Plan · Phase 1 of 5
Algorithm, Search & Distribution
How YouTube decides who sees what. The surfaces that carry a video, the signals that move it, and the search behaviour that finds it months later.
Category 3 of 16 in the creator glossary · 118 terms
A
AI citationaka LLM citation, AI source link, AI mentionBeing named or linked as a source inside an answer from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI Overviews or any similar system.AI crawleraka GPTBot, Google-Extended, LLM crawler, AI botBots that fetch pages and video content, either to train AI models or to ground an AI product's answer in something it can cite.AI Modeaka Google AI ModeGoogle's conversational search surface, where a Gemini-written answer with source links replaces the usual list of blue links.AI Overviewsaka Google AI Overviews, AI snapshot, SGEGoogle's AI-written summary at the top of search results, assembled from web pages and shown with links to the sources it used.Algorithmic associationaka channel associationThe informal term for which topics and channels YouTube's recommendation system links your channel to when it decides who to show you to.Anchor textaka link textThe clickable words of a hyperlink, which tell both the reader and a search engine what sits on the other side.Answer Engine Optimisationaka AEO, Answer Engine OptimizationOptimising your material so AI assistants and search summaries quote it in the answer they write, instead of only listing it somewhere below.Audience overlapaka shared audience, other channels your audience watchesHow far two channels are watched by the same people. High overlap makes a collaboration land; low overlap explains why a niche pivot stalls.Authoritative sourcesaka authoritative content, news authorityYouTube's preference for established publishers and expert sources when surfacing news, health and other subjects where accuracy matters.Auto-dubbingaka AI dubbing, automatic dubbing, auto dubbingYouTube's own feature that generates a translated audio track for a video automatically, without the creator commissioning a dub.Autocompleteaka search suggest, autosuggest, search predictionsThe suggestions YouTube offers under the search box as you type, and the cheapest phrasing research a creator has.Autoplayaka up next, autoplay nextThe player setting that starts another video the moment the current one ends, without the viewer choosing it.
B
Backlinkaka inbound link, external linkA link on another website pointing at yours, treated by search engines as a signal that the page is worth showing.Borderline contentaka limited recommendationsVideo that stays on YouTube but gets pulled out of recommendations because it sits close to the line on Community Guidelines.Browse featuresaka browse, browse trafficThe YouTube Studio traffic source label covering views that arrived from browsing surfaces such as the home feed and the subscriptions feed.
C
Candidate generationaka retrieval stage, candidate poolThe first stage of YouTube's recommender, where a vast catalogue is narrowed to a shortlist of possible videos before anything gets ranked.Cardsaka YouTube cards, info cards, i-cardsThe small pop-up prompts placed on a video's timeline, linking to another video, a playlist, a channel or an approved external site.Channel keywordsaka channel tagsThe channel-level keyword field in YouTube Studio, hidden from viewers, where you describe what the whole channel is about.Chaptersaka YouTube chapters, timestamps, chapter markersCreator-set sections of a video, made with timestamps in the description and shown as named segments on the progress bar.Cold startaka cold start problemThe problem of having too little data to place something well: a new upload, a new channel, or a viewer the system has never seen.Collaborative filteringRecommendation method that predicts what you will like from the behaviour of people whose viewing patterns look like yours.Content gapaka gap in coverage, unmet demandA topic your audience clearly wants covered where nothing good exists yet, or where the existing coverage is thin or out of date.Content-based filteringA recommender approach that matches items to a viewer using the attributes of the content itself, without needing to know what similar people watched.Crawlingaka crawler, crawl, spiderAutomated fetching of web pages by search engine bots so their content can be read and considered for the index.
D
Dark socialaka private sharingSharing that happens in private, through messages and email, arriving with no referrer so analytics files it as direct or unknown.Direct or unknownaka direct traffic, unknown trafficThe traffic-source bucket YouTube uses when it cannot see a referrer: typed URLs, bookmarks, signed-out viewers and apps it cannot identify.Domain authorityaka DA, site authorityA third-party score from 1 to 100 estimating how likely a website is to rank in search. Google does not use it.Don't recommend channelaka block channel recommendationsA viewer control that pulls a whole channel out of that person's recommendations. Their preference, and invisible to you.Dwell timeHow long a searcher stays on a page after clicking a result, before heading back to the search listings.
