Transcription
Whenever you watch videos like this that teach you how to get more views on YouTube, they typically repeat the same thing: have a strong 30-second hook, an eye-catching title, and thumbnail. But what about the real hidden hacks that people aren't talking about enough?
Now, I've done plenty of videos teaching people how to get more views, but in today's video, I specifically want to share the more hidden ones that people are either gatekeeping from you or they don't even know exist themselves. I have a feeling by the end of this video, you're going to learn at least one strategy that you never heard of or thought of yourself. And so, let's dive into the video.
Now, the first hack is a strategy that I've shared before, but it bears repeating because it is just that good. And that is the playlist link hack. Now, we all know that a best practice is to add your videos to your playlists so that people can binge-watch your content. But did you know that if you actually go to your playlist tab and then click on "View full playlist" for any of your playlists, there is going to be a piece of code that says "list=" and then a bunch of numbers and letters? What you want to do is you want to copy that code. Once you have that code, pasted, you then want to add an ampersand symbol at the beginning, right before the word "list."
Now, what's going to happen for any video on YouTube, whether it's your own video or someone else's video, you want to make sure that you delete anything that's after the ampersand symbol and then paste what you copied. So, it's going to look something like this. When you share this whole link and someone clicks on it, what's going to happen is on the right-hand side, it's going to suggest all the videos you have within that specific playlist. This basically guarantees that when this video is finished, the next video is going to be yours.
Now, you can get the code for any playlist that you want, and you can take this same code and paste it into even a video that's not yours. So, for example, if I paste it at the end of this music video, and if someone clicks on that link, the videos that are going to show up on the right-hand side are going to be mine. And when someone's done watching this video, the following video that's going to autoplay is going to be this video right here.
Now, the reason why this is going to get you more views is obvious. Obviously, no matter what video you're sharing, you're going to get the next slot. Not only this, some people leave their YouTube running in the background, so this is a really easy way to rack up the views because all of the videos that are going to autoplay next are going to be yours. All this to say, whenever you are sharing a video that's yours, you want to add that list link at the end. And also, whenever you're sharing a video of someone else's, why not get the free views afterwards?
The next thing you want to do to get more views on your videos is whenever you're writing the title, try to incorporate the current year in that title. This is an amazing way to get more views, especially if you are a newer creator and you are competing in a topic that's very competitive. This is actually how I was able to quickly grow my channel when I first started YouTube seven years ago. I was talking about Instagram and social media, and it was a very competitive space. But the one thing that I did differently is I added the year. So when someone is trying to choose between my video or someone else's video, they're going to click mine, even though I'm a smaller channel, even though I had less views, simply because I have the current year in my title. Because what that signals is I have more relevant and up-to-date information.
Now, to take it a step further, after that year has passed, and especially if the content of your video is still quite relevant, my recommendation is to go back and actually update that year so that it's more current. Because if you don't, you're not going to be able to extend the shelf life of that video, and it's actually going to hurt you because when people are looking at your channel, they'll be like, "Huh, well, this video is from two years ago or last year." I'm going to go pick another video that either doesn't have the year in it or has the more current year. Ultimately, people want to click on videos that they feel are more relevant to today's time.
Now, you might be thinking, "Oh my gosh, I have so many videos that have the outdated year in it. Am I supposed to go in manually and update every single one?" Well, you could do that, or you could use a tool like TubeBuddy, which is the sponsor of today's video. Now, I've been with TubeBuddy for about seven years, ever since my first year of YouTube, and I still am using TubeBuddy. And one of my favorite features that they have is the bulk edit tool. So, once you've downloaded TubeBuddy, specifically the Legend license, which is what I would personally recommend, and you've downloaded the Chrome extension, when you go into your YouTube Studio, you're going to see this button right here that says "Bulk & MK Tools." Then click on "Find and Replace Text."
Now, what I'm going to do is I'm going to find any title that has 2024 and replace it with 2025. Now, you do have the option to search both your titles and descriptions or just one or the other. Then I'm going to click "Continue," and I want it to search all the videos that I've ever created. Now, as you can see, TubeBuddy has found these videos that are currently still titled 2024. Now, at this point, you can just select all of them to update, or you can hand-select which video specifically you feel deserves to be updated to the current year. Then click "Continue" and "Confirm." And now, as you can see, with one click, it's updated all of my videos with the right year. And just to double-check, I'm going to go to my account to make sure that it actually updated. As you can see, this video originally had the previous year, and now it is updated to the current year.
