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Beginner's Blueprint for Viral Video SEO for 2024
Beginner’s Blueprint for Viral Video SEO
The 12-step YouTube SEO Guide for Beginners Who Want More Views
Shanoon Cox
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.
Well, let’s change that!
In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.
Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.
Ready?
Let’s Go!
Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors
Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?
Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.
Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.
Step 1: Find Related Videos
Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.
Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.
Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:
While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!
Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.
Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:
- To be entertained
- To learn something new
- To be inspired
A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.
So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .
Step 2: Find Keywords
Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.
Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:
Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.
This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.
Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.
How to Read Keyword Suggestions
Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:
- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.
- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.
- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.
The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.
In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!
Step 3: Write Title
I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.
A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.
Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs
But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.
Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…
Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.
Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.
So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?
Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.
You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.
See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?
Step 4: Write Description
You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.
This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.
But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.
Step 5: Write Tags
Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.
Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.
Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.
Organize your keywords in the tag as such:
Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:
Specific: How to make scrambled eggs
General: Scrambled eggs
Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs
Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible
It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.
Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.
Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook
The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .
What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.
Step 7: Film B-Roll
One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.
In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.
While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.
So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.
Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video
Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.
While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.
The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.
For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”
Who knows, who will respond.
Step 9: Design a Thumbnail
You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.
Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.
Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.
Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?
You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.
Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .
Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization
Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.
Come on, keep going!
Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets
The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.
Step 11: Add Transcripts
In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.
While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.
You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.
Step 12: Add Video to Playlist
Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.
When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.
So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.
I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!
If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.
Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.
Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.
Shanoon Cox
Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Shanoon Cox
Shanoon Cox
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.
Well, let’s change that!
In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.
Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.
Ready?
Let’s Go!
Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors
Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?
Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.
Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.
Step 1: Find Related Videos
Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.
Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.
Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:
While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!
Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.
Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:
- To be entertained
- To learn something new
- To be inspired
A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.
So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .
Step 2: Find Keywords
Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.
Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:
Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.
This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.
Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.
How to Read Keyword Suggestions
Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:
- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.
- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.
- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.
The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.
In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!
Step 3: Write Title
I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.
A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.
Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs
But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.
Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…
Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.
Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.
So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?
Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.
You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.
See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?
Step 4: Write Description
You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.
This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.
But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.
Step 5: Write Tags
Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.
Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.
Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.
Organize your keywords in the tag as such:
Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:
Specific: How to make scrambled eggs
General: Scrambled eggs
Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs
Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible
It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.
Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.
Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook
The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .
What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.
Step 7: Film B-Roll
One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.
In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.
While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.
So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.
Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video
Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.
While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.
The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.
For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”
Who knows, who will respond.
Step 9: Design a Thumbnail
You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.
Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.
Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.
Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?
You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.
Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .
Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization
Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.
Come on, keep going!
Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets
The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.
Step 11: Add Transcripts
In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.
While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.
You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.
Step 12: Add Video to Playlist
Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.
When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.
So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.
I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!
If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.
Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.
Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.
Shanoon Cox
Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Shanoon Cox
Shanoon Cox
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.
Well, let’s change that!
In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.
Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.
Ready?
Let’s Go!
Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors
Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?
Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.
Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.
Step 1: Find Related Videos
Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.
Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.
Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:
While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!
Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.
Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:
- To be entertained
- To learn something new
- To be inspired
A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.
So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .
Step 2: Find Keywords
Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.
Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:
Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.
This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.
Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.
How to Read Keyword Suggestions
Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:
- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.
- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.
- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.
The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.
In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!
Step 3: Write Title
I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.
A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.
Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs
But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.
Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…
Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.
Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.
So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?
Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.
You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.
See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?
Step 4: Write Description
You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.
This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.
But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.
Step 5: Write Tags
Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.
Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.
Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.
Organize your keywords in the tag as such:
Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:
Specific: How to make scrambled eggs
General: Scrambled eggs
Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs
Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible
It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.
Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.
Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook
The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .
What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.
Step 7: Film B-Roll
One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.
In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.
While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.
So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.
Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video
Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.
While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.
The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.
For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”
Who knows, who will respond.
Step 9: Design a Thumbnail
You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.
Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.
Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.
Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?
You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.
Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .
Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization
Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.
Come on, keep going!
Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets
The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.
Step 11: Add Transcripts
In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.
While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.
You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.
Step 12: Add Video to Playlist
Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.
When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.
So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.
I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!
If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.
Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.
Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.
Shanoon Cox
Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Shanoon Cox
Shanoon Cox
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
The joy of creating on YouTube is often dampened by the disappointment of underperforming videos. You have published your content and it’s not getting the views you had hoped.
Well, let’s change that!
In this guide, I’m going to walk you through YouTube SEO from the very start to the very end.
Nothing complicated. No paid programs or expensive apps needed. We are going back to basics and get your videos discovered.
Ready?
Let’s Go!
Part 1: Research Your Topic and Competitors
Come up with a video idea . Can’t come up with one? Let me help. I heard you can make a mean scrambled egg, why don’t you show the world how you do it?
Excellent! Let’s go with that idea.
Wait, don’t go making the video yet. First, we have to do some research. We need to know what videos already exist out there.
Step 1: Find Related Videos
Do a quick search on YouTube to see what videos already exist on your topic.
Uh oh… your video will be competing against celebrities like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver.
Okay, don’t panic! There is a fantastic quote, credited to bestselling author, Jon Acuff , that goes:
While researching your competition, you will feel overwhelmed, but remember, you are at the beginning, and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver are not even at their middle, they are way passed the finish line. You still have a long journey to go, so don’t get discouraged, get inspired!
Watch those videos and understand what they are all about.
Understand that people watch YouTube for 3 key reasons:
- To be entertained
- To learn something new
- To be inspired
A video that can hit all 3 marks is going to be positioned for success. Don’t fret too much about the competition, as long as your content is good, you will see improvement.
So if you think this scrambled egg idea can hit those 3 marks, then I encourage you to go to the next step. If you don’t, let’s regroup and brainstorm some more YouTube video ideas .
Step 2: Find Keywords
Now that we’ve decided that we are sticking with the video idea, we are ready to do some keyword research. Keywords are the words and phrases people type in the YouTube search bar to discover videos.
Come up with as many relevant keywords as you can. Start by entering a keyword into the YouTube search bar. This will tell you what are the most popular searches associated with that keyword:
Once you have an idea of what people are searching for related to your topic, you’ll want to find more relevant keywords. I like to use the free app, Ubersuggest to do that.
This app gives you a whole list of long-tail keywords, which are 3-4-word phrases which is specific to what your video is about.
Some you will use to dig deeper in and other you will deem irrelevant to your videos. A good way of determining the value of a keyword is by the stats the application shows.
How to Read Keyword Suggestions
Once you have a list of keywords, you will see some numbers on the right-hand side. Here is what each one is about:
- Search volume is the number used to identify the popularity of the keyword. The higher the number the more people are searching for it.
- CPC is the value accredited by YouTube, determining how much advertisers are paying to target audiences who search for that keyword and click on the link.
- Competition is the number used to qualify how many other content are using that keyword.
The two categories that matter most to us right now is Search Volume and Competition. We want keywords with high search volume and low competition rate.
