The YouTube Algorithm, Explained

On Sunday, May 24th, 2026 the YouTube Studio app stopped tracking realtime views data around 1:00 pm est. If you have a YouTube Channel and you are concerned you have been shadow banned or blacklisted by YouTube, that is not the case. You are simply see no views because the tracking is down.

We will use this page to highlight the times in which the YouTube Studio app stops tracking views of realtime data. This tends to happen on nights and weekends when YouTube is testing other features of the YouTube Shorts Feed and overall homepage recommendations algorithm.

The Walk for Peace took social media by storm at the end of 2025 and beginning of 2026. Every time a user logged into Instagram or Facebook they saw the monks walking. With the Walk for Peace Monks was their special companion Aloka, the Peace Dog. Just the other day we reported that YouTube added a paw print when liking a video of an animal. We have confirmed this is for cats as well as dogs.

In late May 2026, more and more “fan Aloka accounts” are popping up. There is nothing new about posting videos of animals and pets, but this is the first time that one specific animal is getting millions and millions of views.

Most of the Aloka YouTube channels have less than 50k subscribers, but they are growing quickly. Every time the monks leave to go to another location without Aloka, he goes to the airport and cries about them leaving. This is viral. Every single time.

With Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara making it his peace mission to pass along the goal to have a peaceful day, it would make sense that Aloka continues to gain in popularity. We suspect we will see more and more fan accounts of animals of popular celebrities.

That being said, going viral is not as easy as creating a YouTube channel and posting some videos. We know the YouTube Shorts Feed loves animals and pets, but this is mostly because people watch the videos over and over. The re-watchability of a YouTube Short Form video is the most important metric to go viral. What is better for virality than watching a dog go crazy when their owner returns?

Look for many, many more videos of Aloka welcoming the monks back to Fort Worth, Texas after any of their journeys. Now that the Walk for Peace Monks and Aloka have broken the YouTube Shorts Feed algorithm, you can be rest assured that you will be seeing much more of this loving, peaceful dog.

While CBS may have canned Stephen Colbert, this is not going to stop him from gaining eyeballs that are watching screens. In the first five (5) minutes of his initial independent YouTube video, Colbert joked that CBS had not learned about “streaming” in the last 15 years and they told him not to either.

It will be very interesting to see how quickly the Colbert YouTube Channel grows. In the first 12 hours, Colbert has received around 7.5k subscribers. Most of these new subscribers are from the fact that the Only in Monroe, May 22, 2026 YouTube video jumped to the front page of the subreddit r/videos.

Now that the video is going viral, it is going to get algorithmic value from all the shares, likes, comments and overall engagement. We suspect the Colbert YouTube Channel will have over 1 million subscribers by the end of June 2026; if not earlier.

The way Colbert can truly go viral on YouTube is to start pumping out 6 to 10 second YouTube shorts videos with his hours long content. The first uploaded video to the Colbert YouTube Channel is one hour and 16 seconds long. This could be thousands of YouTube Shorts if cut and spliced correctly.

For quite some time we have predicted YouTube Shorts would be the “highlights” for YouTube creators. Sports fans can think of YouTube Shorts as the SportsCenter for YouTube creators. Most people do not have time to sit and watch or listen to all 60 minutes and 16 seconds of the first independent Colbert YouTube video. They do have time to doom scroll on YouTube Shorts or TikTok for five minutes. Can Colbert get them with a short form video in that five minute break they are taking from work or school?

We will continue to track the growth and success of the Colbert YouTube Channel. If you want to help Colbert grow, the best way to do so is to copy the link to one of his videos in the YouTube app and text it to a few of your friends. This is the most viral action in the YouTube Shorts Feed algorithm and the YouTube Homepage recommendations.

Note that YouTube and podcasting is becoming synonymous, so expect to see daily podcasts from Colbert as well. These will also be housed on Spotify and all the podcast apps.

The yoga and pilates community has exploded in the last decade. Businesses like [solidcore] and Alo have become synonymous with fitness based adults. Going through all of this mobility training brings about other “concerns.” Almost every woman that has taken hundreds of pilates and yoga classes knows the importance of their pelvic floor. If you were a former cheerleader, gymnast, dancer or ballerina, you likely have seen the affects of pelvic floor issues later in life. So, where are people going to go to get more information? The Internet, and YouTube, of course.

