YouTube Shorts Algorithm Update Explained for 2026 (Hacks to Get 100K+ Subscribers FAST)

[00:00] YouTube just released a brand new 2026

[00:02] algorithm and you need to make sure that

[00:03] you're adapting to the five changes I'm

[00:05] going to share with you in this video.

[00:06] Because if you make these five changes,

[00:07] it's easier than ever before for you to

[00:09] grow on YouTube right now, especially if

[00:10] you're a small channel. In fact, I just

[00:12] helped this creator, this creator, and

[00:14] this creator gain over 100,000

[00:15] subscribers in a really short period of

[00:17] time simply by adapting to these five

[00:20] things. But I do want to warn you, if

[00:21] you ignore these changes and don't

[00:23] actually make them with your content,

[00:25] you're going to get less views than ever

[00:26] before in 2026. So, please don't skip

[00:28] any of these. Change number one is you

[00:31] need to make sure that you're going

[00:32] through all of your old content today

[00:34] and changing anything that says 2025. If

[00:36] it says it in the tags, you need to

[00:38] change it. If it says it in the

[00:39] description, you need to change it. And

[00:40] if it says it in the title or the

[00:42] thumbnail, you also need to make sure

[00:44] that you change it. And here's a super

[00:45] easy way for you to be able to do this.

[00:47] Now, here's the easiest way to actually

[00:49] do this. What you're going to want to do

[00:50] is you're going to want to come over

[00:51] into your content into YouTube Studio.

[00:53] You want to come over here and type in

[00:55] 2025. What this is then going to do is

[00:58] this is going to pull up all of your

[00:59] content that has 2025 inside of the

[01:02] title. And as we can see here, I have

[01:04] 152 videos that I have to go through.

[01:06] So, what I now need to go through, and

[01:08] I'm going to have my team do this also,

[01:09] is this will show me everything that has

[01:12] a thumbnail with 2025 or a title with

[01:14] 2025. And now we could come into each of

[01:16] these and we can update these so that we

[01:19] actually have the correct year. Because

[01:21] here's the deal. If somebody does a

[01:23] search for how to skyrocket your views

[01:25] on Tik Tok fast, what's going to happen

[01:27] is somebody else is going to make a

[01:28] video about 2026 and then they are going

[01:30] to get served that content because

[01:32] YouTube cares about relevancy. And as we

[01:35] go in 2026 or we're in 2026 now that

[01:37] you're watching this, guess what? That

[01:39] relevancy is going to be the difference

[01:40] between your video getting clicked on

[01:42] versus your video not getting clicked

[01:44] on. So you want to make sure that you're

[01:45] going through you're changing 2026 here.

