Free YouTube Monetization Course – Lesson 9
After the emergence of TikTok, many video platforms had to make changes in video dimensions, platform interfaces, and algorithms in order to compete with TikTok. YouTube also realized that such short videos are watched a lot and created YouTube Shorts. It even opened a separate section in the YouTube monetization function for YouTube Shorts views. This is an important detail for us to understand how important Shorts videos are. Many people have difficulty understanding the Shorts algorithm. However, in fact, the Shorts algorithm is not that complicated. Simply put, the more you can keep your viewers watching the video, the more your video will be watched. YouTube Shorts has many advantages for channels. Some of these are as follows.
- Easily increasing subscribers,
- The opportunity to start earning money in a short time,
- The opportunity to prepare videos easily and in a short time,
- Simple algorithm advantages.
Although some blog sites emphasize that the YouTube Shorts algorithm is complex, this is not true. In fact, the algorithm works to block low-quality videos and promote high-quality videos. It does this by measuring viewers’ reactions to the video. I explained in more detail how YouTube measures viewer behavior and how the YouTube algorithm works on videos and channels in our lesson titled “How does the YouTube algorithm work on videos and channels?”. If you have not read that lesson, you can switch and read it.
Which factors does the YouTube Shorts algorithm pay attention to?
Although the YouTube Shorts algorithm pays attention to many factors for a video to be viewed, it mainly values videos according to the following factors.
- The viewer’s watch history,
- The percentage of the video that the viewer watched,
- The number of likes on the video,
- The number of comments written on the video,
- Whether the comments written on the video are negative or positive,
- The number of subscribers gained thanks to the video,
- The number of times the video is shared.
All of these factors affect the view count of YouTube Shorts videos and therefore the development of the YouTube channel. Let’s examine these factors together and see what each one does.
The viewer’s watch history
The videos that viewers watch on YouTube form their areas of interest. That is, if a YouTube user constantly watches gaming videos, the YouTube algorithm will always show them gaming videos. Regardless of what topic you share videos about on your channel, do not forget that you have a potential audience. You will not be able to reach more than that audience. The YouTube Shorts algorithm will find the audience that is suitable for the topic of your video and show your video to that audience. The algorithm learns what your video is about through the keywords you write in the video title, description text, hashtags, and tags. By using the correct keywords and using these sections correctly as I listed, you can ensure that your video reaches the right audience.
The percentage of the video that the viewer watched
YouTube Shorts videos can be up to a maximum of 1 minute. (This lesson was written in 2026. In the future, the YouTube Shorts video duration may change, but the logic is the same.) Let’s assume that you shared a 30-second video. When you analyze that video in YouTube Analytics, you see that the average watch time of the video is 7–8 seconds. An average watch time of 7–8 seconds (21%–24%) for a 30-second video harms the development of the video. The algorithm decides that the video is not interesting for users and does not show it to other audiences. There may be many reasons why the average watch duration of videos is low. The two main reasons are as follows.
- The video duration may be too long, the topic may be boring.
If you see that the average watch percentages of your videos are constantly low, test recording your next videos as 15 seconds instead of 30 seconds. In other words, try shortening them one-to-one. Your viewers may like your video up to a certain point, but after a while they may get bored and swipe the screen to move on to another video. In this way, you can determine which video lengths are interesting for your viewers.
- Incorrect keywords written for the video
As I stated at the beginning, the algorithm determines the topic of your video according to the keywords you write in the title, description, hashtags, and tags of that video. If you do not use the correct keywords, your video will be shown to an audience that has no relevance, and since the video topic is not interesting for that audience, it will not be watched. In this case, I recommend that you do keyword research again for your video and rewrite it from the beginning.
The number of likes, comments, shares, and subscribers gained by the video
Those who watch your video show reactions to your video. We see these reactions as likes, comments, shares, and the number of subscribers gained. After the average watch percentage of videos, the algorithm pays attention to how many times the video is liked. In this way, it determines whether the video is interesting for users. The more positive impact your video has on the other side, the more it is liked. Thus, you can take your video one level higher in the eyes of the algorithm. The comments written on the video are at least as important as the number of likes. YouTube has developed its algorithms so much that the algorithm can now understand not only the number of comments, but also whether these comments are negative or positive. If you want to receive comments on your video, give viewers a call-to-action message during the video.
For example: What do you think about this video? What would you do if you were in this situation?
By asking such questions, you can learn viewers’ opinions. In this way, you can increase the number of comments to the maximum level. You can take the same step to increase the number of times your videos are shared. If the share count of your videos is high, the video will be watched more and will also cause the algorithm to recommend the video to more people. For this, you can also give a call-to-action message in the video.
For example: Send the video to your friend so they are informed as well. Send the video to your friend, let them owe you one.
By giving such call-to-action messages, you can maximize the share count of your video and increase the view count. In this lesson, we learned about the YouTube Shorts algorithm. In the next lessons, I will provide more detailed information about increasing YouTube Shorts video views.
