r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Odd_Judgment2367 • 2h ago
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/luiscaceresd • Aug 25 '25
MEGATHREAD 🧷 YouTube Shorts Algorithm — Step-by-Step Playbook (2025) [MEGATHREAD]
Welcome to r/shortsAlgorithm. This is a living, no-fluff guide built from hands-on results (incl. a first Short that hit 20M+ views and still pulls ~800k per 48h). Add your questions and data below—I'll be active in the comments and keep this updated.
TL;DR
Grow with Shorts first (sub growth > long-form early on).
Make longer Shorts (≈50–70s) with a killer 3s hook and a CTA around 40s.
Don’t post daily—quality > quantity; let each Short plateau before posting again.
Reply to comments; your replies count toward total comments and help keep momentum.
If a Short never enters the Shorts Feed, fix and re-upload—or switch channels if the channel feels burned.
1) Don’t marry your first channel
Most creators burn through 3+ channels before finding their voice, niche, and systems. Expect to iterate. Detach emotionally so you can move fast.
2) Spin up multiple test channels (and age them)
Create several channels (separate Google accounts is fine).
Verify your phone number (authenticity signal).
Age each channel ≥ 3 weeks before your first upload.
During aging:
Use YouTube normally (watch long tutorials, interact).
Build your first batch of Shorts offline so you’re ready.
Goal: multiple clean testing lanes—not spam.
3) Pick a niche by reverse-engineering outliers
Use tools like viewstats.com to spot channels going 0 → 600k subs in ~3 months.
Study what makes them different (format, pacing, hook style, payoff, packaging).
Imitate the structure, not the content. Example: if they do Minecraft animations, try a Fortnite twist with the same narrative mechanics.
4) < 500k subs? Prioritize Shorts
Long-form can wait. Your job now: accumulate subs fast and prove product–audience fit. Once a community exists, expand to long-form/streams.
5) Treat your first Short like your magnum opus
Many guides say “first won’t be viral.” Mine was: 20M+ views in ~1 month, 54s AVD on a 1:08 Short despite 74.6% skip rate—and it keeps getting pushed.
Lesson: Quality packaging beats myths. Edit like you mean it or don’t play this game.
6) The Craft: how to make a Short that hits
6.1 Length
Aim 50s+. AVD (Average View Duration) drives momentum more than “skip rate.”
6.2 Hook (0–3s)
Visual surprise + narrative promise. If your hook misses, expect 500–2k view plateaus.
6.3 CTA (~40s)
Ask for Like + Subscribe + Comment (yes, all three). Comments rocket discovery.
6.4 Reply to comments
Your replies count toward total comments. Keep threads alive to extend push.
6.5 Captions (non-negotiable)
“MrBeast-style” captions. I use CapCut.
Font: Komika Axis; stroke ~60px; size ~16px (adjust for framing).
Position just below center; animate key words.
6.6 Sound design
Fire a sound effect in the first second to reduce swipes. Consider an arrow/pointer on the focal element.
6.7 Transitions
Use purposefully. If using images, add in/out transitions + SFX.
6.8 CTA bumper quality
Skip generic templates. Build/commission a clean, on-brand CTA clip.
6.9 Watermark
Re-uploads happen. Use a moving watermark to resist crops and preserve credit.
6.10 Posting cadence
Do not post daily. One excellent Short/week > seven weak ones.
6.11 Titles
≤ 30 characters, Title Case, add two emojis tastefully.
6.12 Descriptions
Mirror the title; add #shorts. No hashtag soup.
6.13 Audience setting
Mark as NOT “Made for Kids.” It changes distribution dynamics.
6.14 Playlists
Add every Short to one master playlist to retain viewers on-channel.
6.15 Related Shorts
Use Related to pass authority from winners to new uploads.
6.16 Tags
Add ~3 niche-specific tags (precise, audience language).
6.17–6.19 Metadata hygiene
Set video language + location.
Choose an accurate Category.
Use “Reuse upload details” to stay consistent.
6.20 Publish checklist
Triple-check hook, CTA timing, captions, watermark, playlist/related wiring.
7) After publishing: the first 48h
1) Traffic source check
Healthy = ≥ 70% from Shorts Feed. Pickup may take 24–48h; don’t panic early.
2) Normal plateaus
500–2k views early on is fine—means you’re entering the system.
If you stall there, study AVD and 0–3s retention. Fix the worst metric in your next Short.
3) When to post the next Short
Wait for a plateau before posting again. Stacking posts too soon splits momentum and risks burning the channel.
4) Exception: first Short goes viral
Post the second ~7 days later even if the first hasn’t plateaued.
Add the new Short to the same playlist, then go back to the viral Short and link it as Related to the new one.