If you are a pelvic floor therapy doctor and would like to grow your practice online, contact us at jesse@wojdylosocialmedia.com. We are confident that with the right blend of Internet exposure you can take your medical practice to the next level.

While most Internet marketing experts will immediately try to sell SEO (search engine optimization) and Facebook/Instagram ads, there is more bang for your buck when it comes to Internet traffic. What makes digital marketing very effective is the intent to buy.

When someone goes on YouTube and searches “pelvic floor therapy help” or goes to Google and searches “pelvic floor therapy doctor near me” they are much more likely to pick up the phone and call versus someone doom scrolling on Instagram or Facebook.

SEO (search engine optimization) is enhanced with a YouTube Channel presence. YouTube is owned by Google. Time and again we have seen YouTube videos showing up at the top of Google search. If you have awareness of the power of the YouTube Shorts Feed, you will find that your pelvic floor therapy practice gets many, many more impressions, likes, comments and, ultimately, customers. You will also find that with more exposure in the YouTube Shorts Feed, your website and YouTube Channel rank higher in Google search.

Before assuming you can simply publish any short form video and go viral, pelvic floor therapy doctors must understand that the algorithm is very specific. You may ruin your chances on YouTube before you even get started if you do not optimize the correct way. Reach out to us at jesse@wojdylosocialmedia.com if you want to grow your practice through the YouTube Shorts Channel, ranking higher in the YouTube homepage or simply doing SEO to rank your website and web presence higher.

If you have been scrolling the YouTube Shorts Feed on or after Tuesday, May 19th, 2026, you may have noticed when you like a video with a dog it in, the like button turns into a paw print when “smashing the like button.” We suspect this is true for many animal type videos.

We also believe this is a further push for YouTube to a calm or peace algorithm that is not as rage baity and angry. There are enough studies that show anger and frustration are causing social media users many mental problems that lead to unhealthy behaviors. If Google/YouTube truly cares about the longevity of its social media algorithms, expect to see more peaceful and calm content in your YouTube Shorts Feed.

We will continue to monitor any adjustments and updates moving forward. Look for all animals to get a paw print like on YouTube in the very near future, if it isn’t happening already. Also expect to see many more cool features on the YouTube Community Tab as Google is going after Instagram.

All the features that are rolling out into the YouTube Shorts Feed will also be deployed to the Community Tab posts. We have expressed, time and again, the importance of YouTube Posts, specifically YouTube Image Posts. If you have any behind the scenes coverage or any photos of something your channel subscribers may be interested in, it would be very wise to post these Image Posts now. We are seeing a great deal of impressions, likes and comments on Image Posts.

It will be interesting to see what YouTube does with pet and animal accounts. If they are willing to change the shape of the like button based on an animal being in the video, they are certainly willing to push this content out into the YouTube Shorts Feed.

On Thursday, May 14th, 2026 YouTube reported a “known issue” to creators that there is an “issue with Shorts and Homepage recommendations.” If you are noticing a significant change in the number of views you are getting on Short Form videos on YouTube, you are not alone.

UPDATE: It seems as if YouTube Shorts and Homepage recommendations remain “unstable” on Sunday, May 17th, 2026. Channels that we administer that received between 10k and 20k views per Short Form video are now getting around 2k to 3k views. This is a significant drop in overall traffic, views and impressions.

While this can be incredibly frustrating for creators and owners of YouTube Channels, it is an opportunity to see who the diehard fans of a YouTube Channel really are. The viewers finding your channel in mid May 2026 are actively trying to find your channel as the YouTube Shorts Feed is broken.

Now might be a good time to respond to comments, update the Community tab with a poll, quiz or Image post or simply clean up your playlists and descriptions. That said, do no expect to see views jump back to normal during the weekend. We will likely see a fix in the early part of the work week around Monday or Tuesday as Google and YouTube tend to play with the algorithms over weekends and holidays but fix everything during the next work week.

It may be the case that YouTube is playing around with this into the Memorial Day weekend before very big changes to the YouTube Shorts feed. No matter what YouTube and Google decide to deploy into the YouTube Shorts Feed, we will keep you updated on the ways to optimize to get the most views.

