How to get your videos pushed to the HOME FEED — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Having your videos appear on the YouTube
2. 0:02home feed is by far the best way to get
3. 0:04views, but it's now harder than ever
4. 0:06because we've gone from having 30
5. 0:08different videos showing up at one time
6. 0:11in 2016 to just three videos now here in
7. 0:142026. That's a 90% reduction in
8. 0:18available slots for your video to show
9. 0:20up. And it's making it nearly impossible
10. 0:22for small YouTubers to grow. So, in this
11. 0:24video, I'm going to share with you five
12. 0:26different ways to get your videos pushed
13. 0:29to the home feed. Let's get into it.
14. 0:31Now, before we dive into these five
15. 0:33tips, I just want to run through how
16. 0:35exactly the home feed actually works and
17. 0:37why videos show up there in the first
18. 0:39place. Now, home feeds are different for
19. 0:42everybody. My home feed will look
20. 0:44entirely different to your home feed.
21. 0:46And the videos that pop up on my home
22. 0:47feed only do so because of all of the
23. 0:50different signals I provide to YouTube.
24. 0:53And these signals are my viewer behavior
25. 0:55signals. So all of the videos I get
26. 0:58shown on my home feed are basically
27. 1:00YouTube's best guess at what it thinks I
28. 1:03would like to watch. So it looks at all
29. 1:05of my watch history, my comments, my
30. 1:08likes, my recent subscriptions, and all
31. 1:10that kind of stuff. And then it puts
32. 1:12together a good list of videos that it
33. 1:14thinks will be a good fit for me
34. 1:16personally. So, if you want your videos
35. 1:19to show up on people's feeds, you need
36. 1:21to prove to the algorithm that your
37. 1:23videos are a good fit for those people.
38. 1:26And these five strategies I'm about to
39. 1:27show you now will show you exactly how
40. 1:29to do that. All right, so the very first
41. 1:32strategy is to shrink your target
42. 1:34audience. Now, I know you might
43. 1:36initially think, surely that's
44. 1:37counterintuitive because surely if you
45. 1:39want more views, you need to appeal to
46. 1:41more people, right? Well, when it comes
47. 1:43to actually getting on the home feed,
48. 1:45especially as a small channel, which I
49. 1:47probably assume you are, being too broad
50. 1:50with your videos is actually what's
51. 1:52making life much harder for you. And the
52. 1:54reason for this is that YouTube will
53. 1:56never just pick up a new video and test
54. 1:58it with a huge audience straight away.
55. 2:01Instead, what it actually does, it
56. 2:03starts with a very small group of
57. 2:05viewers first in a little test and
58. 2:07watches how those viewers respond
59. 2:09before. It decides whether or not to
60. 2:11pick your video up and test it on a
61. 2:13larger scale. So, for example, if you
62. 2:15made a video about YouTube growth and
63. 2:17you literally titled it how to grow on
64. 2:19YouTube, this is going to cause you
65. 2:21massive problems because the algorithm
66. 2:23isn't going to know who that video is
67. 2:25for. Is it for beginners? Is it for
68. 2:28travel vloggers? Is it for people with
69. 2:30less than 1,000 subscribers? Like, who
70. 2:33are you actually targeting? Because if
71. 2:36the potential audience pool is too big,
72. 2:38which it would be for that video, it
73. 2:40means the first test becomes much harder
74. 2:42to pass because the initial viewers that
75. 2:45the algorithm shows that video to might
76. 2:47not be a good fit for it at all. So,
77. 2:49what you want to do instead is actually
78. 2:52shrink the target audience so YouTube
79. 2:54can confidently test your video with a
80. 2:57very specific group of people first. And
81. 3:00look, I can prove this. Here's a video
82. 3:02titled How to Start a YouTube Channel in
83. 3:042025. Super broad. Like, I had no idea
84. 3:07who I was really actually targeting. And
85. 3:10it ended up being one of the worst
86. 3:11videos on my channel. But then when I
87. 3:13shrank my target audience and made a
88. 3:15video only targeting people who get less
89. 3:18than,000 views on their shorts, it blew
