The YouTube Algorithm DOESN'T WORK how we thought (2024 Update)

there are two schools of thought when it comes to the YouTube algorithm and it's a bit of a spectrum but on one side you have this thought that the algorithm is a big mystery and no one will ever know anything about it not even YouTube themselves and then you have the other side of the spectrum where people believe they know everything about the algorithm it's just a machine after all all I need to do is a little research I would say on this spectrum I kind of fall I want to say in the middle but

really honestly I'm closer to the side that thinks they kind of know everything about it but I don't and honestly both sides of this Spectrum are kind of big misconceptions and I was reminded about this once again when I saw a tweet from Mario juice in it he really does his best to break down a lot of these misconceptions and explain how the YouTube algorithm Works in a way that's not only honest but just comprehensive after taking some time to read through it I kind of realize that a lot of people and I fall into

these traps myself sometimes are using an outdated YouTube Playbook so we're going to dive into this and My Hope Is That You Will Come Away with an understanding of the YouTube algorithm that will put you ahead of 9 9% of other creators let's start with the misconceptions and this Reddit post is actually a really good place to start there are creators out there who still believe there is a more or less Universal homepage that is just randomly testing videos to see what's going to stick YouTube just constantly throwing spaghetti at the wall so if you

watch this channel for any amount of time you've probably heard me say something like YouTube is going to take your video and they're going to test it with like a bunch of different people and they're going to look for signals and then they'll decide okay how much farther we're going to spread this video the thing is that's not really what's going on behind the scenes the reality is there is not a single YouTube homepage that every user is experiencing all together at once this is exactly why when you log into YouTube for the first time

on a new browser you aren't greeted with a single video nowadays it is a signin page they are trying to get you to make an account so they can more easily build a profile on you I encourage you to try this for yourself open up a brand new private browsing Tab and go to youtube.com while you're not signed sign in you're not going to see a single video on the homepage instead you're going to see a little box that says try searching to get started start watching videos to help us build a feed of videos

you'll love what's also interesting is that if you look on the bottom left corner of the screen there's a button that says sign in to like videos comment and subscribe so YouTube is diminishing The Experience if you're not signed in cuz they want you to do that so they can more easily build a profile on you and they are showing you zero videos until you type something into that search bar YouTube's taking a massive risk here imagine going to Netflix and logging in and not seeing a single movie or show and Netflix says no if

you want to see recommendations you need to tell us what you want first if this is my first time on YouTube I am on a video platform that's not showing me any videos but if I'm willing to type something into that search bar or I'm willing to make a new account YouTube is going to be able to start building a profile on me immediately and once I click that first video I've taught them something about me and about the type of content that I enjoy and therefore the profile begins your journey as a viewer has

begun and YouTube is going to learn more and more about you with every video you click on for the amount of time you watch it and suddenly your recommendations are going to very quickly become tailored to what YouTube thinks your interests are this affects you as a Creator because it means every single YouTube viewer has a completely different experience when they open the app or go on the website YouTube just randomly testing and promoting videos is am so let's get into how it actually works something I kind of need to start saying more is that

YouTube doesn't get your videos out there it's actually pulling your audience in we do want you to make videos and let the algorithm do its work but that is the better way to think about it you're putting a video out there and it's kind of going to be a magnet for viewers to find you you as a viewer think about just your own viewing habits do you feel like they're random and maybe you're thinking well yeah I mean I watch a lot of different types of things but really break down the buckets of the content

that you actually watch on a regular day-to-day basis you might be thinking well yeah I mean I watch a lot of stuff but you don't watch all the stuff right and your personal recommendation system is going to push things to you that it thinks you're going to actually watch it's not going to waste its time on videos that you would just never click on in a million years your watch History is what dictates this along with some other things that the YouTube algorithm is tracking on you as an individual viewer the average amount of time

you're watching per video the type of device you're using the location you're you're in the language preferences you have and engagement metrics how often do you like a video how often do you comment do you ever click the share button and actually text a video to a friend or family member and there's probably so much more and I know this because as a YouTuber I can look into my analytics and get all kinds of demographic data on the average viewers that watch this Channel or any channel so as we've established based on all of this