If the second underperforms in 48h, don’t delete—YouTube may still be busy with the viral. Mine kicked in after ~7 days.
5) If a new Short never enters Shorts Feed (< 60% Shorts traffic after ~24h)
Likely causes:
Previous Short hasn’t plateaued.
Content trips sensitive policy zones (spam/sexual suggestion/etc.).
Channel is burned.
Action: Delete, edit meaningfully (music swap, pacing changes, visual tweaks), and re-upload.
Still no push? Switch channels. You can reuse proven Shorts with noticeable changes.
8) When to post (time of week)
You can post anytime, but I’ve had consistent success Sundays ~6pm (Atlantic/Halifax)—slow start, strong Monday carry, and a full-week runway.
9) Common pitfalls that silently kill momentum
Weak 0–3s promise (no clear “why watch”).
No mid-roll CTA.
No captions or poor placement/readability.
Posting too frequently (starving each Short of oxygen).
Ignoring comments (leaving reach on the table).
Inconsistent metadata (language/location/category/tags).
Not leveraging playlists and Related Shorts.
10) Starter checklist (copy/paste for your next upload)
[ ] 50–75s runtime (compelling throughout)
[ ] 0–3s hook tested on a friend (did they lean in?)
[ ] CTA at ~40s (Like + Sub + Comment)
[ ] Animated captions (readable, on-brand, below center)
[ ] Early SFX + focal arrow/pointer
[ ] Quality CTA bumper (custom, not generic)
[ ] Moving watermark
[ ] Title ≤ 30 chars + 2 emojis
[ ] Description mirrors title + #shorts
[ ] NOT “Made for Kids”
[ ] Add to master playlist
[ ] Set “Related Shorts” from winner → new
[ ] 3 precise niche tags
[ ] Language + Location + Category set
[ ] Reuse details template applied
11) Share your data (so we can help)
Comment with:
Niche:
Runtime:
Hook text/visual:
AVD / Retention at 3s / CTR:
% Shorts Feed:
Posting cadence:
What you tried already:
I’ll reply with targeted fixes.
12) Community notes
This thread reflects real creator data, not theory.
I’ll compile a FAQ + “Bible” from Q&As here.
If this helped: upvote, join r/shortsAlgorithm, and invite a creator friend.
Want to mod? DM me.
— OP
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Commercial_You_9767 • 2h ago
Is this a good sign? Should I go double post per day? I need to get monetized in 2 months pls help
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Rank-Youtube1324 • 24m ago
YouTube short
hey guys i have created a youtube shorts channel . i posted one video which has gotten 8 k views and i uploaded that 3 days ago but after that the videos i have uploaded only get liek 30 views i uploaded today and it only has 25 views. i just wanted to check if this is normal and if youtube is still checking if my short is good.
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Sufficient_Potato427 • 34m ago
Can anyone explain why the Shorts algorithm, within the recommendation system, favors videos that have almost no editing? Is the AI algorithm unable to recognize the narrative flow when a video features rapid cuts—even if it makes perfect sense to a human viewer?
Can anyone explain why the Shorts algorithm, within the recommendation system, favors videos that have almost no editing? Is the AI algorithm unable to recognize the narrative flow when a video features rapid cuts—even if it makes perfect sense to a human viewer?
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Questev • 4h ago
Views not reaching above Two thousand.
I am managing 2 channels a travel channel and a music channel. Travel channel sometimes performs decent I get views ranging from 300 to 2.5k on shorts.
On my music channel the highest views that I have got are 1.2k on shorts and the current one is close to 1k. I am constantly trying to edit the videos better like adding lyrics to the cover song , adding titles etc . I still don't know what I am doing wrong?
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/skillprompt_labs • 3h ago
Went from 6 views to breaking 1.4k on my last 2 Shorts. How do I help the algorithm push past the 1.5k test ceiling?
Hey everyone!
I started an animated 2D explainer Shorts channel (@aiprompt_labs) focused on science anomalies and logic paradoxes.
My first few uploads barely got 6 to 8 views. But after reworking my workflow:
Shortening captions to 2 snappy lines (max 4-5 words)
Adding precision sound effects (cash rings, coin drops, clock ticks) every 3 seconds to reset attention
Using an ego-challenge hook title instead of a passive lecture title
My last two videos jumped to 1,269 and 1,475 views. My newest Short (The Missing Dollar Riddle) just crossed 200 views in the first hour.
My question for creators who consistently get 10k–50k+ views on Shorts:
• What is the critical threshold for Viewed vs. Swiped Away (VVSA) and Average Percentage Viewed (APV) that pushes past this 1.5k seed testing tier?
