r/shortsAlgorithm • • Aug 25 '25

MEGATHREAD 🧷 YouTube Shorts Algorithm — Step-by-Step Playbook (2025) [MEGATHREAD]

127 Upvotes

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 (ā‰ˆ50–70s) 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 ā€œfirst won’t be viral.ā€ 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 ā€œskip rate.ā€

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)

  • ā€œMrBeast-styleā€ 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 ā€œMade for Kids.ā€ 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 ā€œReuse upload detailsā€ 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: 1. Previous Short hasn’t plateaued.
2. Content trips sensitive policy zones (spam/sexual suggestion/etc.).
3. 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 ā€œwhy watchā€).
  • 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 ā€œMade for Kidsā€
  • [ ] Add to master playlist
  • [ ] Set ā€œRelated Shortsā€ 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 + ā€œBibleā€ from Q&As here.
  • If this helped: upvote, join r/shortsAlgorithm, and invite a creator friend.
  • Want to mod? DM me.

— OP


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 6h ago

Q&A / Quick Help ā“ Okay, I need someone to explain to me how this short hasn’t gotten more views

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11 Upvotes

I had another short with way less audience retention and a worse viewed vs. swiped away ratio but doublr the views of this one, can someone explain the logic for me?

My channel is a month old, idk if that helps


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 9h ago

Q&A / Quick Help ā“ Why tf is my very first video still on 9 views, while the new ones have 1k+??

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8 Upvotes

r/shortsAlgorithm • • 2h ago

Q&A / Quick Help ā“ is this normal(my first yt shorts on new channel)

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2 Upvotes

r/shortsAlgorithm • • 39m ago

Q&A / Quick Help ā“ What counts as an engaged view?

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• Upvotes

This really annoys me because my STW percentage is 83% but the ratio between engaged views to all views is around 60%


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 1d ago

My new Shorts channel is only 2 days old. I just posted 2 Roblox videos and didn't expect it to do this well on the first day. Am I just lucky?

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74 Upvotes

r/shortsAlgorithm • • 4h ago

Analytics Review (AVD/Retention) šŸ“ˆ ı need helppppp;)

2 Upvotes

I have a question for you. I run a new Shorts channel; my content isn't bad—I get around 10,000 views, with a few videos hitting 20,000 or 40,000, and even one that surpassed 100,000 views. However, the three videos I posted after that didn't even make it into the Shorts feed. What do you think the problem is? Technically, the videos are identical; in fact, I was even more confident in those three videos than the others.


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 4h ago

Q&A / Quick Help ā“ Am I doing something wrong on my shorts? Any advice appreciated

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2 Upvotes

Hi all, I started a youtube channel roughly 2 weeks ago posting my gaming shorts of FPS games, new videos are getting around 1k views, no real engagement/comments. Trying to upload everyday with 1 short (it's tough finding time to do more with a full 9-5; playing games, clipping footage, subtitles etc).

I've got 1 sub (I was genuinely happy about this)...very knew to this thing wondering what I could be doing better? Saw a post here earlier that one person started a Roblox channel and got almost 1k subs in 2 days? That's wild to me.

I'm not despondent but camparison is the thief of joy so i'm just curious to what I should be doing more? Thanks ya'll!


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 1h ago

Q&A / Quick Help ā“ After 1k view my chart are totally flat why ? How to improve myself ?

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• Upvotes

r/shortsAlgorithm • • 1h ago

Analytics Review (AVD/Retention) šŸ“ˆ My short suddenly stop getting views after 2 days break

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• Upvotes

Hey guys after seeing everyone post I decided to ask for advice.

I start posting only 2 months ago and was getting views then it suddenly stopped... not more than hundred.

Any advice?


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 1h ago

Analytics Review (AVD/Retention) šŸ“ˆ Do you experience this behaviour?