In the example above, you can see that the keyword “avocado scrambled eggs” has a Search Volume of 1,000 and a competition rate of 0.0. This is a good keyword to target, if you can incorporate an avocado to your dish… which of course you can!
Step 3: Write Title
I know you might want to deal with the Title, Description, and Tags after you’ve filmed and edited your video. But if you want to apply a YouTube SEO-focused strategy, then these should be addressed before you even pick up a camera as it can greatly dictate the content you end up creating.
A good YouTube title sparks curiosity, evokes emotional reaction, and promises value to your viewers.
Of course you can title your video simply: Making Scrambled Eggs
But does it spark curiosity? Not really… most people can make scrambled eggs.
Does it evoke any emotion? Maybe hunger… but even then, not really…
Finally, does it promise value? Well, assuming that most people can at least crack an egg into a pan, then hardly.
Your scrambled egg is special! Your video is special! We need to evoke that in the title — and as long as you are not writing any clickbait and deliver on what the title suggest, you can do this.
So, how about this: Are My Amazing Scrambled Eggs Better Than Gordon Ramsay’s?
Hmmm… Well, is it? We know that the Gordon Ramsay’s video has almost 30M views. Many people have already tried cooking it, I’m sure. There is only one way to find out, by encouraging others to try it over Gordon’s.
You don’t need to go for a somewhat contentious title like this, but that’s the idea, you want something that gets people curious, make them feel a certain way, and in the end, make them better for having watched your video.
See how a good title can guide the rest of your video?
Step 4: Write Description
You aren’t going to be writing the description for the viewers necessarily, you are going to be writing it for YouTube’s algorithms. The better YouTube understands what your video is about, the better they can show it to people searching for it.
This means you need to include the keywords you were researching at the beginning of your description, as YouTube will be using them to identify the content of your video. 1 or 2 keywords that best represent your video is enough. Don’t stuff the title with too many keywords or you’ll risk sounding like a robot.
But also use the description for practical uses too, if you have additional information such as supportive links, outline of the video’s content, a list of materials, step-by-step guide, or a recipe that you think your human viewers will find useful, you should input that in the description as well.
Step 5: Write Tags
Thank goodness we did the keyword research in Step 2, because coming up with tags is not as easy as it looks.
Pull 15 keywords from the list and keep it somewhere safe.
Note: The keywords you used in the title should be found in your tags, and since they are the most important ones, you should place them first.
Organize your keywords in the tag as such:
Have the specific keywords at the top, followed by more general keywords, and then branded ones:
Specific: How to make scrambled eggs
General: Scrambled eggs
Branded: Gordon Ramsay scrambled eggs
Part 2: Make The Best Darn Video Possible
It doesn’t matter how relevant your keywords are or how epic your title is, if you video sucks (i.e. your viewers click in and leave right away), YouTube will not show it in search.
Even if you haven’t created any videos yet, you can follow these next steps to ensure you are following the best practices to structure your video.
Step 6: Plan and Film the Hook
The first few seconds is where the largest percentage of your earned viewership will drop off. Odds are 20% of your viewers won’t even get past the first 10 seconds .
What you need is a hook, an intro that ensures this video is what they want to watch and let’s them know what they can expect.
Step 7: Film B-Roll
One static camera shot of you talking or cooking or giving a tutorial can cause your viewers to lose attention.
In order to keep your viewers interest, you will need b-roll, or supplemental footage you can cut to give you video more life.
While jump cuts (cuts made on a sequential clip of the same subject or in the same camera position) are fine, having additional footage to cut to will make your video feel more fluid.
So when you are filming your scrambled egg video, make sure you get some footage of you cracking the egg, scrambling it, and serving it on the plate.
Step 8: Encourage Viewers to Engage in Video
Liking, disliking, subscribing, and commenting on your video will all help your performance indirectly.
While YouTube wouldn’t rank your video higher simply because you have more likes subscribers, or comments, engagement from viewers help your video get discovered. If you get a like or comment from a YouTuber with a lot of subscribers, your video may be visible to those who are following that YouTuber for a while.
The best way to get engagement from your audience is to encourage them to like and subscribe or ask them a question or start a dialogue.
For example, in this scrambled egg video you are making, at the end you can ask, “So what do you think, is this better than Gordon Ramsay?”
Who knows, who will respond.
Step 9: Design a Thumbnail
You could have made a brilliant video, but if you have a poor quality thumbnail that is unattractive, then the overall performance of your video will suffer — and good SEO can only do so much after that.
Your viewers will absolutely judge your video by its cover so it’s important to put some thought into it and not solely rely on the three random thumbnail choices that YouTube picks for you.
Take a look at your competition. If they all look the same, do something different. Add text or a human face (preferably yours) to evoke emotion, as viewers are more likely to click into a video if they see an expressive image.
Don’t want to pay money for a photo editing software such as Photoshop?
You can use an online service called Canva or download GIMP , an open-source photo editor much like Photoshop, but far less powerful. These will help you get the job done as you are starting out.
Want to know more thumbnail maker? Check our picks of the best free YouTube thumbnail makers .
Part 3: Publishing With Attention to Optimization
Well done finishing the video! You are almost there… but not there yet.
Come on, keep going!
Step 10: Fill Out Your Videos Assets
The video is done, the thumbnail is designed, and you have all your title, description, and tags ready to go. This step is easy, upload the video, and fill out the assets, and give yourself a pat on the back.
Step 11: Add Transcripts
In addition to making your content accessible for people who don’t want to or can’t listen to the audio in your video, adding subtitles and closed captions will help YouTube understand the spoken content in your video.
While YouTube does have an automatic subtitle generator, it’s not reliable enough to be used for identifying the keywords you use in your video.
You can choose to write out the whole transcript of your video yourself, but if you are press on time, which of course you are, you can simply go and edit the automatic transcript already available in your video. By the way, you can also use some automatic transcription software.
Step 12: Add Video to Playlist
Finally the last thing you need to do for your video is to add it to a playlist. Even though it might be the first video in the playlist, it helps YouTube identify your video if you organize it in a playlist. As you accumulate more content, having videos in playlists makes content easier to find and keeps relevant videos together.
When viewers searches, having your videos in playlists increases the chance of it being discovered.
So if your first video is about scrambled eggs, maybe you next video can be about the awesome butter toasts.
I guess, you are on your way to making a pretty badass breakfast playlist. I personally can’t wait to see it!
If you treat SEO as an afterthought, only after your video is created, you are not using it to its full potential. If you follow these 12 steps during the course of your production, you will find that SEO doesn’t simply help your video perform at the end, but contributes in all the other phases of creating your video as well.
Besides considering YouTube SEO, you should make a good YouTube video as well. Filmora is a powerful video editing software that features lots of templates and effects. Get the free trial version below and have a try today.
Do you have any questions about SEO? Please leave us a comment below.
Shanoon Cox
Shanoon Cox is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Shanoon Cox
Navigating Personal Brand Identity [High Engagement]
How to Find Your Niche and Style - a Starter’s Guide
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
With over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, it’s no longer enough just to make a great video. If you want to be found and to be able to monetize your YouTube channel, you’re going to need to find your niche.