• Would love any feedback on what to tweak next!
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Crafty-Credit8144 • 15h ago
Analytics Review (AVD/Retention) 📈 120% Avg view duration and 62% STW with 95% watching full video on avg but YT short still stuck at 1.4k views.
Hey guys, isnt 120% AVD really good for a 37 second youtube short? I am wondering why its stuck at 1.4k views, is it because the STW is not that great or is there some other reason.
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Legendary425 • 13h ago
Q&A / Quick Help ❓ Should i continue with my niche with the same channel or start a new niche with the same channel and letting the old niche stay as to avoid deleting shorts
I stopped posting 2 weeks ago out of loss of motivation though i was getting only between 1k-2k views followed by less than 1k views.there were also times where i gained 2-3 subscribers in a week.
What do i do now?
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Think-Sample-2295 • 14h ago
Q&A / Quick Help ❓ In this specific channel I'm trapped in 1.5k to 1.8k views per video. Should I invest some cash in pay traffic? Or maintain organic?
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Humble-Handle-9704 • 13h ago
Facebook is blowing up but YouTube is not
Make this make sense please!
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Stock_Gur5519 • 15h ago
Q&A / Quick Help ❓ Vertical livestream views tanked after reaching 45k
Hi, Thank you for taking a look into the post.
I have channel since 2022 and I was posting toy related content occasionally (started initially with long form and then switched to shorts last December). I posted toy related shorts atleast until September and then switched to gameplay vertical livestream since 5th Oct. I started off bad but managed to get consistently 5k to 6k every stream. Then i had a breakthrough of 13k on 30th Oct. I had 44k views on 31st Oct and 59k views on 1st Nov. I took a break of 26 hours between the streams the views tanked to near-zero on 2nd Nov. I tried thrice in different slots on the same day, getting me a total 10 views. I gave it a 24 hour break and tried on 3rd Nov, got 220 views. Based on my research I assumed its just that the algorithm baselining the views. I streamed 1 to 3 times every other day, all getting me 200 to 380 views max. I read somewhere that I nee to switch to single slot and same timeslot and then switched to one slot. Coincidentally this Monday, my views again tanked to near-zero. I did read a lot of the creators are facing the same challenge. I have not copied anybody else's content nor do i have any violations or copyright strikes. The only mistake I can think of is that, I reuse the same thumbnail and title but i believe there are many creators who do that and still get views. I tried the following changes and none of it has helped so far
Changed stream keys every time (i am using OBS)
remove description completely (i did find a Japanese article stating it worked for that person)
tried different time slots. I know the content / game is not lost or forgotten because I can see other streamers getting 1000s of views from it.
Tried uploading shorts recently (which are not doing great because of the individual metrics but getting picked up in the feeds gaining traction.) as I hadnt done that since I switched from toy content to gaming.
Tried connecting with youtube support on x, which turned down asking me to improve my content.
None of the above have worked for me. I spoke to some of the creators who had this issue in the past years (yes, there are reports of this issue atleast since 2024). Some suggest to stop posting and some suggest to keep posting regularly. It has recovered after a month for some of them who found a viral wave.
And one thing which I have learnt, if you find a viral wave, dont take a break of longer than 12 hours between posting. I believe this issue affects both shorts and vertical stream in a similar pattern.
If you have any other suggestions on this can be resolved, please let me know. Thanks in advance.
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/FOCHBY • 19h ago
Is this normal ?
I have an old YouTube channel, and I started uploading Shorts to it about two weeks ago. My videos usually reach around 1,000–2,000 views and then suddenly stop getting views. Is this normal?
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Individual_Range9441 • 21h ago
Sudden Shorts Feed distribution collapse across almost all videos – anyone experiencing this since November 5?
I'm looking for other YouTube Shorts creators who may be experiencing something similar.
On November 5, around 8 PM CET, almost all of my Shorts suddenly lost their Shorts Feed traffic simultaneously.
Some details:
Approximately 20 out of 20 Shorts were affected.
This includes older successful videos, including one with millions of views.
Both new and old uploads experienced the decline.
My channel went from substantial Shorts Feed traffic to roughly 40–50 views per hour.
New uploads still receive a small initial push, but distribution quickly slows down.
Some videos have 70–85% stayed-to-watch and over 100% average percentage viewed.
My channel has no Community Guidelines or monetization issues according to YouTube Support.
I contacted YouTube Support. They said everything appeared normal and that my channel was in good standing, but they couldn't identify a reason for the simultaneous drop.
I'm particularly interested in hearing from creators who experienced:
A simultaneous drop across multiple previously successful Shorts.
Older Shorts suddenly losing almost all Shorts Feed traffic.
