How I improve my YouTube recommendations in 5 easy steps

I budget for streaming services monthly, but YouTube It still plays a huge role in my entertainment routine. Unlike these services’ relatively limited list of movies and shows, YouTube hosts hundreds of millions of videos on its servers, covering a wide range of topics from millions of creators. This wide range of content is beneficial for viewers, but it also means that YouTube recommendations can often be very wrong.

In recent weeks, I have noticed an increase in the number of disgruntled online users complaining about this very issue. Some lament seeing previously suggested videos being re-recommended ad nauseum, while others mention suggestions that don’t align with their subscriptions or searches. In short, users don’t see suggestions for videos they are likely to watch or would be happy to discover. This is an annoying problem that ultimately ruins your YouTube experience whether you pay or not.

Fortunately, I haven’t experienced these recommendation issues lately, and that’s potentially due to my years of meticulous and thoughtful use of YouTube. But what exactly does this entail? After a bit of introspection, I outlined some basic guidelines that help keep my YouTube recommendations focused and accurate. Hopefully these will help you too.

While YouTube’s algorithms play a role in recommending content and make sensible scapegoating, a curated YouTube feed ultimately depends on the user’s discipline.

As much as I wish YouTube knew exactly what I wanted to watch when I wanted to watch it, this simply isn’t possible. You can only make assumptions based on watch history, current watch trends, subscriptions, and searches. Therefore, it is imperative that we be careful with the content we see on our accounts.

What does this mean in practice? If I’m curious about topics or channels that I’m not yet subscribed to or interested in, I’ll view that content in incognito mode or through a secondary, inconsequential account. Here I can evaluate whether I really enjoy the style, content and feel of that channel, and then decide whether to subscribe. Importantly, this subscription will directly affect my subsequent recommendations, so this decision will also have knock-on effects.

This pedantic practice largely keeps my main account as a sanitized space where I receive recommendations based on the narrow spectrum of content I actually enjoy. And isn’t that what recommendations are about?

Of course, I don’t always “review” new channels. If a new channel’s content aligns with topics I enjoy watching, I often watch it on my main account. Importantly, the more focused your viewing history is, the more likely you are to find similar channels. It’s a satisfying feedback loop.

As I mentioned, YouTube also uses your search terms to inform its recommendations, and you can use this to your advantage.

This tip overlaps with my first and main point, but if you’re searching for “latest political news,” you’ll probably see more and more recommended videos that relate to that particular topic.

For example, I’m on a gentle balcony gardening curve, so searching for “gardening tips,” “building a balcony garden,” or “balcony gardening strategies” helps tell YouTube my approach.

Of course, this only works for core topics of interest to you. I would suggest searching for “spacecraft history” if you’re really interested in humanity’s various lunar missions and beyond, but not if you just want to briefly catch up on news related to the Artemis program. For this I would reconnect my secondary account.

And in that sense, using a secondary YouTube account is a big part of keeping your main account’s recommendations focused. I could have mentioned this in either of the first two sections, but it is so important that it arguably deserves reiteration here.

Separating your digital life into silos is a great way to keep cross-contamination to a minimum, including YouTube and other Google services.

Notably, this system does not have to take the form of a dedicated secondary account. You can use incognito mode in the YouTube app, in a secondary YouTube app that you use without an account, or in a web browser designed for this purpose.

So how and when should you use this secondary space?

• When you want to watch a random YouTube video that doesn’t fit your established interests.
• When you’re looking to try out a channel from a creator you’re not immediately sure about or who is beyond your immediate thematic scope.
• Music videos, if you don’t want your feed to be flooded with music-related recommendations.
• Any video that others send you.
• Any videos that you do not want to influence your main account. Ultimately, this comes down to your choices.

Subscribing to a new YouTube channel is powerful. Not only does it benefit the creator, but it also causes significant repercussions on their YouTube account. After you sign up, you’ll probably see a flood of recommendations coming from this account. This makes it incredibly important to be sure before hitting the subscribe button.

Every few months, I go through my list of YouTube subscriptions and delete those that I no longer enjoy watching or haven’t watched in a while. I also make sure to watch a video or two from a channel I haven’t seen a recommendation for in a while, but I’ve forgotten I’m subscribed. This gives the recommendation system a boost, and as soon as you finish watching this video, YouTube overwhelmingly recommends the content on this channel.

I’ve seen many users online suggest that using these two features on YouTube helps guide recommendations on the right path, but I’m not so sure.

Although Google News and Discover are two completely different experiences and platforms, using these similar controls only encourages that content to appear in my feeds. What works is when I interact positively with the content I like and ignore the content I don’t like. This lack of interaction appears to be a more important factor for recommendations.

For YouTube users, this means liking videos that appeal to them more often than using the “Not interested” or “Do not recommend channel” options. This, again, also benefits the channel creator.

I will note that sometimes I will use one of these features, but mainly to highlight an issue with the channel itself. If you have a significant amount of AI-generated content, I’ll be sure to let Google know via the Report option.

The new beginning: destroy your watch history

Finally, if your YouTube account is too exhausted, it is best to delete your entire viewing history. You can also go a step further and systematically remove channels from your subscription list, but starting with a clean watchlist is a good starting point.

Judging by the avalanche of comments on various forums, users are inundated with YouTube recommendations that either don’t suit their tastes, are wildly different from anything they’ve seen before, or are just plain rubbish. Fortunately, with some careful display adjustments, you can have a more direct influence over the content YouTube suggests.

These guidelines are based almost entirely on anecdotal experience, but I think they have some merit: These steps have kept my account clean and focused for years. While the occasional random recommendation will always pop up, my YouTube home screen feels like something I’ve curated rather than a place where content is forced upon me.