If you’re serious about turning your YouTube hobby into a lucrative career, you’re going to need a niche that not only lets you do the things you’re passionate about but which also gets you the views you need. The perfect niche will be something that your audience is already looking for, not ridiculously competitive, and which still allows you to demonstrate your passion and knowledge.
It’s not easy finding a perfect niche on YouTube. You’re going to need some creativity, self-awareness, directed intention, and a good deal of thought, so be prepared to invest some time and energy into this process. If you don’t get it right the first time, take a moment to figure out where you went wrong and just try again. Or you can try some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to help you find your niche. You’ll also be able to use the platform to learn more about the niche of your similar channels. Let’s take a look at how you can start looking for your ideal niche on YouTube.
Best YouTube Video Editor for Beginners
Make your first YouTube video effortlessly with a versatile video editor Filmora.
Quick Jump Menu:
Is There an Audience for This Niche?
If you’re ready to start hunting down your niche, there are a few ways to go about it. You could start by listing your hobbies and looking for trends with those, or by thinking about what types of videos you like to make the most. How could what you do for a living inspire your channel or your knowledge of a particular topic?
The key is to discover where you can bring something unique or interesting to YouTube, hopefully by combining your passions, hobbies, and knowledge into one big ball of brilliance. For example, if you’re keen to do cooking tutorials but spent a year traveling Asia, why not do Asian-inspired cooking? Or if you have a passion for fashion but work as a recruitment consultant, why not offer content about dressing for work and interviews?
This sweet spot where your passion and talents meet with your video genre is where you’ll find your ultimate niche lurking.
Why Is It Important to Find Your Niche?
Finding a niche is all about giving your viewers what they want to see. Imagine you travel and upload vlogs about your travels every day. Almost all of your content is about travel, but then one day, randomly, you upload a video about cooking food. Your video was popular, you got more than 30k views, but only five people subscribed to your channel; why?
The answer is simple. If those who viewed the cooking video considered subscribing, they would have clicked onto your channel and seen that none of your other videos were about this topic. Despite uploading a good video, you seemed irrelevant to them, so they didn’t bother.
From the point of view of your subscribers, they want to know what you’re all about. They need to feel confident that, when they subscribe to you, they’ll be getting lots of quality content about the things they are most interested in. Having a clear and focused niche will allow you to do this for them.
Narrowing Down Your YouTube Niche
The smaller and more specific your focus, the easier you’ll find it to get and hold onto subscribers. For example, if you’re niche is about dog training, why not focus on even more about doing it about training pugs? If you’re doing a parenting vlog, make it more specific by doing a parenting vlog for mums of boys, or twins, or toddlers.
By narrowing down your focus, your audience will be much easier to market to and to appeal to. When someone from your target audience finds your channel, they’re going to think ‘wow, this is just what I’ve been looking for’, and they’ll watch, like, share and interact with your videos way more than someone who is just a little bit interested.
How to Find Your Niche [5 Tips]
If you’re still at a loss of how to identify the best niche for your YouTube channel, let us help. Here are some key things to think about when looking for your niche which will help you get where you need to be:
- What are you good at? What are you passionate about?
Make a list of things you’re good at. Don’t be modest now, this isn’t the time. Think about what other people would ask for your help with, and what you’re most confident with. Getting to grips with what you have a talent for is a great place to start.
An example of this is PONY Syndrome, a makeup artist renowned for her Taylor Swift transformation. She found that people would often come to her for makeup advice, so she started making videos of her techniques. Fast forward a couple of years and she’s got four million subscribers and a profitable YouTube channel.
You might not think you’re an ‘expert’ in an area, but often it’s the interesting combination of your talents and passions that makes you unique. Coach Tulin is a wonderful lady who is of a plus size but who is also passionate about fitness. She’s made a popular channel that demonstrates how to modify popular exercises to make them accessible for plus-size people, as well as showing just how to fit plus-size people can be! Her fan base is smaller, at 89k subscribers, but she’s still a big influencer in her field.
Subscribers who get help from you are more likely to come back to you time and again. Although we all have a good laugh watching cat videos and other entertaining clips, the YouTube channels that tend to make the most money are those which genuinely help people.
- Is there an audience for your potential niche?
Once you’ve got an idea about your potential niche, you’ll need to make sure there are actually people out there who want to watch it. To test this out, think about a video you could make for your niche and try looking it up on YouTube. If there are a ton of results, your niche is probably not focused enough. If there are zero results, probably nobody is looking for that type of video.
You’re looking for somewhere in between the two extremes. If a couple of well-established channels have made a video or two on your topic, but haven’t really focused on it, you can be confident that there is an audience out there but not too much competition. You could also look for something that there are a lot of blog posts or websites about and be the first to migrate the content to YouTube.
For example, if you were to search ‘makeup tutorial’, you’ll find around 23 million results. Most of these are from established influencers who have already pretty much cornered the market, so getting a foot in the door as a new YouTuber here is going to be tough. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, but you’ll have to work hard to make your channel stand out. Be original, put your own spin on the genre and you’ll get there eventually.
If you were to start drilling down into that niche, you’ll start to see where the opportunities exist. For example, if you narrow down your makeup search for ‘makeup tutorial for Asian male’, the results are in the region of 496k videos, a good deal less than the high-level outcome. If this was your passion, your talent and you could make great videos about it, you stand a good chance of breaking into this niche relatively easily.
- What will you do differently to other channels?
With so much content out there to view, you’re not going to make your millions on YouTube if you’re boring. Viewers know that fun, quality content is out there, and will seek to find someone better than you if you’re too ‘run of the mill’ for their taste. People come to YouTube for information, but stick around for personality, so inject some of yours into everything you do.
There are loads of ways you can bring excitement and engagement to your YouTube channel. Think about the way you look, the way you talk, how your introduction is made, the effects used in your video, the overall concept, the direction of the camera work… the possibilities for making unique and exciting videos are pretty much limitless, but you’ll need to get creative if you want to stand out from the crowd.
- Can you make money in this niche?
The majority of people start YouTube channels with big dreams of making millions from their work. However, if you’re in the wrong niche to start with, you could fall flat on your face before you even start. Researching whether it’s possible to monetize your YouTube niche is crucial; here’s how to find out:
- Will a company be likely to sponsor you to use their products?
- Can you create a ‘side business’ alongside your channel?
Sponsorship can be super lucrative, but very difficult to secure. Is there a company out there that has products you could use in your videos? If so, do they already have preferred YouTubers that they sponsor? As for a side business, you could look to doing anything from offering one-to-one consultancy to selling products via Amazon on an affiliate deal. The important thing is that you need to have a plan from the start.
Check out the most profitable niches for monetizing your YouTube channel below.
- Can you generate enough content in this niche?
