YouTube algorithm question

Hi guys,

So I've been doing some research on ranking videos (like everyone on here) and came across an article that said in theory, a video with very high views but low watch retention would still rank better than a video with very low views but high watch retention. The reason being because the video with high views would have a higher "total minutes watched" count than the video low retention views thus still making that video rank better. Does anyone know if this is correct? I'm assuming it's not because if it was everyone would still be happy buying low retention views just in higher amounts but the theory does sound plausible so I'm not sure, thoughts or input appreciated, thanks

I'm sure the total minutes watched is a ranking factor, but generally speaking the retention watch time matters more than the view count

I have noticed the total minutes watched to be the more dominate factor on a few occasions though with some Google hangout videos I've tried to outrank. They had a lot of views & low watch times. It wasn't until I added more views to my videos that I was finally able to outrank them.

See your top 10 competitors. Let me points out few things here:

1. See the video length
2. See their On Page SEO of their video
3. See the number of views, likes, comments
4. Finally see their Backlinks profile

If you follow these , you can beat your competitors easily

Plus44 said:

I'm sure the total minutes watched is a ranking factor, but generally speaking the retention watch time matters more than the view count

I have noticed the total minutes watched to be the more dominate factor on a few occasions though with some Google hangout videos I've tried to outrank. They had a lot of views & low watch times. It wasn't until I added more views to my videos that I was finally able to outrank them.

Click to expand...

So when you outranked them, did you buy high retention views or normal low retention views? And were the views you bought geo targeted?

BloggerTonmoy said:

See your top 10 competitors. Let me points out few things here:

1. See the video length
2. See their On Page SEO of their video
3. See the number of views, likes, comments
4. Finally see their Backlinks profile

If you follow these , you can beat your competitors easily

Click to expand...

How do you see someone's backlinks profile?

Mate, you can do that easily with Open Site explorer Hope, this helps. Let me know if you need more help

RastaMouse said:

How do you see someone's backlinks profile?

Click to expand...

BloggerTonmoy said:

Mate, you can do that easily with Open Site explorer Hope, this helps. Let me know if you need more help

Click to expand...

If you could PM me with some basic instructions on how to do this that would be appreciated

I would think they would use the ratio. Like how long is the video and how long is it watched. Then a percentage can be added into dediding if the video is poplular with it's viewers. Surely they have a way to count the bounce rate by using a simple calculation, length vs attention span? PS. I think what I'm trying to say, is thats NOT FAIR!!

BloggerTonmoy said:

See your top 10 competitors. Let me points out few things here:

1. See the video length
2. See their On Page SEO of their video
3. See the number of views, likes, comments
4. Finally see their Backlinks profile

If you follow these , you can beat your competitors easily

Click to expand...

sorry but a simple question what are " Backlinks profile " in context of youtube .. can you make a example ?