6 Things The YouTube Algorithm Hates (STOP Doing These) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00In this video, I'm going to show you six
2. 0:02things the algorithm hates in 2026. And
3. 0:05even making just one of these mistakes
4. 0:07could be completely killing your growth.
5. 0:09So, if your videos aren't getting pushed
6. 0:12by the algorithm at the moment, you need
7. 0:13to stop doing these things. Let's get
8. 0:15into it. All right. So, the very first
9. 0:17thing that the algorithm hates is a low
10. 0:19returning viewer rate. Now, this is
11. 0:22actually related to this thing here,
12. 0:24this new section in your video
13. 0:26analytics. Basically, what this shows
14. 0:28here is a breakdown of all of the
15. 0:30viewers on a particular video. It
16. 0:32separates them into new viewers, casual
17. 0:34viewers, and returning viewers. Now, of
18. 0:37course, to grow a YouTube channel, you
19. 0:39want a big portion of new viewers on
20. 0:41each video. Like, obviously, you want
21. 0:44new people seeing your content so they
22. 0:46subscribe to you and build up your
23. 0:48audience. But, this is where it gets a
24. 0:50little bit tricky because YouTube is
25. 0:52also massively looking at these two
26. 0:55numbers here now as well, casual viewers
27. 0:57and returning viewers. Now, over the
28. 1:00last year or so, the algorithm has made
29. 1:02a huge push on returning viewers, which
30. 1:04means your channel success will now be
31. 1:06determined on how well you can keep
32. 1:09bringing your regular viewers back to
33. 1:11keep watching more and more of your
34. 1:12videos. Now, to show you what I mean,
35. 1:14here are two examples from my own
36. 1:16channel. Now, this first one is a really
37. 1:18good one because it shows a really
38. 1:19healthy balance between new, casual, and
39. 1:22regular viewers. But, this next one on
40. 1:24the other hand, isn't that great because
41. 1:26here you can see the vast majority of
42. 1:28the viewers were actually brand new and
43. 1:30the regular viewer rate was actually
44. 1:32really low, which isn't a good thing
45. 1:34anymore. So, what this all means is,
46. 1:36basically, if you keep bringing in loads
47. 1:39of new viewers every video, but you
48. 1:41don't get many regular viewers coming
49. 1:43back, it shows to the algorithm that you
50. 1:46aren't doing a very good job at
51. 1:47retaining the loyalty of your current
52. 1:49audience. And that's bad news. So, as
53. 1:52part of your YouTube strategy going
54. 1:54forward from now on, you need to make
55. 1:56sure not only are you optimizing your
56. 1:58videos for new viewers to grow your
57. 2:00channel, but you're also optimizing
58. 2:02every video to make sure all of your
59. 2:04regular viewers keep coming back and
60. 2:06watching more as well. This is going to
61. 2:08be a big one for 2026. Now, this
62. 2:10actually brings us on to the next thing
63. 2:12that the algorithm hates, which is not
64. 2:14matching your channel identity profile.
65. 2:17And this is actually one of the biggest
66. 2:18causes of viewers not returning and
67. 2:20having a really low regular viewer rate.
68. 2:23Now, let me explain how this works
69. 2:25because a channel identity profile is
70. 2:28where YouTube categorizes your content
71. 2:31into a specific identity based on who
72. 2:34watches it and what those people then
73. 2:36watch next. And if you post outside of
74. 2:39your usual pattern, the algorithm then
75. 2:41struggles to know who to show that video
76. 2:43to. In simple terms, it's your channel's
77. 2:46algorithmic data profile. And breaking
78. 2:49that can hurt your reach. Now, over
79. 2:51time, the algorithm will basically build
80. 2:54up a kind of like identity profile about
81. 2:56your channel and also about your average
82. 2:58viewer, like what your average viewer
83. 3:00looks like. So, if you want to grow your
84. 3:03channel and your audience over the long
85. 3:04run, you need to make sure you always
86. 3:07stick within this identity profile.
87. 3:09Because having a clear and consistent
88. 3:12profile not only helps the algorithm to
89. 3:14always find new viewers for your
90. 3:15content, but it also actually helps
91. 3:17massively in keeping your returning
92. 3:19viewer rate really high, too. However,
93. 3:22if you were to keep posting outside of
94. 3:24your identity profile, like if you keep
95. 3:26chopping and changing different topics
96. 3:28and different niches in every video,
97. 3:30then your viewers won't come back. And
98. 3:32also, your channel's data profile will
99. 3:35become super messed up. So, you'll end
100. 3:36up just confusing both your actual
101. 3:38viewers and the algorithm, and none of
102. 3:40your content will get pushed at all. So,
103. 3:42my biggest advice here is make sure to
104. 3:45always keep your identity profile the
105. 3:47same. Always stick around the same
106. 3:49topics and niches in all of your videos.
