YouTube Series (YouTube Algorithm)

YouTube is sharing more details about how its search and recommendation algorithms work in a new video where the company answers questions from users.

The YouTube team published a similar video earlier this month, though its newest video answers an all-new set of questions.

What happens if we Change Titles & Thumbnails...

If a video isn’t performing well, would it help to change the title and thumbnail? Or would that make the algorithm lose confidence in the video?

YouTube absolutely recommends changing the way a title or thumbnail looks, as it can be an effective way to get more views.

That’s generally because the video looks different to viewers and that’s going to change how people interact with it when it’s offered in their recommendations. YouTube’s algorithm then responds to the change in user behavior, not the act of changing the title or thumbnail.

The act of changing a title or thumbnail does not inherently trigger YouTube to increase the impressions for a video. It’s all about how users respond to the change.

In general, making changes to a video is only recommended when it has both a lower click-through rate and it’s receiving fewer views and impressions than usual.

Algorithm Response to Old/Inactive Subscribers...

Can old/inactive subscribers negatively affect the performance of a video? The concern is this could lead to a lower CTR, which may result in the video not being recommended as much.

YouTube’s recommends algorithm doesn’t focus on the subscription feed as a primary signal. The algorithm is focused on how well a video performs in the context it’s shown in.

Ranking on the home page, for example, is based on how well that video performed when shown on other users’ home pages.

YouTube’s algorithm understands which viewers have not watched a channel’s content in a long time, and will avoid showing content from that channel to inactive subscribers.

So inactive subscribers are not something channel owners should be worried about.

Importance of Watch-Time...

Does it take a certain amount of hours of watch-time before a video is recommended by YouTube’s algorithm?

There’s no particular threshold a video needs to meet before it starts getting recommended.

Channels may notice some of their videos gaining momentum months after being published because it’s common for users to show interest in old videos. This could be because a particular topic is rising in popularity, or new viewers of a channel may be going back and watching previous videos.