A successful YouTube video relies on three pillars: the thumbnail, video quality, and -often underestimated - the choice of topic. Even the best thumbnail or highest production quality won't help much if the topic doesn't resonate with your audience. But how do you find the right topic? This article will guide you with practical tips and clear examples.
Why Choosing the Right Topic Matters
YouTube operates like a marketplace: supply and demand determine success. Your video is your product, and every good product needs a market.
Example: Music Channel
Let’s say you run a music channel and want to cover the song "I See Fire" from the first Hobbit movie. A quick look at Google Trends reveals that interest in this song has declined significantly since 2017. What does this mean?
The Competition: Numerous major channels have already covered this song and dominate the niche.
The Demand: It's too low for you to compete with these established channels.
Conclusion: The market is saturated, and the topic has lost its appeal.
Current Trends and Evergreen Topics: The Key to Success
What works better?
Trends: Topics that are currently viral.
Evergreens: Timeless topics with consistent demand.
Before choosing a topic, use tools like Google Trends, Glimpse AI, VidIQ, or TubeBuddy to analyze both demand and competition. With the VidIQ browser extension, you can access crucial data directly in YouTube's search bar:
Search Volume
Competition Level
Success Probability
Choosing the Right Topic Applies to All YouTube Categories
The principle of “demand before supply” isn’t limited to music channels. Whether you create content on tech, gaming, or vlogs - if there’s no demand, even the best video won’t achieve success.
A Clear Comparison
You could design the most beautiful packaging, create the best product photos, and launch an incredible marketing campaign for an iPhone 10. But if no one wants to buy an iPhone 10 today, you simply won’t sell it.
The same principle applies to YouTube topics: make sure there’s a market for your content.
If you’ve ruled out issues with your thumbnail or video quality as the reason for poor performance, the problem is most likely your choice of topic.
In such cases, you can try testing a new thumbnail or, if possible, crafting a more attractive title. However, in most scenarios, this won’t significantly change the outcome.
Instead, focus on your next video and research whether there’s genuine demand for the topic - unless it’s truly unique content.
How to Identify the Right Demand
Google Trends and YouTube Search
Google Trends is a great starting point, but external tools like VidIQ or TubeBuddy can also be helpful as they offer advanced keyword research features.
Alternatively, use the YouTube search bar directly. Enter your desired topic and filter the results using the upload date function. Ideally, limit the search to videos from the last month.
If this yields too few results, extend the timeframe to up to a year, but keep in mind that the reliability of such results decreases over time.
The new YouTube algorithm is heavily focused on personalization. Search results are increasingly tailored to user data, meaning past trends may be less relevant today.
To assess the potential of your chosen topic, look for channels of similar size that have had recent success with it. This indicates that the topic has potential. Avoid using large channels as benchmarks, as their large subscriber base often guarantees attention regardless of the topic.
Competitor Analysis and Inspiration
Once you’ve identified a topic, analyze your competition:
What are others doing well?
What can you do better?
How can you stand out?
The (free) VidIQ browser extension provides essential metrics like “Views per Hour” and the “Outlier Score”, which indicates how well a video performs compared to others on the same channel.
This feature saves a significant amount of time by allowing you to evaluate videos directly in search results without having to click on each one for analysis.
Learn From the Best
YouTube professionals like Ruri Ohama share detailed insights on their channels about how they achieved over a million subscribers in a short time through topic research and optimization. Their strategies are easy to adapt to your own channel.
Additionally, the creators of VidIQ and TubeBuddy regularly offer valuable tips on their respective channels. Nate Black's channel is another excellent resource for actionable advice.
Conclusion: Successful Topic Selection Is Achievable
With the right preparation, you can identify topics that:
Have high demand.
Face low competition.
Align with your channel’s niche.
Use tools and YouTube search to make well-informed decisions. A carefully chosen topic is the foundation for a successful video - and, ultimately, the growth of your channel.
This article is part of a comprehensive series focused on all aspects of YouTube optimization. Only if you apply all the tips together can you get the most out of your video and your work. Check out the YouTube Guide Overview here:
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