90. 3:20up and it's the best performing video on
91. 3:23my channel. And it just goes to show you
92. 3:25that even though the potential audience
93. 3:26for how to start a YouTube channel in
94. 3:282025 is naturally much bigger, shrinking
95. 3:32down actually works miles better because
96. 3:34this makes the first test so much easier
97. 3:37to pass because you're effectively
98. 3:39throwing a bigger net into a smaller
99. 3:42pond. So, I hope that makes sense. But
100. 3:44then the second strategy is to engineer
101. 3:47strong early signals. Now, if you want
102. 3:49the best possible chance of passing
103. 3:51these early tests, you need to maximize
104. 3:54engagement early on. You want as much
105. 3:57positive engagement on your videos as
106. 3:59soon as possible. And all of this
107. 4:01obviously starts with publishing your
108. 4:02videos exactly when your audience is
109. 4:05most active. Even if your subscriber
110. 4:07base is tiny at the moment, it doesn't
111. 4:10matter because your current audience are
112. 4:12the ones most likely to click on and
113. 4:14engage with all of your new videos. And
114. 4:16you're going to need it. Now, the
115. 4:18algorithm doesn't just look at how many
116. 4:20likes and comments and stuff you get. It
117. 4:22also looks at how fast you get them. So,
118. 4:24the key here is speed of engagement.
119. 4:27When you upload a new video, you want to
120. 4:29create an early search. And here's how
121. 4:31you can do it. So, you're going to want
122. 4:33to encourage people to comment on and
123. 4:34like your video as soon as it's up.
124. 4:37You're also going to want to reply and
125. 4:38give a heart to every comment within the
126. 4:40first one to two hours. Then, you're
127. 4:42going to want to post your video link in
128. 4:44your community tab. and literally just
129. 4:46like ask your audience to hype your
130. 4:48video for you as well. And also look, if
131. 4:50you have a second channel, use that
132. 4:52channel to watch, like, and comment on
133. 4:54your new video. Now, some of you may
134. 4:56have noticed that I actually use my
135. 4:58other channels to do that exact thing on
136. 4:59my videos. And I do that for this exact
137. 5:02reason. Now, look, you don't need
138. 5:04hundreds of people doing this. Don't
139. 5:05worry. Even just like 10 or 20 or 30
140. 5:07people like doing these early
141. 5:09interactions can trigger a positive
142. 5:12signal that tells YouTube that this
143. 5:14video is starting strong. So going
144. 5:16forward just always try and engineer
145. 5:18strong early signals. Now the next thing
146. 5:20you can do is to obviously post shorts.
147. 5:22But this is why look at this. This is
148. 5:24the home feed. Now just below these
149. 5:26three videos you've got a whole row of
150. 5:28five different shorts. And then below
151. 5:30that you've got the same thing. Three
152. 5:32more videos, five more shorts. So, in
153. 5:34just these four main rows on the home
154. 5:36feed, you've only got six long form
155. 5:39videos, but you've got 10 shorts showing
156. 5:41up. And it's the same with search
157. 5:42results, too. So, if I type in like how
158. 5:44to get more subscribers, only one long
159. 5:47form video pops up, and then we've got a
160. 5:49whole row of shorts you can expand, and
161. 5:51then even more shorts down here. Now, I
162. 5:53personally dislike the fact YouTube is
163. 5:55doing this. Like, I prefer long form
164. 5:57videos. But if these are the new rules,
165. 5:59then I guess we all have to adapt. Now,
166. 6:01I've been a big advocate for posting
167. 6:03shorts that are directly related to your
168. 6:05long form videos, like I always have
169. 6:07been. Now, if you don't have the time to
170. 6:09create separate shorts, you could just
171. 6:11clip up your long form videos. Using an
172. 6:13AI tool like Nexus Clips makes that
173. 6:15process really easy. All you have to do
174. 6:18is drop your long form video into their
175. 6:20AI, and it will pick out five of the
176. 6:22best segments from your video and turn
177. 6:24them into clips. then all you got to do