How many topics can you think of to make videos about for your channel? If you can’t think of at least 10 off the top of your head, that’s not a good sign. You’re going to need lots of ideas and inspiration for your YouTube videos, and if you’re already struggling to think of things to do, imagine how much you’ll be struggling two, three or four years down the line.
You need to absolutely love and be inspired by your niche because chances are you’ll be making videos on this topic for many years to come. Are you completely sure that you’ll be as enthusiastic about this topic next year? Will your passion for the content stand the test of time? Try to project how your life will change over the coming years and whether your niche will be suited to you as time goes on.
Best 14 Trending Niches on YouTube [High CPM Niches]
There are some YouTube niches that are easier to monetize than others. That’s not to say you should restrict yourself to only these niches, but if you’re stuck for inspiration, you’ll find these focused areas are a good place to start your search.
#1 Makeup
By far and away one of the most popular YouTube niches, makeup can be a great place to start. Although you’ll find lots of competition here, there is a massive audience too.
#2 Gaming
Gaming YouTubers are probably the most well-known; who hasn’t heard of PewDiePie? And they’re making money doing the thing they love most: gaming. It’s tough to stand out in this crowded niche, but if you can be fresh and different, you could start building your own fan base.
#3 Food
If you love to cook (or even just to eat!) food channels can be fab. Showing off recipes is a tried and tested moneymaker, as is showing how to use gadgets and tools in the kitchen.
#4 Tech review
We’re all using technology at home, at work, and in our pockets, and want to know that we’re buying the right stuff and using it the right way. People are hungry for this type of content, whether it’s apps and software or physical hardware.
#5 Travel
Travel channels have some of the sexiest content on the web, and people love to see what the world is like out there. Invest in a good action camera and find an angle to the places your visit, such as the best places to eat, hidden gems, etc.
#6 Fashion
Fashion can be great for YouTube, from reviewing clothing items to keeping your audience updated on the latest trends. It’s a great niche for getting sponsors and earning from affiliate marketing too.
#7 Sports
You’ll never run out of content if you’re busy keeping people up to date with their favorite sports teams. Just be careful not to show copyrighted material as you could find your hard work being taken down.
#8 Animals
It was cat video’s that birthed the notion of a viral video, and even today hilarious animal clips can garner a huge audience. As well as animals doing funny things, you could also make videos about animal care, training, and reviews of pet products.
#9 Photography
Thousands of budding photographers look to YouTube for good advice on how to take better shots. Photography channels can also review equipment and can benefit from affiliate links for these.
#10 Movies
If you’re a movie buff, why not take your opinions of the big screen to the small (and often tiny) screen? Post reviews, do top tens, or even create parodies of movies yourself. Just watch out for that copyright issue again.
#11 How-to tutorials
Everyone needs to know something in their life, whether it’s how to tie their shoelaces or how to change a spark plug on a car. Answering these ‘how to…’ questions could get you ranking highly and gathering millions of views.
# 12 Music
You have to be careful when doing a music channel, as you’re unlikely to get permission to play actual tracks. However, you could do commentaries on music news, give advice on instrument care or even teach people how to play. If you’re a musician yourself, this is a great way to get more exposure for your band.
#13 ASMR
One of the fastest-growing niches on YouTube, ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response to give it its full name, is all about the experience. Using soothing sounds and imagery to relax viewers, ASMR YouTubers look to create a physical response in the viewer to something happening in the video.
#14 Lifestyle
Lifestyle vloggers are those who don’t really fit into a particular niche. They tend to be highly immersed in the YouTube community, disclosing personal information about themselves and sharing their interests with their audience.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
With over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, it’s no longer enough just to make a great video. If you want to be found and to be able to monetize your YouTube channel, you’re going to need to find your niche.
If you’re serious about turning your YouTube hobby into a lucrative career, you’re going to need a niche that not only lets you do the things you’re passionate about but which also gets you the views you need. The perfect niche will be something that your audience is already looking for, not ridiculously competitive, and which still allows you to demonstrate your passion and knowledge.
It’s not easy finding a perfect niche on YouTube. You’re going to need some creativity, self-awareness, directed intention, and a good deal of thought, so be prepared to invest some time and energy into this process. If you don’t get it right the first time, take a moment to figure out where you went wrong and just try again. Or you can try some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to help you find your niche. You’ll also be able to use the platform to learn more about the niche of your similar channels. Let’s take a look at how you can start looking for your ideal niche on YouTube.
Best YouTube Video Editor for Beginners
Make your first YouTube video effortlessly with a versatile video editor Filmora.
Quick Jump Menu:
Is There an Audience for This Niche?
If you’re ready to start hunting down your niche, there are a few ways to go about it. You could start by listing your hobbies and looking for trends with those, or by thinking about what types of videos you like to make the most. How could what you do for a living inspire your channel or your knowledge of a particular topic?
The key is to discover where you can bring something unique or interesting to YouTube, hopefully by combining your passions, hobbies, and knowledge into one big ball of brilliance. For example, if you’re keen to do cooking tutorials but spent a year traveling Asia, why not do Asian-inspired cooking? Or if you have a passion for fashion but work as a recruitment consultant, why not offer content about dressing for work and interviews?
This sweet spot where your passion and talents meet with your video genre is where you’ll find your ultimate niche lurking.
Why Is It Important to Find Your Niche?
Finding a niche is all about giving your viewers what they want to see. Imagine you travel and upload vlogs about your travels every day. Almost all of your content is about travel, but then one day, randomly, you upload a video about cooking food. Your video was popular, you got more than 30k views, but only five people subscribed to your channel; why?
The answer is simple. If those who viewed the cooking video considered subscribing, they would have clicked onto your channel and seen that none of your other videos were about this topic. Despite uploading a good video, you seemed irrelevant to them, so they didn’t bother.
From the point of view of your subscribers, they want to know what you’re all about. They need to feel confident that, when they subscribe to you, they’ll be getting lots of quality content about the things they are most interested in. Having a clear and focused niche will allow you to do this for them.
Narrowing Down Your YouTube Niche
The smaller and more specific your focus, the easier you’ll find it to get and hold onto subscribers. For example, if you’re niche is about dog training, why not focus on even more about doing it about training pugs? If you’re doing a parenting vlog, make it more specific by doing a parenting vlog for mums of boys, or twins, or toddlers.
By narrowing down your focus, your audience will be much easier to market to and to appeal to. When someone from your target audience finds your channel, they’re going to think ‘wow, this is just what I’ve been looking for’, and they’ll watch, like, share and interact with your videos way more than someone who is just a little bit interested.
How to Find Your Niche [5 Tips]
If you’re still at a loss of how to identify the best niche for your YouTube channel, let us help. Here are some key things to think about when looking for your niche which will help you get where you need to be:
- What are you good at? What are you passionate about?
Make a list of things you’re good at. Don’t be modest now, this isn’t the time. Think about what other people would ask for your help with, and what you’re most confident with. Getting to grips with what you have a talent for is a great place to start.
An example of this is PONY Syndrome, a makeup artist renowned for her Taylor Swift transformation. She found that people would often come to her for makeup advice, so she started making videos of her techniques. Fast forward a couple of years and she’s got four million subscribers and a profitable YouTube channel.
