YouTube Favors High View-Through Rates
Starting in 2012, YouTube’s algorithm started accounting for the view-through rate of a video as a large determining factor for search position and suggested videos. This shift signaled a move toward rewarding viewer engagement with a video and away from keyword and tag-stuffing.
What does this mean for businesses?
Let’s say you put in tags and keywords about video marketing but your video is about how to article marketing. Because your tags have nothing to do with what the video is about, people will watch for a short time and then stop. YouTube will remember this lack of relevancy and engagement.
What happens next is that when your video shows up for a related search, it will be lower in the rankings. And as your view-through rate remains low, so does your rankings.
So what can you do to stay at the top?
Make sure you use relevant tags and text when you post videos and don’t be afraid to go back to older videos to make sure everything is properly done.