- There's a new way to grow your YouTube channel,
and it's helping creators get hundreds of thousands of views
on their first uploads, like this channel,
that hit 1.4 million views on their first video,
or this channel that hit four million views
on their third upload.
These channels have cracked the YouTube algorithm
because they understand the recent changes
that are blowing up small channels on the platform.
So in this video,
we're going to cover four ways you can tackle
and beat the YouTube algorithm
to fast track the growth of your channel
to finally get the views your videos deserve.
(fingers snap)
The advice today is not gonna be about the small things,
such as posting on your Community tab
or commenting on other people's videos.
That type of stuff will help you build
and engage a community,
but it's not gonna significantly increase your views
or your subscribers. (screen chimes)
Instead, today we're gonna focus on four fundamental aspects
of the YouTube algorithm
that are proven to impact your videos,
and then I'll guide you step by step
on how you can apply each of these to your channel.
We've also included a downloadable worksheet
in the description
that you can use during a critical part of this process
that we'll cover in a lot more detail when we get there.
And the first part of the YouTube algorithm puzzle
is YouTube is a zero sum game.
Well, almost.
It's hard to predict exactly
what the YouTube algorithm does,
but it does leave clues, like this passage
from a study on how the YouTube algorithm works.
Essentially, all of this means
that you're not creating content within a vacuum.
You're battling head to head
with other channels in your niche
for the audience's attention,
it is a bit of a weird situation, I will admit,
but on the YouTube platform,
there is an infinite room for creators,
but a finite supply of audiences to draw upon.
And that may be difficult to accept, but it is the truth.
And the creators that accept this fact
are the ones that are winning.
This is because the YouTube algorithm works
on a ranking system.
It uses a whole load of data,
such as click-through rate, watch time,
likes, dislikes, comments, shares,
and a whole bunch of other signals
to determine viewer satisfaction.
And that defines the video's value to the audience,
which determines what the algorithm does.
If your video ranks well against other videos,
then the algorithm is gonna favor your video.
But I know what you're gonna say next,
and you might as well call this YouTube imposter syndrome.
Competing against the big channels in your niche
can feel really intimidating
because you believe these big channels have got all
of the unfair advantages that YouTube bestows on them.
But I do have some good news,
YouTube does not discriminate.
Even if you're a small channel
with less than 1,000 subscribers,
you can compete with the biggest channels in your niche.
For example, you've probably started
to notice small channels appearing
on the home feed of your YouTube page.
This is because the algorithm
is adapting to give small channels a chance
to have their content seen by more people.
Even YouTube's chief algorithm boffin,
I kind of made that title up,
admits to all of this.
- We have a team that is specifically focused
on this challenge of trying to identify audiences
for creators that are just getting started.
- Put simply, if you put in the time and effort
to make your videos better than your competitors,
then you can see your content right at the top,
even with a single video,
which is exactly what happened to this channel.
When "The Market Whisperer" posted this video,
they were at the very bottom of the YouTube pile,
zero views, zero subscribers.
But in less than six months,
this single video has hit two million views,
which proves that even if you are literally
the smallest channel on YouTube,
you can compete with anybody on the platform.
But all of this still leaves us with one big question.
How do we actually beat the competition?
And what specific parts of your video should you focus on?
Well, after studying all of these fast-growing channels,
I've noticed one common thing that they all focus on,
and it's this: next level ideation.
One of the best ways to beat the competition in your niche
is to simply come up with better video ideas.
And how successful channels do this,
is by recreating viral ideas from similar niches,
which is exactly what this channel did.
Justicul found these videos on YouTube,
and they were massive outliers for the channels,
meaning that they got far more views
than typical for those creators.
This tool is available on the vidIQ extension, by the way,
so make sure to download it as soon as you can.
And when you see these outlier videos,
they are the perfect type of content to recreate.
And so all Justicul had to do
was duplicate this viral video format.
He did this by first finding an interesting story
within his own niche.
It was a story about the $19 Fortnite card guy.
He then used the same viral title format
from the original video,
and came up with this: "19 Dollar Fortnite Card Guy:,
"The Meme That Ruined Its Creator."
And then lastly, he took this viral title
and paired it with a thumbnail format
that was also proven to go viral.
And you can guess what happened next:
another viral video.
A 10x outlier that generated
over 2.5 million views for the channel.
This is why big creators focus so much on ideation.
They have the power to create massive outliers for channels
that help them grow at an exponential rate.
But coming up with viral video ideas
only addresses one part of the YouTube algorithm,
which naturally brings us onto part two:
making content for your core audience.
Many new YouTubers don't understand this concept,
or maybe it's fairer to say they're not even aware of it,
but it is one of the fundamental reasons why their content
isn't being picked by the YouTube algorithm.
So let's break this all down
so that you don't make the same mistake.
At last count, there's more than 500 hours
of YouTube videos being uploaded every single minute
to the platform.