107. 3:51All right, then. So, the next thing the
108. 3:53algorithm absolutely hates is when you
109. 3:55end a video without a clear next step
110. 3:57for the viewer to take. Now, if your
111. 3:59video has a really poor ending and it
112. 4:01makes someone click off and leave
113. 4:03YouTube all together, then the algorithm
114. 4:05really hates it. Like, what you need to
115. 4:08understand is YouTube's main priority is
116. 4:11keeping people on the platform for as
117. 4:13long as possible watching as many videos
118. 4:15as possible. Like, that's literally how
119. 4:17they make money as a company. So, what
120. 4:19this means is if your content is able to
121. 4:21keep people on the platform watching
122. 4:23video after video, the algorithm loves
123. 4:26this and they will always push those
124. 4:28videos very heavily. But, on the other
125. 4:30hand, if a viewer watches your video,
126. 4:33then decides to like click off and leave
127. 4:34the platform all together, well, in the
128. 4:36algorithm's eyes, your video is
129. 4:38responsible for losing that viewer and
130. 4:40they hate this. YouTube wants to
131. 4:42maximize session time, not dead ends.
132. 4:45So, when you next create a video, never
133. 4:47just end it without a clear call to
134. 4:49action or without pointing your viewers
135. 4:52in the direction of another video. Now,
136. 4:54for me, at the end of all of my videos,
137. 4:57like you'll see at the end of this one,
138. 4:58too, I always suggest a new video for
139. 5:00you guys to click on and watch next that
140. 5:03actually relates to the current one
141. 5:04you're watching. And I'll always use end
142. 5:06screens at the end of the video so you
143. 5:08guys know exactly which video I'm
144. 5:10talking about so you can click on next.
145. 5:12So, you just need to do the same thing.
146. 5:14Add an end screen to each video and at
147. 5:16the end of each video, just mention
148. 5:18another one of your videos that your
149. 5:19viewers should watch next. It really is
150. 5:21that easy. Like, this is the easiest way
151. 5:24to keep someone in a viewing session.
152. 5:26Now, if you have any questions on this
153. 5:27or any of these points, actually, please
154. 5:29just comment down below and I'll try my
155. 5:31best to get back to you. Then, the
156. 5:32fourth thing an algorithm hates is when
157. 5:35your video has no information gain. Now,
158. 5:38this one is a big one because if you
159. 5:40haven't already watched this video I
160. 5:42posted last week, then basically, back
161. 5:45in September 2025, there was a huge dip
162. 5:49in views all across the YouTube
163. 5:50platform. Many big channels got hit hard
164. 5:53and never properly recovered. Now, this
165. 5:55big dip in views was basically because
166. 5:57there was a huge algorithm change that
167. 6:00was brought in to basically tackle
168. 6:02repetitious content. And no, I'm not
169. 6:04talking about repetitious AI content.
170. 6:07I'm talking about real, normal, genuine
171. 6:09human videos now. Because the issue was
172. 6:12over the last few years, it became
173. 6:14incredibly easy for creators to just
174. 6:16literally copy people's videos. Like all
175. 6:19they needed to do was copy and paste the
176. 6:21transcript of someone's viral video into
177. 6:24Chat GPT, edit it slightly in their own
178. 6:26words, and then make their own version
179. 6:28of that video and claim it as their own.
180. 6:31Like I had this happen so many times to
181. 6:33me. Look at all of these examples of my
182. 6:36videos and my thumbnails being copied by
183. 6:38other creators. So, as part of this new
184. 6:41algorithm change to tackle this, it will
185. 6:43now analyze entire videos to see if the
186. 6:47stuff you say or the things you do in
187. 6:49the video is new and unique, or if it's
188. 6:52actually just been copied from other
189. 6:54videos already on YouTube. If the
190. 6:57algorithm finds that the contents of
191. 6:58your video is actually very similar or
192. 7:01the same as other videos already on the
193. 7:03platform, then it won't push your videos
194. 7:05out and it will actually restrict them
195. 7:07because there's no information gain.
