YouTube It works with a really precise algorithm, although it is far from infallible. Luckily, there are some tricks to make our user experience more satisfactory, small formulas and resources that can help us a lot. improve your YouTube Music recommendations.
It is the algorithm that selects content based on the information that we ourselves provide through our searches and views. The mechanism is quite reliable and gains in precision the more we use the platform. But is this always the case?
YouTube Music (YTM) It arrived in 2020, replacing Google Play Music. It is a subscription streaming music service similar to Spotify or Apple Music, with an immense catalog of music videos at our disposal. In addition to the computer version, it has practical applications for Android and for iOS.
As in normal YouTube, also when using YTM everything is managed by the algorithm, the details of which we explain below:
How does the YouTube algorithm work?
The goal of the famous YouTube algorithm is none other than to keep its users satisfied. But also for your own benefit. The selection of videos that it offers us in a personalized way It is designed so that we engage one video after another, thus accumulating the greatest number of views and time of use of the platform. All in all, it's a win-win.
But, How does YouTube know which videos interest us? The algorithm uses three different, although related, selection systems:
- Selection of videos for homepage from YouTube.
- Classification of the results of a search determined.
- Selection of suggested videos to see below.
The statistics managed by the platform indicate that the main traffic sources for most channels are the home page and automatic suggestions.
Those suggestions that reach us are generated by three means:
- Our history and preferences. If we normally watch videos on certain topics or frequent a certain channel a lot, YouTube will suggest similar videos.
- Videos with many views, what is known as "virals." If millions of people liked a video, why not you?
- Fashions and trends of the moment.
Tricks to improve your YouTube Music recommendations
The system works, but there is always room for improvement. The tricks that we list below can be of great help to us, depending on our tastes and our intentions:
Turn recommendations on or off
The first time we configure the YouTube Music application, we see that by default the option to show recommendations based on our location or our activity. Many people prefer to leave this like this so as not to be influenced by anything or anyone when carrying out their searches.
However, if we want to activate this option, the way to do it is very simple. All you have to do is go to the menu Settings of the application, access the section «Privacy and location» and there activate this possibility.
Interact with the content we like
One way to "guide" YouTube Music so that its suggestions and recommendations are more accurate is to help it by pressing the "like" button in our favorite songs. This interaction will be added to other scales that the algorithm uses, such as the time we spend watching content or subscriptions to certain channels.
In this way, we will be showing YouTube Music what our preferences are, giving it valuable clues so that the platform can show us similar suggestions.
Update our subscriptions
Over time, any YouTube Music user will end up with a long subscription list to channels from different creators. Sometimes, they stop interesting us and we no longer visit their contents, but we forget the «Unsubscribe«. In order not to be giving wrong information to the platform, it is necessary keep that list updated.
How to do it? You just have to visit the "Subscriptions" section, press the "Manage" button and review our subscriptions there, to decide which ones to delete and which to keep.
Clear viewing history
At first glance, it seems like a not very intelligent measure: How will YouTube know what I like if I delete all my history information? Well, as strange as it may seem, in some cases it can be a correct measure.
This is interesting in those cases in which we have accumulated a huge number of visits and views in our history. As our tastes change as time goes by, perhaps the information stored there does not correspond to our current interests. If so, a clean slate can be very effective.
Conclusion
If you're wondering how to improve your YouTube Music recommendations, these four simple recommendations may be the solutions you were looking for. Furthermore, putting them into practice is very simple and you will soon know if they give good results.
Editor specialized in technology and internet issues with more than ten years of experience in different digital media. I have worked as an editor and content creator for e-commerce, communication, online marketing and advertising companies. I have also written on economics, finance and other sectors websites. My work is also my passion. Now, through my articles in Tecnobits, I try to explore all the news and new opportunities that the world of technology offers us every day to improve our lives.