So the algorithm can't manually review every single video
and pick the right one for a certain viewer.
So instead, it groups individual people
into something called audience profiles.
And these profiles are determined by people's behavior,
watch history, search terms, how they engage with content.
An example of a profile might be people
who watch football documentaries
or an audience of people who watch beauty tutorials.
YouTube uses these profiles to know
what to recommend to a user
when they're on the platform.
But here is where most creators get it wrong.
YouTube's algorithm works best
when a channel focuses on an audience profile.
Put simply, it reduces audience friction,
because the algorithm knows who to recommend the videos too.
But creators have multiple interests, hobbies and passions
that they end up sharing everything they know
and love on YouTube,
which results in a channel making content
for multiple audiences,
and you end up with this weird, multifaceted,
complex, layered Venn diagram
that the algorithm's just gonna raise a thinking emoji.
Let me give you two examples to make things more clear.
This channel has nailed down their core audience profile.
They make content for people
who like village-style cooking videos,
and that's clear to see
after just looking at the channel for five seconds.
They consistently repeat the same video format
over and over again
because they know it consistently satisfies their viewers.
And this makes things very easy for the YouTube algorithm.
It's almost as if a digital relationship has been built
between the audience and the algorithm,
and the video is the connective tissue.
But now let's compare all of this to this channel.
The same five-second look on this channel
makes you a little confused
as to what type of content they're making.
Yes, it's about cooking,
but that's still quite a broad topic.
There is no clear audience profile
that this channel is actually targeting.
One week they're making content about dried pasta,
the next week it's birthday cakes,
and this is gonna make the algorithm think twice
about which audience to send this content to.
So how do you prevent this from happening
and finding your core audience?
Well, the first step is to identify your subniche.
Instead of just stopping at a broad topic like cooking,
go deeper, focus on a very specific subniche
that targets a specific audience profile.
Examples could be vegan diets
or budget-friendly meal preparation.
And then the second step
is to actually get to know your audience.
Now you have a rough idea of your core audience,
it's time to get to work on that worksheet
I mentioned earlier,
which is linked in the description below.
This is going to be your audience profile bible,
and you need to answer the following questions.
Who is your target audience?
Their typical age, gender, where they live in the world.
And then what pain points do they experience
around the sub niche that you cover?
And let's take vegan desserts as an example.
It could be things like trying
to find the right ingredients in a regular supermarket,
or the fact that vegan desserts tend
to be typically more expensive
or they simply don't taste as nice as regular desserts.
Next, you want to determine the outcomes
that your core audience want from this subniche.
This could be things like making fast
and delicious vegan desserts,
which at the same time aren't too expensive
and actually help the audience lose weight.
And then you want to broaden out the research a little bit
by asking the audience profile
what other channels do they watch in this subniche?
And of course,
what are the best performing videos on those channels?
Now, I assume this subniche should be something
that you have a great interest, knowledge and passion for,
so you shouldn't struggle to answer these questions, right?
But if you do, you can use vidIQ's AI Coach
to help prompt some of those answers for you.
And all of this is going
to give you a much deeper understanding
of who your core audience is.
And ultimately, this is going
to help you create videos your audience actually wants
to watch, as well as making it incredibly easy
for the YouTube algorithm
to find the right audience profile.
Every time you plan a new video, refer back
to this audience profile bible and ask yourself,
"Does all of this align with my core audience profile?
And will it provide value
and resonate with my target viewers?"
Now, I do understand the tension
between the creator and the audience.
It is very tempting to create random videos
that you're interested in to nourish your creative spirit
and by way of experimentation
and to allow yourself to be creatively free every once
in a while, you can do that,
but YouTube is designed in such a way that you, the creator,
are answerable to your audience, which means
that typically, success, at least to begin with,
lies in staying true to your niche.
Once the YouTube algorithm
is consistently finding the right viewers for your video,
it leads naturally onto step three: maximizing watch time.
Above all other things,
the YouTube algorithm is interested in this:
how videos satisfy viewers.
And typically, when a viewer watches for longer
or watches the entire video all the way through,
you would expect them to be generally satisfied.
Now, it's not always the case.
Sometimes you can get pulled into YouTube rabbit holes
and feel thoroughly unsatisfied at the end of it.
This might be conspiracy theory topics
or misleading information.
You may watch something for hours, get completely fed up,
and then not return to YouTube for a couple of weeks.
That's really bad for the algorithm.
But for our sake, let's say
that maximizing watch time does satisfy viewers.
Now, obviously, the way to boost watch time
is to focus on audience retention,
and I highly recommend you do that.
But today I want to introduce something new to you.
It's a technique big creators use,
and you might not have heard of it.
It's called the binge loop.
This is a three-part formula
that makes your viewers watch one video and then another,
and then another, and then another on your channel.
It only takes a few extra minutes
during the script writing process,
but should have a positive
and noticeable impact on the overall watch time
on your channel.
One creator who's extremely effective at this is Ali Abdaal.
