YouTube Advises Channel Managers Not to Delete Uploaded Clips
Here’s an important P.S.A. for YouTube creators: Don’t delete your old video clips.
YouTube Product Lead Todd Beaupre shared this key advice last Friday, pointing to the broader impacts of such on algorithmic ranking.
YouTubers: Don’t delete videos unless you have a very, very good reason. When you delete a video, you delete your channel’s connection to the audience that watched that video. If you want to maximize your growth, keep your videos public or unlist then if you must.
— Todd B. (@hitsman) March 23, 2024
As noted by Search Engine Journal, Beaupre’s advice likely relates to the way that YouTube’s system seeks to optimize for user experience. If a channel regularly removes videos, that could make it harder for the system to trust that their content will exist, or understand what that channel posts about, thus making it less likely to recommend such.
As per SEJ:
“YouTube’s recommendation system is designed to connect viewers with content they will likely enjoy and engage with. If a channel frequently deletes videos, it disrupts the viewer’s experience and makes it harder for the algorithm to assess the channel’s value accurately.”
Though as Beaupre notes, it could also relate more directly to the mapping of content across the platform, in the same way that Google considers a website’s sitemap, and how all of its pages connect, when ranking content.
In other words, YouTube’s algorithm is connecting the dots between each upload, and when you take one of those dots away, it removes a puzzle piece, which could reduce your overall channel ranking.
Technicalities aside, the bottom line is that you shouldn’t delete YouTube videos if you want to maximize reach.
An important note for creators and marketers.