E
Embedded playeraka embed, embedded views, off-site playerYour video playing inside someone else's website or app through YouTube's iframe code, away from the watch page.End screenaka end screens, end card, endcardThe clickable panel YouTube lays over the final stretch of a video, holding links to another video, a playlist or subscribe.Engagement signalsaka engagement as a signal, interaction signalsLikes, comments, shares and similar viewer actions that recommendation systems read as evidence a video landed well.Explore tabaka ExploreYouTube's browse destination for category surfaces and charts, close to the same view for everyone in a country rather than tailored to your history.External trafficaka external sources, off-platform trafficThe Analytics traffic source covering views that arrive from links and embedded players on websites and apps outside YouTube.
F
Featured snippetaka position zero, answer boxThe extracted answer Google shows above the standard results, lifted from a page that already ranks for the query.Filter bubbleThe narrowing of what a viewer gets shown when personalisation keeps feeding them more of what they already watched.Freshnessaka recencyHow much weight a recent upload gets on topics where new information matters. The property belongs to the query rather than to your channel.
G
Generative Engine Optimisationaka GEO, Generative Engine OptimizationMaking your work the thing an AI assistant cites when it answers a question, instead of something it never sees.Google Discoveraka Discover feedGoogle's personalised feed in the Google app and mobile Chrome, showing content matched to a person's interests with no search typed at all.
H
Hashtag pageaka hashtag landing pageThe page at youtube.com/hashtag/term that collects every video carrying that exact tag, reachable by clicking any hashtag on YouTube.Hashtagsaka hashtagHash-prefixed keywords in a title or description that turn into clickable links to a page of other content carrying the same tag.Home feedaka homepage, YouTube home, home pageThe personalised grid YouTube loads when a viewer opens the app or the site, mixing recommendations, subscriptions and Shorts shelves.
I
Indexingaka indexed, search indexA search system storing and organising content so it can be retrieved and ranked when somebody searches for it.Information panelaka info panel, context panelA box of context YouTube attaches to a watch page based on the video's subject or on who published it.Internal linkingaka internal linksLinks from one page of your own site to another. They spread authority around and tell search engines which pages matter.
K
Key momentsaka Google key moments, chapters in searchChapter links Google shows inside a video result, letting someone jump straight to the segment that answers their query.Keyword cannibalisationaka keyword cannibalization, content cannibalisationTwo or more of your own videos chasing the same search query, splitting the clicks so neither of them settles into the top result.Keyword difficultyaka competition score, ranking difficultyA tool's estimate of how hard it would be to rank for a search term, usually scored out of 100 against whatever already ranks.Keyword researchaka topic research, search researchWorking out which phrases an audience actually types into search, and how much competition already sits against each one.Keyword stuffingaka tag stuffing, metadata stuffingCramming repeated or irrelevant keywords into a title, description or tags. YouTube treats it as misleading metadata and viewers read it as spam.Knowledge panelaka knowledge graph panelThe information box Google shows beside or above search results for a person, company or thing it recognises as a distinct entity.
L
Living room viewingaka TV screens, connected TV, CTV, TV appWatching YouTube on a television set, through a smart TV, console or streaming stick, instead of on a phone or a desktop.llms.txtaka LLM txt fileA proposed file at a site's root pointing AI systems at its key pages. Widely written about, thinly honoured.Localisationaka localization, translated titles, language localisationPublishing a video's title, description and subtitles in other languages so viewers browsing in those languages can find it.Long-tail keywordaka long tail queryA longer, more specific search phrase with lower volume and weaker competition than the broad term it sits underneath.
M
Metadataaka video metadataThe text attached to a video, mainly title, description, tags, category and language, read by viewers and by YouTube's systems.Multi-language audioaka MLA, auto-dubbing, dubbed audio trackAlternate-language audio tracks attached to one video, so a single upload can serve viewers who speak different languages.
