The question that almost every single new creator wants to know is "What is the algorithm and how do I make it like me?" This is an important question because obviously youtube is incredibly intelligent and does a great job at feeding you videos that it wants. The question is, how do I get the algorithm to work for me?

In this blog, I'm going to break down the algorithm in a way that makes it easy for you to fully understand how it works.

1. Understanding the YouTube Algorithm

To make the algorithm work for you, think of YouTube as a matchmaker. Its goal is to connect viewers with videos they're most likely to watch and enjoy. The algorithm determines this based on several key metrics:Clickthrough Rate (CTR): This is how often people click on your video after seeing the thumbnail and title. Your job here is to make those elements irresistible. Your thumbnail should be visually appealing and your title compelling, sparking curiosity without resorting to clickbait.

Watch Time: Once a viewer clicks on your video, the length of time they stay watching is your watch time. The longer the watch time, the more the algorithm infers that your video is engaging. To improve watch time, focus on delivering valuable content right from the start, structuring your video to keep viewers interested throughout, and using high-quality editing to make your content professional and easy to watch.

Engagement: This includes likes, comments, and shares. YouTube uses these signals to gauge how viewers interact with your video. High engagement rates tell YouTube that your content is worth recommending to others. Encourage your viewers to engage by asking questions, inviting comments, and suggesting they like and share your video if they found it useful. Why do you think things go “viral?” Its because it gets a massive amount of shares and watch time. Algorithms LOVE sharable content.

2. So lets talk about each piece one by one. 

When we are talking about click through rate, we want to really break down 3 things. Your Idea for the video, your thumbnail, and your title. We like to call this the “Packaging” of your content.  Your idea should be something that is actually interesting, your thumbnail should get people to stop dead in their tracks and your title should create an unbearable curiosity gap that FORCES people to click. As humans we are hard coded to want to close curiosity gaps. Understanding the human psychology behind the click is key. If you nail this, congratulations! You will earn a click. Now the hard part starts. How do I keep people engaged?

The second component is watchtime. If people don’t stay on your videos and watch them all the way through, the likelihood of them sticking with you is very slim. In turn, the algorithm will not push out a video if people don’t watch much of it. That just says its a bad video that didn’t meet the viewers expectations. It was boring, unrelated, and didn’t tell a good enough story.

The most important key to watch time is storytelling. You absolutely must Hook your viewers, set the expectations, meet the expectation (Resolution) and exceed the expectation. 

And lastly, you HAVE to create engagement. I don’t mean saying corny things like “like and subscribe.” I mean you have to make thought provoking content that makes people feel the desire to share, comment, like, and even argue. The point is to make content worth talking about.

If you couldn’t tell already, YouTube is pretty much all human psychology. The algorithm is equivalent to your audience behavior. 

In our YouTube for business masterclass, We break down in detail how to properly and perfectly execute each part of the algorithm. Check it out to learn more.