Algorithm, Search & Distribution
YouTube search
Also called: search results page, in-platform search, search traffic
Viewers type a query, YouTube returns a ranked list, and any views that follow land in Analytics under YouTube search along with the terms people used to get there. Ranking leans on relevance, meaning how well the title, description and the video itself answer the query, and on how the video performed for people who asked something similar. Raw view count does not decide the order. Search behaves differently from the home feed because the demand exists before the video does, so a search video can keep collecting views for years while a browse video peaks in a week and stops.