The YouTube Algorithm: What You Need to Know

The YouTube Algorithm: What You Need to Know

The YouTube Algorithm: What You Need to Know

The YouTube Algorithm: What You Need to Know - Social Growth Engine

Have you been wondering what the algorithm for YouTube is? What does it do and how can you make SEO on Youtube work in your favor? In this article, we will discuss these important questions. We'll talk about all of the factors that go into determining a video's rank on Youtube, including watch time, likes and dislikes, comments, video views and more. So keep reading to find out everything there is to know about how Youtube algorithm works!

What is the YouTube Algorithm?

The YouTube algorithm is a complex ai system of ranking that determines which videos will show up in the feeds of its users. In order to understand how this Youtube algorithm works, we must first explain what factors contribute to it. There are many different parts of the Youtube algorithm and each one plays an important role in determining where your video ranks on YouTube search results. Some of the factors that influence a video's rank include:
- Watch time (how long videos users watched your video and what percentage of your total views is watch time)
- Viewer retention (whether or not people are watching most or all of your video)
- Likes/dislikes (the ratio between likes and dislikes)
- Comments (the ratio between comments and views)
- Subscribers (how many subscribers you have compared to how much time has passed since your last upload)
- Shares/reposts (shares on Facebook, reblogs on Tumblr, retweets on Twitter etc.)

What Can You Do To Improve Your Rankings?

You may be thinking, "Wow! That sounds like a lot of work!" and you would be correct. There is no doubt that SEO on Youtube takes lots of time and effort to master. However, if your goal is for people all over the world to watch your videos (and we assume it is!), then this algorithm presents an exciting opportunity. You can work toward making SEO on Youtube as effective as possible by following these tips:
- Make great content - this is the most important thing you can do to help yourself ranking videos highly on YouTube, so start with that! It may take a while for your rankings to climb high enough for people all over the world to discover your video content, but even if you only have a local audience, to begin with, your videos will build up over time.
- Don't be afraid of controversial topics - this is important! Some people are worried that publishing content about politics or religion on Youtube may hurt their rankings, but in actuality it can actually help them. Why? Because controversy drives engagement. This means more comments, likes, and video views - all of which contribute to your YouTube algorithm rank.
- Don't be afraid of long Youtube videos either! If you have a video that is 30 minutes or longer (or even several shorter ones strung together), then there's no reason not to upload it on Youtube. People like lengthy content because they can watch the whole thing in one sitting.
- Protect your content - this is an important step that many people forget about! If you don't protect your Youtube videos, then anyone can take them and use them as their own on other Youtube channels. This not only hurts the SEO of whatever video they've stolen from you, but it also makes it a lot harder for your channel to rank because you've lost views.
- Be consistent - last but not least, be sure that you are uploading frequently enough on Youtube! If people subscribe to see new videos from you and then they don't show up for weeks or months at a time, it will hurt the algorithm's opinion of your channel. So make sure to upload regularly and use a catchy video's title, description, and tags that encourage users to click on your videos.
With these tips in mind, you should be well on your way to making effective SEO for Youtube! Keep up the hard work and soon enough people all over the world will know about whatever it is you're trying to promote. When they do, remember that you can always hire a company like Social Growth Engine to help with your SEO, watch time and subscribers on Youtube.

How does Youtube's algorithm work?

How Youtube algorithm works

The algorithm behind the Youtube search engine ranks and suggests videos to users based on their watch history. It also takes into account other data such as location, what's in a video title and descriptions, keywords in titles and tags etc. The goal of an SEO strategy is to influence how well your content will rank when people look for it using Google.
Youtube algorithm evolves, meaning there isn't one specific formula to follow when optimizing videos.
One example of how the algorithm works is by identifying which words and phrases people use in search queries, and suggesting relevant results to them based on what has been previously watched. If a user watches a video about “how to make chocolate chip cookies” they might get recommended other baking related videos - this is based on the idea that people who watch one video about cooking are more likely to enjoy other videos in the same topic.
Youtube SEO is an ongoing process, meaning you need to put time and effort into it if you want results.
It's important to remember Youtube doesn't care what keywords your video title tags contain - their main goal is to match the user's query with relevant results.
One of the most successful Youtube marketers, Michelle Phan has this advice for people interested in getting their content seen: "I’m constantly experimenting and finding new ways to engage my audience through different types of video." In other words - be creative about how you promote your videos on Youtube, and find the style that works best for your channel.

