Getting Buried in YouTube

Ryujin2003 · December 15, 2017

So I made a video and put it in YouTube. Out had been 3 days, 110 views. (I want popular as a kid, don't expect to be popular as an adult...)

Anyways, it's not about the views. The first day I got approximately 40 views, yesterday got me up to 110, and not a single view today. I did a little searching, and I'm seeing my post slipping underneath videos that are much older, but have much more views.

How does YouTube rank these? Are the cool kids in class always first? I was at the top of the topic search on day 1, now I'm like 10th in a row, but I don't show in the auto play of any of those videos.

I've tried playing around with tags and such... Is there a secret to the madness? I know I'm not going to be as popular as Linus, but it's my first video and I would like to do more. Get a better microphone and some better lighting. Maybe fix up my side and such... Not a big deal. Being that I'm new, how does YouTube do this stuff?

Are smaller content creators not getting recognized because they stick or because algorithms are designed to guide people to the higher traffic videos to maintain the stream of ad revenue?

I want to get into it as a hobby, but think a better understanding of the mechanics would be a good place to start.

NumLock21 · December 15, 2017

Just go back like a year later and your views should jump dramatically.

Donny_Chen · December 15, 2017

I'd go as far as saying that gauging where you are in anyone's search engine is an art and arguably a science as well.

How youtube finds videos.

YouTube, now being owned by google uses a fairly similar search algorithm to Google, but more optimized for video content than search results. I can't stress, there really isn't a one ring to rule them all trick to instantly gain views. Especially because the algorithm changes every now and then, and old techniques come predated.

Take for example, Tag Bloating. An old trick was to have every tag possible to boost something call SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Which is essentially tagging your videos with keywords that users search. The more tags, the more likely your video will appear. This method no longer works with googles post-Panda Update. In fact, you'll rank lower if you do that now.

YouTube's current algorithm currently checks multiple factors. I can honestly lecture you a good semester about this topic, because there are a lot of points that make sense, while others are just contradiction.

I'm going to summarize this the best I can, so please bare with me.

1. New content that has a high growth rate will always be on top of old content that appear in someones search.

2. Old content that appear first are the result of a few things. Do people who search your keywords click your video? If people do, then google knows that if someone searches the word "Pineapple Pizza", Your video probably has good information if a lot of users are interacting with it.

3. Does your video contain the users search phrase? For example, If you search "Pineapple Pizza" and your video is about computer parts, the search engine isn't doing a good job with linking users to your video.

For more information I suggest you research SEO.

Now, its not as simple as following a set of steps. For example, Users don't interact with videos that have nothing to do with the topic they search for, or if the video quality just isn't good. You can't get views if people don't like your videos, and the search engine won't put your video on top if users are not interacting with it. It will think that your video will be a bad choice for that keyword.

Also, don't start your videos with Hey Guys, Today I'm going to show you.... or SUBSCRIBE NOW, LIKE MY VIDEO... etc. lol

I work in marketing. If you have questions, let me know.

MrDrWho13 · December 15, 2017

Just keep pumping out videos to build your reputation. I expect that YouTube looks at your channel overall before deciding where to place you in the list. It's certainly not by most recent.