The YouTube Algorithm: How It Works in 2024 - Shopify (2024)

Many video creators, whetherprofessional YouTubersorbrands on YouTube, regard the YouTube algorithm as a complete mystery—a higher power that rules over their view counts, completely outside of their control.

Much of the discussion about getting views on YouTube focuses onYouTube SEO, social media promotion, and getting subscribers.

While these contribute to the discovery of your videos, alone they don’t unlock the lion’s share of views you stand to gain from YouTube’s recommendation engine (via YouTube’s homepage and “Recommended for you” suggestions). In order to increase discovery of your videos, you need to know how the YouTube algorithm works and learn some handy YouTube algorithm hacks.

Here’s everything you need to know about the YouTube algorithm in order to get your videos trending on the platform.

What is the YouTube algorithm?

The YouTube algorithm is a set of computer instructions designed to process videos and associated content such as comments, description, engagements, etc., in order to rank and recommend videos based on relevance and viewer satisfaction.

How does the YouTube algorithm work in 2024?

YouTube’s algorithm is all about helping its users find the most relevant content as easily as possible. YouTube’s entire goal is to increase customer retention and keep its users watching videos for as long as they can.

Since 2015, YouTube has optimized for viewer satisfaction. This is done by actually surveying users as they watch content, to see how they’re really feeling about it, helping the algorithm recommend the most satisfactory content.

But how does YouTube determine satisfaction?

• It sends out millions of surveys each month—though users likely see just two to three—asking for feedback on a specific video.
• It pays attention to when users are clicking the “Not interested” option on videos.
• It looks at likes, dislikes, and shares on a video.

The YouTube algorithm is explained more in thisresearch paper, published by Google engineers Paul Covington, Jay Adams, and Emre Sargin. It breaks down additional signals YouTube uses to rank videos for recommendations:

1. Click-through rate (the likelihood of someone clicking on your video after seeing it)
2. Watch time (the combined amount of time viewers spend watching your videos)
3. How many videos the user has watched from your channel
4. How recently the user watched a video about the same topic
5. What the user has searched for in the past
6. The user’s previously watched videos
7. The user’s demographic information and location

The first three signals are the only ones you can influence directly. The rest depend on factors outside of your channel in order to personalize the recommendation.

These Google engineers even state that their final ranking objective is “generallya simple function of expected watch time per impression.Ranking by click-through rate often promotes deceptive videos that the user does not complete (’clickbait’) whereas watch time better captures engagement.”

There are two main places YouTube users will see suggested videos: on the homepage and while watching other videos. These recommendations are made using YouTube’s algorithm, but the algorithm works differently for each of these spaces.

Homepage

When you head to the YouTube website or open the mobile app, you immediately land on the homepage. Here, YouTube aims to provide the most relevant and personalized video suggestions for each user, pulling them in and trying to keep them on the app for as long as possible.

Homepage videos are based on two criteria:

• Video performance:How well similar viewers seemed to enjoy the video

• Personalization:Your specific viewing habits and watch history

At this point in the process, YouTube doesn’t have information on a viewer’s intent for heading to the video platform. So it has to rely on what it does know, which is based on the types of videos a viewer has enjoyed in the past.

Suggested video

The suggested videos section appears in the right-hand sidebar next to the video you’re currently watching (or below the video you’re currently watching if you’re accessing the mobile app).

How does the YouTube algorithm work for suggested videos? These videos are based on your viewing history during this session and are recommended based on what the algorithm thinks you’re most likely to watch next. Criteria includes:

• Videos that tend to be watched together
• Videos on a similar topic
• Videos that you’ve watched in the past

Because YouTube now has some understanding of why you’re accessing its platform at this time, these videos tend to be more tailored to your current session, rather than a general selection of what it thinks you might like.

9 tips to improve your reach on YouTube

1. Stick to a consistent premise or format for your YouTube videos
2. Feed the recommendation engine with other sources
3. Create thumbnails that get clicked
4. Encourage viewers to stay after they click
5. Encourage binge watching on your channel
6. Optimize your video for a focus keyword
7. Keep an eye on your competitors
8. Track metrics
9. Create YouTube shorts

1. Stick to a consistent premise or format for your YouTube videos

Most greatYouTube channelsor series can be summed up in five seconds:

• First We Feast: celebrities and food
• Blendtec’s Will it Blend?: blending an object that you’re not supposed to blend
• Vox: newsworthy topics explained in an accessible and engaging way

On the flipside,many YouTube channelsand content creators struggle to gain traction, because they treat their YouTube channel as a place to upload all their video content, rather than as a home for a consistent video series.

Consistency is the foundation for success on YouTube—without it, you might be able to capture attention, but you won’t be able to keep it.

YouTube creators that find their consistency are able tosustainablygrow their subscriptions and viewership because it makes it easier for people to decide to watch more of their content and subscribe to their channel.

