YouTube Solutions 5 Widespread Questions About How its Advice Algorithms Work

YouTube tried to give more insight into the way its algorithms decide which videos are highlighted for each user by answer some common questions through its search and discovery systems, which could give more direction to your platform approach.

In a new video for Creator Insider Channel, YouTube’s Rachel Alves answers five questions YouTubers asked about using tags, recommendations, algorithm updates, and more.

How valuable these insights are depends on the specifics of your channel, but in summary:

Should you share your videos outside of YouTube as YouTube may not be able to map all interaction metrics outside of the platform?

Alves says that YouTubers should “absolutely” share their videos outside of YouTube, as this can only increase your chances of discovery based on viewer activity regardless of direct attribution.

“As your videos get more traffic from outside sources like social media, it likely increases your potential for more viewers to discover. Another benefit is that these viewers now have this video in their watch history, so there is a higher chance that one of your other videos will be recommended to them in the future. “

Why are people getting recommendations for videos uploaded 10-12 years ago?

Alves says YouTube’s system is designed to match viewers with videos they are likely to enjoy, regardless of when that video was posted. This means that older videos with a relatively high level of engagement are also recommended according to the interests of the viewer.

YouTube needs a new way to highlight new YouTubers

Alves says a lot of viewers want it, pointing out that YouTube recently rolled out its version New for you tab to highlight more channels outside of each viewer’s regular viewing experience.

When applying video tags, should you focus on specific tags or broader related topics to maximize discoverability?

YouTubes Video tags offer YouTubers another possibility to align their content to specific search queries. However, YouTube expressly advises that tags are not an important algorithm Thoughtfulness.

“Tags are descriptive keywords that you can add to your video to help viewers find your content. The title, thumbnail, and description of your video are more important metadata in making your video discoverable. This key information will help viewers decide which videos to watch. “

Alves repeats this, advising YouTubers to focus on the elements viewers are choosing when choosing their content – that is, the title, thumbnail, and description. Alves says YouTubers should better focus on what works for other, similar videos on their topic rather than tweaking tags.

Has YouTube recently changed its algorithm?

Alves says that YouTube is constantly making changes to its algorithms, but notes that they get a lot more requests about possible algorithm changes this time of year.

Alves says this is likely due to large-scale changes in audience behavior caused by returning to school in the United States. For students returning to school, this often means the channels are seeing a change in their readings, with fewer visits on weekdays but more activity on weekends.

This can make it seem like something has changed with the algorithm, when in reality the shift is relative to viewer behavior caused by external lifestyle changes.

There’s nothing groundbreaking in this new overview, but it does provide a little more context on how YouTube’s systems work and how content is presented to each user in the app.

This could help you better understand some of the elements and incorporate them into your planning.