178. 6:26is upload those clips straight to
179. 6:28YouTube without actually doing too much
180. 6:30extra work. Now, another really
181. 6:32important thing you need to do is to
182. 6:34reduce algorithm uncertainty. Now, the
183. 6:37home feed is the most important page on
184. 6:39the platform and YouTube tries to make
185. 6:42sure it's perfect. Now, obviously,
186. 6:44YouTube wants you on their platform for
187. 6:46as long as possible watching as many
188. 6:48videos as possible. So, it needs to make
189. 6:51sure that the first thing people see,
190. 6:53which is the home feed, is the best it
191. 6:56possibly can be. Now, this means the
192. 6:58algorithm is very risk averse. It
193. 7:01doesn't like to take chances. It likes
194. 7:03to reduce risk as much as possible. So,
195. 7:05it's only ever going to suggest videos
196. 7:07that it has confidence in. So, if you
197. 7:10post a video on a topic that feels
198. 7:11unfamiliar or slightly confusing,
199. 7:14YouTube simply won't know where to place
200. 7:16it. And if it doesn't fully understand
201. 7:18who the video is actually for, it won't
202. 7:20risk putting it on the home feed.
203. 7:22Because from YouTube's perspective,
204. 7:24showing the wrong video to the wrong
205. 7:26person damages the user experience, and
206. 7:28they don't want to do that. So, what you
207. 7:30need to do is make your content easy to
208. 7:33classify. That means covering niches and
209. 7:36topics YouTube already understands
210. 7:38because when you create something that
211. 7:40fits into an established niche, the
212. 7:42algorithm has reference points. It can
213. 7:44look at like similar videos, similar
214. 7:46audiences, and make a more confident
215. 7:48decision about who to test your video
216. 7:50with and who to show it to. Now, for
217. 7:52example, a title like why your shorts
218. 7:55get no views is obviously very easy for
219. 7:58YouTube to understand. It knows exactly
220. 8:01who that's for, but something like the
221. 8:03psychological downfall of modern
222. 8:05creators might sound more interesting,
223. 8:07but it's far less clear. the algorithm
224. 8:10has to work much harder to place it,
225. 8:12which makes it less likely to test it on
226. 8:14the homepage, especially when you're a
227. 8:16small channel. Just don't try and be
228. 8:18overly original, like don't try and be
229. 8:20too clever. Leave that to the bigger
230. 8:22channels for now. And then once you
231. 8:24finally have your videos showing up on
232. 8:26the home feed, which is what we all
233. 8:27want, the next thing you need to do is
234. 8:29to retain your spot because
235. 8:31recommendations on the home feed update
236. 8:34all the time. Now the videos that do
237. 8:36well stay there and the videos that
238. 8:38don't do so well will get removed. Now
239. 8:40one of the easiest ways to ensure your
240. 8:42video does well on the home feed is by
241. 8:44creating a predictable first impression
242. 8:47and we do this mainly by the autoplay
243. 8:50optimization. Let me show you what I
244. 8:52mean. Okay, so autoplay optimization is
245. 8:54basically when a viewer lands on the
246. 8:56YouTube home feed like this right now
247. 8:58when they're looking for things to
248. 8:59watch. Obviously the only thing they can
249. 9:01see at the start is their title and
250. 9:02thumbnail. Now, the biggest decider in
251. 9:04whether someone who clicks on your video
252. 9:06stays throughout your hook is if you've
253. 9:09optimized the autoplay feature. So, the
254. 9:11autoplay feature is basically where you
255. 9:13just hover over a title thumbnail. So,
256. 9:16me as a viewer can basically see if the
257. 9:18first few seconds actually match and
258. 9:20deliver on the title thumbnails because
259. 9:21you don't want to obviously click on a
260. 9:23video, but then the first kind of
261. 9:25introduction have nothing to do with the
262. 9:27titan thumbnail um have no relation to
263. 9:29the actual Titan thumbnail you clicked
264. 9:31on the first place. So, YouTube's
265. 9:32autoplay feature actually massively
266. 9:34helps retention if you can do it right.