I also use the bulk edit feature to update my affiliate link. Sometimes my links are broken or outdated, or maybe the equipment that I'm using is changing. And so, for example, in this video from last year, I noticed that it's still recommending my 2024 YouTube equipment, but I want to update it for my 2025 most latest gear that I'm using. And so, what I did was I pasted the outdated part of my description, and then I have the new part that I want to replace it with. I'm going to use the bulk edit feature, copy my old links, and then replace it with new ones. In this case, since my affiliate links are only in my description, I'm going to only search for descriptions. As you can see, there are plenty of videos that need to be updated when it comes to my affiliate link. So I'm going to select all, hit "Continue," and then start bulk editing all those descriptions. Doing this alone has allowed me to make more affiliate income and also ensure that the people who want the most relevant links actually get them.
Now, TubeBuddy is done replacing all the text, so I'm going to click "Done," and I'm just going to make sure I double-check that it went through. So, again, this video was what had the outdated links. I'm going to hit refresh, and now you can see it's updated to 2025.
Now, the next strategy I have that has helped me get more views is actually using a new tool from TubeBuddy called Niche Insights. When you click on your TubeBuddy plugin and you click on Niche Insights, you're now going to be able to track all of your competitors or the channels that your audience is also watching. And one of my favorite sections is the Content Standout section. So, with all the channels that I'm currently tracking, I'm able to see which videos are outliers for them, which videos are performing above their channel's average. What I used to do is I used to just go onto my search bar and look at how many views they had, how many subscribers they had, and really keep track.
Now, rule of thumb is, if someone has more views on a video than they do subscribers, that's a really good indication that that is a video that's really taking off for them that you should try to replicate on your channel or at least get inspiration from. But with the Niche Insights tool, I basically get all of that in one place. So, for example, this channel that I've been tracking, she has a video that's performing 300 times better than her channel's average, and there's a lot that I can learn from just looking at the title, or watching the video, or seeing how she did the thumbnail. Another example is this creator called Jeff. He recently did a video not too long ago titled, "If you're making vlogs but aren't getting views, watch this." Well, I could take inspiration from that title and I could do something like, "If you're making YouTube videos but aren't getting views, watch this," and see how that performs.
Now, on the flip side of tracking the high-performing videos of these people, you can also look at their low performers. These are basically other videos that they've made that aren't doing as well compared to the average. So you can also learn from what's not working for other people as well. What I also love about this feature is you don't necessarily have to look at just the last 30 days. You can also filter it by 60, 90, and even up to a year. So you're getting a lot of data here. As you can see, beyond the outliers, you can also look at views alone, and then that way you can see people's best-performing videos on their channel. And then within the leaderboard, you can also see how you rank compared to all the people that you're currently tracking.
Another thing that I also really like about this feature is if I click on a specific channel, so let's go to Ali Abdaal for example, the Channel Insights feature not only allows me to benchmark my channel against someone else's, but I can also creep their content calendar. So I'm able to see in one glance when they've uploaded their videos, and this might help me get some inspiration on what days I might want to upload as well. The cool thing too is if you click on these specific dates, you're going to be able to see which video was uploaded.
Now, if you're unsure of who to add to your Niche Insights to track, my recommendation is to start looking at your analytics. Go into your Audience tab, and then see the other channels that your audience is also watching. This will serve as a really great starting point so you can at least utilize the feature.
Now, beyond just looking at other people and finding patterns that are working for them and replicating it for your channel, you also want to make the most out of the videos that you've already posted. And that's the reason why I love YouTube because even though you've posted a video and maybe it's not getting enough views, you can always change the title and thumbnail to salvage that video. And one of my favorite features that I use on TubeBuddy is the Click Magnet feature. Now, within Click Magnet, one of my most used features is the Opportunities tool. It basically shows you all the videos on your channel that are doing really well in terms of watch time, which shows that your video is actually a banger, but you just didn't package it well because the click-through rate is lower than your channel's average. This basically means your title or your thumbnail simply isn't strong enough. And if you just make those tweaks, you basically have a winning video. These are all the videos that have the highest opportunity to get even more views as long as I change the title or the thumbnail.
And to further emphasize this, I actually had this video right here where the original thumbnail was this, and the original title was this. And what I noticed within the first two hours of this video being live is that this video was underperforming compared to my typical performance. And so, what I did was I changed the thumbnail and title, and suddenly this video started taking off. And now this video went from being a flop to now having millions of views. And so that's why I want to emphasize that this alone can be a very big game changer for your channel.
