content material technique, providing insights into tendencies, viewers engagement, and content material gaps for alternative.

These insights lay the muse for a powerful well-informed content material technique.

The digital panorama is constantly evolving and with that it requires us to each stay vigilant and versatile. These competitor insights lay the groundwork on your content material technique, however they’re meant to evolve with rising tendencies, viewers preferences, and platform adjustments.

Whereas adhering to the framework you’ve outlined from competitor analysis, it’s best to proceed to experiment and take a look at new methods.

With the mixture of competitor insights, experimentation, and monitoring tendencies, you’ll know the best way to create content material that your viewers needs to see.

That’s all from me for now — good luck along with your analysis.