Everything you do is to optimize to have the youtube algorithm work in your favour. The following strategies are what drive the youtube algorithm to promote your content to viewers with related interests.

 

 

1. Watch Time > Views ( Audience Retention )

Once you get the click ,the viewer needs to actually watch a lot of the video meaning higher audience retention which results in higher watch time (more important that views).

 

Views holds less weight with the YouTube algorithm because many people will clickbait with the thumbnail or title but then the video is unrelated or of low quality, which will cause the viewer to stop watching (lowered audience retention = lower overall watch time) and you will get punished, and youtube still stop suggesting the video overtime.

 

This is why video quality is very important because the better the video, the higher the chance people will watch more of it which increases your audience retention and as a result leads to an overall higher total watch time on your videos and channel as a whole.

 

 

How to Optimize for Watch time

• Longer videos: Make videos that are longer because more watch time means viewers stay on youtube for longer & the algorithm likes this. Create videos between 10min-15min (20min works as well but don’t sacrifice quality for length).
• Pattern interrupts: good editing and visuals to create pattern interrupts as “ visuals ” is music for the eyes and the pattern interrupts and constant visual changes makes the viewer not expect what’s coming next which keeps them intrigued, engaged, and makes them stay until the end ( Cover this in the editing and video creation process ).
• Great script writing: every word counts, too many filler words and you rambling on will cause them to click off once they get board ( Cover this in the script writing portion ).
• No dead spots in video: Make sure there are no boring and dead spots in the video or else the viewer will click off.
• Making great content: Great info + Great editing & visuals
• More subscribers: Having subscribers means you don’t have to rely solely on your video ranking or being suggested as you have subscribers to feed views and drive traction to your video

 

 

2. Impressions & Click Through Rate ( CTR )

Impressions is every time YouTube promotes your video to its viewers through their homepage or on the sidebar, but the click through rate is how many times people actually click your video when YouTube promotes it.

 

The lower the click through rate, the more the algorithm will penalize you and eventually stop promoting your video

 

 

How to Optimize for CTR

• Your high quality thumbnail creating curiosity and forcing the click.
• Your title creating curiosity and forcing the click, which works in tandem with the thumbnail (we cover this later on)
• Both thumbnail and title work together to drive the click

 

 

3. Engagement

The more people engage with your video, the more youtube will promote the video because viewer engagement shows that the viewers of the video actually liked the video, and also shows that the viewers are “real” and not just bots.

 

This is why you will notice in videos that always state to like, comment and share the video because this is all part of viewer engagement. The more they engage, the more youtube will assume this video is great and keep promoting it.

 

 

Forms of Engagement that Youtube tracks

• Getting the viewer to like the video: shows the YouTube algorithm people like your content and helps your video rank higher against other videos that have less engagement.
• Getting the viewer to leave comments: it shows youtube people like your content and adds points to the YouTube algorithm. More comments helps your video rank higher, you should also reply to as many comments as possible because this encourages more people to comment and engage.
• Getting the viewer to share the video: backlinks outside of youtube hold a lot of weight in terms of engagement so encourage people to share your videos, and if you have created a high quality video, people will want to share it and will be proud to do so.
• Rewatches from the same viewer: if people come back and watch the video over and over again but also go back to different parts of your video, these all drive engagement as it shows heavy interest in the video from the same viewer.

 

How to Optimize for Engagement

• The better the video , The more inclined people will feel to engage and comment and like , which again Focuses on Creating a great video , Not fast food content.
• The better the information + the quality (visuals + editing) means they will love your video and feel “ entitled ” to comment + engage + like + share.

 

 

4. Share-ability

The more people share your video across the internet to places outside of YouTube the better it will rank and perform. The better the information + the quality (visuals + editing) means the more shareable it is meaning more views + more watch time + more backlinks.

 

How to Optimize for Share-ability

If you think back to Jennelle’s van life channel, because she creates such “unique content”, the video become more shareable as people love to share videos and content, and the more your videos are shared, the more “Backlinks” there are to your video.

 

Meaning the youtube algorithm loves your video people watched across all places outside of youtube as it “bring traffic to youtube from somewhere else” and google and youtube love this.

 

 

5. The First 48hrs After Uploading

Your video gets a boost during the first 48 hours after you post it. Youtube puts a lot of weight on how your video performs within the first 48hrs meaning if it does well ion the first 48hrs it will continue to push it and promote it to the homepage and suggest as a video to people looking for related topics.

 

The better it does in the first 48hrs means it can be continued to be pushed for days, weeks and can help you rank for the keyword as it will be getting more views due to YouTube promoting and suggesting it to related videos of the topic.

 

This is very important and is also how small channels or newer channels always have a chance when going against bigger channels because you automatically get the boost once you post to rank above bigger channels and older more established videos.

 

We will show you how to take advantage of this, but this again comes back to having a great thumbnail, a great title, and a high quality video so that you get the click through of the video and also get them to stay and watch after they have clicked.

 

 

How to Optimize for it

• Always ask viewers to turn on the notification bell in each video so that they actually get notified when you upload (when you create great content they will actually listen and do this).
• Promote your video on all social media accounts ( twitter, facebook, instagram).
• Have an email list built up and send an intriguing email that triggers them to click through and watch (thumbnail, title).
• Following all other aspect = great title + great thumbnail.
• Have more subscribers that have notifications turned on (this gets built up over time)

 

 

6. Quality > Quantity

Focusing on quality over quantity is the easiest way to optimized for ALL the previous points discussed.

 

Quality videos matter more than quantity. If you start creating a lot of videos fast (fast food content) just to have quantity but in turn are of low quality, then this will hurt you because your subscribers and viewers will lose interest which will again, bring down your watch time and click through rate.

 

You see this often with a lot channels where they just pump out a lot of content that is of low quality and as a result can barely break 1000 views per video. They will have thousands of or millions of subscribers but not all their subs watch their videos anymore as there is fatigue.

 

Low quality videos means people will stop watching and just skip some because in their mind, they are thinking “ maybe I can watch this, but maybe I shouldn ’ t ” which hurts you with the algorithm once again.

 

Also remember that if you just dump a lot of content onto youtube that is very similar, you also risk the chance of getting demonetized by youtube for “spammy” content which we see often.

 

How we optimize for it = MAKE GREAT CONTENT

 

 

 

Check more Articles:

12 Best YouTube Course To Grow Your Channel

How To Use YouTube Ads For Amazon FBA

How to Outsource Youtube Thumbnails

 

 

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