My top traffic source for newly uploaded videos to YouTube
comes from the home screen or browse features. In this video, I'll show you how the Home
algorithm works, what traffic sources are included on the browse features,
and how to trigger the Home algorithm and get more views so you can grow your channel faster.
What is Home? These are videos you see on the home screen at YouTube.com or on the YouTube app that
includes both signed in and signed out viewers. It's the one-stop destination for YouTube,
and the results are personalized based upon what each viewer wants to watch.
These can be new videos, videos watched by similar viewers, or videos from your subscriptions.
Recently I've been researching the M1 MacBook, because my MacBook here has not been working very
well and needs upgrading. As a result, I've begun to see more M1 MacBook videos appear on my home
screen based upon my personal browsing behavior. Keep in mind that all videos from channels you
have subscribe to will show up on Home, because it's based upon your personal browsing behavior.
How does Home traffic work? It's based upon performance and personalization. Performance
refers to how well a video has engaged and satisfied similar viewers. Personalization
refers to a viewer’s search and watch history, how often a viewer watches that channel or topic,
and how many times YouTube is shown that video to the viewer,
Where to view, browse features or Home traffic? Click on analytics in YouTube Studio,
then click on the Reach tab and look on the Traffic Source Types. Click See More.
Then click on Browse Features. Traffic from Browse Features includes traffic from the Home,
your Watch History, your Subscriptions, Watch Later and Trending. This is similar to the menu on
YouTube channel homepage, where you’ve got Home, Explore, Subscriptions, History. Notice at the
home screen at YouTube.com or on the YouTube app gets the most traffic followed by Subscriptions.
Keep in mind that subscribers watch more videos from their subscriptions on the home screen
than they do from the subscriptions feed. Speaker 2: In the analytics, specifically
Home is also called Browse, and browse is a verb really means somebody looking through
either a set of information or in this case a set of videos without a specific intent about
what they want. That's actually very similar to how viewers behave on Home when they arrive
at that destination. Maybe they come there and they're a casual viewer. They're not
quite sure with what they want to watch. We have a really diverse set of options. It's videos from
your past watch history, it's videos from channels you subscribe to, it's videos from new viewers and
videos that are popular with similar audiences. Speaker 1: How to trigger the Home algorithm. The
recommendation system on YouTube finds the videos that are most satisfying for each viewer. Your
goal is to upload videos that you viewers want to watch. Keep in mind YouTube keeps track of what
your viewers watched, what they don't watch, how long they watched, and when they watched.
Here are three ways to trigger the Home algorithm. Number one, keep your
viewers engaged. This begins with choosing a topic that your audience really cares about,
then creating a title and thumbnail that captures the attention of your viewers and subscribers.
After they begin watching your video you want to keep them engaged throughout your video,
and then get them to keep coming back to watch more of the content.
You can do this by creating a series of related videos based upon a common theme and place them
in a playlist. At the end of each video link to that related video in the playlist. This will get
viewers to binge watch multiple videos in a row. Number two, keep doing what works. If you notice a
specific video is getting a lot of traffic because a topic resonates with your audience make more of
those types of videos. You can approach a topic from a different angle, answer viewers’ questions,
or even do a case study. If you click on the audience
tab in YouTube Analytics, you'll be able to see the videos growing your audience,
other channels your audience watches, other videos your audience watched, and when your viewers are
on YouTube. When you study these analytics you get a better idea of what kind of content to
make next that resonates with your audience. Keep in mind, videos that get recommended on
the Home screen can also appear in suggestive videos, which are the videos that appear on the
right side of the Watch page. Video thumbnails on the home screen are larger than the video
thumbnails in suggestive videos so make sure your thumbnail looks good at all different sizes.
Number three, be consistent. If you upload videos on a consistent basis, there's more opportunity
for your videos to be discovered on the Home screen, suggested Videos and in YouTube Search.
It only takes one video to blow up your channel. If your video gets recommended on the Home screen
and in Suggested Videos, you could see explosive growth of your channel. Keep in mind, videos that
are discovered via Search can also get recommended by YouTube when they appeal to a broader audience.
Hey Herman, are you saying that I shouldn't focus on a search-based strategy?
If you have a new channel or don't have a large audience I recommend focusing on a search-based
strategy because some of that search traffic will also get recommended on Home and Suggested,
particularly if it appeals to a large audience. Great. Thanks for the advice.
If you want to learn how to grow faster on YouTube, watch a video on a
screen right now on How To Get Your Videos Recommended On YouTube in 2022 and Beyond