(uplifting piano music) 2 2
-: Let's talk about the YouTube algorithm. 3 3
Or maybe you you want to call it 4 4
the A.I. 5 5
meaning, Artificial Intelligence. 6 6
Or maybe you'll hear me calling it 7 7
the YouTube robot. 8 8
(laughs) 9 9
Whatever you want to call it, 10 10
trying to crack the algorithm 11 11
or understand it completely, 12 12
will drive you crazy. 13 13
You are your own boss on YouTube in the sense that 14 14
you decide what you want to make and when. 15 15
But, in a way the robot is your boss. 16 16
Nothing gets to the people unless the robot 17 17
serves your content to them. 18 18
Where your views come from, is found in the analytics 19 19
under traffic source types. 20 20
So you've got browse features. 21 21
This is the home page, home screen, or subscription feed 22 22
or other browsing features. 23 23
You've got suggested videos, suggested alongside 24 24
or after current videos the viewer is watching. 25 25
You've got channel pages, you've got YouTube search, 26 26
you've got notifications; 27 27
this is going to be 28 28
from your subscribers who had notifications on. 29 29
End screens, playlists, external, which means traffic 30 30
from websites and apps that embed your video or link 31 31
to your videos on YouTube. 32 32
Now, the percent of each is going to vary 33 33
for each individual YouTuber but, most of those traffic 34 34
sources are dependent on you pleasing the robot. 35 35
Okay, browse features. 36 36
It does help that people have subscribed to you. 37 37
but it doesn't mean every one of your new videos 38 38
will be displayed to them. 39 39
If they didn't actually click the bell 40 40
and request notifications for every upload, 41 41
then the robot will decide which of your videos to show 42 42
and which to bury out in the backyard behind your dead cat. 43 43
Okay? (laughs) 44 44
Suggested videos. Those are even more reliant on the robot. 45 45
Not all views are reliant on pleasing the robot though, 46 46
some videos do really well because, maybe your famous friend 47 47
promoted it or due to some collaboration you did 48 48
that sent people to the video. 49 49
Some videos do really well in search 50 50
because they have relatively low competition. 51 51
Yet, a significant amount of people are 52 52
searching for that term so they come across your stuff. 53 53
But, without paying to promote the video most of the time, 54 54
you can't go viral until you please the robot, 55 55
because it's the robot that pushes the video 56 56
to the next level and you can't please the robot 57 57
until you make a video that pleases the audience 58 58
that you already have now. 59 59
So, what does the robot look for? 60 60
The robot cares most about watch time. 61 61
So it wants to see that people watch not only your video, 62 62
but they watch more videos after yours. 63 63
They could be more videos of yours 64 64
or they could be someone else's videos. 65 65
You are a good YouTuber in the robot's eyes 66 66
if you bring, 67 67
if you bring people to YouTube to watch your videos 68 68
and then stay on the platform to watch more videos 69 69
on YouTube, even if they're not yours. 70 70
If that makes sense. 71 71
And you're not a great YouTuber if someone watches 72 72
your video for 30 seconds and then gets so bored 73 73
they log out of YouTube and go skateboarding. 74 74
(laughs) The robot doesn't like that. 75 75
The robot likes, likes, comments and shares, 76 76
and people subscribing while watching your video. 77 77
So a little call to action like, 78 78
give this video a thumbs up, 79 79
can actually help the videos performance. 80 80
Or encouraging comments, by asking your viewers a question. 81 81
Don't ask too much though. 82 82
One call of action is probably enough. 83 83
If you ask them to like, share, subscribe, comment, 84 84
follow me on Instagram and Snapchat and Facebook 85 85
and blah, blah, blah. 86 86
They might not do anything at all because you've 87 87
given them too many options. (laughs) 88 88
Another thing to do, 89 89
obviously keep it advertiser friendly. 90 90
The robot loves advertiser friendly content quite a bit too 91 91
and it likes a good click through rate. 92 92
So, if it shows your thumbnail to, like if the robot 93 93
shows your thumbnail to 100 people 94 94
and that shows up in our analytics as 100 impressions 95 95
and 10% of people click on it, 96 96
which would mean the click through rate is 10%. 97 97
Ooh baby, 98 98
that robot is gonna love you, okay? 99 99
It means you had a great thumbnail and a great title. 100 100
Here's how I see it, 101 101
YouTube is a democracy. 102 102
The people choose what rises to the top, 103 103
but the robot is the middle man, the police man, the army, 104 104
the government itself and you have to please both 105 105
if you want to survive long term. 106 106
But I suggest you focus more on content 107 107
than trying to understand the robot. 108 108
Again, too much trying to understand this robot 109 109
will drive you mad. 110 110
I only go deep diving into my analytics 111 111
and try to figure out what the robot is doing 112 112
and what I can do to please it when there's a major problem 113 113
with my channel. 114 114
Otherwise, my time is usually better spent working. 115 115
I built my channel without really overthinking things 116 116
too much and I just keep in mind the simple demographics 117 117
you get in the studio app. That's generally all you need. 118 118
I've noticed that the robot seems to test channels 119 119
from time to time too. 120 120
It'll take one of your videos and put it 121 121
on prime real estate, 122 122
on the homepage and you know, maybe 123 123
maybe if you're lucky, on the trending page. 124 124
And when that happens, that means you should continue 125 125
to make content that is similar to it in the future. 126 126
Sorry for stating the obvious here. 127 127
You guys probably could figure that out. (laughs) 128 128
I'm of the opinion that you should not buy views 129 129
or subscribers. 130 130
If you do decide to do so, then proceed with caution. 131 131
They say you shouldn't do things that you don't understand 132 132
so if you don't understand the implications of doing this 133 133
then don't do it. 134 134
I have never bought subs, ever and I never will, 135 135
'cause I don't understand it and good content rises. 136 136
So I don't need to. 137 137
The most I need to do is create valuable content 138 138
and yeah the more people I can benefit making them laugh, 139 139
cry, or inspire them, educate them, or inform them 140 140
you know, the better I will do. 141 141
So if you want to survive long term, then why buy subs? 142 142
Just suck it up, do the work and respect the process. 143 143
Now, what about paying to promote your videos? 144 144
Okay, this is a different story. 145 145
It's not the same as buying views and subs 146 146
from some third party, (laughs) Okay? 147 147
Promoting your video 148 148
is done by paying Google Ads 149 149
to promote your video or channel. 150 150
If you see that promote option appear beside your video 151 151
in YouTube Studio, this is what that means. 152 152
If you click on promote, 153 153
it will take you to Google Ads 154 154
and you can make your video into a skip able ad 155 155
that appears before someone else's video 156 156
and you pay for that. 157 157
But I have never promoted myself in this way 158 158
and for most people I don't recommend spending money 159 159
on advertising your channel 160 160
unless of course, you have a business model 161 161
where it makes sense for you to do so. 162 162
For example, you want to be the number one yoga guru 163 163
in the world and you're making money 164 164
off your books, retreats, workshops, programs, etc. 165 165
Then, it might make sense. 166 166
And you can experiment with promoting your videos 167 167
in this way. 168 168
This is not what YouTubers do to get famous though 169 169
and if your business model is trying to make money 170 170
off of Google AdSense (laughs) 171 171
then it will never work. 172 172
You will spend way more money then you make (laughs) 173 173
and what you'll want, is organic views. 174 174
Meaning, you want it to happen naturally, 175 175
without having to pay for it. 176 176
So just let your content sell itself 177 177
and just wait it out.