YouTube ’s 2.5 billion users watch 694,000 minutes of video each minute. And the platform’s recommendation system is responsible for the majority of those views.
So it’s no surprise that marketers, influencers, and creators are obsessed with unlocking the secret of the Youtube algorithm. Getting recommended to the right viewers at the right time is the ticket to YouTube success, but how does it work? What makes it tick? And, most importantly, how can we take advantage of this mysterious formula?
Well look no more we have the complete guide to success, that we already applied to our customers who succeeded on the platform.
How does the YouTube algorithm work in 2023?
The YouTube algorithm in 2023 delivers distinct recommendations to each user. These recommendations are tailored to users’ interests and watch history and weighted based on factors like the videos’ performance and quality.
When deciding what to recommend to each user, the YouTube algorithm takes into account the following:
- What videos have they enjoyed in the past? If you’ve watched a 30-minute video about the Prop Firms trading or gave it a like or comment, it’s probably safe to say you found it interesting. Expect more flag content coming your way.
- What topics or channels have they watched previously? If you subscribe to the Bloomberg YouTube channel, the algorithm will likely show you more content like that.
- What videos are typically watched together? If you watch “How to trade forex,” and most people who watch that also watch “Trade Forex” YouTube might recommend that as followup viewing.
Of course, YouTube wants to recommend relevant, quality videos to each of its precious users. It’s not exactly a positive experience to follow a suggestion to watch “The World’s 36 Most Stylish Cats” and find it boring, low-quality or inappropriate.
So how does YouTube evaluate if a video is worthy of recommendation?
First: it’s not about the content. The actual content of your video is not evaluated by the YouTube algorithm at all. Videos about how great YouTube is aren’t more likely to go viral than a video about how to knit a scarf.
“Our algorithm doesn’t pay attention to videos; it pays attention to viewers. So, rather than trying to make videos that’ll make an algorithm happy, focus on making videos that make your viewers happy,” says YouTube.
Instead, YouTube looks at the following metrics for its recommendation algorithm:
- Do people actually watch it? When a video is recommended, do people actually watch it, ignore it, or click “not interested”?
- How long do people watch it? The YouTube algorithm looks at both the view duration and the average percentage viewed to inform the ranking.
- Did viewers like it? Likes and dislikes are evaluated, as are engagement rates and post-watch survey results.
- What is your regional context? The time of day and the language you speak also influence the YouTube algorithm.
How YouTube determines the algorithm
More than 500 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube every single minute. The search system would be absolute chaos without the YouTube algorithm trying to help you find the most relevant content.
That’s right: the goal isn’t to bring you the most popular or the most recent video on your search term. It’s to bring you the video that you specifically will find the most useful.
That’s why two different users searching for the same term may see a totally different list of results.
YouTube’s search algorithm prioritises the following elements:
- Relevance: The YouTube algorithm tries to match factors like title, tags, content, and description to your search query.
- Engagement: Signals include watch time and watch percentage, as well as likes, comments, and shares.
- Quality: To evaluate quality, the algorithm looks at signals to determine the channel’s authority and trustworthiness on a given topic.
- User search and watch history: What have you enjoyed or viewed in the past? This will impact which search results the YouTube algorithm will assume will be helpful.
That being said: these factors are combined in slightly different ways, depending on where on YouTube you are receiving recommendations.
YouTube recommends videos in three different places on the platform.
Home
This is what you see when you open up the YouTube app or visit the YouTube website. It’s personalised to each viewer. The recommendation engine selects videos for the Home screen based on…
- Performance of the video
- Watch and search history of the user
Suggested Videos
These are the videos recommended alongside the video you’re already watching: the list of vids that appear under ‘Up Next.” The algorithm suggests videos here based on…
- The topic of the current video
- The viewer’s watch history
Search
The keyword obviously plays a role here. But each user’s search results will be slightly different thanks to the personalized signals the algorithm takes into account. These signals include:
- The relevance of the title, description, and video content to the search term
- Performance and engagement of video
What is the YouTube shorts algorithm?
YouTube Shorts are short, vertical videos created using a smartphone and uploaded directly to YouTube from the YouTube app, like Stories. Millions of YouTube viewers are watching Shorts daily… so don’t sleep on this new format.
YouTube’s VP of Product Management described Shorts as “a new short-form video experience for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones,” and goes on to say, “Shorts is a new way to express yourself in 15 seconds or less”.
But how do you get your Shorts discovered?
YouTube users can find and watch Shorts on the YouTube homepage or via the Shorts tab on the website or app. Shorts are subject to the same recommendation signals as “long” YouTube videos. (YouTube Classic?)
Here’s what the YouTube Shorts algorithm takes into account:
- Relevance: Do the title, tags, content, and description match the search term?
- Engagement: Do other people like and comment on this video?
