YouTube Search & Discovery: How Does It Work?

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It's crucial to understand how your videos get found on YouTube. Your channel's success is depending on it! What plays a big role in it is the algorithm.

The Algorithm

YouTube is an extreme popular platform where each minute hundreds of hours of video material is being uploaded each and every minute. Therefor YouTube relies on an algorithm to match each viewer to the videos they're most likely to watch and enjoy.

The algorithm is basically a real-time feedback loop that tailors videos to each viewer's different interests. It does its best to show the right videos to the right viewer at the right time. This is being realized with data. 

For each video they look at things like titles, thumbnails, descriptions and how other viewers seem to be enjoying it. They also look at how much of the video they're watching, if they're clicking "like" or "dislike", and how many people are commenting. For each unique viewer, they look at things like what the person has watched in the past, how much time they spend watching, and what they don't watch.

Above all, the algorithm has two simple goals:

  • 1: Help each viewer find the videos they want to watch
  • 2: Get viewers to keep watching more of what they like

How do you get the algorithm to like your videos? 

Simply by getting the audience to like your videos. That's because the algorithm follows the audience. If people love your videos, the algorithm will surface them to others. But where will new audiences actually encounter these videos? Let's start with YouTube Search.

YouTube Search

Like Google Search Engine, YouTube Search aims to surface the most relevant videos and channels according to what people type in the Search box. 



The results aren't just based on the most-viewed videos. Videos are ranked on things like how well the title, descriptions and video itself match each query. Beyond that, we look at which videos have driven the most watch-time and engagement for a search phrase. 

What can you do to help your videos get found in search results?

Consider the following:

  • Use relevant search terms in your titles and descriptions.
  • Try looking at Google Trends to see which words people are searching for.
  • Be relevant.
  • Don't try to trick viewers, or they may leave your video early which could hurt its performance in the long run.
  • Write full descriptions: up to one to two paragraphs. Some creators only put their social media links in the description, potentially missing out on a lot of extra views.
  • Pay attention to trending and seasonal topics and consider making videos around those, especially within your own content category.

OK, so that's YouTube Search but what about Suggested Videos?

Suggested Videos

These are videos YouTube recommends based on what viewers were watching beforehand, related topics, and past watch history. You can find them on the right side of the watch page:


And below the video you're watching on the mobile app and as the next video to auto-play. 



Suggested videos can be from any channel including more from the one you're watching. What can you do to get your videos suggested to more viewers? Consider the following.

  • Make a strong call to action. Suggest they watch another video in your series, and really sell them on why.
  • Be mindful of long endings as they might delay viewers from watching more.
  • Use playlists, links, cards, and end screens to suggest the next video.

OK, so that's suggested videos. Let's talk about the Home screen. 

YouTube's Home screen and how to get discovered there?

This is what you see when you first open the YouTube app or visit YouTube.com. It's the one-stop destination for YouTube and their personalized best guess at what each viewer may want to watch. They show a variety here including videos that are new, watched by similar viewers or from your subscriptions. 

Keep in mind that not all videos from your subscriptions show up on Home. Rather, they can all be found on your Subscriptions tab. 

On Home, the selection of videos is based on two things:

1. Performance, or how well a video has engaged and satisfied similar viewers.
2. Personalization, based on a viewer's watch and search history.

Personalization includes how much the viewer watches a channel or topic and how many times YouTube has already shown each video to the viewer. To get your videos to show up on Home, it's helpful to upload on a consistent basis keep viewers engaged and keep making content that works.

When you create something that's working for your audience, keep at it! YouTube tries to surface more of what your audience likes. Definitely don't be afraid to experiment, but do so mindfully, observing feedback from your audience and maybe giving them time to adjust.

Trending tab

The Trending Feed is a list of what videos are new and popular, specific to a viewer's country. Some trends are predictable, like a movie trailer or a new song from a popular artist. But others can be completely surprising! 

Trending aims to combine popularity with novelty. Trending also considers the view count of a video,
especially the rate of growth in views and where views come from, among other things. That means the video with the highest daily view count may not necessarily be number 1 on Trending.

Keep in mind that Trending also includes Creator on the Rise and Artist on the Rise where each week, up-and-coming creators and artists are featured for a full day. There's not a lot that you can do to get your videos to show up on Trending, but it does help to make broadly appealing, shareable videos.

If you want to make it "on the rise" it helps to have strong channel growth and momentum. That's the story on the Trending tab. 

Subscribers and the Subscriptions tab

Subscribers are viewers who like your videos enough to sign up for more. They watch from all areas of the site and are often your biggest fans. They also provide important initial signals to the life of a new video.

Separately, the Subscriptions tab shows a collection of videos from the channels a viewer is subscribed to. This feed is a list of the most recent uploads from those channels. Keep in mind, subscribers also see some subscription content on the home screen and in Suggested Videos.

How can you get your viewers to subscribe?

Ask them to! Let them know that there will be more videos coming and when. Try to ask them in a genuine way, explaining both the benefits and how it supports you. 

Subscribers are your core audience. But keep in mind they're often subscribed to lots of other channels so it helps to make your videos public when your viewers are most likely watching. You can take a look at your channel analytics for watch time by country or state to see when the best time slot might be. 

Notifications

Notifications are alerts sent to subscribers of a channel when a new video is made public. They can be sent as mobile push alerts or emails.

Notifications tend to kick-start early traffic to your new uploads but they don't necessarily drive the 
bulk of views in the long run. By default, YouTube only sends occasional notifications from the channels you watch a lot, or those you're subscribed to. If subscribers want to get notifications every time you make a new video public they can tap the bell icon next to the Subscribe button.


The best way for you to understand how notifications work, is by subscribing and tapping the bell on other channels. Just make sure notifications are turned on, on your phone. It's also helpful to teach your subscribers how to turn on notifications. Lots of creators do this in a visual way, like making a video with screenshots.



Source: https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/

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