You might not think you’re an ‘expert’ in an area, but often it’s the interesting combination of your talents and passions that makes you unique. Coach Tulin is a wonderful lady who is of a plus size but who is also passionate about fitness. She’s made a popular channel that demonstrates how to modify popular exercises to make them accessible for plus-size people, as well as showing just how to fit plus-size people can be! Her fan base is smaller, at 89k subscribers, but she’s still a big influencer in her field.
Subscribers who get help from you are more likely to come back to you time and again. Although we all have a good laugh watching cat videos and other entertaining clips, the YouTube channels that tend to make the most money are those which genuinely help people.
- Is there an audience for your potential niche?
Once you’ve got an idea about your potential niche, you’ll need to make sure there are actually people out there who want to watch it. To test this out, think about a video you could make for your niche and try looking it up on YouTube. If there are a ton of results, your niche is probably not focused enough. If there are zero results, probably nobody is looking for that type of video.
You’re looking for somewhere in between the two extremes. If a couple of well-established channels have made a video or two on your topic, but haven’t really focused on it, you can be confident that there is an audience out there but not too much competition. You could also look for something that there are a lot of blog posts or websites about and be the first to migrate the content to YouTube.
For example, if you were to search ‘makeup tutorial’, you’ll find around 23 million results. Most of these are from established influencers who have already pretty much cornered the market, so getting a foot in the door as a new YouTuber here is going to be tough. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, but you’ll have to work hard to make your channel stand out. Be original, put your own spin on the genre and you’ll get there eventually.
If you were to start drilling down into that niche, you’ll start to see where the opportunities exist. For example, if you narrow down your makeup search for ‘makeup tutorial for Asian male’, the results are in the region of 496k videos, a good deal less than the high-level outcome. If this was your passion, your talent and you could make great videos about it, you stand a good chance of breaking into this niche relatively easily.
- What will you do differently to other channels?
With so much content out there to view, you’re not going to make your millions on YouTube if you’re boring. Viewers know that fun, quality content is out there, and will seek to find someone better than you if you’re too ‘run of the mill’ for their taste. People come to YouTube for information, but stick around for personality, so inject some of yours into everything you do.
There are loads of ways you can bring excitement and engagement to your YouTube channel. Think about the way you look, the way you talk, how your introduction is made, the effects used in your video, the overall concept, the direction of the camera work… the possibilities for making unique and exciting videos are pretty much limitless, but you’ll need to get creative if you want to stand out from the crowd.
- Can you make money in this niche?
The majority of people start YouTube channels with big dreams of making millions from their work. However, if you’re in the wrong niche to start with, you could fall flat on your face before you even start. Researching whether it’s possible to monetize your YouTube niche is crucial; here’s how to find out:
- Will a company be likely to sponsor you to use their products?
- Can you create a ‘side business’ alongside your channel?
Sponsorship can be super lucrative, but very difficult to secure. Is there a company out there that has products you could use in your videos? If so, do they already have preferred YouTubers that they sponsor? As for a side business, you could look to doing anything from offering one-to-one consultancy to selling products via Amazon on an affiliate deal. The important thing is that you need to have a plan from the start.
Check out the most profitable niches for monetizing your YouTube channel below.
- Can you generate enough content in this niche?
How many topics can you think of to make videos about for your channel? If you can’t think of at least 10 off the top of your head, that’s not a good sign. You’re going to need lots of ideas and inspiration for your YouTube videos, and if you’re already struggling to think of things to do, imagine how much you’ll be struggling two, three or four years down the line.
You need to absolutely love and be inspired by your niche because chances are you’ll be making videos on this topic for many years to come. Are you completely sure that you’ll be as enthusiastic about this topic next year? Will your passion for the content stand the test of time? Try to project how your life will change over the coming years and whether your niche will be suited to you as time goes on.
Best 14 Trending Niches on YouTube [High CPM Niches]
There are some YouTube niches that are easier to monetize than others. That’s not to say you should restrict yourself to only these niches, but if you’re stuck for inspiration, you’ll find these focused areas are a good place to start your search.
#1 Makeup
By far and away one of the most popular YouTube niches, makeup can be a great place to start. Although you’ll find lots of competition here, there is a massive audience too.
#2 Gaming
Gaming YouTubers are probably the most well-known; who hasn’t heard of PewDiePie? And they’re making money doing the thing they love most: gaming. It’s tough to stand out in this crowded niche, but if you can be fresh and different, you could start building your own fan base.
#3 Food
If you love to cook (or even just to eat!) food channels can be fab. Showing off recipes is a tried and tested moneymaker, as is showing how to use gadgets and tools in the kitchen.
#4 Tech review
We’re all using technology at home, at work, and in our pockets, and want to know that we’re buying the right stuff and using it the right way. People are hungry for this type of content, whether it’s apps and software or physical hardware.
#5 Travel
Travel channels have some of the sexiest content on the web, and people love to see what the world is like out there. Invest in a good action camera and find an angle to the places your visit, such as the best places to eat, hidden gems, etc.
#6 Fashion
Fashion can be great for YouTube, from reviewing clothing items to keeping your audience updated on the latest trends. It’s a great niche for getting sponsors and earning from affiliate marketing too.
#7 Sports
You’ll never run out of content if you’re busy keeping people up to date with their favorite sports teams. Just be careful not to show copyrighted material as you could find your hard work being taken down.
#8 Animals
It was cat video’s that birthed the notion of a viral video, and even today hilarious animal clips can garner a huge audience. As well as animals doing funny things, you could also make videos about animal care, training, and reviews of pet products.
#9 Photography
Thousands of budding photographers look to YouTube for good advice on how to take better shots. Photography channels can also review equipment and can benefit from affiliate links for these.
#10 Movies
If you’re a movie buff, why not take your opinions of the big screen to the small (and often tiny) screen? Post reviews, do top tens, or even create parodies of movies yourself. Just watch out for that copyright issue again.
#11 How-to tutorials
Everyone needs to know something in their life, whether it’s how to tie their shoelaces or how to change a spark plug on a car. Answering these ‘how to…’ questions could get you ranking highly and gathering millions of views.
# 12 Music
You have to be careful when doing a music channel, as you’re unlikely to get permission to play actual tracks. However, you could do commentaries on music news, give advice on instrument care or even teach people how to play. If you’re a musician yourself, this is a great way to get more exposure for your band.
#13 ASMR
One of the fastest-growing niches on YouTube, ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response to give it its full name, is all about the experience. Using soothing sounds and imagery to relax viewers, ASMR YouTubers look to create a physical response in the viewer to something happening in the video.
#14 Lifestyle
Lifestyle vloggers are those who don’t really fit into a particular niche. They tend to be highly immersed in the YouTube community, disclosing personal information about themselves and sharing their interests with their audience.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
With over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, it’s no longer enough just to make a great video. If you want to be found and to be able to monetize your YouTube channel, you’re going to need to find your niche.
