YouTube demystifies the short algorithm in a Q&A video that addresses several of the most common questions creators ask about how to gain visibility with short content.
We know at least some information about how YouTube’s recommendation algorithm works for long-form videos, but we know little about the algorithm for short videos.
The YouTube Q&A video covers topics such as:
- If you should create a separate channel for shorts
- The impact of publishing long and short content on the same channel
- Whether engagement with Shorts is a factor in YouTube’s long-form content recommendation algorithm
- And more
Here is a summary of each question and answer in the video.
Should I mix long and short content on the same channel?
The first question asks how the YouTube Shorts algorithm responds to channels that post shorts when they usually upload longer videos. Could this hurt your channel?
YouTube says that posting shorts is unlikely to hurt channels that have established themselves with longer videos. It can have the opposite effect.
A YouTube company representative says:
“We recently did some analysis where we looked at audience growth for channels that did only long-form videos and channels that did both long-form and short-form videos. In fact, the channels that did short-form videos seemed to be growing faster.
We predict that audience demand for short content is here to stay. This is a format that’s becoming more and more popular, and the reason we’ve been testing so much in more mobile authoring tools and short discovery.”
Will YouTube recommend more long videos if people watch my shorts?
The next question asks if views and engagement with Shorts affect the recommendation algorithm for long content.
We learn that each type of video has its own recommendation algorithm, and engagement with one type of content does not increase recommendations for the other.
This is because people have different viewing preferences. People who enjoy short videos may not be interested in watching longer videos.
A representative for YouTube claims
“Viewers who watch short-form content are not always the same viewers who watch long-form content… For this reason, we separate short-form and long-form content in the watch history. So when someone discovers a new channel through Shorts, we’re not currently using it to report which longer videos are recommended outside of the Shorts experience.”
Is there any advantage to starting a separate channel for shorts?
While there’s no inherent problem with mixing short and long-form content on the same channel, many creators start separate channels for short uploads.
The next question asks how it is decided when to start a separate channel for shorts.
A YouTube representative states:
“Try to group your channels around similar audiences that enjoy the same or similar content. Separate them when your viewers have completely different interests… If you start building different audiences with different interests, consider doing a separate channel”.
How many shorts do I need to upload before the algorithm recommends my content?
The last question asks if the shorts algorithm requires a channel to upload a certain number of videos before distributing them.
All shorts have a chance to be recommended, even the first to upload a channel. However, it always helps to have an established audience.
YouTube representative states:
“Every short has a chance to be successful, regardless of the channel or the number of videos on the channel. The performance of a short depends on whether or not people choose to watch a video in the short feed or not. This audience engagement it often builds over time rather than happening instantaneously.”
For more information, see the full video on the Creator Insider YouTube channel.
Source: Creator Insider
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