In this example, he's using a simple three-sentence formula
to tie in the next video he wants you to watch as a viewer.
- Now, this is super interesting.
It's the first time in my life where we've had a dip
in profitability, a massive spike in costs,
and I've made a video over there where I talk about like all
of these failures in entrepreneurship, like all the ways
that I failed this year to get to a point
where we're actually less profitable this year
than we were last year.
So if you're interested, you can check out
that video over there.
- It's smooth, almost unnoticeable, but extremely effective.
So let's break this down into each part
so that you can apply this to your own videos.
The first part is the link.
These are one or two sentences that create a natural
and logical link between two videos.
In this example, Ali's next video
is about his failures in 2022.
- Now, this is super interesting.
It's the first time in my life where we've had a dip
in profitability, a massive spike in costs.
- So he links back to a failure moment in his current video
to create a smooth transition.
The second part is to tease the next video.
Pick the most exciting part of the next video,
and tease it in one or two sentences.
It creates a sense of intrigue and anticipation,
encouraging the viewer to click.
Ali does this by teasing the failures he's faced
in his entrepreneurship.
- I've made a video over there where I talk about like all
of these failures in entrepreneurship, like all the ways
that I failed this year to get to a point
where we're actually less profitable this year
than we were last year.
- And lastly, we have the all important call to action.
This is one simple sentence, an instruction
to the viewer to actually click on the video.
- So if you're interested,
you can check out that video over there.
- Now, of course, from a channel-wide perspective,
this does require a little bit of planning.
You need to have some idea
of what videos you've made in the past
and some idea of what videos you're going to make
in the future.
That's gonna make it a lot easier
to connect all of these videos.
But the binge loop method is a powerful way
of making the algorithm happy
because it keeps viewers watching your videos
and staying on the platform for longer.
It's called session watch time.
But there is one last part of the algorithm,
and it might just be the most important one of them all,
and I'm gonna call it the golden vein.
As we talked about earlier, the algorithm is looking
for content that satisfies the viewers most.
So naturally, when a video performs well on your channel,
it's clear the viewer was satisfied by it.
But here is where many creators go in the wrong direction.
Instead of taking the format of this great performing video
and repeating it, they do something completely different.
In short, creators worry far too much about making
what might be perceived as the same video,
and that can be a recipe for slow growth.
What smart creators do is find a format that works
with their audience and then recreate that format
over and over again.
And this is why I call it the golden vein.
They're constantly mining at something that's very valuable
to their audience and profitable for the channel.
There is a high likelihood
that the biggest creators on YouTube
that you admire have followed this exact technique
on their channels.
They like experimented with different types
of video formats in the beginning,
but when they found their viral moment,
they went all in on that format.
And a perfect example of this is Ryan Trahan.
We need to go back seven years to see what type
of videos Ryan was creating then.
And there was a certain randomness to them,
a running video here, trying on thrift clothes over here.
But then in 2019, something interesting happened.
He tested this style of video.
Up until this point,
Ryan's videos didn't follow a strict type of format.
He would make videos about bad commercials
and then a road trip with his girlfriend.
But after he had this hit video, everything changed
in that it kind of stayed the same.
He stopped randomly making videos
and went all in on this challenge-style format.
And the more he posted, the more they went viral.
Ryan had found his golden vein,
and the rest now is YouTube history.
He is without question one of the biggest
and the most loved YouTubers on the planet,
but enough about Ryan.
How do you find your golden vein for your channel?
Well, it all starts with research.
You wanna pick 5 to 10 channels
that are in a similar niche to you.
Next, on those channels, sort the videos
by most popular,
and try to identify patterns in which formats
are reoccurring on the channel that perform well.
Next, start testing all of these formats on your channel
to see which resonate best with your audience
as we discussed in part one.
The second step is to commit to one
of these formats when it works.
When you do have an outlier video on your channel
that performs 5 or 10 times better than usual,
that's a clear indication
to try and recreate this viral moment.
And I agree, you may need to fight your creative instincts,
but you wanna test the instincts of the YouTube algorithm.
And if these repeatable videos turn into outlier contents,
then you've found your golden vein.
And that allows you to do two things.
It becomes a reliable format you can use with your audience,
and you can also improve on the format.
The creativity can come from the perfection
of what you're making.
And obviously, you don't stop at one golden vein.
You repeat this whole process again to find new formats.
You might call this your silver vein and your bronze vein.
A simple ratio might be
for every two videos you make on your tried
and tested formats, you make one experimental video.
Again, do the research on your biggest creators,
and you'll likely find
that they have more than one successful format.
But like I said all the way back at the beginning,
the YouTube algorithm isn't always easy to predict.
You could try recreating these viral formats
and still not have any look.
But what if I told you there was someone on the inside,
someone with a deeper
and more intimate understanding
of how your videos perform on YouTube?
Yeah, you saw a glimpse of him in this video,
but you'll discover a lot more from him over here.