The Entire Shorts Algorithm Explained in 180 Seconds…

[00:00] When you make a new channel, the first

[00:01] thing that happens is YouTube reviews

[00:02] your account to verify you're not a bot.

[00:04] If YouTube thinks you're a real person

[00:05] who will post good content, then they'll

[00:06] push your videos out to a seed audience

[00:08] of around 30,000 people to start

[00:09] building channel data. If your channel

[00:11] isn't trustworthy, your shorts won't be

[00:13] pushed out to anyone. This is called

[00:14] zero view jail. To avoid this, you need

[00:15] to use an age channel and older email

[00:17] with a lot of history, but most

[00:18] importantly, enable third-le feature

[00:20] eligibility. This is normally the make

[00:22] or break for getting view jailed because

[00:23] it instantly proves you're a real

[00:24] person. All of this feeds into a hidden

[00:26] metric called trust score. basically how

[00:27] much YouTube trusts that when they push

[00:29] out your videos, people will actually

[00:30] watch them and make them money. Low

[00:32] trust means YouTube would rather push

[00:33] out someone else's video instead of

[00:34] wasting viewers on you. Once you start

[00:36] posting, YouTube will be willing to push

[00:37] out your videos to around 30,000 people.

[00:39] People call this the 30K view jail. And

[00:40] the purpose of it is pretty simple.

[00:42] YouTube builds profiles on both the

[00:43] viewers and also the creators. Every

[00:45] short you post will get shown to a

[00:47] different group of 30,000 people. And

[00:48] during this, YouTube is just trying to

[00:50] find the perfect audience for your

[00:51] content. Every graph when you start a

[00:52] channel typically looks the same. A slow

[00:54] start, a spike, and then a flatline. If

[00:56] the video is good enough, then YouTube

[00:57] will show it to a few more people to see

[00:59] if it's worthy of going viral. If your

[01:00] short flat lines in the thousands, it's

[01:02] due to one of these. But if you're in

[01:03] the 10K to low 20k range, it's due to

[01:05] one of these. A lot of people hate on

[01:07] the 30k VO, but it's actually a really

[01:08] good spot to be in because it means your

[01:10] shorts are good enough to go viral.

[01:11] YouTube just needs more data once they

[01:13] know exactly who to show your content

[01:14] to. The next video your seed audience

[01:16] responds well to will get pushed to a

[01:17] much wider audience. Videos that appeal

[01:19] to anyone without needing data are the

[01:20] ones that go viral on brand new

[01:22] channels. That's why a lot of general

[01:23] animation channels blow up instantly.

[01:25] Anyone can enjoy watching these type of

[01:26] shorts, not just the people who are

[01:28] interested in the topic. To determine if

[01:29] your video is good, the algorithm

[01:31] focuses on retention more than any other

[01:32] stat. You need to get this graph as flat

[01:34] as possible, as high as possible, and

[01:36] get the initial dip as small as

[01:37] possible. Perfect retention can save a

[01:39] video even when the other stats are bad,

[01:40] but still aim to get your views in and

[01:42] AVD up to here. Engagement can also save

[01:44] a video with bad stats, but don't be

[01:45] spammy with CTAs. If you overdo it, you

[01:47] can lose a lot of trust with YouTube.

[01:49] Doing CTA like this is actually against

[01:50] their policies. As you post more, your

[01:52] monthly audience slowly grows because

[01:54] your videos are constantly being shown

[01:55] to different seed audiences. Your trust

[01:56] score goes up significantly when you

[01:58] convert new viewers into casual and

[02:00] regular viewers. This happens naturally,

[02:01] but it's one of the biggest signals

[02:02] YouTube looks at when deciding who to

[02:04] push your videos to. So, to go viral as

[02:06] fast as possible, you need to be

[02:07] uploading every single day. After your

[02:08] first viral video, you enter this kind

[02:10] of honeymoon phase. YouTube becomes more

[02:11] and more willing to push out your

[02:12] content to a lot of people cuz you've

[02:14] proven that you can be trusted once

[02:15] before. You might get view jailed again

[02:17] temporarily, but if you keep posting

[02:18] videos as good as your outliers, you'll

[02:19] go viral again and much faster. Once

[02:21] your trust score is high enough, YouTube

[02:22] will stop viewjailing you. Every video

[02:24] gets pushed to a wide audience, and from

[02:25] there, it's just a matter of uploads

[02:27] before you hit 10 million views and get

[02:28] monetized. But when you reach this

[02:29] point, you need to try harder than you

[02:31] ever have. If you get lazy now, then you

[02:32] might have to restart. In this high

[02:34] trust state, posting less or

[02:35] consistently dropping bad videos can get

[02:36] you viewed more often or only pushed to

[02:38] subscribers. But the most important

[02:39] thing you need is a niche that people

[02:41] actually want to watch. It's hard to go

[02:42] viral when 10 other people are posting

[02:44] the exact same thing as you. And in an

[02:45] oversaturated niche, YouTube prioritizes

[02:47] the most trustworthy channels, making it

[02:49] really hard to grow. So to help with

[02:50] that, I have a playlist of a bunch of

[02:51] viral niches I find, and I'll be

[02:53] constantly updating it. These are niches

[02:54] I would use myself, so check it out. And

[02:56] if you want a free personalized channel

[02:57] review or need help with anything, join

[02:58] the Discord.