Are YouTube recommended videos based on their views? No here is the reason

Are YouTube recommended videos based on their views? No here is the reason

Last Updated: 8 months ago

The recommended videos YouTube suggests at the end of a clip are not based on the number of views. Further, the recommended videos algorithm is different from the one YouTube uses to search their video database. So, if you think you need to just optimize your video for SEO, you are only halfway there.

If you want to get your videos on the recommended and suggested screen of YouTube, then you need to take your channel and content creation to the next digital marketing level. As you will learn below, the main goal is to create valuable and engaging content.

The recommended video algorithm based the suggestions on how much a particular video pertains to the topic and how much engagement occurred with the audience. Let’s dive in a little deeper.

Top 5 Ways to Get Your Videos Recommended More

1. Create Viewer Engagement Actions

If you have a video watched a million times, the video will appear high in the rankings when appearing in the YouTube search function. However, that doesn’t mean that it will be a recommended video. To be recommended, your video and channel need to be engaging. What does this mean?

For a video to be engaging, the viewers must interact with the content in some way. This could mean commenting on the video, liking the video, sharing the video, saving the video, replaying the video multiple times, following the creator, or watching more videos from the same creator. All these actions help YouTube recognize your content as superior to others from a utility standpoint.

For example, if you run a woodworking channel, your viewers will use your videos like “how-to” manuals. This means they will need to replay, restart, save, come back to, and follow your content often. YouTube views this as a positive statement towards your credibility as a creator.

So, when you are considering your videos, ask your audience to like, save, and share the content. The more your viewers interact with your channel, the more YouTube will see it authoritative and essential to your niche.

2. Optimize the Video Titles and Metadata

You must correctly fill out all the data fields when uploading a video to YouTube if you want it to be ranked in any position regardless of method. This is a necessity but is often overlooked. When you fill out the metadata and create engaging titles, you are telling YouTube two things.

First, you are telling YouTube that you are serious about your channel and its content. YouTube doesn’t want to recommend videos that are underproduced and lack the foundational characteristics of organization. The easier you make it for YouTube to find and categorize your content, the easier it will be for YouTube to recommend it.

Second, you are providing YouTube with the proper niche and subject information. If YouTube sees that you have a lot of views but doesn’t know which videos or topics are similar, the algorithms won’t have a basis to conclude that your video is the right video to suggest. Instead, your video will be stuck in the sandbox to live out its life.

So, make sure you fill out all of the boxes and optimize the title and metadata to ensure that YouTube will see that you are fully compliant and that you have given it everything it needs to categorize your content.

3. Create Custom Video Thumbnails

YouTube offers you the ability to create a unique thumbnail that will show up instead of the initial image when your clip appears on the screen. This feature is optional, but you should consider it mandatory. Of course, consider any optional feature as compulsory if you are looking to beat out your competition.

For example, movies and TV shows always have a title screen. You can often hear a song play and watch the beginning credits. YouTube isn’t suggesting that you make your content like a TV show, but that a title slide will help the audience understand your videos.

So, it isn’t that YouTube is critiquing your initial thumbnail. Instead, the recommended YouTube video algorithm inherently ranks all videos with thumbnails higher than those without because, naturally, title screens are important and valuable.

4. Always Make Relevant and Authoritative Content

Making relevant and authoritative content should be a no-brainer, but most content creators don’t know precisely what this means. Think back to the first bit of advice. Engagement will drive your videos in the recommended column.

Videos of a “general” topic aren’t helpful because most people seek specific answers. The more detailed your content is to your niche or industry, the more likely YouTube will see it as actually solving a problem instead of just “talking generally” on a subject.

Think back to the woodworking channel. If that content creator talked about wood in general, do you think YouTube would recommend it after other woodworking videos? Of course, YouTube would not do that. However, if the content creator developed step-by-step guides to woodworking videos, YouTube would trust that the videos contained valuable and engaging information on a specific topic.

5. Stay Consistent with All Videos

Whatever you do, stay consistent. The biggest time-waster is optimizing one or two videos in your catalog but none of the others. YouTube wants channels that are of a certain quality and a certain expectation. The algorithm won’t recommend any of your videos if it sees that only a tiny percentage of your content was created with being authoritative.

If you have a channel with content, optimizing every video will take time. Luckily you will only have to do it once. Applying the same branding, SEO optimization, metadata descriptions, etc..., to all the videos creates a sense of high professionalism such that the YouTube algorithm can’t help but pay attention.

Bottom Line

Be smart with your actions on YouTube. Getting noticed by a single algorithm when you are swimming with millions of others is near improbable. However, if you play the game and stay focused at each stage, you can give your videos the best chance possible to make it to the top.