[01:47] You can also do control find. You could

[01:49] find that I have 2025 here. Also, we're

[01:52] going to grab this. We're going to

[01:53] change these things. We're going to

[01:54] click on save. And then this is going to

[01:56] get this video kicked back into the

[01:58] algorithm. If we look at the analytics

[02:00] on this right now, what we'll see is

[02:02] that this video took off and then

[02:04] started to die off. But as we change

[02:06] that and go through and change those

[02:08] titles, those thumbnails, the

[02:09] description, the tags, these videos are

[02:11] then going to get kicked back into the

[02:13] algorithm and get way more views. Change

[02:16] number two is you need to make sure that

[02:17] you're not publishing your content to

[02:19] your subscribers in 2026 if they're

[02:22] destroying your reach. And there's a

[02:23] very easy way for you to be able to

[02:24] figure this out. You just have to go in

[02:26] your analytics and see whether or not

[02:27] your subscribers are engaging with your

[02:29] content as much as people aren't

[02:31] subscribed to you are. Because if your

[02:33] content is mainly getting engagement

[02:35] from people that aren't subscribed to

[02:36] you, then what happens is when YouTube

[02:38] shows your content to your subscribers,

[02:40] this could actually be lowering your

[02:42] reach. Now, here's how you get to

[02:43] determine whether or not you need to do

[02:45] that. What you want to do is you want to

[02:46] come into your analytics and then you're

[02:48] going to click on advanced mode right

[02:49] here and you going to come over here to

[02:51] breakdown. What we want to do is scroll

[02:53] down a little bit and you are going to

[02:54] see subscription status. Now, what this

[02:57] is going to do is show you who's

[02:59] actually watching your content. So, as

[03:00] we can see right here, average view

[03:02] duration with people that aren't

[03:03] subscribed to me is 139. For my

[03:06] subscribers, it's 338. So, I'm actually

[03:08] getting way more average view duration

[03:10] from my subscribers. Now, that's exactly

[03:12] why I leave my subscribers turned on

[03:14] here. And if we scroll down, I'll show

[03:16] you where this setting actually is. So,

[03:18] it's going to be right here next to

[03:19] embedding. I keep this turned on, but if

[03:22] you're getting more average view

[03:23] duration from people that are not

[03:25] subscribed to you, then you want to make

[03:27] sure that this turns this off. But

[03:28] again, this is going to be on a channel

[03:30] by channel basis. And it might be

[03:31] different between different topics or

[03:34] even between different types of content.

[03:36] So, if we come over here and we look at

[03:38] this again back here, we're going to

[03:40] come up to advanced mode, see the

[03:42] status, and see that not subscribe

[03:44] doesn't watch my content anywhere near

[03:45] as long. Now, this is a Tik Tok video.

[03:47] If we look at this 139 versus 338, this

[03:50] might be completely different for a

[03:51] video on a different topic. Now, if we

[03:52] look at that for something about

[03:54] Instagram, it is completely different.

[03:56] We could see that not subscribed on

[03:57] Instagram 3 minutes and 34 seconds, but

[03:59] subscribed 5 minutes. So, depending on

[04:01] the topic, this is going to drastically

[04:03] change this. So, if you upload about

[04:05] multiple topics on your YouTube channel,

[04:07] you want to make sure that you're

[04:08] checking this out for all the different

[04:09] topics that you could be uploading on.

[04:11] And if we come over to shorts, we're

[04:13] going to see the same exact thing. So,

[04:14] again, come into details right here.

[04:17] Come into analytics. Then under advanced

[04:19] mode, we could come over here. We could

[04:21] type in sub. We're going to see

[04:22] subscription status. And we'll see how

[04:24] this affects things. So, when we look at

[04:26] my shorts, it actually doesn't affect it

[04:28] at all. in which case I want my content

[04:31] to get shown to more nonsubscribers.

[04:34] Change number three is you need to make

[04:35] sure that you adapt the type of content

[04:37] that you're creating to only be trending

[04:39] content because YouTube is now a 100%

[04:42] interestbased algorithm. What does this

[04:44] mean? That one, videos that are on a

[04:46] topic that your audience isn't engaging

[04:47] with just won't get any reach. Two, if

[04:50] your length is wrong on your content,

[04:51] you're not going to get any reach. And

[04:53] three, if you are just overall doing

[04:55] something that there isn't a proven

[04:57] audience for on YouTube, this is why

[04:59] you're not getting the views that you

[05:00] want. But don't worry, because there's

[05:02] an easy way to fix this. In fact,

[05:03] today's video sponsor, Metricle, makes

[05:05] this incredibly easy to do, and it's my

[05:07] hack to doing this in less than 30

[05:09] seconds every single day. Now, here's

[05:11] exactly how I do this using Metricle.

[05:13] And as we can see, this has really

[05:14] helped my growth on YouTube. You're

[05:16] going to log into Metricle. You're going

[05:17] to click on YouTube. And then we can

[05:19] scroll all the way down. And this right

[05:21] here is where you can add in all of your

[05:23] different competitors. And then you'll

[05:25] be able to click on view video list

[05:27] right here. And this will literally show

[05:28] you exactly what is trending in your

[05:30] niche. For example, this video right

[05:31] here published 2 days ago got 20,000

[05:33] views. That's way more views than

[05:35] everything else that's been published in

[05:36] my niche. So now I could see what this

[05:39] is and then I could click on it and this

[05:41] will tell me the format that is doing

[05:43] really well and what type of content aka

[05:46] the topic that's doing really well. And

[05:48] if we come through here, we'll be able

[05:49] to find even more of them. So this video

[05:52] right here, this video right here, this

[05:54] video right here, and this video right

[05:55] here are clearly doing the best. So if I

[05:57] needed video topics for this upcoming

[05:59] week, those are the ones that I would

[06:00] choose. In addition to that, I'd pay

[06:02] attention to these formats. Now, if you

[06:04] want to find out exactly what your

[06:06] audience is engaging with, I would

[06:07] strongly suggest you go to the pin

[06:08] comment below and get 30 days free

[06:10] access to Metricle today with any of

[06:12] their premium plans with Code Robert.