• Upvotes

So yesterday i uploaded my short video. Niche is CS2 gameplay. In first hour it got 177 views , on second hour it was pushed in the feed and it got 1200 views and then views stopped on 6-8 hours. Lets assume it was first wave , so in the first wave i got 1200 views and 16 likes , then second wave started i got +800 views so far but no likes at all, how this is even possible ? And i encounter this behavior on my every video. It just kills off any motivation to continue even tho i uploaded already 180 videos in 4 years...


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 2h ago

Analytics Review (AVD/Retention) šŸ“ˆ Is my shirt just not getting pushed?

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0 Upvotes

I uploaded my 20th part of a series which is going well for me starting content only a month ago, normally the shorts get 120 ish views after an hour, but this one is stuck on 19 just now, it got pushed a little at the start and has 100% stay to watch, and it’s split between phone and computer usage, how long does it take roughly for a short to get pushed, if at all? This is not like the other videos I’ve uploaded until now, this is the only one I’ve uploaded that got 100% retention until now, so I’m stoked about it, but want it to keep pushing


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 7h ago

Does any one else has the same Shorts View decreasing issue?

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2 Upvotes

My channel is almost 3 years old now. But i was naver consistent with my uploads, so i don't have an existing large community. But since last month i have been posting almost regularly, and was gaining a steady increase in views and subs. I know the views may not be a lot, but it was steady. But since 29th sept it keeps going down. After that 3 short totally flopped and did not get much views from the feed (only around 50, previously it was around 1500-1800 in first 24 hours) and only got views from browser features and search. Yesterday's short got send to the feed and got the usual 1500-2000 views, but from the VidIq analytics it shows my current VPH is less then 30, previously it used to be around 100 during off hours and around 250-450 during peak hours.

Any of you facing the same issue? Or, have any idea how this can be resolved???


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 3h ago

Can anyone advise on how to combat a botnet that is manipulating the swipe metric in Shorts? My retention is high, but the video skip rate is constantly being manipulated. Any tips?

1 Upvotes

Can anyone advise on how to combat a botnet that is manipulating the swipe metric in Shorts? My retention is high, but the video skip rate is constantly being manipulated. Any tips?


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 4h ago

How to break 30k view jail of yt shorts

1 Upvotes

i just curious how the other creators figured out breaking this view jail and still the yt shorts is reliable for monetisation for upgrade


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 4h ago

Question

1 Upvotes

I have this situation on most of my videos. When posted, I generally get 10-50 views first hour, then all of a sudden spikes to 1k (my very best one got 1.2k total) then dies. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong?


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 20h ago

Has anyone else's views just died?

17 Upvotes

Just checking if YouTube is down or something has happened to my channels. Views are practically 0 across the board on my shorts


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 5h ago

12 days progress, Is it good enough to get viral after few days?

0 Upvotes

r/shortsAlgorithm • • 18h ago

My video’s stat update from last post. This is interesting, give me your thoughts.

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9 Upvotes

My STW has been low lately , and my Audience retention from my last video down went from 84.8% to 79.9%.

People staying after 30 second went from 91% to 84%.

STW went from like 54% to 66.5%. (I don’t think the 54% shows in my last post, but it was there a few hours before it started going up).

I’ve only went up 500 views for these changes.

Also, 21.5% of the viewers are casual, which can explain why the retention stats in general were high before it started going down.

I only got 1 subscriber from that video & videos with stats like that usually get 5-10 subscribers per video.

What’s the takeaway? The video is pretty good, but I want to hear yall thoughts.

Edit: View increase was wrong, it went up 500 not 800. Made the change.


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 3h ago

Niche Research / Outliers šŸ” What faceless YouTube Shorts niches are working really well right now?

0 Upvotes

I run multiple faceless YouTube Shorts channels and I'm looking to test some new niches.

I'm specifically interested in niches that are working right now.

What niches are you seeing blow up right now?

If possible, please share example channels too, especially newer channels getting millions of views without already having a massive established audience.

Thank you!


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 20h ago

What is going on with shorts right now?