267. 9:37So, the best videos on here will, I
268. 9:40promise you now, have the first couple
269. 9:42of seconds of their introduction match
270. 9:44as closely as possible to their titles
271. 9:46or thumbnails. So, I've just refreshed
272. 9:47the page now. So, I haven't seen any of
273. 9:49these videos before this moment. So, I'm
274. 9:52going to assume that the best performing
275. 9:53videos on here will the first couple of
276. 9:55seconds of their videos will match their
277. 9:57titles and thumbnails. So, here we got
278. 9:5995,000 views. hilarious British Road
279. 10:02Works advert parody. So, there's a guy
280. 10:04with a um a manhole cover and I assume
281. 10:07the first couple of seconds will be
282. 10:09something to do with that. So, there you
283. 10:11go. Worker manhole. They is it literally
284. 10:15is it relates exactly to the Tyson
285. 10:17thumbnail. Then, if we scroll down here,
286. 10:20we've got uh a post from Emmy, 46,000
287. 10:23views, post 100 YouTube videos. Um and
288. 10:26the thumbnail is just her and it says
289. 10:28just try. So, let's look at the first
290. 10:29scene.
291. 10:31exactly the same. Her first scene is
292. 10:32exactly the same as a thumbnail. So,
293. 10:34people can be confident that the title
294. 10:36and thumbnail that sold them the idea of
295. 10:38that video are going to be confident and
296. 10:39they're going to be happy once they've
297. 10:40clicked on the video because they get
298. 10:42exactly what they clicked for. Now, over
299. 10:44here we've got mom cat shows her kittens
300. 10:46German Shepherd is safe. So, let's see.
301. 10:49Again, the first scene is a direct exact
302. 10:52continuation from the title thumbnail,
303. 10:54which is exactly what you want. That
304. 10:56means your retention graph will be so
305. 10:58strong. And then let's have a look down
306. 11:00here. We've got exchange traded funds by
307. 11:03Clive Thompson. I know this he's only
308. 11:04got 230 views now, but it'll do very
309. 11:06well because Clive Thompson is great.
310. 11:08He's on a snow resort. He's dressed in
311. 11:10snow gear. And his first scene is
312. 11:12exactly that. So that is autoplay
313. 11:14optimization, guys. You basically to
314. 11:16retain your spot on the home feed, you
315. 11:18need to make sure that viewers can be
316. 11:20confident that the video, the title
317. 11:22thumbnail they clicked on is going to be
318. 11:24related to the actual video they're
319. 11:25going to get. So this means you just
320. 11:27need to be very clear with your overall
321. 11:29packaging. Like your title needs to make
322. 11:32one simple obvious promise. Your
323. 11:34thumbnail needs to support that promise.
324. 11:36And then your first few opening seconds
325. 11:38need to deliver on what exactly your
326. 11:40title and thumbnail have promised. It's
327. 11:42as simple as that. Now, if you want to
328. 11:44learn how to make better videos or
329. 11:46improve your structure or write better
330. 11:48titles or design better thumbnails or
331. 11:50just be part of a really strong
332. 11:52community that all help each other out,
333. 11:54come and join my YouTube Academy. We've
334. 11:56got over a 100 lectures, 14 different
335. 11:59modules, a great community, and you'll
336. 12:01have direct access to me. It will make
337. 12:03growing on YouTube so much easier. But
338. 12:06if not, that's fine. The algorithm
339. 12:08thinks that this video right here is the
340. 12:10best one for you to watch next. So, I'll
341. 12:12see you there.