Take the time to clean up your YouTube Channel, check the notifications tab on the YouTube Studio app and be prepared when the YouTube Shorts Feed gets back to normal. We suspect that once it gets back to normal, the Channels that were doing well in the Shorts Feed will do even better; especially if they have been posting YouTube Posts.

The good news is that Google engineers are actively working on this and have stated they will update the support page with information with the known issue is rectified.

In the last few weeks, we have noticed quite a few glitches with the YouTube Shorts Feed. This tells us that changes are coming. The Shorts Feed should not be having issues unless they are deploying something new. We believe that is going to be pushing out YouTube Image Posts much more.

In mid May, YouTube added “sounds” or “music” to YouTube Posts. Prior to the add sound functionality. Image posts, quizzes, polls and text posts had no accompanying sounds. They roll out “add sound” to YouTube Posts and the next day they have a known issue with the Shorts and Homepage recommendations.

You can take this one of two ways. You can be excited that YouTube is rolling out something new with the Shorts Feed and hopefully it improves the views and impressions on your Channel. You can take it the other way and accept that all the changes are too much and just give up on publishing more content.

If you are excited, we think you should start posting many more pieces of content in the YouTube Community Tab. We have noticed that YouTube is pushing out many more features with Posts and we suspect they are going to take on Instagram for the location of your most important and memorable photos. We will see if they continue this push by tracking data on several YouTube Channels moving forward.

On Wednesday, May 13th, 2026 YouTube started to allow select accounts to “add sound” to a YouTube Post. We have used it successfully with YouTube Image Posts and are seeing a significant uptick in impressions and likes. When YouTube rolls out new features, it is often wise to use them early as they will push this content out to more users.

As we continue to see YouTube Image Posts and general Community Tab activity get more and more exposure, it seems to be the case that YouTube wants to make a YouTube Channel as basic website for the creatives of the world. If you want to simply add text, you can do that through a YouTube Post. If you want to add video, well, YouTube is known for that. If you want to simply add an Image Post, well, they have that now, as well.

YouTube is pushing out so many features to creators that it seems unlikely they can be caught. We have repeatedly stated that YouTube has the most money because it is owned by Google and this allows them to pay the creators that are producing the best content. Now that music is added to YouTube Posts, look for more people to slowly post less on Instagram as the monetization simply doesn’t compare.

We are going to continue to test out the “add music” option for YouTube Posts and compare the likes and impressions to posts that do not have music. We have seen an uptick of over 100% in YouTube Image Post impressions since the beginning of April 2026. It will be interesting to see if the “add music” feature pushes the Image Posts out to many more viewers on the YouTube Shorts Feed. We suspect the number of creators posting Images on YouTube is about to explode.

There is little debate that Google/YouTube has a much larger digital video advertising network than Meta/Instagram. Instagram Reels were a response to the growth of short form videos on TikTok and are now one of the top content consumption video platforms. Some niches see more engagement and views on Instagram compared to YouTube. With this knowledge, should you spend time making Instagram Reels instead of YouTube Shorts?

The answer is a resounding no. If you receive one million views on an Instagram reel, you might make a few bucks through the Instagram monetization program. One million views on a YouTube short video will net you around $300-$350. Let us repeat, you can make $3 on Instagram reels or $300 on YouTube Shorts. Which will you choose?

The only reason Instagram Reels continues to be a competitive is there is little required to monetize an account. On YouTube, you must achieve 10 million YouTube Shorts views in 90 days to qualify for the YouTube Shorts Feed monetization. Getting 10 million views in 90 days can be quite difficult. If your YouTube Channel 100,000 views a day, you will not qualify.

What is also important to note is that YouTube requires “engaged views” meaning viewers who actually watched the video. When you see the number of views on an Instagram Reel or a YouTube Short Video, the number or engaged views is ofter 1/3 or 1/4 the total number of views.

We live in a bot and swiping world. Most of the views you are seeing on Instagram Reels, TikToks and YouTube Shorts videos are not engaged views. If you want to make money through digital video content, you will need to receive engaged views rather than trying to game the system and just sending bots to get more views.

If you are trying to determine a strategy for your video content, many people will decided to post the same video to all the platforms. While this is not going to penalize an account, it will likely reduce its chance for virality.

