Every content creator aspires to see their videos surface in YouTube’s “trending” section. The resulting exposure drives traffic and subscribers! But how does YouTube trending work?
YouTube amplifies only those videos that appeal to a broad base of viewers. Read our blog to uncover tips that increase your chances of “trending” on YouTube.
How Does YouTube Trending Work And How To Get Featured?
You must align your fate with foresight to appear in YouTube’s “trending” section! YouTube’s algorithms are ever-evolving, and the marketing world is booming with analytical tools to aid creators in decision-making. This has allowed creators to see tremendous growth. Let’s dissect YouTube algorithms and decode the “trending” section.
Videos with the following attributes “trend” on YouTube:
- Appealing to the masses.
- Accurately match the meta title, tags, description, and thumbnail
- Intricately details what’s happening across the globe or on YouTube
- Explores a novel concept
- Has either established a significant view count or is generating views instantly
- Internal or external sources that are driving the organic traffic.
- How recently the video was published
How does YouTube trending work? We understand that various factors come into play, making it akin to a complicated food recipe with many ingredients.
1. How Does YouTube Trending Work With Long-Form Videos?
A lot of creators wonder how YouTube trending works? Does video length have any correlation? Let’s address these queries.
It’s not solely the video length that matters. YouTube algorithms look at video duration in a broader sense and correlate it with the length of each session and the total number of views. In short, YouTube prioritizes those videos where most users’ session time is 75% to 90% of the video length.
However, the principle on which YouTube algorithms function is stated above. If we look at user behavior, videos between 45 seconds (YouTube shorts) and 20 minutes (full-length videos) are enough to retain users. Anything more is draining.
The key is to give viewers some thought-provoking points that keep them hooked:
- Segmentize: You can divide your full-length video into multiple segments and mention the time stamp where each section begins and ends.
- Invoke Curiosity: When recording your speech on the chosen topic, tell users what else will be covered in the said video and why they matter.
- Analyze Scope & Experiment: Users tend to scroll more through YouTube shorts than the YouTube feed, so you should either capitalize on shorts or balance between shorts and full-length videos.
2. Catchy Thumbnails
Thumbnails represent your videos, so they should be capable of conveying the most intriguing segments in your videos.
Use high-quality images so that they entice users and are picked by algorithms.
Before interacting with your video links on other platforms or even within YouTube’s fold, viewers will judge your videos based on the shortcut previews, which show your video’s title and thumbnail images.
3. Share & Promote your Videos as Quickly as Possible
How does YouTube trending work? Just get social media citations to increase the virality potential of your videos.
- As soon as you publish videos on YouTube, ensure that you share them across all social media platforms so that they can gain traction. Do this within 3 days.
- Encourage users to hit the notification bell so that it increases your view count.
- You can even promote your videos through blogs or influencers.
4. Interactive Videos to Engage Viewers
The tips cited below will increase your reach and lay the foundation for a loyal subscriber base.
- Ask people to drop comments and be responsive.
- Motivate users to share your videos & subscribe.
- Tell users you will continue a video series if they help you garner views and subscribers.
- Occasionally conduct giveaways.
5. Playlists increase Visibility
If your channel covers multiple topics, classify videos based on which playlist they relate to. As playlists hold numerous videos, they also contain various keywords. Hence, search engines pull them for multiple queries as long as the playlist videos relate to them. This presents YouTubers with a huge SEO advantage. It additionally eases user navigation for those keen on following specific topics.
6. Maintain a Brand Image
Branding tells users a story of how your channel came into existence and why you are passionate about it.
- Branding would involve elements like intros, outros, watermarks, and screen color.
- We advise sticking to one branding style and not changing it constantly until you develop a massive subscriber base.
- Always vocalize what aspects drew you to a niche and how you intend to serve them through your videos.
- This could mean clarifying to users that you develop content to spread awareness or conveying how you plan to support certain causes.
7. Personalize to Be Recommended
This means serving users what they want. Let’s delve deeper into this subject. Have you ever wondered how YouTube trending works? Or how YouTube algorithms recommend videos to users?
As your users interact with your videos, YouTube algorithms start monitoring the following things to determine what videos can be suggested to them:
- What content interests users based on video tags, genres, repetitive patterns in the titles, feedback, or some keyword that is trending,
- How many views can your videos have, and what is the watch time?
