- Every time you post a YouTube Short,
it feels like it's going to go viral, doesn't it?
Oh, cool, I'm a small channel
and I've already got 1,000 views.
Then bang, everything suddenly stops,
and then it keeps happening, over and over and over again.
Which leaves you to start wondering,
is the YouTube algorithm truly against me
or worse still, have I been shadow banned?
Now usually I would try to convince you otherwise,
but what if this time, you're right?
- So you have these seed audiences.
The seed audience will try and be,
it's not really that much interest,
and then you'll see it drop suddenly.
- And in this video, that's what we aim to find out,
why YouTube Shorts views always seems to start strong,
and then suddenly tank.
You'll learn what's going on behind the scenes
with the YouTube algorithm
and how it decides which videos to promote.
Now it turns out timing and consistency are crucial factors.
So you're going to want to pay close attention
because I'm going to reveal the optimum posting strategies
to ensure that those views don't taper off.
But if you get the timing wrong, yep,
that temperamental Shorts algorithm is gonna do its thing.
So make sure you stick around until the end of this video
'cause I'm going to show you all of the actionable tips
that reveal how the YouTube Shorts algorithm
is working in 2023.
Oh, and I also forgot there's a little game
of spot for difference in this video.
So if you find it, let us know in the comments below,
and I'll give you a thumbs up.
And is there such a thing as YouTube shadow banning you
from Shorts?
Well, keep watching.
But first, let's throw this over to you.
Have your Shorts views ever dropped off inexplicably?
If the answer's yes, which I'm sure it is for many of you,
then try the timing strategies in this video
and then come back and let us know how you got on.
Now then, you're probably quite familiar
with this typical YouTube Shorts graph.
Not much happens for a few hours and then whoosh,
it suddenly takes off, only to flatten out just as quickly.
Now, when I first saw this in action years ago,
I phrased it as the Shorts surge
without really understanding
the why behind what was going on.
But now, we have an expert's explanation
to back all of this up.
And if you've got some spare time,
try saying Shorts surge,
an expert's explanation really fast 10 times.
Now, I will confess that this expert opinion
comes from someone on Reddit
claiming to be a former data scientist
from one of the fabled FAANG, but allow me to explain.
The YouTube Shorts algorithm consists of two stages,
explore and exploit,
and it's the seed audience from these stages
that determines whether a Short takes off.
- If you're a smaller channel,
we want to get you a seed audience.
Like if we don't know a ton about you,
like let's say you're just starting out,
we wanna get that as fast as possible.
If you're a really small channel,
it may take a little bit of time for you to get
that seed audience and ramp it.
- Now these two dudes are not random experts on Reddit,
they're actual YouTube employees,
so they should know a little bit about
how the YouTube Shorts algorithm works.
So we'll get back to the seed audience in a second.
The Reddit post explains the explore and exploit stages
as a multi-armed bandit system.
So think slot machines at a casino.
When you first publish a Short, it enters an explore phase,
where it gets sent out to a small random seed audience.
This seed audience acts like a focus group
to test if your content resonates.
The algorithm tries to find viewers
that might be a good match for your Short
based on factors like your niche, their watch history
and so on.
But here's the catch,
that seed audience may not represent your target audience.
The seed audience, especially if you're a smaller channel,
is randomly selected by the algorithm
to minimize regret and maximize engagement.
And to support this theory,
remember what the YouTube employee said.
- If you're a really small channel,
it may take a little bit of time for you
to get that seed audience and ramp it.
- So if we go back to the one-armed bandit,
if YouTube finds a perfect seed audience,
you've hit the jackpot.
And when that happens,
the algorithm moves onto its next phase, exploit.
The Short will get more exposure
and be sent out more widely.
However, if that initial seed audience isn't engaged,
it doesn't provide enough momentum
for the Short to really take off.
And then the algorithm will,
well, I'll just let the YouTube employee explain.
- The seed audience will try and be,
oh, it's not really that much interest,
and then you'll see it drop suddenly.
- But what if you are counter to all of this
is the fact that the video got thousands of views.
Surely that's good data for YouTube to work with, right?
Well, yes, for long form content,
but not necessarily for Shorts.
- I think also for creators, we're used to impressions,
click through rates, and that doesn't exist in a feed.
And so those views feel to me like more like impression
than traditional views.
- That's right, I think that especially creators
starting out, I think a lot of those early views,
they're sort of very like exploratory.
- Typically, when you watch Shorts,
you don't choose the ones you end up watching.
YouTube chooses for you through the Shorts Feed.
And so logically, the only way to really test these Shorts
isn't through impressions, it's through views.
Going forward, that is something to remember.
Impressions test long form content, views test Shorts,
especially when they're first released.
You need to keep this strategy top of mind.
Make great YouTube Shorts for your target audience.
And this is how you stack the odds in your favor.
Research your target audience
and find out what makes them tick,
and tailor everything you do from text, visuals, editing,
to match what they like.
This gives you a better chance of the content resonating
with whatever seed audience YouTube sends your way.
Try to post one or two Shorts a day
to increase your chance of hitting that jackpot.
You can find out through YouTube
when your audience is online,
so through that you can match your publishing times
to when your users are most active on YouTube.
The data that will be most useful to you
is the new swipe away analytic.
And YouTube also now includes returning viewers
for Shorts content.
In other words, do you hook viewers
before they have the chance to swipe away?
Once we here at Vid IQ began adopting these strategies,
YouTube eventually discovered the perfect seed audience
for our Shorts.
And now they function very much like regular videos
in terms of views, including views from search,
and external traffic sources.
But we'll also admit that none of this came easy to us.
It took about a year and 100 YouTube Shorts
to figure this out.
So yeah, patience is always a YouTube virtue.
And with this YouTube Short,
we can really put that Reddit theory to the test.
1.2 million views in 70 days.
And what did it do?
Explore and exploit.
Exploit and exploit some more.
So with the YouTube Shorts algorithm
still effectively being a work in progress,
does that mean it's exploitable, vulnerable to hacks?
Well, apparently there is one,
many creators have exploited it,
and it's as simple as they come, re-uploading.
- Is your YouTube Short is stuck at one view?
Here's a little trick you can try.
So what I'm gonna do is re-upload the clip onto YouTube.
The video with one view,
I'm actually just going to make it unlisted for now.
Alright, I'm making the new video public,
so let's see what happens.
So it's a day later and we're at 176 views
as opposed to being stuck at one.
- Okay, so would we recommend doing that?
- No. - Probably not.
The same YouTube employee who was speaking
to Colin and Samir
is part of our Vid IQ Max Discord group.
And he says that to YouTube,
reloading will be seen as abusive
and will get your channel flagged as spam.
And that's when you could truly consider your channel
shadow banned, and for good reason.
Things are starting to get more strategical.
But ultimately what it always boils down to on YouTube,
no matter what content you are creating,
is viewer satisfaction.
And what is the most important thing
that satisfies a viewer when it comes to Shorts?
Not the title, not the thumbnail, the hook.
Within literal seconds, you need to pull the viewer
into the Short so that they don't swipe away.
So how are you gonna do that?
With proven hacks used by the greatest creators
on the YouTube Shorts platform
that guarantee to hook viewers.
It's all over here, click, watch, enjoy, implement, grow.
Did you spot the difference?
That's what happens when you film stuff on different days.