[06:14] Because in addition to that, Metricool

[06:16] also makes it incredibly easy for you to

[06:17] be able to push out your content on

[06:19] other platforms like Instagram,

[06:20] Facebook, Tik Tok, and others in order

[06:22] to get more reach on YouTube. Because

[06:24] another thing you need to make sure that

[06:25] you're doing is increasing the amount of

[06:27] traffic that you're bringing to YouTube

[06:29] from other platforms. Here's how they

[06:31] make it easy. Now, here's how Metro

[06:34] makes that incredibly easy. What you're

[06:35] going to want to do is you're going to

[06:36] want to come over here and click on

[06:38] planning. From here, you're going to

[06:40] click on create post. And this allows

[06:42] you to upload to all these different

[06:43] platforms at once. You could post on

[06:45] Facebook, post on Instagram, you could

[06:47] post on Tik Tok. And you can see the

[06:49] other platforms that show up here. And

[06:50] this allows you to schedule out posts on

[06:52] all those platforms from one place. In

[06:55] addition to that, they also have this AI

[06:57] description generator right here, which

[06:59] allows you to generate descriptions that

[07:01] are optimized for each social media

[07:03] platform right here. In addition to

[07:05] that, they also have this hashtag tool

[07:07] that lets you find the best hashtags for

[07:09] Instagram and Tik Tok. So, you'll be

[07:10] able to put out content across multiple

[07:12] platforms, all driving back to your

[07:14] YouTube channel to help you grow

[07:15] quicker. And the YouTube algorithm loves

[07:17] this right now. Oh, and one other bonus

[07:19] thing that I absolutely love about

[07:21] Metrical is if we click on inbox right

[07:23] here, what this is going to allow us to

[07:24] do is this is going to allow us to see

[07:26] our inbox across all these different

[07:28] platforms, all from one place instead of

[07:31] having to log into all these different

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[07:35] inbox, and your comments. So, what are

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[07:42] with code Robert. Change number four is

[07:45] you need to make sure that you're adding

[07:46] a custom thumbnail to every single

[07:47] YouTube short that you upload. This is

[07:49] more important than ever before because

[07:50] now the majority of YouTube Shorts views

[07:53] aren't just coming from the Shorts feed.

[07:54] In fact, they're coming from browse

[07:56] features and they're coming from search.

[07:58] So unless you have a custom thumbnail

[07:59] on, guess what? You're not going to get

[08:01] the views that you want. And the only

[08:02] way that you could do this is by

[08:04] uploading your content from a mobile

[08:06] device. Let me explain. Okay, so here's

[08:09] how you actually do this. We're going to

[08:10] come over to YouTube right here. And

[08:11] this is how you should be uploading all

[08:12] of your shorts content. You want to

[08:14] click on this little plus right here.

[08:15] Then from here, you're going to click on

[08:17] add. And you're going to grab the video

[08:19] that you were going to upload. For

[08:20] example, let's say we were going to

[08:21] upload this video right here. We are now

[08:23] going to click on next. We're going to

[08:25] click on done. Now, this is going to

[08:26] take a second right here to process. But

[08:28] once this is done processing, we're

[08:30] going to have the ability to choose that

[08:32] custom thumbnail. And again, you need to

[08:34] make sure that you're adding in this

[08:35] custom thumbnail because this is going

[08:37] to make the difference between your

[08:38] video getting clicked on and your video

[08:40] showing in all these different places

[08:42] versus it not. So, we come over here.

[08:44] We're going to click on next. Then,

[08:46] you'll see this little pencil icon. And

[08:48] again, you can only do this from a

[08:50] mobile device. Now, what this is going

[08:51] to allow you to do is grab whatever part

[08:53] of the video you want to make sure that

[08:55] you're going to do. For example, we're

[08:56] going to do this right here. We can now

[08:58] add text here. And we could say

[09:00] something like never use more than three

[09:03] hashtags. And then we could change the

[09:06] size of this right here if we wanted to.