If you’re serious about turning your YouTube hobby into a lucrative career, you’re going to need a niche that not only lets you do the things you’re passionate about but which also gets you the views you need. The perfect niche will be something that your audience is already looking for, not ridiculously competitive, and which still allows you to demonstrate your passion and knowledge.
It’s not easy finding a perfect niche on YouTube. You’re going to need some creativity, self-awareness, directed intention, and a good deal of thought, so be prepared to invest some time and energy into this process. If you don’t get it right the first time, take a moment to figure out where you went wrong and just try again. Or you can try some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to help you find your niche. You’ll also be able to use the platform to learn more about the niche of your similar channels. Let’s take a look at how you can start looking for your ideal niche on YouTube.
Best YouTube Video Editor for Beginners
Make your first YouTube video effortlessly with a versatile video editor Filmora.
Quick Jump Menu:
Is There an Audience for This Niche?
If you’re ready to start hunting down your niche, there are a few ways to go about it. You could start by listing your hobbies and looking for trends with those, or by thinking about what types of videos you like to make the most. How could what you do for a living inspire your channel or your knowledge of a particular topic?
The key is to discover where you can bring something unique or interesting to YouTube, hopefully by combining your passions, hobbies, and knowledge into one big ball of brilliance. For example, if you’re keen to do cooking tutorials but spent a year traveling Asia, why not do Asian-inspired cooking? Or if you have a passion for fashion but work as a recruitment consultant, why not offer content about dressing for work and interviews?
This sweet spot where your passion and talents meet with your video genre is where you’ll find your ultimate niche lurking.
Why Is It Important to Find Your Niche?
Finding a niche is all about giving your viewers what they want to see. Imagine you travel and upload vlogs about your travels every day. Almost all of your content is about travel, but then one day, randomly, you upload a video about cooking food. Your video was popular, you got more than 30k views, but only five people subscribed to your channel; why?
The answer is simple. If those who viewed the cooking video considered subscribing, they would have clicked onto your channel and seen that none of your other videos were about this topic. Despite uploading a good video, you seemed irrelevant to them, so they didn’t bother.
From the point of view of your subscribers, they want to know what you’re all about. They need to feel confident that, when they subscribe to you, they’ll be getting lots of quality content about the things they are most interested in. Having a clear and focused niche will allow you to do this for them.
Narrowing Down Your YouTube Niche
The smaller and more specific your focus, the easier you’ll find it to get and hold onto subscribers. For example, if you’re niche is about dog training, why not focus on even more about doing it about training pugs? If you’re doing a parenting vlog, make it more specific by doing a parenting vlog for mums of boys, or twins, or toddlers.
By narrowing down your focus, your audience will be much easier to market to and to appeal to. When someone from your target audience finds your channel, they’re going to think ‘wow, this is just what I’ve been looking for’, and they’ll watch, like, share and interact with your videos way more than someone who is just a little bit interested.
How to Find Your Niche [5 Tips]
If you’re still at a loss of how to identify the best niche for your YouTube channel, let us help. Here are some key things to think about when looking for your niche which will help you get where you need to be:
- What are you good at? What are you passionate about?
Make a list of things you’re good at. Don’t be modest now, this isn’t the time. Think about what other people would ask for your help with, and what you’re most confident with. Getting to grips with what you have a talent for is a great place to start.
An example of this is PONY Syndrome, a makeup artist renowned for her Taylor Swift transformation. She found that people would often come to her for makeup advice, so she started making videos of her techniques. Fast forward a couple of years and she’s got four million subscribers and a profitable YouTube channel.
You might not think you’re an ‘expert’ in an area, but often it’s the interesting combination of your talents and passions that makes you unique. Coach Tulin is a wonderful lady who is of a plus size but who is also passionate about fitness. She’s made a popular channel that demonstrates how to modify popular exercises to make them accessible for plus-size people, as well as showing just how to fit plus-size people can be! Her fan base is smaller, at 89k subscribers, but she’s still a big influencer in her field.
Subscribers who get help from you are more likely to come back to you time and again. Although we all have a good laugh watching cat videos and other entertaining clips, the YouTube channels that tend to make the most money are those which genuinely help people.
- Is there an audience for your potential niche?
Once you’ve got an idea about your potential niche, you’ll need to make sure there are actually people out there who want to watch it. To test this out, think about a video you could make for your niche and try looking it up on YouTube. If there are a ton of results, your niche is probably not focused enough. If there are zero results, probably nobody is looking for that type of video.
You’re looking for somewhere in between the two extremes. If a couple of well-established channels have made a video or two on your topic, but haven’t really focused on it, you can be confident that there is an audience out there but not too much competition. You could also look for something that there are a lot of blog posts or websites about and be the first to migrate the content to YouTube.
For example, if you were to search ‘makeup tutorial’, you’ll find around 23 million results. Most of these are from established influencers who have already pretty much cornered the market, so getting a foot in the door as a new YouTuber here is going to be tough. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, but you’ll have to work hard to make your channel stand out. Be original, put your own spin on the genre and you’ll get there eventually.
If you were to start drilling down into that niche, you’ll start to see where the opportunities exist. For example, if you narrow down your makeup search for ‘makeup tutorial for Asian male’, the results are in the region of 496k videos, a good deal less than the high-level outcome. If this was your passion, your talent and you could make great videos about it, you stand a good chance of breaking into this niche relatively easily.
- What will you do differently to other channels?
With so much content out there to view, you’re not going to make your millions on YouTube if you’re boring. Viewers know that fun, quality content is out there, and will seek to find someone better than you if you’re too ‘run of the mill’ for their taste. People come to YouTube for information, but stick around for personality, so inject some of yours into everything you do.
There are loads of ways you can bring excitement and engagement to your YouTube channel. Think about the way you look, the way you talk, how your introduction is made, the effects used in your video, the overall concept, the direction of the camera work… the possibilities for making unique and exciting videos are pretty much limitless, but you’ll need to get creative if you want to stand out from the crowd.
- Can you make money in this niche?
The majority of people start YouTube channels with big dreams of making millions from their work. However, if you’re in the wrong niche to start with, you could fall flat on your face before you even start. Researching whether it’s possible to monetize your YouTube niche is crucial; here’s how to find out:
- Will a company be likely to sponsor you to use their products?
- Can you create a ‘side business’ alongside your channel?
Sponsorship can be super lucrative, but very difficult to secure. Is there a company out there that has products you could use in your videos? If so, do they already have preferred YouTubers that they sponsor? As for a side business, you could look to doing anything from offering one-to-one consultancy to selling products via Amazon on an affiliate deal. The important thing is that you need to have a plan from the start.
Check out the most profitable niches for monetizing your YouTube channel below.
- Can you generate enough content in this niche?
How many topics can you think of to make videos about for your channel? If you can’t think of at least 10 off the top of your head, that’s not a good sign. You’re going to need lots of ideas and inspiration for your YouTube videos, and if you’re already struggling to think of things to do, imagine how much you’ll be struggling two, three or four years down the line.