What are some best practices for Youtube channel owners?

Because the YouTube algorithm is always changing, there isn't a specific method for optimizing your videos. But the following recommendations will keep you on the right track:
- Only use Youtube to host your videos, don't embed them anywhere else. This will help Youtube algorithm understand what content belongs to which channel.
- Make sure all of your video descriptions are accurate and include relevant keywords that people might look for when searching on ai systems like YouTube or Google. Including a URL in the description can also help direct people to your website if you are using Youtube for SEO.
- Make sure your videos have the appropriate keywords in the title and description but don't overdo it - it's important not to try too hard with this, or else Youtube might think they aren't relevant.
- Create a Google+ account and link it to your Youtube channel (this helps with SEO)
- Use relevant keywords in the titles, descriptions and tags of all videos you upload. Also make sure to use those words frequently throughout the video itself as well - don't just stuff your title tag with keywords though!
- Optimize your video thumbnails! Youtube uses thumbnail images to determine which videos it should show people in the search results and Related Videos sidebar. So, create custom thumbnail pictures for your videos
- Make sure all of your original content is high quality, not spammy or clickbait - that way you don't risk getting banned from Youtube for breaking their terms of service. This will also help you rank better in the search results.
- Every week, check your channel's Analytics page and pay attention to see how well each video is doing and use this data to guide future decisions about what types of videos you should produce (view count, likes vs dislikes etc).
- Interact with people who like or comment on your videos! By giving back to your audience you can increase the number of people who subscribe to your channel and look for your videos.
- Create playlists! This is another way Youtube finds relevant content for users, and it also helps viewers find all the videos you've created on a particular topic.
- Promote your channel's new videos on other social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
- Let people know about your Youtube channel on other websites - this can be done by creating a simple external site with an embedded Youtube player for visitors to watch videos in, or adding social media buttons directly onto the page so that they can follow you there.
As with most forms of marketing, it's important not to rely too heavily on one specific strategy or technique. Experiment with different ideas and see what works best for you - then make sure to focus all of your energy in that area until it becomes a success!

Things you should never do if you don't want to get penalized by Youtube's search engine.

As there are some things you need to do to rank videos higher, there are also a couple of things you need to avoid if you don't want to get penalized by Youtube's search engine. So, these are the things you should never do:
- Never use bots, black hat techniques or anything else that goes against Youtube's terms of service.
- Don't include unrelated keywords in your title, tags or description, it might be tempting, but this is considered spammy and will hurt the ranking of all of your videos on that topic!
- Never buy views for your videos. This is a surefire way to get banned from Youtube because it results in bad quality content being shared and can even lead to the spread of malware on people's computers, as well as fraudulent accounts being created which will hurt the reputation of other channels using those same platforms.
- Don't use too many annotations, or try to trick the algorithm by placing them in random places on your videos.
- Don't make clickbait titles or Youtube thumbnails for your videos people hate these and Youtube takes this kind of thing very seriously because it results in spammy content that doesn't actually contain anything useful getting shared all over their platform. Don't forget Youtube ranks videos based on how useful they are for video users.
- Never abuse the like/dislike feature. This will result in you getting banned from Youtube completely and can actually hurt your SEO because it makes people think that your content isn't worth watching, thus resulting in less views overall for future videos.
- Don't use copyrighted music or video footage (this is one of the most common reasons why channels get banned from Youtube).
- Don't buy views or subscribers - it's against the terms of service and if you are caught doing this then your channel will be shut down.
- Never use spammy adverts on other websites to promote yourself because these kinds of tactics can result in some pretty serious consequences for breaking Youtube's rules. If you want to be successful on Youtube you need to create high quality, engaging content that people will keep coming back for.
- Never post the same video more than once! This is another surefire way of getting banned from the Youtube algorithm so make sure all videos are unique and valuable in their own right.

The boost you need to beat the Youtube algorithm and take your channel to the next level

The YouTube Algorithm can be difficult to understand, but by taking a closer look at how it works you may find that the algorithm is not as intimidating. There are many ways for channels on YouTube to earn more views by understanding how they work with this machine learning system. By following these five steps in order, you will see an increase in your channel’s subscriber counts and watch time totals. These tips should help get you started down the right path if your goal is to grow your audience using the power of YouTube's algorithm. To learn more about our services or what we do for digital marketing campaigns visit socialgrowthengine.com Have any questions? Send them over!
Back to blog