N
News shelfaka top news shelf, breaking news shelfCurated shelves on Home and search that surface coverage from news sources YouTube treats as authoritative during and around a major story.Not interestedaka not interested feedbackThe viewer-side control that hides a recommendation and tells YouTube to show less like it. One of the satisfaction signals ranking uses.Notificationsaka bell notifications, notification bell, push notificationsAlerts sent to subscribers when you publish. YouTube Analytics counts them as their own traffic source, separate from browse and search.
O
Open Graphaka OG tags, og:image, social preview tagsThe meta tags controlling how your link looks when shared: the preview title, the description and the image on the card.Outlier videoaka outlier, outlier score, breakout videoA video that has substantially beaten its channel's own normal performance, treated as evidence a topic has real demand.
P
Personalisationaka personalization, personalised recommendationsYouTube building a different set of recommendations for every viewer out of their own watching, searching and subscribing, rather than one ranked list everyone sees.Playback locationaka where views playedStudio's breakdown of where a view actually happened: the watch page, a channel page, an embedded player, or another YouTube surface.Playlist trafficaka views from playlistsViews that arrived because the video was playing inside a playlist. Studio reports it separately from search, suggested and Home.Pogo-stickingaka bouncing back to resultsClicking a search result, deciding within seconds it is wrong, and bouncing straight back to the results page to try another one.
R
Rabbit holeaka recommendation rabbit holeThe chain of related suggestions and autoplays that carries a viewer from one video deep into a single topic or channel.Ranking signalaka ranking factor, algorithm signal, input signalAny input a recommendation or search system weighs when deciding which videos to show a viewer, and in what order.Recommendation systemaka recommender, recommendation engine, recsysThe machine learning system that decides which videos to show each viewer on the home page, in suggested and in the Shorts feed.Referral trafficaka referrer, referring siteVisits that arrive through a link on somebody else's site or app, credited to that source in your analytics.Relevanceaka query relevanceHow closely a video answers the query being asked and suits the person asking it. One of the main ranking inputs.Research tabaka Studio Research tab, searches across YouTubeThe YouTube Studio surface showing what your viewers and the wider platform are searching for, used for spotting unmet demand.Resurfacingaka second wave, revival, re-promotionAn older upload starting to collect views again, sometimes long after publication, because YouTube keeps testing it against new audiences.Retrieval-augmented generationaka RAGAn AI setup that searches a document store first, then writes its answer from what it found, instead of relying on memory alone.robots.txtaka robots file, crawler directivesA plain text file at a website's root that tells crawlers which paths they may request, now used to allow or block AI crawlers too.
S
Satisfaction signalsaka viewer satisfaction, satisfaction metricsFeedback YouTube reads as whether a viewer was glad they watched, sitting alongside engagement signals that only record that they turned up.Satisfaction surveyaka viewer survey, user survey, star rating surveyThe one-to-five star prompt YouTube shows a small share of viewers after a video, feeding its read on whether the watch was worth it.Schema markupaka structured data, VideoObject schema, JSON-LDStructured data added to a web page so search engines and AI systems can read what the page contains.Search engine results pageaka SERP, results pageThe page a search engine returns for a query, made up of ranked links plus features like video carousels, snippets and AI answers.Search entityaka entity, named entity, entity SEOA distinct thing search engines recognise and hold facts about, such as a person, place, product or company, rather than a string of words.Search historyThe record of what a viewer has searched for, which YouTube uses to personalise their results, their Home feed and what it suggests next.Search intentaka query intent, user intentWhat someone actually wants when they type a query, which decides whether your video answers them or merely matches their words.Search queryaka query, search termThe exact words a viewer typed into a search box, spelling mistakes and all, and the raw material behind every keyword tool's tidy figures.Search rankingaka video ranking, rank in searchWhere a video places in the results for a specific query, worked out per query rather than as a fixed score attached to the video.Search volumeaka search demand, monthly searchesHow many times a phrase gets searched in a period. YouTube publishes no figures of its own, so every tool is estimating.Seed audienceaka test audience, initial audienceThe small first group of viewers a new upload reaches, whose response decides whether distribution widens or tails off.Semantic searchaka meaning-based searchSearch that matches on meaning rather