How to Get Listed in The YouTube Recommendation Sections
By Neil Patel
It’s widely known YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine.
However, did you know the majority of video viewing on YouTube doesn’t actually originate from the search bar?
In fact, the video platform has confirmed its YouTube recommendation engine is responsible for more than 70 percent of the total time spent watching content on the site.
That means if you want to get more eyes on your YouTube content, it’s in your interest to understand how YouTube recommendations work.
What Is the “YouTube Recommended” Section?
As with any site, YouTube wants you to stick around for as long as possible. The more videos you watch, and the longer you watch for, the more ads it can serve you, and the more revenue it generates.
That’s precisely why the YouTube recommendation function exists. It’s designed to guide users toward content they love and actively want to watch, based on a range of factors (more on that later).
YouTube recommendations appear in two places:
- On the homepage.
- In the “up next” section alongside the video you’re already watching:
Benefits of Getting in the YouTube Recommended Sections
If your goal is to drive more video views on YouTube, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of the YouTube recommendation engine.
Whether or not they know it and understand how it works, most YouTube users make regular use of YouTube recommendations. According to a survey from Pew Research Center, 81 percent of users occasionally watch recommended videos, while 15 percent do so regularly.
Importantly, YouTube’s audience skews younger, with 95 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds in the U.S. using the platform. Pew’s data shows us those younger users are more likely to find new content through the YouTube recommendation engine. More than one-fifth of users in that age group regularly watch recommended videos, compared to just one-tenth of users aged 65+.
Pew Research’s study also demonstrates just how powerful a YouTube recommendation can be. It used YouTube’s API to analyze 98,508 videos recommended by the YouTube algorithm. Over the six weeks of the study, those videos saw their view counts increase by an average of 38.5 million views. One video had 34,000 views when it was first discovered by Pew and almost 30 million by the final time it was recommended.
In short, if your video is recommended by YouTube, your visibility increases exponentially.
YouTube Recommended Sections Algorithm Factors
As with Google, YouTube’s recommendation algorithm is shrouded in secrecy …read more
Source:: Kiss Metrics Blog
