When ranking videos in search results, YouTube’s search algorithm prioritizes the following four factors:
Relevance: Include elements such as the title, hashtags, description, and video content.
Engagement: Likes, subscribers, comments, turning on notifications, and watch time are all examples of engagement.
Quality: Quality signals can help determine which channels demonstrate expertise, authority, and trustworthiness on a given topic.
Personalization: YouTube attempts to find the most relevant results for each user based on their search and viewing history.
For news, politics, and medical or scientific information searches, YouTube’s algorithm prioritizes content from trusted authorities.
Other categories, such as music or entertainment, are more likely to be influenced by relevant, freshness, or popularity signals.
Keep in mind that YouTube SEO is not the same as Google SEO because user interaction signals are not taken into account by Google’s algorithm.