- User watch history: What have you enjoyed or viewed in the past?
- Similar content: What other Shorts do similar audiences like to watch?
- Watch time: Less important than for classic videos. But if someone can’t even sit through a 15-second video, that’s probably not a good sign.
“The rise of vertical video hasn’t changed the main algorithm per se, but YouTube Shorts are creating a big new opportunity for creators,” they say. “If you’re already running an Instagram Reels or TikTok strategy, publishing on YouTube Shorts seems to be an easy win.”
11 tips to improve your organic reach on YouTube
Do your keyword research
There’s no human being sitting at YouTube headquarters watching your video and ranking it.
Instead, the algorithm looks at your metadata as it decides what the video is about, which videos or categories it’s related to, and who might want to watch it.
When it comes to describing your video for the algorithm, you want to use accurate, concise language that people are already using when they search.
Once you’ve identified your primary keywords, you’ll want to use them in four places:
- In the video’s file name (i.e., ForexTrading.mov)
- In the video’s title (using catchy natural language like “Real account Forex Prop Trading results”)
- In the YouTube video description (especially within the first two lines, above the fold)
- In the video’s script (and therefore in the video’s subtitles and closed captions).
But there’s one place you don’t need to put your keywords:
- In the video’s tags. According to Youtube, tags “play a minimal role in video discovery” and are most helpful if your keyword or channel name is often misspelled. Adding excessive tags to your video description could even harm your video. It’s against YouTube’s policies on spam, deceptive practices, and scams.
Make it impossible for people to resist clicking on your thumbnail
Appeal is the word YouTube uses to describe how a video entices a person to take a risk and watch something new. While YouTube itself doesn’t care what your thumbnail looks like visually, it is keeping track of whether or not people actually click through.
To maximize your video’s appeal:
- Upload a custom thumbnail (and keep the visual style consistent across all your thumbnails)
- Write an intriguing, catchy title—the kind you can’t not click on
- Remember the first sentence or so of the description will show up in search, so make it interesting and relevant.
Keep people watching your video, and all your videos
Once you have a viewer watching one video, make it easy for them to keep watching your content and stay within your channel’s ecosystem.
To this end, use:
- Cards: flag relevant other videos in your video
- End screens: end with a CTA to watch another relevant video
- Playlists: of topically similar videos
- Subscription watermarks
Pro Tip: Making a video series is a great way to grow your audience. If you need help with ideas and filming videos for YouTube you can also use Content Automation Services.
Attract views from other sources
Views that don’t come from the YouTube algorithm can still inform your success with the algorithm.
For instance: YouTube ads, external sites, cross-promoting on your social media, and partnerships with other channels or brands can all help you earn views and subscribers, depending on your strategy.
Pro Tip: Embedding a YouTube video in your blog or website is great for both your blog’s Google SEO as well as your video’s view counts on YouTube.
Engage with comments and other channels
In order for your audience to grow, you need to nurture your relationships with your viewers. For many viewers, part of YouTube’s appeal is feeling closer to creators than they do to traditional celebrities.
Also make sure you keep an eye on the conversations below the videos, this is a great way to fins trending topics.
Evolve by experimenting
The only way to know what really captures an audience’s attention and gets you that precious watch time is to try, try, try. You’ll never find that secret recipe for success without a little experimentation and a few failures along the way.
Get to know your audience
It’s almost impossible to wow your audience if you don’t know who they are. That’s why understanding your target audience and their behaviour is so important.
Get to know your YouTube audience by digging into your analytics. Understanding their location, their gender, and their age can help inform your content strategy. Watching how they actually interact with your videos—engagement, watch time, and all of those important social media metrics—also will point you in the right direction.
Post at the best time
The YouTube algorithm doesn’t directly base its recommendations on what time or day you post. But the algorithm does take stock of a video’s popularity and engagement. And one surefire way to get more views on YouTube is to post your video when your audience is online.
Don’t just make long videos: make good videos
While the YouTube algorithm rewards watch time, it’s all relative. “Our discovery system uses absolute and relative watch time as signals when deciding audience engagement, and we encourage you to do the same,” says YouTube. “Broadly speaking, relative watch time is more important for short videos and absolute watch time is more important for longer videos.”
So think less about total length when you’re creating a video and more about creating compelling content that keeps the viewer watching through to the end, no matter how long or short your video is.
If they’re dropping off 25% of the way through, that’s not great, whether your video is 6 minutes or 60 minutes.
Pro tip: Check out your audience retention metric to help understand how long your unique viewers like to watch. Then you can adjust your content accordingly.
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We can make a strategy for your YouTube channel , we also offer Content Automation – this means we make scripts, we film and edit all of your videos and we also make a Eye catching Thumbnails. If you need help promoting your YouTube channel across other Social Media, we are the right address.