You need to absolutely love and be inspired by your niche because chances are you’ll be making videos on this topic for many years to come. Are you completely sure that you’ll be as enthusiastic about this topic next year? Will your passion for the content stand the test of time? Try to project how your life will change over the coming years and whether your niche will be suited to you as time goes on.
Best 14 Trending Niches on YouTube [High CPM Niches]
There are some YouTube niches that are easier to monetize than others. That’s not to say you should restrict yourself to only these niches, but if you’re stuck for inspiration, you’ll find these focused areas are a good place to start your search.
#1 Makeup
By far and away one of the most popular YouTube niches, makeup can be a great place to start. Although you’ll find lots of competition here, there is a massive audience too.
#2 Gaming
Gaming YouTubers are probably the most well-known; who hasn’t heard of PewDiePie? And they’re making money doing the thing they love most: gaming. It’s tough to stand out in this crowded niche, but if you can be fresh and different, you could start building your own fan base.
#3 Food
If you love to cook (or even just to eat!) food channels can be fab. Showing off recipes is a tried and tested moneymaker, as is showing how to use gadgets and tools in the kitchen.
#4 Tech review
We’re all using technology at home, at work, and in our pockets, and want to know that we’re buying the right stuff and using it the right way. People are hungry for this type of content, whether it’s apps and software or physical hardware.
#5 Travel
Travel channels have some of the sexiest content on the web, and people love to see what the world is like out there. Invest in a good action camera and find an angle to the places your visit, such as the best places to eat, hidden gems, etc.
#6 Fashion
Fashion can be great for YouTube, from reviewing clothing items to keeping your audience updated on the latest trends. It’s a great niche for getting sponsors and earning from affiliate marketing too.
#7 Sports
You’ll never run out of content if you’re busy keeping people up to date with their favorite sports teams. Just be careful not to show copyrighted material as you could find your hard work being taken down.
#8 Animals
It was cat video’s that birthed the notion of a viral video, and even today hilarious animal clips can garner a huge audience. As well as animals doing funny things, you could also make videos about animal care, training, and reviews of pet products.
#9 Photography
Thousands of budding photographers look to YouTube for good advice on how to take better shots. Photography channels can also review equipment and can benefit from affiliate links for these.
#10 Movies
If you’re a movie buff, why not take your opinions of the big screen to the small (and often tiny) screen? Post reviews, do top tens, or even create parodies of movies yourself. Just watch out for that copyright issue again.
#11 How-to tutorials
Everyone needs to know something in their life, whether it’s how to tie their shoelaces or how to change a spark plug on a car. Answering these ‘how to…’ questions could get you ranking highly and gathering millions of views.
# 12 Music
You have to be careful when doing a music channel, as you’re unlikely to get permission to play actual tracks. However, you could do commentaries on music news, give advice on instrument care or even teach people how to play. If you’re a musician yourself, this is a great way to get more exposure for your band.
#13 ASMR
One of the fastest-growing niches on YouTube, ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response to give it its full name, is all about the experience. Using soothing sounds and imagery to relax viewers, ASMR YouTubers look to create a physical response in the viewer to something happening in the video.
#14 Lifestyle
Lifestyle vloggers are those who don’t really fit into a particular niche. They tend to be highly immersed in the YouTube community, disclosing personal information about themselves and sharing their interests with their audience.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
With over 300 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute, it’s no longer enough just to make a great video. If you want to be found and to be able to monetize your YouTube channel, you’re going to need to find your niche.
If you’re serious about turning your YouTube hobby into a lucrative career, you’re going to need a niche that not only lets you do the things you’re passionate about but which also gets you the views you need. The perfect niche will be something that your audience is already looking for, not ridiculously competitive, and which still allows you to demonstrate your passion and knowledge.
It’s not easy finding a perfect niche on YouTube. You’re going to need some creativity, self-awareness, directed intention, and a good deal of thought, so be prepared to invest some time and energy into this process. If you don’t get it right the first time, take a moment to figure out where you went wrong and just try again. Or you can try some influencer marketing platform such as InflueNex to help you find your niche. You’ll also be able to use the platform to learn more about the niche of your similar channels. Let’s take a look at how you can start looking for your ideal niche on YouTube.
Best YouTube Video Editor for Beginners
Make your first YouTube video effortlessly with a versatile video editor Filmora.
Quick Jump Menu:
Is There an Audience for This Niche?
If you’re ready to start hunting down your niche, there are a few ways to go about it. You could start by listing your hobbies and looking for trends with those, or by thinking about what types of videos you like to make the most. How could what you do for a living inspire your channel or your knowledge of a particular topic?
The key is to discover where you can bring something unique or interesting to YouTube, hopefully by combining your passions, hobbies, and knowledge into one big ball of brilliance. For example, if you’re keen to do cooking tutorials but spent a year traveling Asia, why not do Asian-inspired cooking? Or if you have a passion for fashion but work as a recruitment consultant, why not offer content about dressing for work and interviews?
This sweet spot where your passion and talents meet with your video genre is where you’ll find your ultimate niche lurking.
Why Is It Important to Find Your Niche?
Finding a niche is all about giving your viewers what they want to see. Imagine you travel and upload vlogs about your travels every day. Almost all of your content is about travel, but then one day, randomly, you upload a video about cooking food. Your video was popular, you got more than 30k views, but only five people subscribed to your channel; why?
The answer is simple. If those who viewed the cooking video considered subscribing, they would have clicked onto your channel and seen that none of your other videos were about this topic. Despite uploading a good video, you seemed irrelevant to them, so they didn’t bother.
From the point of view of your subscribers, they want to know what you’re all about. They need to feel confident that, when they subscribe to you, they’ll be getting lots of quality content about the things they are most interested in. Having a clear and focused niche will allow you to do this for them.
Narrowing Down Your YouTube Niche
The smaller and more specific your focus, the easier you’ll find it to get and hold onto subscribers. For example, if you’re niche is about dog training, why not focus on even more about doing it about training pugs? If you’re doing a parenting vlog, make it more specific by doing a parenting vlog for mums of boys, or twins, or toddlers.
By narrowing down your focus, your audience will be much easier to market to and to appeal to. When someone from your target audience finds your channel, they’re going to think ‘wow, this is just what I’ve been looking for’, and they’ll watch, like, share and interact with your videos way more than someone who is just a little bit interested.
How to Find Your Niche [5 Tips]
If you’re still at a loss of how to identify the best niche for your YouTube channel, let us help. Here are some key things to think about when looking for your niche which will help you get where you need to be:
- What are you good at? What are you passionate about?
Make a list of things you’re good at. Don’t be modest now, this isn’t the time. Think about what other people would ask for your help with, and what you’re most confident with. Getting to grips with what you have a talent for is a great place to start.
An example of this is PONY Syndrome, a makeup artist renowned for her Taylor Swift transformation. She found that people would often come to her for makeup advice, so she started making videos of her techniques. Fast forward a couple of years and she’s got four million subscribers and a profitable YouTube channel.
