How YouTube Search Works: Explained by Google

• Google explained how YouTube search works through a publication resource. 
• They created an entire website- How YouTube Work to explain how the search function works.
• The site offers valuable insights about working of YouTube, which includes how YouTube is committed to making a safe and more secure platform factor into the search results. 

YouTube Searches 

• YouTube is the World’s second-largest search engine. The platform sieves through over 500 hours of content to deliver the most relevant results. 
• There are three primary elements for ranking search results on YouTube; Relevance, Engagement, and Quality. 

Relevance 

• The goal of YouTube search is to connect the user with useful content. 
• YouTube search algorithm looks at several factors to determine the relevance of content. 
• These factors can take many forms, including title, tags, video description, and the content itself. 

Engagement 

• Since YouTube can track content consumption by each user, they have policies around what appears in search results. 
• Engagement is determined using aggregate engagement signals. These signals include watch time for a particular video and query. 
• YouTube also uses engagement signals to determine the relevance of content. 

Quality

• YouTube determines the quality of content using several signals.  
• The algorithm looks at Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, commonly referred to as EAT. 
• Google emphasis the importance of these signals in search results. 

Other Factors

• Besides relevance, engagement, and quality, YouTube tries to deliver search results based on the actions of the user. 
• That includes the user’s watch and search history.
• Search results may vary from one user to the next. 
• For example, for a user who watches a lot of sports content and searches for cricket, YouTube will recommend sports cricket rather than the creature. 
• When a user clears their search history, YouTube will not consider such signals. 

Building Authoritative Sources 

• The search algorithm prioritizes content from authoritative sources, especially for content categories like politics, science, news, and medical content. 
• Credibility is key to ranking high in these areas. 
• For content such as music and entertainment, YouTube looks to relevance, view count, and upload date. 

YouTube Recommendations

• The recommendation section on YouTube is another way content can be discovered. 
• YouTube considers a lot of signals to determine what to include in the ‘up next section.’
• The user’s behavior and details such as watch and search history, subscriptions, and location play a role. 
• Other key factors include the level of engagement the videos received, feedback from random surveys, and time of day. The user’s input is also taken into account. 
• The ‘not interested’ feature allows YouTube to determine not to recommend that kind of content.

Bottom line

• The YouTube search algorithm overturns conventional SEO wisdom. 
• YouTube rewards content producers for relevant, quality, and engaging content on the platform. 
• The value of Meta tags cannot be understated. Typical SEO efforts are still as relevant on YouTube as they are on Google search. 
• User activity is important in ranking and YouTube recommendations.