196. 7:09But, if your videos are actually unique
197. 7:12and the contents of them is new and not
198. 7:14copied from anyone else, then the
199. 7:16algorithm will push them and it will
200. 7:18push them hard. The days of copying
201. 7:20people are over, so don't make this
202. 7:22mistake anymore. What you can still do
203. 7:24though is actually repurpose your own
204. 7:26videos into shorts and post them out as
205. 7:29bits of new fresh content. Like this
206. 7:31short here from my travel channel. It's
207. 7:33basically just a 60-second clip taken
208. 7:36from this long-form video. And it did
209. 7:38really well. So, if you're in like the
210. 7:40travel niche or the gaming niche or even
211. 7:42streaming or anything like that,
212. 7:44clipping up your content into shorts can
213. 7:46be a great way to grow. Now, a tool you
214. 7:49can use to make the process of clipping
215. 7:51much easier is actually Nexus Clips.
216. 7:54It's an AI tool literally built around
217. 7:56clipping. All you need to do is drop a
218. 7:58long-form video into their tool, then
219. 8:00the AI will actually scan your video and
220. 8:02pick out the most viral moments of that
221. 8:04video and it will turn it into
222. 8:06standalone shorts. You can then edit
223. 8:08things like the captions, subtitles, and
224. 8:10much more. Then just post those clips
225. 8:12out straight as shorts, and there you
226. 8:14go. Now, the fifth thing the algorithm
227. 8:16absolutely hates is having just one
228. 8:19video go super viral on a small channel.
229. 8:22Now, I know this sounds crazy because
230. 8:24everyone wants that one breakout video,
231. 8:26but the problem is if that one breakout
232. 8:29video doesn't actually match your usual
233. 8:31channel identity, it can massively mess
234. 8:34things up for you going forward. So,
235. 8:35what happens here is let's say that one
236. 8:38video blows up, and yeah, it brings in
237. 8:40loads of new viewers and loads of new
238. 8:42subscribers. But, those new viewers
239. 8:44aren't actually your ideal viewers
240. 8:46because they only really clicked for
241. 8:48that one specific video. They didn't
242. 8:50click for you or your overall channel.
243. 8:52So, this means you could end up actually
244. 8:54gaining the wrong audience. And then
245. 8:56when you go to post out your new next
246. 8:59videos, YouTube does what it's supposed
247. 9:02to do. It shows that new video to all of
248. 9:04those people that watched and subscribed
249. 9:07to your viral one.
250. 9:08But, the problem here is those people
251. 9:11probably don't actually care about your
252. 9:13new content. So, they don't click, they
253. 9:15don't watch, and then the new video just
254. 9:18flops. And this is where it gets bad
255. 9:19because now you've basically trained the
256. 9:22algorithm with the wrong data. You've
257. 9:24told it, "Hey, this is my audience."
258. 9:26When actually it's not. So, all of your
259. 9:28future videos will now keep getting
260. 9:30pushed to the wrong people, and your
261. 9:32channel will just become super
262. 9:34inconsistent. Now, this actually links
263. 9:36directly back to what we were talking
264. 9:37about earlier with the returning viewers
265. 9:40and your channel identity profile.
266. 9:42Because if that one viral video sits
267. 9:44outside of your normal channel identity,
268. 9:47then it pulls you away from your core
269. 9:49audience. So my recommendation is stop
270. 9:52trying to aim for one viral video and
271. 9:54instead just build up your channel over
272. 9:56the long term. And then the last one on
273. 9:59this list actually sounds pretty
274. 10:00harmless, but it will slowly kill your
275. 10:03videos. And that is over explaining
276. 10:05simple concepts. Now this is something I
277. 10:08see all the time, especially with
278. 10:10smaller channels in the education or
279. 10:13value-based niches. But it's where
280. 10:15basically creators take a really simple
281. 10:18idea and then drag it out for way too
282. 10:20long. They'll explain something, then
283. 10:23re-explain it, and then give like three
284. 10:24more examples on that same one point.
285. 10:27But this is what we call cognitive
286. 10:29overload, where you're basically
287. 10:31throwing way too much information at the
288. 10:33viewer at once. And the viewer's brain
289. 10:35basically just checks out and loses
290. 10:37interest. And this also usually means
291. 10:39that your attention rate will drop
292. 10:41because once the viewer's brain has
293. 10:43checked out, they will almost always
294. 10:45just click off your video. So if you're
295. 10:47giving educational or value-based
296. 10:50content in your videos, you should
297. 10:51always aim for efficient value delivery.
298. 10:54Get to the point quickly, say what needs
299. 10:56to be said, and then just move on. And
300. 10:58now that you know exactly what the
301. 11:00algorithm hates, it's also really
302. 11:02important you know what the algorithm
303. 11:03loves as well. Now this video that pops
304. 11:05up here will teach you the best way to
305. 11:08grow a small channel and have the
306. 11:09algorithm work on your side. You're
307. 11:11going to really like it. I'll see you
308. 11:13there.