You might not think you’re an ‘expert’ in an area, but often it’s the interesting combination of your talents and passions that makes you unique. Coach Tulin is a wonderful lady who is of a plus size but who is also passionate about fitness. She’s made a popular channel that demonstrates how to modify popular exercises to make them accessible for plus-size people, as well as showing just how to fit plus-size people can be! Her fan base is smaller, at 89k subscribers, but she’s still a big influencer in her field.
Subscribers who get help from you are more likely to come back to you time and again. Although we all have a good laugh watching cat videos and other entertaining clips, the YouTube channels that tend to make the most money are those which genuinely help people.
- Is there an audience for your potential niche?
Once you’ve got an idea about your potential niche, you’ll need to make sure there are actually people out there who want to watch it. To test this out, think about a video you could make for your niche and try looking it up on YouTube. If there are a ton of results, your niche is probably not focused enough. If there are zero results, probably nobody is looking for that type of video.
You’re looking for somewhere in between the two extremes. If a couple of well-established channels have made a video or two on your topic, but haven’t really focused on it, you can be confident that there is an audience out there but not too much competition. You could also look for something that there are a lot of blog posts or websites about and be the first to migrate the content to YouTube.
For example, if you were to search ‘makeup tutorial’, you’ll find around 23 million results. Most of these are from established influencers who have already pretty much cornered the market, so getting a foot in the door as a new YouTuber here is going to be tough. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, but you’ll have to work hard to make your channel stand out. Be original, put your own spin on the genre and you’ll get there eventually.
If you were to start drilling down into that niche, you’ll start to see where the opportunities exist. For example, if you narrow down your makeup search for ‘makeup tutorial for Asian male’, the results are in the region of 496k videos, a good deal less than the high-level outcome. If this was your passion, your talent and you could make great videos about it, you stand a good chance of breaking into this niche relatively easily.
- What will you do differently to other channels?
With so much content out there to view, you’re not going to make your millions on YouTube if you’re boring. Viewers know that fun, quality content is out there, and will seek to find someone better than you if you’re too ‘run of the mill’ for their taste. People come to YouTube for information, but stick around for personality, so inject some of yours into everything you do.
There are loads of ways you can bring excitement and engagement to your YouTube channel. Think about the way you look, the way you talk, how your introduction is made, the effects used in your video, the overall concept, the direction of the camera work… the possibilities for making unique and exciting videos are pretty much limitless, but you’ll need to get creative if you want to stand out from the crowd.
- Can you make money in this niche?
The majority of people start YouTube channels with big dreams of making millions from their work. However, if you’re in the wrong niche to start with, you could fall flat on your face before you even start. Researching whether it’s possible to monetize your YouTube niche is crucial; here’s how to find out:
- Will a company be likely to sponsor you to use their products?
- Can you create a ‘side business’ alongside your channel?
Sponsorship can be super lucrative, but very difficult to secure. Is there a company out there that has products you could use in your videos? If so, do they already have preferred YouTubers that they sponsor? As for a side business, you could look to doing anything from offering one-to-one consultancy to selling products via Amazon on an affiliate deal. The important thing is that you need to have a plan from the start.
Check out the most profitable niches for monetizing your YouTube channel below.
- Can you generate enough content in this niche?
How many topics can you think of to make videos about for your channel? If you can’t think of at least 10 off the top of your head, that’s not a good sign. You’re going to need lots of ideas and inspiration for your YouTube videos, and if you’re already struggling to think of things to do, imagine how much you’ll be struggling two, three or four years down the line.
You need to absolutely love and be inspired by your niche because chances are you’ll be making videos on this topic for many years to come. Are you completely sure that you’ll be as enthusiastic about this topic next year? Will your passion for the content stand the test of time? Try to project how your life will change over the coming years and whether your niche will be suited to you as time goes on.
Best 14 Trending Niches on YouTube [High CPM Niches]
There are some YouTube niches that are easier to monetize than others. That’s not to say you should restrict yourself to only these niches, but if you’re stuck for inspiration, you’ll find these focused areas are a good place to start your search.
#1 Makeup
By far and away one of the most popular YouTube niches, makeup can be a great place to start. Although you’ll find lots of competition here, there is a massive audience too.
#2 Gaming
Gaming YouTubers are probably the most well-known; who hasn’t heard of PewDiePie? And they’re making money doing the thing they love most: gaming. It’s tough to stand out in this crowded niche, but if you can be fresh and different, you could start building your own fan base.
#3 Food
If you love to cook (or even just to eat!) food channels can be fab. Showing off recipes is a tried and tested moneymaker, as is showing how to use gadgets and tools in the kitchen.
#4 Tech review
We’re all using technology at home, at work, and in our pockets, and want to know that we’re buying the right stuff and using it the right way. People are hungry for this type of content, whether it’s apps and software or physical hardware.
#5 Travel
Travel channels have some of the sexiest content on the web, and people love to see what the world is like out there. Invest in a good action camera and find an angle to the places your visit, such as the best places to eat, hidden gems, etc.
#6 Fashion
Fashion can be great for YouTube, from reviewing clothing items to keeping your audience updated on the latest trends. It’s a great niche for getting sponsors and earning from affiliate marketing too.
#7 Sports
You’ll never run out of content if you’re busy keeping people up to date with their favorite sports teams. Just be careful not to show copyrighted material as you could find your hard work being taken down.
#8 Animals
It was cat video’s that birthed the notion of a viral video, and even today hilarious animal clips can garner a huge audience. As well as animals doing funny things, you could also make videos about animal care, training, and reviews of pet products.
#9 Photography
Thousands of budding photographers look to YouTube for good advice on how to take better shots. Photography channels can also review equipment and can benefit from affiliate links for these.
#10 Movies
If you’re a movie buff, why not take your opinions of the big screen to the small (and often tiny) screen? Post reviews, do top tens, or even create parodies of movies yourself. Just watch out for that copyright issue again.
#11 How-to tutorials
Everyone needs to know something in their life, whether it’s how to tie their shoelaces or how to change a spark plug on a car. Answering these ‘how to…’ questions could get you ranking highly and gathering millions of views.
# 12 Music
You have to be careful when doing a music channel, as you’re unlikely to get permission to play actual tracks. However, you could do commentaries on music news, give advice on instrument care or even teach people how to play. If you’re a musician yourself, this is a great way to get more exposure for your band.
#13 ASMR
One of the fastest-growing niches on YouTube, ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response to give it its full name, is all about the experience. Using soothing sounds and imagery to relax viewers, ASMR YouTubers look to create a physical response in the viewer to something happening in the video.
#14 Lifestyle
Lifestyle vloggers are those who don’t really fit into a particular niche. They tend to be highly immersed in the YouTube community, disclosing personal information about themselves and sharing their interests with their audience.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
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- Title: Beginner's Blueprint for Viral Video SEO for 2024
- Author: Kevin
- Created at : 2024-05-25 14:41:41
- Updated at : 2024-05-26 14:41:41
- Link: https://youtube-videos.techidaily.com/beginners-blueprint-for-viral-video-seo-for-2024/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
