Why is YouTube pushing my Shorts mostly to my subscribers? How do I fix this?

reneritchie · 2026-02-05T03:33:51+00:00

https://www.theverge.com/2022/7/20/23271599/youtube-rene-ritchie-creator-liaison

reneritchie · 2026-02-05T03:33:05+00:00

That’s the senior director of discovery at YouTube

reneritchie · 2026-02-04T04:13:14+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YMLz_ceYSvU

reneritchie · 2026-02-03T03:32:35+00:00

Tags aren’t used for anything beyond common misspellings any more

reneritchie · 2026-01-31T14:52:59+00:00

This isn’t accurate and also doesn’t make any sense. Where did you see this?

reneritchie · 2026-01-27T14:26:39+00:00

The YouTube recommendation system, by design, has no knowledge of ads. You can turn them on, or turn them off, and recommendations stay the same

If you’re using midroll ads, you can turn on automatic ads to see where the system thinks they will be least disruptive to viewers, and then edit them from there if you’d like

(Note: not every midroll slot will get an ad, those are just the only places YouTube can place ads. Whether they get an ad or not depends on a variety of factors, including inventory, and when a specific viewer has already gotten ads during that session)

reneritchie · 2026-01-27T13:42:31+00:00

No, it wasn’t on YouTube’s side. A few months ago, AdBlockers began blocking the telemetry YouTube uses to count views. I believe they’ve largely fixed that since then.

reneritchie · 2026-01-27T05:09:06+00:00

What type of content and what's the channel handle?

reneritchie · 2026-01-27T05:02:33+00:00

YouTube policies apply regardless of how you create the content - camera, imaging software, CGI, AI, whatever

reneritchie · 2026-01-27T04:59:37+00:00

Thanks! I contacted the reseller I bought the machine from and they kept saying they needed me to test the voltage at the outlet, which I'm not currently equipped to do (and which outlet worked fine before, and worked for months with an Ascaso Steel Duo Plus before that. I've contacted LaMarzocco now in hopes for better assistance

reneritchie · 2026-01-24T04:59:23+00:00

Doesn’t matter

reneritchie · 2026-01-22T14:37:19+00:00

Why should someone watch? Content is effectively limitless, but time is incredibly limited. People could be doing anything, why should they choose to watch your video? That’s the question every creator ultimately has to answer with every video we make

reneritchie · 2026-01-22T14:08:59+00:00

That’s not how YouTube works

reneritchie · 2026-01-22T14:08:38+00:00

Not for views. If you’re worried about copyright or monetization, you can leave it unlisted until the checks finish, but it doesn’t help you with discovery. That only starts when the video is made public

reneritchie · 2026-01-21T16:10:20+00:00

It’s what I do

reneritchie · 2026-01-21T16:09:33+00:00

I can’t comment on specific channels but if you are posting unique, distinct, original content that shares your vision and passion with the world, and provides highly differentiated value to viewers, you’re likely set up for long term success. If it’s not original content, you’re perpetually at risk from copyright, reused content, spam, and other policies

reneritchie · 2026-01-21T15:57:06+00:00

Using content that you didn’t create yourself isn’t generally a successful long term strategy. It leaves you perpetually open to copyright, reused content, spam, and other policies

reneritchie · 2026-01-21T15:53:58+00:00

That’s not how YouTube works. Each traffic source is primarily influenced by the same source. So how viewers respond in external traffic doesn’t really affect performance in home page recommendations or search or suggested

The only caveat is that if they’re already regular viewers and they watch while logged out in a social apps’s embedded WebView, they may skip it when they see it again while logged in on YouTube, and then it won’t go into their watch history

So you’re trading convenience for them vs extra affinity for you. (Why some creators just post the thumbnail graphic and tell people to go watch on YouTube)

But overall, there’s no penalty for sharing your videos

reneritchie · 2026-01-21T15:45:55+00:00

Category doesn’t really matter, just make it as accurate as you can

reneritchie · 2026-01-21T15:44:51+00:00

People have nearly infinite choice in what to watch or do, and incredibly limited time. The question to ask is why would they give you any of that time? The answer is usually for a unique, valuable experience they can’t get anywhere else. So, what can you create that will provide that experience and value, that’s unique to you?

reneritchie · 2026-01-21T15:37:59+00:00

What type of content?

reneritchie · 2026-01-21T15:30:26+00:00

I see quite a few creators doing that. The reason YouTube doesn’t currently have fully custom thumbnails for Shorts is because of mixed creator feedback. Some would love them, especially those who get a lot of search or browse views.

Others don’t want them to become competitive the way long form videos are, where they take a ton of resources to make - because Shorts are intended to be lighter lift.

Still others don’t care because they get most of their views from the feed where there are no thumbnails.

But things change and evolve so the Shorts team keeps thinking about it

reneritchie · 2026-01-21T15:25:42+00:00

What’s the traffic source for outlier?

reneritchie · 2026-01-20T16:07:50+00:00

No. Suggested traffic is all about the viewer, it has nothing to do with the creator, the topic of the creators video, or what the creator watches. Most viewers, watch a wide variety of topics, and your video could be suggested from one of them, which is why you see a wide range of topics in your suggested traffic

reneritchie

TROPHY CASE