About a week ago I finally got monetized and it happened pretty quickly. I had about 3 videos blow up all at once and in just a few days I went from 400 subs to 1.2K and went from 10k to 50k watch hours. I'm no huge youtuber and plenty of you have bigger channels than mine - this isn't a dick measuring contest this is to give my 2 cents on what's worked for me and what I've learned in the last 5 months of being on Youtube, and if you have a bigger channel then I'm proud of you, and this post is for the thousands of others still looking for help on how to grow. So, here's some things I've learned that I don't think I see mentioned enough but wish I had known sooner:

1.) Words matter. Not just tags, hashtags, etc. but literally the words in your descriptions of your videos. There seems to be a delicate balance of what youtube considers "spamming" and what it considers "good" keyword optimization. I do film analyses and I noticed on videos where I covered more than one topic, my videos would barely break 100 views total because my keywords were scattered and not connected to each other. So, make sure you use your description section to write about what your video is about very honestly, but make sure to mention the key words and phrases you want to pop for in search naturally in a sentence. Like for me, i'd write something like "in this video essay about Euphoria, I discuss...." and the more you add those types of descriptors and the more you repeat a keyword you want to rank for, the better your odds are of popping in a search.

2.) The algorithm is smarter than you. Don't try to play games or cheat the algorithm. You're not smarter than google. Their machine learning was intelligent enough to create its own language, you are not. The algorithm is more intelligent and sophisticated than most people, and is learning all the time on its own. Just assume for all intents and purposes a really smart human is evaluating every one of your videos and scouring them for signs of you trying to cheat the algorithm. "Oh this person tried to tag Ukraine and Fortnite in the same video? I see, they're trying to outsmart me and get their video trending. Well, I won't rank you for either of those terms then...how you like them apples?" (btw thats not actually how it works but if you think of it as a sentient being that's evaluating your work, you'll better optimize it).

3.) Be Honest. This is really more like part 2b, but worth its own mention. Be honest about your video's content, in descriptions, tags, chapter markers, etc. BE HONEST about what your video is. If there's enough of a demand for it and not enough supply on youtube, it'll pop eventually. But when you cheat the algorithm (which you all do on this sub, don't lie, I see you) you only cheat yourself. Don't play games, try to build a good relationship with the algorithm based on trust and value and your stuff will eventually get its 15 minutes of fame.

4.) How long people watch is more important than how many people watch. It's easy to get caught up on view count, and that IS important, but not AS important as watch time. Do what you can with the content itself to incentivize people to stay watching. It really doesn't matter how long your content is, there's no golden number so don't believe that bologna when you hear "make your videos 5 min" or whatever. It doesn't matter. All that matters is, are people watching at least 75% of a video? If so, it'll get pushed out to more people.

5.) Every video has a slow start. Eventually, one of them will blow up. I've posted videos that have only gotten maybe 50 views in the first week, but if those 50 views are REALLY watching your content all the way through, it will eventually get shoveled in to the front page mix. I have videos that sat below 100 views for MONTHS and then overnight randomly catch fire and hit 20K views. It'll come, be patient, keep doing what you love, and don't get discouraged by low view count.

6.) Come up with a consistent formula. This is more hacking how humans engage with content and not the algorithm, but basically people take comfort in knowing what to expect from your content. I usually start my videos with an upbeat dialogue, a little personal anecdote, a recap of the movie or show with a few jokes mixed in, then I end EVERY video telling people "why it matters." My followers sub to me for that - they know I will tell them why something they like matters. It's rewarding, it's educational, it's familiar, and they want more of it. So my returning views are high.

7.) Love is contagious. If you love what you're making, if you love the people who love what you make, if you love the thing you're covering, and if you love sharing with people, your work will be better and your love will be contagious and you'll cultivate a dedicated following, even if it's small. Make sure to share that love - thank your kind commenters and ask their recommendations in the comments on what you should make next, ignore the haters because they literally do not matter - they don't know you and want to say mean things, that means they are just angry in general. It's cool to take effective criticism in a constructive way to improve your channel but if people are just dickheads, don't give them a minute of your emotions. Doesn't matter if it's 5 people who like what you have to say, that's still 5 people worth doing it for plus yourself. If YOU love what you're doing, other people will too.