Now, once you've identified these videos that have huge opportunities to be really big winners on your channel, you can either just manually update the title or the thumbnail yourself. But if you're already using TubeBuddy and you have the Legend license, you can simply click on "Create an A/B Test." And now you can actually formally A/B test this video. I've been able to get so many more views and so much more AdSense revenue just by doing A/B testing. And as you can see over on my channel, I've done quite a bit. For example, I had this video right here where TubeBuddy identified was going to be a really good opportunity for me to further optimize. And so what I did was I tested a new thumbnail. And so instead of saying "Instagram Reels," I changed the title to "Let's Make Videos" and I removed the Instagram emoji. And what I noticed was this version of the thumbnail not only got more click-through rate, but it also got more engagement and also more watch time and view duration. It was a clear winner. And since I switched it, I ended up getting way more views on that video than I was originally getting.
So, to give you an example, this video was posted about three days ago, and it is not performing the way that I had hoped compared to the average of my channel. You can see that the views are down, the click-through rate is down, and then the average view duration is down as well. And so the only thing that I can really control is the packaging of this video at this point. And so when I go into the actual video, when you have the TubeBuddy plugin, you're going to get these options here. So I'm going to A/B test this video to improve the performance by clicking on "Test Alternative." For me personally, I have a feeling it might be the title. And so I'm going to click on "Title" and then click "Next." I'm going to test until it reaches statistical significance, but that requires a thousand views on the video. So if you are someone that has a smaller channel, I wouldn't recommend this option. If you want to get results faster, I would actually recommend maybe doing it for 14 days instead.
Now, for me, because I think I might have the traffic to be able to pull this off, I'm going to click on this option right here. Then I hit "Next." I'm going to measure the success based on the click-through rate and how many people are actually clicking the video, because this is what I want to improve. Now, TubeBuddy is going to generate suggestions for me, but I actually went ahead on ChatGPT to ask for better alternatives to this title by asking questions like, "What title could appeal to beginner YouTubers looking to improve their thumbnail?" because that's what the video is about. And other questions like, "What title would make viewers feel like they're getting insider secrets about thumbnails?" or "Can you suggest intriguing video titles that spark curiosity about thumbnails?" And so, based on these options, I'm going to choose the one that I want to test. For me, historically on my channel, titles that have the word "how to" in them do typically well. And so I'm going to choose this option right here to test. I'm then going to put this title as what I want to test, and then I'm going to click on "Start Test." And that's it. That's all you have to do. And what's going to happen is when the test is done, TubeBuddy will send you an email to let you know. You're then going to be able to go into the TubeBuddy homepage and then see the results of your A/B test.
Now, even though YouTube Studio came out with their own A/B testing feature, I still find myself using TubeBuddy's because not only can I test the thumbnail, but I can also test the titles, which currently YouTube Studio doesn't offer. Now, A/B testing is a more advanced strategy to get more views, but it is well worth putting the time and effort into it. Doing this alone has not only allowed me to double my YouTube revenue because I was getting more views, but if you are also someone who relies on brand sponsorships, you're then going to be able to negotiate for higher rates because you are getting more views on your videos. So this feature alone is definitely worth the investment, not only in time but also in signing up for TubeBuddy's Legend license specifically.
Now, I am only scratching the surface with all of the tools that TubeBuddy has to offer, specifically with their Legend license. So to help you get started, use the code VANESSASBUDDY for 20% off any license that you choose. Now, obviously, I highly recommend the Legend license, especially if you're planning to take YouTube more seriously this year. You're going to be able to save so much more time and get a competitive advantage with all of these features. So make sure you click the link in my description or in my pin comment below to get started.
Now, moving on to the next strategy to get more views that not a lot of people talk about, but I have personally seen a lot of people do it, and that is re-uploading your old videos. Now, I don't mean repurposing, like taking your long-form videos and turning them into short-form, although that is a good strategy. I'm literally talking about re-uploading old videos of yours. And there are three ways to do it.
The first way is when you have multiple videos, you can actually string them together and make a full-blown, hour-long-plus masterclass. I have seen Think Media do this. So, for example, they have this masterclass right here that's over an hour long, but if you pay close attention, it's actually multiple older videos strung together. All they did was make an intro and also do a transition clip for each video. This is a really great strategy if you don't have time to upload a video that week. But beyond that, to just make the most of the library that you have, especially if you are someone that's done a lot of videos. For example, I did a full-blown YouTube course with individual videos targeting every single thing that I could think of to be successful on YouTube. What I could do is I could actually string all of the best pieces of those videos together, film an outro, film an intro, and film transition clips so that the videos don't awkwardly cut, and then upload that on its own. And who knows, maybe I would actually get more views on that video, or I would be able to reach an audience that actually wants a video that is a long-form type of masterclass rather than having to click on multiple little videos.