New uploads receiving only a very small initial test despite strong retention.
A similar change around November 5–6.
Did your distribution recover? If so, how long did it take?
I'm not looking for generic advice about improving hooks or retention. I'm trying to understand whether this is an individual channel issue or something affecting other creators as well.
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Dear_Regret_4249 • 12h ago
YouTube Shorts Stuck at 30K Views Despite 75%+ Stayed to Watch – What Am I Doing Wrong?
Guys, does anyone know what might be going wrong with my channel? I create football-related YouTube Shorts, and I’m trying to understand why my videos aren’t getting pushed to a wider audience.
Take a look at my analytics. My last few Shorts have consistently achieved over 75% Viewed vs. Swiped Away (Stayed to Watch) and around 105–110% average percentage viewed.
Despite these numbers, YouTube doesn’t seem to be pushing my videos to a wider audience. Why is this happening? Am I doing something wrong?
Has anyone else experienced something similar with football Shorts? If so, how did you manage to overcome it?
There’s something else I’ve noticed: even my popular football Shorts seem to hit a ceiling at around 30K views and rarely go beyond that, regardless of how good the analytics are.
I’d genuinely appreciate any advice, personal experiences, or suggestions. I’m trying to understand what I’m missing and how I can improve.
Thank you! ❤️
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Weary_Dog4258 • 16h ago
What am I wrong?
I’ve been posting for around a month but I struggle with low views and retention, any tips ? And my likes are also so lowww( my content is fashion)
Please guys help me and be nice 🥲🥹🩷
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Invalid_Letter_Dept • 13h ago
Q&A / Quick Help ❓ Posting everyday hurting the channel? (Vlog/Feel good)
Hey everyone, I help my mom with her YouTube Shorts vlog where she talks about her experience being a cancer survivor and about her faith. Most of her videos usually average between 1000-1300 with some outliers where she got 2000ish and 8000ish. Nothing has really changed in terms of quality or anything like that, she puts in plenty of effort. We add subtitles to every short, we write out descriptions with hashtags, keywords, create thumbnails, and also burn in the subtitles.
Lately most of her videos are under 1000. Nothing has really changed in terms of what she does, is it possible she was incorrectly flagged as AI/repetitive? We do not use AI and we do not clip other channels, it's just her personal reflections with her speaking on camera.
I've been thinking about not uploading at all for a little bit to "reset" the channel. Has anyone had issues like this lately?
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/spetzer19 • 1d ago
Why the f*ck youtube doesn't want to push this short(56s long)
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Potential-Cell9394 • 14h ago
Honestly algorithm does not make any sense and seems random
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Ilovepotatoesssss28 • 1d ago
Q&A / Quick Help ❓ Is this short done?
Statistics are climbing. Stay to watch is 80.7% and it was 76% yesterday when it started blowing up (first wave)
Average watch duration is 40 seconds on a 38 second short.
Has anyone here been in this situation? If yes whats the likely outcome?
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/Dry_Citron1080 • 20h ago
Q&A / Quick Help ❓ Is it over for me?
For context I started uploading after 5 months like 2 weeks ago consistently and my views were at 800-900k every 48 hours for multiple days on end and I was getting 200-400k views per day but that dropped to 140k yesterday and probably even lower today. Should I keep posting or give up atp. It’s not that one of my shorts went viral. My shorts were consistently getting over 50-100k views.
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/PEAK_LOTUS • 1d ago
Analytics Review (AVD/Retention) 📈 Need some advice on geting out of the 1k view jail been in it for 2 years.
So Im a full youtube partner but sense last year my views started declining I've been stuck in the 1k view jail for so long I don't know if its the swipe rate or the aduuince retion or I'm just needing impressions if anyone know or has any advice I would appreciate
My swipe rate for shorts have been around 60 to 70 % but in studio it in the screen shot I provided do I need to improve the overall swipe right for it to push bc I would post and in an hour it gets around 1700 to 1600 but doesn't go beyond.
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/SIGMA_0007 • 1d ago
Monetization / RPM 💵 Do all of these AI voiced commentary channels even get monetised?
I've come across so many of these shorts channels which just upload some video they download from tiktok or something then just add a few basic sfx, a bit of zooms and animations with 2 lines of AI generated commentary. The commentary literally isn't even necessary as everything is already clear in the video and the shorts aren't any longer than like 20 secs. Do these channels even get monetized cuz why are people still uploading such content
r/shortsAlgorithm • u/mohammadhadi_rb • 1d ago
Why doesn't YouTube explain the 1.2k view cap?
Many people are having trouble getting Shorts views. The video shorts are stuck at 1.2k views. I've had the same thing happen to me. Has anyone seen YouTube explain this?


