YouTube Explains How Its “Shorts” Algorithm Works [Video]

Social networks have started to give great importance to short video formats, especially due to the success of TikTok. The clearest indicator of this is; Instagram Reels, one of TikTok’s biggest competitors. Moreover; YouTube, the world’s most popular online video platform, recently launched the “Shorts” feature. Users have the opportunity to access short videos with YouTube Shorts.

One of the most curious things about YouTube Shorts is the algorithm, as can be expected. Both creators and users did not know exactly how Shorts videos were shown. However, this has changed as of now. A video shared by the YouTube team gave us a general understanding of how the Shorts algorithm works. Let’s take a closer look at how the YouTube Shorts algorithm works together.

How does the YouTube Shorts algorithm work?

According to the statement made by Todd Sherman, the number one person responsible for the YouTube Shorts project, YouTube’s classic algorithm and Shorts’ algorithm are different. Yes, in both types of videos, users’ interests are important, but when it comes to Shorts, the display algorithm changes. If you are a content producer and you apply the same methods for Shorts to stand out in YouTube’s classic algorithm, your Shorts videos may not be as successful as you would like.

According to the statement made by Sherman, not every scroll on YouTube Shorts considers the video shown as watched. Sherman, who said that for the video to be considered watched, it was necessary to stay in the video for a certain period of time, as you can imagine, did not explain this time. One of the reasons for not revealing is to prevent creators from developing strategies to get Shorts to watch for a certain period of time. The second reason is that the algorithm readjusts this time according to some variables.

According to Todd Sherman, creators should definitely use tags for more views. In addition, the upload time of a video uploaded to Shorts does not matter. The team specifically states that the number of Shorts uploaded is also not important to the algorithm. According to YouTube, creators who want to stand out in Shorts should focus on quality rather than quantity. On the other hand; deleting and re-uploading a Shorts so that it gains more attention increases the likelihood of a creator falling into spam.

According to the YouTube manager, one of the most disturbing issues for users who produce Shorts content is the fluctuation in the number of views. According to Sherman, the algorithm uses some variables to find users who will love the short video. These variables can cause fluctuations in the number of views. According to the YouTube executive, this is normal and creators should not despair by looking at the numbers.

You can watch the video about how the YouTube Shorts algorithm works below.