[09:07] But this looks perfect right here. We

[09:09] can move it up. And then boom, we just

[09:11] click on this check. And now we have a

[09:13] custom thumbnail here. And this is going

[09:14] to help you rank for search. This is

[09:16] going to help you get views from browse

[09:18] features. And you need to make sure that

[09:19] when you add in a custom thumbnail, what

[09:21] you do next is come over here, schedule

[09:23] out this video. And then you want to

[09:25] come back to your computer in order to

[09:27] set up the rest of the settings in order

[09:29] to maximize your reach because you won't

[09:31] get all those settings from your

[09:33] computer. But you won't be able to add a

[09:34] custom thumbnail from your computer. So

[09:36] you have to use both your phone and your

[09:38] computer to upload YouTube shorts to

[09:40] maximize your views. And then change

[09:42] number five is you need to make sure

[09:44] that you start taking more time in

[09:46] between you going live or you uploading

[09:48] long form content because gone are the

[09:50] days where you could just flood YouTube

[09:52] with a bunch of long- form content. Now

[09:54] YouTube wants you to flood their

[09:55] algorithm with short form content. And

[09:58] I'm not saying that you should be

[09:58] uploading 10 to 20 times a day, but if

[10:00] you want to upload every day two or

[10:02] three times a day, you should be doing

[10:04] this with shorts content because shorts

[10:06] can get shown in way more places than

[10:08] long form content. I mean, think about

[10:10] it. Your long- form content on YouTube

[10:12] only shows in two places. It shows on

[10:14] the browse features, aka the home tab,

[10:17] and two, in the search results. It also

[10:19] shows on the suggested feed, but there's

[10:22] really not that much real estate there.

[10:23] But when it comes to shorts, they could

[10:25] show up on suggested, they could show up

[10:27] on the shorts feed, they could show up

[10:29] on search, and they can also show up on

[10:31] the homepage. So guess what? YouTube

[10:33] shorts just have way more areas to show

[10:35] up. Which is why the creators that are

[10:37] growing the fastest right now in 2026,

[10:39] like Mr. Beast, like Hormosi, like Gary

[10:42] Vee, they're all uploading more YouTube

[10:44] shorts. In fact, they're getting more

[10:46] views from their YouTube shorts than any

[10:48] other type of content. Let me prove this

[10:50] to you. So, here's the proof of this. If

[10:52] we look at Mr. Be's channel right here

[10:54] and we scroll down, we could see he's

[10:56] gotten 600 million long form views. But

[10:58] if we compare that to shorts, 2.2

[11:00] billion. So he's getting about 80% of

[11:03] his reach from YouTube shorts. And it's

[11:06] no different if we look at somebody like

[11:07] Alex Heroszi. If we scroll down here,

[11:09] 4.5 million views from long form. But if

[11:12] we look at shorts, 15 million. So he's

[11:14] getting three times the number of views

[11:16] again around 75 to 80%. And it's no

[11:19] different if we look at somebody like

[11:21] Gary Vee. If we come down here, 500,000

[11:23] views from long form, 1.8 million almost

[11:26] four times from shorts. So, please do

[11:28] not make the mistake in 2026 of ignoring

[11:31] YouTube shorts because I cannot

[11:33] emphasize it enough. YouTube is pushing

[11:35] YouTube shorts more than any other type

[11:37] of content on the platform. And I

[11:39] literally just proved it to you by

[11:40] showing you Alex Herozy's views, Gary

[11:42] Views views, Mr. Beast views. So, it

[11:45] doesn't matter if you're uploading

[11:46] educational content, or if you're

[11:48] uploading entertainment content. I'm

[11:50] telling you, doubling down on shorts

[11:51] this year is going to be the most

[11:53] powerful thing that you could possibly

[11:54] do. And YouTube is also bringing

[11:57] shopping back to YouTube Shorts. So,

[11:59] you're going to be able to partner up

[12:00] with brands in order to put a link

[12:02] inside of YouTube Shorts. You can tag

[12:04] products inside of YouTube Shorts. And

[12:06] this is going to be a massive

[12:07] opportunity not only for you to get more

[12:09] subscribers, get more viewers, but also

[12:12] for you to be able to monetize YouTube

[12:13] Shorts because YouTube is doubling down

[12:15] on this as we head into 2026. Now, if

[12:19] you want help growing faster on YouTube

[12:21] one-on-one, the same exact way that I

[12:22] helped this creator, this creator, and

[12:24] this creator, I would strongly suggest

[12:25] you check out this video right here that

[12:27] walks you through three different ways

[12:28] that we can begin to work together

[12:30] one-on-one in order to help you grow

[12:31] faster on YouTube. Because it doesn't

[12:33] have to be hard to for you to get the

[12:34] views, the subscribers, or the

[12:36] monetization that you want to on

[12:37] YouTube, especially when you work with

[12:39] somebody that already knows everything

[12:41] that you need to do. If that sounds

[12:42] interesting, I'll see you over