- Another fun question to kick this one off.
How many bits of information do you think,
YouTube collects from users every single day
to work out what videos to suggest to viewers?
Let us know in the comments below.
And after the intro we'll let you know
how your videos get discovered, let's do this.
- vidIQ - vidIQ
- [Announcer] vidIQ.com
- If you're a YouTuber and you haven't heard
of the Creator Insider YouTuber channel yet.
It might be time to get acquainted with it,
because they are a team of YouTube employees
who offer sneak peek to new tools
and give you deep insights into YouTube analytics.
Their recent video they talked all about
how you get discovered on YouTube
and it proved to be a fascinating viewing.
So what we're gonna do right now is
turn that 20 minute video into a less than 20 minute video
with all of the important bits,
and maybe discuss some of them.
Let's check it out.
(upbeat music)
YouTube's goal from the homepage is
to make it a one-stop shop where a viewer
can find whatever they want to watch.
Many users don't have a goal in mind
when they come in via the homepage,
so YouTube offers a paid variety of results.
Essentially YouTube looks at two things
to help them do that.
One of those things is what it knows about the viewer
and the history of what types of videos and channels
they've watched before.
Plus actions like,
do they watch long videos?
Or short videos?
The other things that can really influence
the recommendations on the homepage,
is the performance of the video.
When YouTube shows a video on the homepage,
it's looking to see if viewers click on it.
And how long that they watch.
Plus how well it is preforming on average,
relative to other videos
that it might also be showing to similar viewers.
So often users come to the homepage as casual viewers
who aren't quite sure what they want to watch.
YouTube will offer up a diverse set of options,
such as videos from your past watch history.
Videos from channels you subscribe to.
And videos that were popular with similar audiences.
It presents a variety of content to make sure that
people can find at least something that they are going
to want to watch.
And keep people on the YouTube platform.
Beyond the YouTube homepage,
we have "Up next" and "Suggested" videos.
These options that feature on the watch page,
try to help the viewer find other video to watch,
after the one they're currently watching.
It's different from the homepage,
because YouTube now has some sense of context.
For that viewer, as they've already
started to watch another video.
Unlike the content on the homepage,
YouTube will now videos that are related topically.
Or from the same channel
to try and help serve those viewers,
who want to continue watching the same sort of thing.
But also like the homepage,
YouTube will also look at personalization.
And try to recommend videos
that may not be exactly the same topic.
Because one of the things that viewers have told
YouTube through their behavior,
is that sometimes they want to change the channel.
For example, a viewer might me watching a music video,
or getting updated on their latest vlogger.
But then once they watch that content,
they want to try something different.
And so YouTube again offers up a variety of videos,
so that no matter what type of user it is.
Whether they're looking to go deeper, or switch context.
There's some results there for them to check out.
Hold up by the way.
I am Rob and welcome to vidIQ.
The YouTube tool and channel that aims to educate you
your YouTube journey.
If you are finding this video useful,
and you want more YouTube tips, tricks, and advice
just like this.
Make sure to subscribe to the channel and do this.
(bell rings)
So that you're the first to be notified when we
release brand new content every single week.
As always, school is already in session.
So lets get back to it.
No, shoutouts do not count as a way of being discovered,
stop doing it.
(dramatic music)
The YouTube team confirmed that one of the most common
questions they get asked about,
is why they see a decrease in the amount of viewership,
they're getting from either suggested views
or from the homepage.
They also confirm that suggested traffic has been
steadily going up over time.
So there's no system wide issue that they have seen
where traffic to suggested is dropping.
Although the analytics between browse and suggested
may have changed over time.
However, what constantly changes about suggested videos
are their ranking.
Now lets be clear hear,
were not talking about search rankings.
Were talking about the rankings of your videos
in browse and suggested.
Staggeringly, YouTube collects of 80 billion bits of
information and feedback from its audience everyday.
And it feeds that right back into the system,
so it can know which videos are engaging and satisfying
the viewers on each suggested list.
When YouTube confirms the rankings are changing it means
that the viewers interests are changing overtime.
Rather than any major changes to the algorithm.
Also rankings are different for every viewers.
So YouTube is trying to optimize the results they serve
up for each viewer to give them what they are going to
want to watch the most.
(upbeat music)
Creators should understand the reasons
behind changes in traffic.
And there are three main reasons which are
as you might expect, supply and demand, and personalization.
Demand is basically how much interest there is out there
in whatever topic you're covering.
Or what ever type of video you're making.
And this can change significantly overtime of course.
As we often see with trending topic and temple events
such as, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween.
Supply is how much a specific type of content is
being uploaded by other creators.
YouTube confirmed that there are now over 500 hours of video
being uploaded every minute to the platform.
And the types of videos that are being uploaded
is constantly changing.
As creators come up with new ideas,
or more creators start producing videos
about a similar topic.
So the competitive landscape is changing overtime.
And that can influence how videos preform,
relative to other videos that the viewer might be
interested in watching.
When it comes to personalization,
YouTube rankings are different for every user.
Because the platform is trying to give,
every user what they want and viewer taste change.
You can't really optimize your videos
for a certain traffic source.
But you can optimize you videos for your audience.
So if you really want your viewers to continue
watching your videos.
One strategy is making really consistent content,
or even a series.
That way if those videos start being watched together,
they're topically related
and they attract the same type of viewer.
So they're very likely to come up next to each other
in watch next.
(upbeat music)
The YouTube team state that a pattern they are seeing
around performance is around thumbnails.
Right now the homepage thumbnails are much larger
than the ones that appear in suggested.
And that can actually lead to different performance,
depending on where the users are browsing from.
The YouTube team also has seen examples where
a thumbnail works really well on the homepage,
but less effectively in suggested.
Possibly because it's just harder to see what's going on.
As with any part of the YouTube system.
It isn't about quick hacks or solutions that are suddenly
going to get you more and more views and subscribers,
over the course of a single video.
I think through all of the information that YouTube
are putting out these days.
They do seem to be fairly consistent
with what they are trying to tell us as creators.
And we as creators generally do that with consistent
content that is serving an audience that wants to watch more
your content because they enjoy what they see from you.
And the way to get those viewers through the front door
into your content is through thumbnails.
Which are more important than ever before.
Individual viewing habits can change.
On and individual level,
we can't really do anything about that.
But try and think of it as a Venn diagram.
You have a cluster of an audience within your niche.
And those topic will shift sightly,
as more viewers come into your content while others leave.
But if you stay true to your topic, and true to yourself.
Generally speaking as you become a better video creator,
you will attract a larger audience.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Don't forget to subscribe to Creator Insider.
It is one of the most valuable YouTube channels
on a platform for video creators.
And to learn more about vidIQ.
Which will help you research YouTube,
analyze videos on the platform, audit your own channel,
and take actual steps that will help you get more views
and subscribers.
We got a beginners guide over there.
Thank you very much for watching.
Enjoy the rest of your video making day.