The second way that you can re-upload your videos is doing the opposite. Let's say you have a really long video, you can just chunk it down into multiple little individual videos and upload those instead. A lot of podcasts do this. For example, Diary of a CEO. Even though he has an hour or two-hour long podcast, he'll take clips and upload that individually, and that way he's able to maximize the amount of views that he gets. He's also able to test different angles. So, for example, if the original long-form video isn't necessarily capturing people's attention, maybe the little micro things that were said in the video, uploaded as individual videos, will capture someone else's attention instead, which then would lead them to the long-form video if they were interested in that. And so, all this to say, you're able to really stretch out the content that you are making.
And of course, for those of you who maybe don't feel comfortable re-uploading a video for some reason, you can also look at your previous videos and really look at the retention chart or look at the comment section and see which part of the video got the most attention, and then recreate that segment only. For example, in my "How to Vlog" video, I noticed that there was a lot of demand for me talking about the DJI Osmo Pocket specifically. So instead of coming up with a brand new idea, what I did was I basically just refilmed that segment of the video, updated it for the current time to really introduce new accessories that I've added to the DJI Osmo Pocket, uploaded that video, and now that video is doing pretty well on my channel. So really, don't sleep on recreating popular videos that you've made in the past, really paying attention to the points that people really love and recreating or re-uploading those specific sections on their own. By doing so, you're just going to be able to target more people and upload more videos, which will then increase the amount of views that you're getting.
Now, recently on my channel, I've talked a lot about not wanting to be boxed into a niche because I believe that's where a lot of creator burnout comes from, is when you feel creatively boxed in. But at the same time, I always get comments about, "Well, how am I going to grow my channel and how am I going to get views if I'm not niched in my channel?" Well, well, the solution to this is to actually look at creating series. Now, I learned this when I realized, "Hey, I don't necessarily want to be known as the YouTube girl. I want to help people grow on YouTube, but I don't necessarily want to make that my entire niche." But at the same time, I still want to have views on my channel because that's also my source of income, and also I want to have views so that brands will want to work with me. So what do I do? And that's when I decided to make this series right here. And I learned that this was a really great opportunity to be targeted for a limited amount of time. And I'm talking to those of you who are creatives, who are multi-passionate, because this is such an excellent way to take advantage of having a niche temporarily, telling your audience straight up that this is a series so that you can easily exit out of it, and it doesn't necessarily have to define you. And at the same time, if someone likes the first video of your series, they're going to want to watch the second one, and the third one, and the fourth one, and then you're going to be able to get more views with the same person.
The best part is, is after you've done all of those videos within the series, you can use the same strategy that Think Media did and basically string everything together into one full-blown masterclass. Once that series is done, you can then move on to the next series and tackle another topic with your audience. Personally for me, I feel like this really solves the algorithm problem because sometimes people say, "Well, if I only do one video about this subject, and then I change the next day, and I change the next week, then YouTube's not going to know how to categorize my channel and I'm not going to get as much visibility." But if you do a series and you're doing multiple videos on one subject, personally I feel like that's enough for YouTube to be able to properly categorize your videos and push them to the right people. And at the same time, that series doesn't necessarily have to define you. So if you haven't considered making series on your channel yet, I highly recommend this as a strategy to still be creative, to still explore, but still also get views on your channel.
Now, one of the keys in making your series successful is really leveraging the end screen. And this is something that I keep talking about in most videos where I share how to get more views: be very intentional and very specific on what video you want that person to watch next. So if you are mapping out your series, you should already know what the next video is going to be. So at the end of the video that you've uploaded, you should definitely say, "Hey, if you liked this video, my next video is going to be about this, so make sure you click here to learn XYZ."
Now, of course, if you're uploading your videos in chronological order, you may not be able to immediately put the right video on the end screen. But what you want to do is really set that expectation with your audience, and then once that next video is uploaded, put a reminder to actually go back and update that end screen. So let me give you an example on how I navigated that. "And if that video is already posted, you'll be able to click on it right here and watch that next. And if you don't see it yet, then make sure you turn on your notification bell and hit the subscribe button to be notified when that video drops." What I have found is even though YouTube gives you two opportunities to put two videos in your end screen, you really want to just pick one and be very specific with your call to action. This is going to more than double the amount of clicks that you're going to get on that next video when you are hyper-specific. And again, if you're doing a series, or if you're constantly doing that for all the outros in your video, you're then going to be able to create bingeability, increase your watch time, and therefore YouTube will push out your videos to more people. And that's how you're going to get more views.
Now, I really want all of us to help each other out here on YouTube. So if there is an underrated hack or tool that you use to get more views on your videos, then make sure you comment below and let everyone else know. Now, I've mentioned earlier in this video that I have a full-blown series teaching you how to get started on YouTube, including filming, video editing, posting strategies, all the things, equipment. So make sure you click on this video next to get started with that series, especially if you want to go deeper and be more confident with your YouTube journey. As always, I appreciate you, and I will see you in this video next.