YouTube Search & Discovery: 'The Algorithm' and Performance FAQs — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03As a creator, you've probably asked yourself
2. 0:06questions like, "How does YouTube choose what videos to promote?"
3. 0:09"Does getting a yellow icon impact my video discovery?"
4. 0:13"And how important are tags?"
5. 0:16In this video we'll walk you through all those questions
6. 0:18and more about YouTube's search and discovery system
7. 0:21and give you some video discovery tips.
8. 0:24Let's dive in.
9. 0:25First, how does YouTube choose what videos to promote?
10. 0:29Whether it's on the YouTube homepage search or suggested
11. 0:33YouTube's recommendation system actually finds videos for viewers
12. 0:37rather than viewers for videos.
13. 0:39Videos don't get pushed out or promoted by the algorithm,
14. 0:43but rather pulled for each user when they visit YouTube.
15. 0:46The goal of the search and discovery system
16. 0:49is to match each viewer
17. 0:50with the videos they're most likely to watch and enjoy.
18. 0:53So every viewer's recommendations will look a little bit different.
19. 0:56Videos are ranked based on hundreds of signals
20. 0:59that largely fall under two categories:
21. 1:01Viewer Personalization and Video Performance.
22. 1:05Viewer personalization is based on signals
23. 1:08about a given user's preferences
24. 1:10such as what videos they choose to watch,
25. 1:13what videos they ignore, what videos they dismiss,
26. 1:17how often someone watches a channel, or topic, and much more.
27. 1:21Our systems also consider video performance,
28. 1:24which is how well the content engaged viewers
29. 1:26when it was offered to them.
30. 1:28For example, do viewers choose to watch the video,
31. 1:31ignore it, or click not interested?
32. 1:34If they choose to watch it,
33. 1:36how long and how much of the video do they watch?
34. 1:39Here our system views the videos average view duration,
35. 1:42and average percentage viewed as signals to inform ranking.
36. 1:46And finally, did the viewer enjoy the video?
37. 1:49We measure satisfaction using a variety of signals
38. 1:52such as user surveys and likes.
39. 1:54Using these signals
40. 1:56helps our systems narrow down the best set of videos
41. 1:59to offer each viewer.
42. 2:01Creators often asked
43. 2:02what kind of videos does the algorithm like best,
44. 2:06but our systems have no opinion about what type of video you make
45. 2:09and don't favor any particular format.
46. 2:12Rather they try to follow the audience.
47. 2:14So instead of worrying about being an expert in algorithms or analytics,
48. 2:18focus on knowing your audience and what they like.
49. 2:21Next, does changing a video's title or thumbnail
50. 2:24re-rank the video in the algorithm?
51. 2:26Yes, it can.
52. 2:28But it's only because our systems are responding
53. 2:30to how viewers are interacting with your video differently,
54. 2:33rather than the act of changing the video title or thumbnail.
55. 2:37When your video looks different to viewers,
56. 2:39it changes how viewers interact with it when it's offered to them.
57. 2:43Changing your video title and thumbnail
58. 2:45can be an effective way to get more views.
59. 2:47But if your video's already doing well, don't change what's working.
60. 2:51If one of my videos underperforms, is that going to hurt my channel?
61. 2:55What matters is how viewers respond to each video
62. 2:58when it's recommended to them.
63. 2:59Our systems rely more on video and audience level signals
64. 3:03to decide which videos are the best recommendations
65. 3:05for your audience.
66. 3:06What can lead to a decline in overall channel views
67. 3:09is people's interest changing over time,
68. 3:12or when viewers stop watching most of your videos
69. 3:15when they're recommended to them.
70. 3:17Does monetization status like the yellow icon
71. 3:20impact my video discovery?
72. 3:22No. Our search and recommendation system
73. 3:25doesn't know which videos are monetized and which are not.
74. 3:29We focus on recommending videos your audience will find satisfying
75. 3:32regardless of whether they're monetized.
76. 3:35But if your video contains racy, violent or other graphic content,
77. 3:40it could be demonetized as it's not suitable for all advertisers.
78. 3:45It may also not be recommended to as many viewers
79. 3:47because it's not appropriate for all audiences.
80. 3:51Do I need to upload daily or at least once a week?
81. 3:55No. We've done analyses over the years
82. 3:57and find that growth in views across uploads
83. 4:00is not correlated with time between uploads.
84. 4:03Many creators have established
85. 4:05reliable connections with their audience
86. 4:07through quality over quantity.
87. 4:10We encourage you to take care of yourself to prevent burnout,
88. 4:13which is important for your audience and your well-being.
89. 4:17Why are my views lower than my subscriber count?
90. 4:21The number of people subscribed to your channel doesn't represent
91. 4:25the number of viewers choosing to watch your videos.
92. 4:28On average viewers subscribe to dozens of channels
93. 4:32and may not return for every new upload
94. 4:34for every channel they're subscribed to.
95. 4:37It's also common for viewers
96. 4:39to be subscribed to channels they no longer watch.
97. 4:42So, instead, focus on the audiences actually watching your content
98. 4:46using YouTube Analytics,
99. 4:48which can help you find out who's watching and what's working well or not.
100. 4:53What other factors influence how people see my videos?
101. 4:56There are three major factors
102. 4:58that explain where your audience is coming from.
103. 5:01Topic Interest, Competition, and Seasonality.
104. 5:05Topic Interest is how many people worldwide are interested in
105. 5:08and watching videos about a given topic.
106. 5:11Some topics have more broad appeal than others.
107. 5:14And that appeal can change over time
108. 5:16as certain subjects become more or less popular.
109. 5:20Google Trends is a tool you can use
110. 5:23to see how the world's interest is changing over time.
111. 5:26And you can even filter down to YouTube search interest.
112. 5:31Just go to trends.google.com.
113. 5:34Next - Competition.
114. 5:36YouTube systems have to sort through
115. 5:38and rank all videos a viewer might be most willing to watch.
116. 5:42Even if you have great performance and metrics on your video,
117. 5:46you may get fewer impressions
118. 5:48if videos from other channels or creators
119. 5:50are performing even better.
120. 5:53And finally - Seasonality.
121. 5:56YouTube traffic can change during different times of the year.
122. 6:00Think about your audience like which country they live in,
123. 6:03or what's going on in their lives,
124. 6:05and expect fluctuations in viewership during major holidays.
125. 6:09And finally, how important are tags?
126. 6:12Well, not very important.
127. 6:15Tags are mainly used to help correct for common spelling mistakes.
128. 6:19For example, YouTube versus UTube versus You Tube.
129. 6:26Remember, YouTube systems are personalized to each viewer
130. 6:30and recommend content based on audience interests.
131. 6:33They're also influenced by a video's performance and engagement
132. 6:37and external factors that influence what people are interested in over time.
133. 6:42Focus on what your audience likes.
134. 6:45If you do that, and people watch, then the recommendations will follow.
135. 6:49For more information on YouTube's recommendation system
136. 6:52and video discovery tips, check out the resources linked below.
137. 6:57Thanks for watching.