Why Does YouTube Show You The Same YouTubers Over And Over? CLICKBAIT!

Click-Bait is EVERYWHERE!

For those of you that are not quite clear on what Clickbait is, it’s exactly what it sounds like. You are being “baited” (like a fish) to “click” on a video or an ad. So, providers create the most outrageous, enticing thing to get you to click on a video or ad for views.

I am bringing this up for a very important reason and would like to explain it to you.

I want you to be aware of Clickbait so when you click on a video, you can see if it contains quality, legit-relevant content to its title, as I believe you deserve to know what’s going on “behind the curtain”.

(Stay with me on this one, I think you’ll really appreciate it.)

I want to show you this so that you can make an informed educated decision on any video or ad you are about to invest your valuable time into.

So I’m going to break it down a word at a time.
Take, for example, my recent video titled “5 Incredible Tips on How To Sing Better Instantly”

The number “5”
Well over a decade ago, when I first started KTVA, I put out videos such as “The 5 Laws Of Singing” and “How to sing better instantly.”
Many of these videos garnered millions of views. I was not trying to “Clickbait” anyone. I was just looking for catchy titles I thought people would find interesting. I felt that if I gave too much information, I would lose people, but if I didn’t give enough information, I would also lose people. So I felt a simple breakdown of the “5 laws of singing” would fit nicely with my commentary.
As it turns out, in today’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization), people do in fact gravitate towards numbers on a video or an ad.

(SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization.” This means that providers will optimize content based on “keywords” so that a search engine will give a video with those keywords preferential treatment. I will talk about the importance of this later)

So let’s pause here for a moment and let me show you exactly what I mean by this.
I’m going to list the top current Clickbait titles (and they change rapidly):

Old Clickbait titles you might remember:
“Wait for it”
“And what she did next will blow your mind…”
and so on.

Current Clickbait titles:
(again, please stay with me, this will be worth your time)
“5 Reasons Why You Should…”
“7 Things You Should Know About…”

“Piggybacking”:
Using well-known brand names. Basically stealing their “name” search potency and attaching it to your content such as:
“The Grammys share “secrets” on how they choose Grammy nominations…”
(“secrets”, another buzz word)
“Dancing with the Stars Celeb Reveals…”
“Nike Swoosh Designer Teaches Us…”
and so on
“This Is How…”(“This is how Mick Jagger stays young…”, “This is how David Beckham scored 50 goals…”
“This is how Disney enlists talent…”)
“This Is What…”
“This Is The…”
“You Can Now…” (“You Can Now Record Your Own Record For Free!!!”, “You Can Now Save Money With Secret Coupon Codes…” “You Can Now Travel Abroad Without Having to…”)
“The Last … You’ll Ever Need”

And the charade continues…
Let’s move on…

“Incredible”
A powerful adjective.
Other descriptive words and phrases would include: Amazing, Insane, Powerful, Secret, Few people know to do this, Vocal coach to the stars, etc.

“Tips”
Because we live in an insanely fast-paced world, few people want to take the time or spend the time or invest the time to actually learn something time intensive. So the words “tips”, “quick”, “instantly” or “hacks” have become popular keyword search phrase terms (it’s a lot like the “Diet Pill”: people don’t want to eat right and exercise.
They actually believe there’s a pill that can do that for them).

“How To Sing Better”
The titles: “How to sing”, “Learn to sing,” “How to sing better,” “How to sing for beginners” and so forth are the highest searched phrases for people wanting to learn to sing.

“Instantly”
Again, this is a Clickbait term for what I just previously disclosed regarding the word “Tips”.

So why am I telling you all of this?

The argument could be made: “Hey Ken, didn’t you just use the subject “Clickbait” to clickbait us into watching your video while at the same time using Clickbait terms and phrases?

My answer is yes and no.
My goal is to be completely transparent with you to let you know what’s going on.
And I seldom use Clickbait terms, but in this case, I am and let me explain why.

Do you remember how I said I was going to re-address the subject of search engine optimization?
We are living in a new technological age where big tech and AI decides what content gets put in front of you as a “suggested” video.
That video is being put in front of you based on key elements:
1). Your search habits and videos you’ve already watched that are similar to the one being suggested.
2). Keyword search phrase terms that rank high in “value” for search engines such as the keywords I just mentioned previously.

Unfortunately, most people do not and cannot necessarily distinguish between Clickbait and quality content.
So it takes the phrases that have the highest search value or the highest “ranking” based on the number of people that click on these search phrase terms.
It reminds me of the tourists that pay outrageous prices for lousy food for Main St., ocean front dining, when two blocks back, they can get much better food at 1/3rd of the price. But they just don’t know any better. So it is true of the “Main St. oceanfront dining” of page 1 Google search or suggested views by YouTube.

So if you notice, you will see the majority of the “most viewed videos” using the same keyword search phrase terms.
What does that do? It forces other content providers to use the same (or similar) keyword search phrase terms or not be allowed to “play the game” of getting their video(s) suggested.

Here is why this is so unfortunate.
It is unfortunate because it absolutely crushes creativity, innovation, taking chances with new content, original music or original ideas.

The sad truth is that the reason we keep seeing a regurgitation of cover songs of old music such as Queen, Journey, Guns ‘N Roses and so forth, is because the “search value” of these groups’ names keeps getting pushed to the front page of your suggested views because it is stuck in a feedback loop of people searching it and other people rehashing it to get views (which keeps it at the top).

Now, when you combine that with singers and musicians with the attention span of a gnat, not wanting to spend the time it takes to get really great at something like these timeless artists did, we are stuck with this conundrum.

I hope this video on Clickbait, and my “5 Incredible Tips On How To Sing Better Instantly” will play a small role towards change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLZjG_H3rgc

If you have the time, I recommend watching my first video on “How to sing better instantly” and how I really feel about anything “Instant”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFLtsTj0L9s

Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy – Where the PROOF is in the SINGING!