If you have been searching for any YouTube videos today, you may have been seeing the results of an update to how the website ranks content and determines what most closely matches what you're looking for. Google has announced that it is expanding changes introduced in August to how video discovery across all of search, so that videos get higher rankings based on how long viewers are engaged ? not how many clicks a video gets. The difference is that videos that simply manage to attract a click through thanks to its title or preview but fail to keep users watching won't be promoted in search. In addition, the update to the algorithm will take into account how long users' overall YouTube visits are. This means that videos will get higher rankings if users not only watch it in its entirety, but if they continue on to stay on YouTube and watch more videos. The change is a logical one to focus on bringing users content that keeps them entertained and interested, while keeping them on YouTube. It also fits in well with Google's push to improve the relevancy of search results across the board.
