Algorithm, Search & Distribution
Ranking signal
Also called: ranking factor, algorithm signal, input signal
Recommendation and search systems score candidates against many inputs at once. Each input is a signal. Google's published research on video recommendation names 3 that a creator can influence directly, click-through rate, watch time and how many other videos from the channel a viewer goes on to watch, alongside a set nobody outside YouTube can touch: past searches, watch history, demographics. Creators picture a signal as a lever with a fixed weight, when the weighting shifts by surface, by query and by viewer. Knowing which signals belong to you and which belong to the audience saves a lot of wasted effort.