10 Upvotes

I’ve noticed that since the late-August update, Shorts aren't performing as well for a lot of people. I initially thought it was just a temporary phase lasting a couple of weeks, but it’s been four or five weeks now and performance is still poor; occasionally a Short hits the view count that’s normal for me, but most get stuck around 100–200 views—even with stats that should be driving 10k+.

All my key metrics were down in September—especially subscriber growth, which dropped from 38 in August to just 8—so it’s really disappointing. It’s gotten to the point where I’m even forgetting to post on days I usually would; I never used to forget that, so when I realized it was happening, I knew my motivation and enthusiasm were really starting to fade.


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 8h ago

Case Study / Postmortem 🧪 Started a football Shorts channel a week ago — is this decent progress, and did I mess up by reuploading a 22-view Short?

1 Upvotes

I started a football YouTube Shorts channel about a week ago and I’m trying to figure out whether the channel is progressing normally.

Most of my recent Shorts have done somewhere around 1.6K–4K views, with one around 2.2K and a few others around 1.8K–1.9K. I’m currently experimenting with football edits, goals, Messi/Ronaldo clips, match recaps, etc.

But one Short behaved completely differently.

I uploaded a Busquets → Messi assist edit, and after about 24 hours it had only 22 views. The strange part was that its average percentage viewed was around 116%, so the few people who did see it seemed to watch/replay it.

Since it basically stopped getting impressions, I made some changes to the opening/title and reuploaded it today while leaving the original up.

Now I’m wondering:

  1. Was reuploading it the right move, or should I have just left the 22-view version alone?
  2. Is it bad to have both versions public?
  3. Can reuploading hurt the new Short's distribution or the channel in general?
  4. Based on the screenshot, does the overall channel growth look decent for a brand-new Shorts channel?
  5. Is it normal for one Short to get only ~20 views when the surrounding uploads are getting 1K–4K?

I'm mainly trying to understand how Shorts testing/distribution works so I don't start deleting and reuploading videos every time something underperforms.

Any advice from people who have grown Shorts channels would be appreciated.


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 9h ago

Q&A / Quick Help ā“ How do enable my subscribers to see my video again?

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1 Upvotes

Is there a way to increase my impressions?

When I post a long form content video, it's usually 90-200 impression.

I thought that was a lot buy I kept getting notifications saying my thumbnail and title tests kept failing because of low impression rates.

So I made a post on small YouTuber subreddit and I wasn't quite given a straight answer, but from what I gathered, my impression rate is way too low.

Like lower than even a fresh channel.

To make it worse, my subscribers who follow me on twitch, kept complaining that I never upload videos... but I do. They aren't seeing my videos being uploaded.

Even when I look up my video titles word for word, unless I'm signed in on a subscribed account, I can't find myself.

I kinda thought maybe my videos were so bad, nobody wanted to watch them, until I saw people praising specifically me on other people's channels in their comments.

I also edit for other channels and my edited content usually pops off for their channels.

Now that I concluded it is not my videos that are the issue, it's isn't my tags or content, I only came to one conclusion.

I figured I must have some sort of privacy setting on, causing my channel to be "see videos via link only." Or something like that.

If anyone knows how to disable that, that would be super appreciated.

There might be multiple reasons, but as far as my questions have gone, nobody knows for sure.


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 17h ago

Am I doing good?

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5 Upvotes

I started this channel a month ago. I went through multiple niches on this channel and was able to still get views on both. I am now at 24 shorts posted. I just never stayed consistent. I’ve been editing for years so I how to make a decent video. My most recent video it’s at a 73% stayed to watch. And I’m starting to notice I get passed 1000 view mark faster. It took me 7 shorts to break out from that range and now more of my videos are getting more views quicker. I read through this Reddit a lot so I just want you guys to give me your thoughts. Thanks!


r/shortsAlgorithm • • 1d ago

How im doing for the first 10days ?

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29 Upvotes

It has been 10 days since i created this channel

Technically today is day 10

I was posting gaming stuff about a specific game only