The First We Feast channel embodies the kind of consistency we’re talking about—celebrities eating food—with multiple series that are essentially variations of the same premise.

Below, you can see how this consistency feeds its subscriber growth over time. Whenever a video is lucky enough to go viral, it actually has a better shot at converting each fleeting viewer into a lasting subscriber, because of the stickiness of the premise and the consistency they can find across the rest of the channel’s content.

If you want to deviate from your core premise, it’s best to do it on a separate YouTube channel to avoid undermining your own efforts. First We Feast, for example, is owned by Complex, which has a very different focus and target audience. The channels are connected under the Featured Channels tab, but otherwise, they don’t really intersect.

To make posting easier, you can findfree video editing softwarethat uploads videos to your channel with one click. You won’t have to waste time uploading and downloading files, and can publish videos quickly and consistently.

2. Feed the recommendation engine with other sources

Newer YouTube channels can’t rely on the recommendation engine to drive all their views.

Recommendations, after all, are mostly based on how viewers have viewed and interacted with your videos in the past. YouTube needs data to base the recommendations on, and there’s no data without people watching your videos. So exercise all the usual efforts to promote your videos, such as:

• Sending new videos to your email list
• Partnering with the press or other influencers
• Promoting your videos on social media
• Starting aYouTube affiliate marketing program

But above all, focus on YouTube SEO andgetting more subscribers, not only to garner video views over the long term, but also because what a user repeatedly consumes on-platform and what a user subscribes to are key signals that the YouTube algorithm uses to make personalized recommendations.

In the paper, the engineers note that “the most important signals are those that describe a user’s previous interaction with the item itself and other similar items. As an example, consider the user’s past history with the channel that uploaded the video being scored—how many videos has the user watched from this channel? When was the last time the user watched a video on this topic?”

If you can get a new user to continue watching more content after clicking through to one of your videos, you can increase the chances of your videos getting recommended to them the next time they open YouTube.

3. Create thumbnails that get clicked

We’ve established that click-through rate is still important and that YouTube prioritizing watch time is simply a countermeasure against low-quality clickbait.

So now let’s talk about the elephant in the room—improving your click-through rate—using two great sources of inspiration for clickable thumbnails: YouTube’s trending videos tab and Netflix.

Have closeups of emotive faces or action shots

Look around YouTube and you’ll see no shortage of highly expressive faces on video thumbnails.

According to a landmark study by Netflixabout the performance of artwork on the platform, “emotions are an efficient way of conveying complex nuances. It’s well known that humans are hardwired to respond to faces—we have seen this to be consistent across all mediums. But it is important to note thatfaces with complex emotions outperform stoic or benign expressions.”

One of the earliest trends also noted by Netflix, which is worth carrying forward to your own thumbnails, is that an image’s tendency to win against others dropped when it contained more than three people.

You can optimize your thumbnails for click-throughs by including one to three faces, wearing expressions that speak louder than words.

If you don’t have emotive faces in your videos, you can also use thumbnails that convey action to elicit an emotional response, likeThe Slow Mo Guys.

Follow the “rule of thirds” to compose your thumbnail image

The rule of thirds is a simplified way of achieving the “golden ratio,” which studies have shownminimizes the amount of timeit takes for our brains to process an image.

This image composition guideline suggests that you position your point of interest not in the center of the image, but in the first or last third of the frame.

While it’s more of a guideline than a hard-and-fast rule, designing your thumbnail in this manner lets you draw the viewer’s eye to the most important “message” in your image.

Add text to your thumbnails

Some 90%of YouTubevisits worldwide happens on a mobile device.

This is what the YouTube homepage looks like to them:

The prominence of your thumbnail relative to the title makes it almost guaranteed that the user’s eyes will be drawn to the thumbnail of your video first. If they find the image compelling enough, they likely will read the title and click to your video.

So why not add some text to the thumbnail to help viewers make up their minds?

The text can be the title of your video or even just a handful of words that are related to its hook. Whatever you choose, if over a third of your viewers are used to “reading” thumbnails on mobile, make sure your own thumbnails can communicate what your video’s about, even without the title.

Brand your thumbnails

If you look at thetrendingtab on YouTube, you’ll notice many of the trending videos have optimized their “first impression” by using the tactics we’ve outlined above.

YouTube thumbnails can be very similar, aesthetically, so making it easy for viewers to spotyourvideos at a glance increases the chances that they’ll be clicked on by people who are already familiar with your content.

If you have a consistent format for your YouTube channel, consider branding your thumbnails to differentiate them from other recommended videos.

4. Encourage viewers to stay after they click

Getting people to view your videos is one thing. Getting them to actually watch a video all the way through is another.