YouTube can figure out what you personally are most likely to watch they want you have a good experience so you spend your time watching YouTube and not Netflix with that understanding out of the way let's get a little more technical now so YouTube has has its user profiles in place and from there the algorithm is going to use a multi-stage process in order to recommend the best videos to those users so first there's candidate generation YouTube is going to be scanning all the time its catalog of potential videos that it can serve to viewers the

running Theory here is that the videos are put into a big pool of potential candidates that a viewer might watch Finding that initial set of candidates is based on a bunch of factors such as video metadata or viewer interest then we have a ranking system whereby the algorithm is going to go in and evaluate these candidates on a set of criteria it uses machine learning in the background to predict which video is going to provide the best viewing experience when presented to the user and side note machine learning is one of the reasons the algorithm

is kind of always changing it is literally constantly learning essentially though with this system YouTube is not just trying to recommend random videos to people they're trying to make sure that this recommendation list is going to be full of videos that have the potential to be viewed by this specific person but that's not even the only way videos get discovered which is the coolest part about YouTube there's a lot of different ways people's videos can be shared for instance YouTube has a built-in exploration system where essentially it's going to occasionally try videos out that are

unproven and you might have noticed this in your own feeds as you're scrolling endlessly through YouTube You'll see a video from someone you don't really recognize and doesn't have a ton of views this means that that hyp specific algorithmic system I just talked about a minute ago isn't the only game in town for YouTube's algorithm to continue learning what works this exploration system helps YouTube's algorithm continually learn new things it helps give smaller creators a chance from time to time admittedly YouTube does not give a lot of real estate to videos that are unproven but

I'm sure you've seen it from time to time a video with even less than a thousand views popping up next to a V video with the million views the other thing to consider though is we're not just talking about titles and thumbnails this system works on so many levels one way to think about it is that let's say you watch a video about making pasta the algorithm hasn't just learned that you like cooking videos it's learned that you like pasta cooking videos it's learned that you like videos where they use specific ingredients such as tomato

sauce and I don't know oregano I haven't made pasta in a while as machine learning becomes better and better and now with the implementation of AI literally Everywhere YouTube is able to see what's happening within a specific video and they can go several layers deep to determine what kinds of things you as a potential viewer enjoy so far spring in a couple of takeaways for creators but let's really bring it back now what this all means for you is a whole list of things number one focus on the viewer I hope it's more clear now

what that means focus on the fact that the people watching your content have a specific interest in the type of video you're making if you're just making a video for anybody you're making a video for nobody you want to make content that Services these specific needs or desires of a specific person and the reason you want to do that is all YouTube's fault because every single person on this platform has a specific profile being built about them you want to optimize your content not just for clicks but for watch time and engagement you want to

build authority over time by making content that is specifically for that audience over and over again and again that will take time that Authority does not come with just one Successful video you also need to nail your metadata and I don't just mean things like tags which are becoming less and less relevant when someone reads your title they should be able to understand what the video is about even if they've never seen you or your content before you can certainly work on your description and things like that but the topic of your video should be

focused YouTube systems are going to be able to see and understand what you're talking about based on the transcripts and that too is metadata but it helps to have your video focused on the specific subject matter that it was about don't just go off onto completely random tangents you should also be looking to create compelling thumbnails they do not need to look the best you do not need to be a graphic designer to make a good thumbnail the thumbnail should communicate a clear message after you've posted a video and given it a couple days and

let it build up some viewers look at your audience retention data what parts of the video do people drop off watch those parts back learn about for the next video what you can do better to keep people from feeling disinterested partway through your video don't spend your whole life doing this but study your viewers and their demographics and their viewing habits and focus on making content that resonates with people and in my opinion the best way to do that is to make content that resonates with you you have to remember that the reason you started

YouTube was likely because you have a passion for something and if that passion ever goes away people will see right through it the sad Truth for creators like us is that the algorithm is viewer Centric and not Creator Centric it's going to match viewers with the type of content that they want to see and it's your job as a Creator to be intentional with the decisions you make and the content you create honestly that's what we've been trying to do the entire time that we've been on YouTube this video outlines that journey and talks about

some of the lessons we learned along the way check it out