Understanding The YouTube Algorithm

In this article, we’re going to talk about how to get more views on your small YouTube channel and how to understand the algorithms. But don’t worry. You don’t have to understand everything in the beginning.

In fact, for some of you, your channel is still too small for the algorithm and the analytics from YouTube to have kicked in. This is because you don’t have enough data yet.

However, what I’m going to teach you, you can utilize and it will eventually help increase those views.

One thing I want you to do before we get started is to go to your YouTube channel and write down how many subscribers you have. You have to remember that everybody starts from the same place. Even Nick Nimmons, who I think is pushing six or 700,000, had to start from zero. So, everybody starts from the same place.

The other thing I want you to do is to write down how many views you’re getting on your channel. You can see your lifetime views, and how many views you’re getting per day or, within the last 48 hours. You can also track it by the month.

The reason I ask you to do that is because I want you to take what you’re learning and start utilizing it on your channel. And, 30 days from now, we’ll see how much you’ve grown. Then, just keep tweaking what I’m teaching you and get better at it.

You also have to remember that it’s quite normal for your views to drop a little now and then. So don’t get discouraged. In the end, it’s your consistency and persistence that will pay off.

One of the things that I want you to understand is that YouTube are in the business of making money. Therefore, they charge companies to place ads on people’s videos. And, that’s what you should eventually be aiming at.

However, if YouTube are placing ads on your videos and you’re not getting enough views, they’ll remove the ads and not recommend your videos. That’s why views are so important.

You Have To Get Searched For On YouTube

The number one thing that I want you to focus on as a small channel is to try to get searched for on YouTube. So if someone is looking for a solution on YouTube, you want to be the one who pops up in the search results.

When you’re brand new, this is the best way to get more views to your videos. This is because the only way you’re going to show in ‘suggested videos’ is if you have an audience that keeps watching you.

This makes your views go up and, consequently, YouTube notices that lots of people are watching your videos. This will encourage them to start recommending your videos on the homepage.

That’s your ultimate goal, but it’s not going to happen when you’re a small channel. Unless you just happen to get a video that people really pick up on. Therefore, you want to show up in the search results first.

Create A Group Of Videos On The Same Topic

The first thing you want to do is create a number of videos around the same topic but structure them in different ways. I created a video a while back that talks about seven different videos you can create on the same topic. I highly recommend that you watch that.

Here are just a few suggestions:

• Create a comparison video between two different products
• Do a tutorial on how to use one of the products
• Create an in-depth review of the product

Tip: If a video shows up in your ‘recommended views’ on a subject you have no interest in, just click on the 3 little dots and let YouTube know that you’re not interested in that topic.

Check Your Analytics To See How Your Videos Are Performing

It’s important to check your analytics to see how your videos are performing. When you’re on your channel page, your analytics are on the left-hand side.

You can then check each traffic source to see where your videos are getting the most traffic from. Your ultimate goal is to get more than 50% of your traffic from ‘suggested videos’.

Once your analytics start populating, you want to track how the traffic is growing. Personally, I use a spreadsheet to keep track of all my videos. And, if I notice one that hasn’t done anything for a long time, I might even delete it. Or, I might redo it to freshen it up a bit.

This is especially important if you have a lot of videos. You want to clean up the ones that just aren’t performing for you.

There are 5 stats that you want to concentrate on when looking at your analytics. These are:

• Keyword research
• Click-through rate
• Velocity
• Viewer duration
• Engagement

1. Keyword Research

The important thing to remember is, to appear in the search results, you need to have the right keyword. Generally, you want a long-tail keyword that doesn’t have too much competition. That’s the easiest way for your video to show up on the first page of the search results.

2. Click-Through Rate

Ultimately, you want the click-through rate to be between 2 to 10%. That’s your minimum goal. Of course, the closer you get to 10%, the better.

The next thing to look at is why are some videos getting a better CTR than others. Typically, it may be due to the thumbnail as that’s what entices people to click through to your videos.

Therefore, if you have one video that’s getting a good CTR, use the same style of thumbnail for your other videos.

3. Velocity

Velocity does take time to build up, so don’t get discouraged. Once more and more people start viewing your video, YouTube will keep on suggesting it and the views will increase from there.

4. Viewer Duration

This is your audience retention. You want to aim to get your audience retention to over 40%. This means that more of your audience are watching your videos through to the end.

Eventually, you can analyze this even further and go to the point in the video where people are starting to drop off and work out why. Are you not holding their attention any more or have you already covered the main part of the video.

5. Engagement

The more engagement you have on your videos, the more YouTube will like it. So, if someone comments on your video, make sure that you comment back. This gives you twice the level of engagement. Plus, it helps you to engage with your audience.

So, there are 5 things you have to work on as a small YouTube channel to increase your views. Keyword research, click-through rate, velocity, audience retention and engagement.

When you improve those metrics, YouTube will notice and, in turn, recommend your videos to more people.

I hope this has been helpful to you. If there’s a metric that you haven’t been working on, please let me know in the comments below. That way I can do a deeper dive into it to explain it further.

You’ve Got This!