Luckily, you can improve your video completion rate (and earn more watch time) by building this objective into your video creation process:

• Start strong and incorporate a “hook” into the introduction of your video.
• Transcribe your videos so people can watch them muted.
• Adjust the length of your videos according to your analytics (How far do viewers actually make it before dropping off?).
• Don’t use the same shot for too long or you may bore the viewer (this is why jump cuts are popular on YouTube).
• If your video is long, sprinkle in interruptive moments that refocus the viewer’s attention when it starts to wander.
• Ask your viewers to click the Subscribe button or check out additional videos in the end screen of each video, or even to turn on notifications for your future videos.

5. Encourage binge watching on your channel

You can also optimize for watch time at the channel level by employing strategies involving video consumption and consistency.

Beyond having a focused premise for your YouTube channel—which is arguably the most important factor—some other ways you can make it easier for viewers to watch more of your content include:

• Using cards and end cards to manually recommend related videos
• Linking to videos in playlists whenever you share so that the next video the user watches is always one of your own
• Developing a consistent format from the thumbnail to the video itself—if viewers enjoy one of your videos, they should be able to rightly assume they’ll enjoy your other videos
• Incorporating a specific call to action or even scenes from other videos to “pitch” viewers directly to consume more content

Cards can be used to lead viewers further down the rabbit hole of your YouTube channel. Another good idea is to turn on subtitles for all of your videos so people can continue to watch even if they can’t have their sound on.

6. Optimize your video for a focus keyword

Because YouTube is also a search engine,optimizing your videosaround a focus keyword and a few secondary keywords can help your videos pop up more in YouTube searchandgive the algorithm a better idea of what your content is about, so they know when to recommend it.

First, you’ll want to do keyword research on the platform to figure out which keyword and video topics are popular and might resonate with your audience. Using a Chrome extension like TubeBuddy can help you pinpoint the best keywords to use.

All you’ll need to do is type your potential keyword into the search bar and check out TubeBuddy’s stats in the sidebar. Try a few other parallel keywords until you find the best one.

Try to find a keyword with an overall “Very Good” or “Excellent” score. However, if your content typically ranks well on YouTube, you can tend to ignore the “Competition” option, as your channel has proven to be a good competitor in itself.

Then you’ll want to make sure you include the keyword within the video’s title, description, and tags. You can also add a couple of hashtags to the bottom of your video description that help to categorize your video content.

7. Keep an eye on your competitors

Are any of your competitors active on YouTube? If so, keep an eye on the types of content they’re publishing. After all, the last thing you want is one of their videos to be recommended instead of yours.

Pay attention to things like:

• Their most popular videos
• Any playlists/series they create
• How engaged their audience is
• How they create their video titles/descriptions/metadata

Having a better understanding of what your competition is publishing can help to direct your own strategy and make sure that you also cover all of the same topics so your audience can better rely on your YouTube channel.

8. Track metrics

YouTube penalizes bait-and-switch tactics—overpromising before the click and delivering disappointing content after it. Click-through rate is still as important as ever. You can’t generate a lot of watch time for YouTube without getting clicks first, after all.

You can even see these priorities reflected inYouTube Studioby checking out your YouTube analytics dashboard.

You can see the following metrics related to organic reach, which together illustrate YouTube’s new emphasis on click-through rateandwatch time:

• Impressions:How many times your video thumbnails were shown to viewers as a recommended video, on the homepage, or in search results.
• Traffic sources for impressions:Where on YouTube your video thumbnails were shown to potential viewers.
• Impressions click-through rate (CTR):How often users watched a video after seeing your thumbnails (based on logged-in impressions).
• Views from impressions:How often viewers watched your videos after seeing them on YouTube.
• Watch time from impressions:Watch time that originated from people who saw your videos and clicked them on YouTube.

9. Create YouTube shorts

YouTube Shorts are a short-form video format introduced by YouTube to compete with TikTok and Instagram Reels.

Shorts are vertical videos designed for mobile viewing and quick consumption. They provide content creators with a new way to connect with their audiences and share concise, entertaining videos.

The YouTube Shorts algorithm relies on various factors to determine which Shorts to recommend to viewers.

Some of them include:

• User engagement:The algorithm considers how users engage with the content, such as likes, comments, shares, and watch time. High engagement typically results in better visibility.
• Personalization:The algorithm takes into account the user’s viewing history and preferences to recommend Shorts that are relevant to their interests.
• Content relevance:The algorithm evaluates the content of the Shorts and its metadata (title, description, tags, etc.) to determine its relevance to users’ search queries or browsing habits.
• Creator history:The performance of a creator’s previous content may also influence the visibility of their Shorts. Creators with a consistent history of high-quality content and engagement may receive a boost in the algorithm.

Use YouTube’s algorithm to grow your business

YouTube’s algorithm has changed a lot over the years, each time leaving creators and brands scrambling, wondering why the methods they once relied on aren’t working anymore.

But even as the YouTube algorithm evolves, keep in mind that the platform’s goal remains the same: getting more people watching and engaging with more videos on YouTube. And that goal isn’t all that different from yours.

At the end of the day, create videos that connect with your YouTube audience. The more engaging videos you make, the more the algorithm will suggest your videos to users.