YouTube has confused millions of creators by releasing “Hype Points” without explaining anything about them. In a very unusual decision, YouTube removed the Top Trending videos and has since replaced that feature with Hype. In mid May 2026, no one really has a clue what Hype means or is.

From our understanding, YouTube accounts have the ability to use “Hype Points” to “Hype” a long form video. We cannot find the functionality to “hype” short form videos as the “Hype” button is not part of the user interface for mobile short form videos.

The interface is very janky on mobile as some long form videos don’t have the “Hype” button visible unless you swipe right.

When clicking the “more information” button on the “Hype” tab, this is what it explains:

How to hype:

1. Pick a video you love uploaded in the last 7 days
2. Give points to hype it up
3. Watch it soar up the leaderboard

Which videos can I hype?

For now, only some channels under 500k subscribers can be hyped. Not all videos are eligible during this test.

What is a small creator bonus?

Smaller creators get bonus points when you hype their videos. The smaller the creator, the bigger the bonus!

How much can I hype?

You can hype three more times this week.

This is a great way for smaller creators to have the incentive to publish more content on YouTube. Small creators can often struggle because having a small number of subscribers likely means it will be hard to trigger the YouTube Shorts Feed algorithm and it is definitely harder to get found on the YouTube home feed.

We will continue to track this test and see if there are any legs to this type of hyping or pushing of smaller creators. For now, it seems that it is a game played by the creators rather than the best videos being discovered and “hyped” to the top. That is not to say that this behavior won’t change, but not many users are actually using the “hype” feature yet.

YouTube Shorts Analytics Shows Hype Points

When looking at the analytics of YouTube Shorts in the YouTube Studio App, there is a location for “Hype” in the First 7 days under the Engagement tab. It is interesting that this location for data is available when there is no way for a user to Hype a YouTube Short video in the user interface.

This is not uncommon for YouTube as you can successfully predict what is going to happen in the months to come based on the YouTube Studio app. This is how we found out, and predicted, that YouTube Image Posts were getting more impressions in the YouTube Shorts Feed.

Expect to see small content creators getting Hype points on YouTube Shorts in the very near future. There are more and more short form video specific channels being created on YouTube. With the “Hype” feature being a way for users to find new creators it would only make sense to really push the hype feature through short form videos even more so than long form videos.

As soon as we start to see data tracking for “Hype” points on short form YouTube Videos, we will update this post with a strategy of how to get more impressions and exposure through the “Hype” tab on the YouTube mobile app. This could be a game changer for smaller creators, but it has to be implemented into the user interface of short form videos on the YouTube mobile app.

If you have a popular YouTube Channel, you have likely noticed that the views for Short Form and Long Form videos have been lower than usual at the end of April 2026. You are not going crazy; this is a glitch in the system at Google/Youtube.

We started to notice the lower number of views in the Monetization tab on the YouTube Studio app in mid April 2026. For Channels we administer that receive over 2 million views per day, the data were showing less than 400,000. Some of the Channels that are not yet monetized are showing a number that is much smaller than anticipated by those looking to qualify for YouTube Shorts Feed ads.

For several days YouTube creators were left wondering if their views had, in fact, dropped significantly or if there was another issue. Any time views drop on a YouTube Channel most creators assume it is something they have done to “shadow ban” themselves on the YouTube Shorts Feed or through the algorithm.

Fortunately, this looks to be an issue that is being address within YouTube and Google. We noticed that on Wednesday, April 29th, 2026 the views on the monetization tab seem to be jumping back to where they should be. If you were concerned that April 22, 23 or 24 was showing very little data for your goal of monetization, you are not alone.

We believe there is a possibility that this glitch could have been caused because YouTube is very close to rolling out YouTube Image Posts in the YouTube Shorts Feed for all accounts. We are seeing much higher numbers on YouTube Image Posts and have predicted this will be Google’s attempt to challenge Instagram.

In the next few weeks, look for the YouTube Studio app to show live views and realtime data for YouTube Image Posts. We are still trying to determine if YouTube Image Post impressions count towards the YouTube Shorts Feed monetization. The wording in the app is “YouTube Shorts views” so we are guessing the YouTube Image Posts impressions are starting to get added to the total views number which likely caused the glitch in the data from April 20-24, 2026.