Are you having trouble and not getting enough views on your YouTube Shorts?
You are not the only one. We talked with a lot of people recently in the YouTube community, and Shorts are still somewhat unreliable.
It's also a very unknown territory. We spent hours analyzing and making assumptions, and we are changing conclusions almost weekly.
This is mostly because YouTube is still adjusting the algorithm for YouTube Shorts. If you are a small-time creator who has seen success with short-form content on TikTok or Instagram but failed to see it replicated on YouTube, do not worry.
YouTube's algorithm for Shorts is vastly different than the ones on other social networks.
In today's guide, we will focus on the current analysis of the YouTube Shorts algorithm, and outline all of the reasons why are your Shorts not getting enough views.
How Does YouTube Evaluate Shorts?
To figure out why certain videos don't get a lot of views, while others do, we need to look into how YouTube evaluates videos.
What are the factors and metrics YouTube takes into account, and what can you do to get more views on YouTube Shorts?
If you want to figure this one out entirely yourself, one thing we recommend is to: EXPERIMENT.
It's hard to make assumptions looking at YouTube as a whole. Certain niches work differently. The best thing you can do for your growth as a creator is to try many different things.
But before you do that, let us share our conclusions.
Through our own experimentation, we realized YouTube Shorts work on a shelf and metric system.
When you upload your video, YouTube puts it on a shelf for people to see it. Then YouTube puts on a role of a spectator, and observes a couple of important metrics:
- Retention - do people who watch your content stay on it until the end? If the video is not being watched, and users leave midway, why would YouTube decide to push it further?
- Click-through rate - Do people choose to watch your video?
- Engagement - do people like your video and subscribe to your channel? If these are down, then YouTube will take that into account.
With Shorts, especially for small-time creators, YouTube tends to test the waters. They put your video on a shelf and give you a specific timeframe where your video needs to excel.
If that doesn't happen, then it's almost impossible to get your video to go off.
It will become more unlikely to happen as time passes on. Our findings in that department are quite conclusive; Shorts tend to go off quite quickly.
If they don't, they will usually stay on the numbers they collected in the first 24 to 48 hours.
Here's Why You Aren't Getting Views On Your YouTube Shorts
One of the main reasons why people do not get enough views on their YouTube Shorts is because their audience prefers long-form content over short-form.
Do not ever neglect this as the main reason behind your shortage of views on Shorts. Think it through as a user rather than a creator.
What type of content would you like to consume?
If you are certain you got the format right, let's see all the other reasons.
You Are A Smaller Creator
YouTube's algorithm is more likely to promote people with larger audiences than small-time creators.
Someone would call it discrimination, but creators with audiences have amassed more trust and are far more important to the platform's success.
Bigger creators also have an audience that immediately injects views into their latest content.
If you take into account what we mentioned earlier about Shorts only having a short timeframe to excel, it's natural that bigger creators are going off rather easily.
That's why your best bet is to continue making YouTube Shorts and take a slow to grow approach.
You Are Posting At The Wrong Times
If we, again, think in terms of timeframes, then when you are uploading videos matters a lot.
Is your audience sleeping? Working? Knowing the best time to upload your video can make a big difference in the success of your video.
To help you find the sweet spot, you should try a couple of different uploading times.
You Have No Schedule
Similarly to the algorithm established for long-form content, YouTube Shorts are more likely to be picked up if you have a consistent uploading schedule.
Another important thing to note is that you should not upload too regularly. YouTube is still tweaking the algorithm, but we have noticed that too much posting often results in low views across the channel.
Aim for a maximum of 1 YouTube Short video per day.
Wrong Tags
What tags you pick and in what order seems to be quite important to YouTube's algorithm.
Even including the tag "shorts" seem to help, so you may as well give it a try.
Having tags will not hurt your video's performance, therefore, you can try different tags to see if you'll experience different results.
You Weren't Lucky
While there's an algorithm and science behind it, Shorts videos are made in huge numbers. Some people get lucky with certain Shorts, often not even being aware of what made their video go viral.
However, for long-term content creation, relying on luck is not sustainable.
Your goal should be orientated towards studying the algorithm, experimenting in your niche, staying consistent, and increasing content quality.
Should You Delete and Reupload If You Are Not Getting Views?
It's likely to not have much effect. If your video reached a couple of thousand views and then stopped, it probably reached the most it could.
All you would get by deleting and reuploading is losing those views, which may be detrimental if you are trying to apply for YPP to make money from YouTube Shorts.
It Can Be Tough For Small Creators On YouTube
One thing is certain; there are fewer levers to pull for YouTube Shorts.
For long-form content, you can lean on SEO, thumbnails, titles, recommendations, etc.
But YouTube Shorts is a different beast. In the guide above, we tried to break down why specific YouTube Shorts are not getting views, and how the YouTube algorithm works.
Now it's on you to apply that advice. Feel free to share your thoughts!
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