than the exact words typed, so a query and the right answer can share almost no vocabulary.Session startsaka session initiationsThe number of viewing sessions on YouTube that begin with one of your videos, instead of continuing on from something already playing.Session watch timeaka session time, watch session, session durationTotal time a viewer spends on YouTube in one sitting, across every video they watch, rather than time on yours alone.Shadowbanaka shadow ban, shadowbannedCreator shorthand for a suspected silent throttling of reach, describing a suspicion about the data rather than a documented setting.Shelfaka home shelf, recommendation shelfA horizontal row of videos grouped under a heading, used on the home page, in search results and down a channel page.Shorts feedaka vertical feed, Shorts playerThe full-screen vertical feed viewers swipe through, and the surface almost all Shorts views come from.Shorts shelfaka Shorts rowA horizontal row of Shorts dropped into another part of YouTube, such as the home feed, search results or a channel page.Shorts sound pageaka sound page, audio pivot pageThe page behind a Short's audio, listing every Short built on that track and offering a one-tap button to record your own with it.Subscriptions feedaka subs feed, subscriber feedThe feed of recent uploads from the channels a viewer follows, ordered by date and reached without a personalised ranking sitting in front of it.Suggested videosaka suggested, suggested video, related videos, sidebar recommendationsRecommendations YouTube shows beside or after the video someone is watching, chosen mainly from that viewer's history and behaviour.
T
Tagsaka video tags, YouTube tagsThe keyword field filled in at upload. It carries far less weight than most creators assume, and viewers never see it at all.Topic clusteraka content cluster, hub and spokeA group of related videos covering one subject thoroughly, so a viewer who wants that subject always has somewhere to go next.Topical authorityaka topic authority, subject authorityThe idea that a channel or site earns standing across a whole subject, so its work is trusted on anything inside it.Traffic sourceaka traffic source types, where views come fromThe Studio breakdown showing which surface delivered each view: search, browse, suggested, external, playlists and the rest.Trending pageaka Trending, Trending Now, Trending tabYouTube's old platform-wide list of popular videos, retired in July 2025 and replaced with category-specific Charts.
V
Valued watch timeWatch time weighted by whether viewers reported the time as well spent, so a padded video can score worse than a shorter honest one.Video categoryaka category settingThe classification you pick for an upload in Studio, from a fixed list such as Education, Gaming or Entertainment.Video descriptionaka description, description box, YouTube descriptionThe text field under a video holding the summary, links, timestamps and hashtags. Only the opening lines show before Show more.Video languageaka spoken language, audio languageThe Studio field declaring the spoken language of a video, which drives automatic captions, translations and auto dubbing.Video rich resultaka video carousel, video snippet, video resultsA Google search listing that carries a video thumbnail or sits in a video carousel, drawn from a page where the video is the main content.Video sitemapAn XML file that tells search engines which videos are on your site, where each one plays and what it contains.View velocityaka velocity, view speedHow fast a video gathers views after publishing, usually judged over the first hours or days against the channel's own past uploads.
W
Watch historyaka viewing historyThe running record of what a viewer has watched on YouTube, and one of the main inputs to what they get recommended next.Watch pageaka video pageThe page a video plays on, carrying the player, description, comments and the watch-next suggestions that send viewers somewhere else.
Y
YouTube algorithmaka the algorithm, YT algorithmUmbrella name for the ranking systems that decide which videos get shown to which viewers, on the home feed, in search and beside other videos.YouTube Chartsaka Charts, trending chartsRanked lists of what is popular inside one category, such as music videos or podcasts. They replaced the old Trending page.YouTube Mixaka Mix, radio playlist, auto-generated playlistAn endless playlist YouTube generates around a seed video, artist or topic, extending itself as you watch instead of ending at a fixed last track.YouTube Playablesaka PlayablesFree casual games playable inside YouTube itself through the Explore menu, with no separate app download needed.YouTube searchaka search results page, in-platform search, search trafficThe query box inside YouTube and the ranked list it returns. Analytics counts it as a traffic source in its own right.YouTube search filtersaka search filtersThe controls above a search results page for date, type, duration, features and sort order. The cheapest competitor research on the platform.YouTube SEOaka video SEO, YouTube search optimisationShaping a video's topic, title, description and spoken words around what people actually type into YouTube search.