- How often do users search for videos with similar themes?
- When the user behavior changes with new trends.
How does YouTube trending work? Adjust your videos per your subscriber’s needs and be recommended by YouTube algorithms.
Also, if you buy YouTube subscribers from trustworthy partners, your channel’s growth can leap dramatically.
8. YouTube SEO – How does Trending work on YouTube
Your videos are pulled by Google search results and YouTube searches; optimizing them will only boost your visibility and makeVisibilitynel more discoverable.
- Add meta titles & meta tags to help crawlers interpret your videos.
- Add engaging, crisp, and concise meta descriptions to appeal to users and be crawlable.
- VeeFly equips budding YouTubers with an AI YouTube description generator and AI YouTube Title generator to save time and increase video visibility.
- Add CTAs.
- Add 1-3 hashtags. Don’t go overboard.
9. Consistency
Just because you are going to experiment a lot with YouTube content, flow, and format in the initial days doesn’t mean that you can be inconsistent with everything.
- Upload videos on a weekly basis.
- Experiment with format, flow, concepts, SEO, and engagement techniques in the initial stages.
- However, gradually become more consistent as you figure out what has worked best for most videos.
- Branding aspects have to be consistent. Logo, channel name, video layout, etc
For emerging creators who want to understand how YouTube trending works, there’s nothing better than experimenting and improvising!
Trending Topics For YouTube Videos
This section cites free and paid tools to help you strategize videos for YouTube even more efficiently.
1. Free Tools
If you don’t want to invest in tools, here are free platform features you can leverage.
- Reading the comments section on YouTube videos.
- YouTube recommends videos to you based on the preferences of the majority of your users – Follow them.
- Analyze Social Media trends.
- Utilize Google Trends.
- YouTube Analytics.
- News about your niche.
2. Social Media Listening Tools
These are 3rd party tools that furnish the following insights:
- User Queries
- Competitor Analysis
- User Behavior Analysis
- Opinion Research
- Trending Thought leaders or influencers
3. Competition Tracking – Social Tracker
You can either manually track competitors and check out the visible metrics or use this tool.
- Set up an account and link it to your YouTube channel.
- Add all the competitors you want to track—creators who are on the same level as you, slightly below you, at the top, and those who are seeing rapid growth.
- Head over to the “Your Competitor” drop-down menu.
- The tool will gather information about the videos posted by competitors in the past month – Video.
- Upload Frequency, Number of views, likes, and comments on each video.
- Then, head over to the “Published videos” tab.
- It will segregate your competitors based on the topics they have covered in the past month – To hint at topics with strong user interest.
4. Video Types You Can Target
- User suggestion-based content.
- Challenges & DIYs.
- How-to tutorials.
- Current events – Jobs, Tests, Socio-political commentaries, celebrity gossip, fashion, and tech.
- Game walkthroughs or reviews.
- Routine-based videos – Skincare, exercise, diet, lifestyle of different cultures, and more.
- Documentaries – Historical events, scientific phenomena, social issues, mythologies, etc.
- Experience Videos – Shopping, tourism, street food, and anything that involves physical exploring.
Conclusion
Anyone wondering, “How does YouTube trending work?” There’s no foolproof formula, but implementing the above strategies will help you understand your subscribers’ needs and drive more engagement. We have explored several tools to help you find trending topics: Execute, Experiment, Adapt, and Excel! You can also promote videos on YouTube.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How do you get on YouTube’s trending page?
How does YouTube trending work? Let’s recap:
- Optimize Videos – Tags, titles, high-definition thumbnails, and descriptions
- Be consistent with uploading & Brand image
- Track competitors – Either manually or via tools
- Engage users & personalize.
Unable to trend organically? If you buy YouTube views from credible sources, your impressions will increase.
Q2. How to find trending topics?
Trending topics are everywhere; just observe things more closely:
- YouTube Features – Comments, Feed, Trending, and Analytics
- Google Trends
- Social Media Trends
- Social Tracker
- Social Media Listening Tools
- Niche-related news updates
Q3. How do I find the trending button on YouTube?
Head over to the “Explore” section to find trending videos. You can choose from various categories, but they will vary based on location.
Q4. Why is trending not showing on YouTube?
If you aren’t signed into your YouTube profile or have restricted certain content types, this feature may not be visible on your account.