How Frequently Should You Upload New Videos on YouTube
Does uploading more videos, more frequently help you grow your YouTube channel faster?
Or will YouTube stop promoting your previous video the moment you upload something new?
This article explores how many videos you should upload, how frequently, and how to fit everything into your busy schedule.
So if you want to learn how to speed up the growth of your YouTube channel by uploading more, this article is for you.
How Does the YouTube Algorithm Work?
What happens when you upload a new video to YouTube? Does YouTube stop promoting your previous videos?
Do you need to give your videos breathing room to get maximum views?
YouTube's algorithm will not stop promoting your existing videos when you upload a new video.
But...
Depending on how well your most recent videos performed, your next video will experience either a positive initial boost or a negative penalty.
It all comes down to understanding how to press the right buttons of the YouTube algorithm.
If you were holding back uploads because you were worried about subscriber burnout or wanted to give videos a lot more breathing room before putting something else out…
I can tell you… that is not how it works!
YouTube's main objective is to keep viewers on their platform as long as possible.
That means YouTube heavily prioritizes two ranking factors above all else.
What are the interests and preferences of individual viewers?
Of all the videos that match viewers' preferences, which have the best track record regarding watch time and engagement?
Who watches your YouTube videos
The majority of watch time for most YouTube creators comes from non-subscribers.
Look at your analytics in YouTube Studio by opening the Audience tab.
Then scroll down to "Watch time from subscribers" and compare the two numbers.
Most channels get less than 50% of their views from your actual subscribers.
I bet you didn't even know that.
That is why so many large YouTuber creators say that the subscriber count no longer matters.
If someone subscribes to a YouTube channel but then doesn't watch any of their videos, YouTube will stop recommending this channel's videos to them. (On a side note, here's how to see if someone has subscribed to your YouTube channel.)
You can verify this by looking at your own YouTube homepage.
Most of your video recommendations are based on your recent watch history and viewing habits, not on which channels you are subscribed to.
YouTube always tries to find the best videos for each viewer by predicting what they are most likely interested in watching next.
YouTube does this based on someone's previous watch history, previous search history, how long they watched those videos, and how often they clicked on content from specific creators?
And also, what are the viewing habits of a lookalike audience based on people similar to them who are subscribed to the same type of channels and watch the same kind of videos.
Metrics that the YouTube algorithm considers
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- That is the number of people who click on your YouTube video thumbnail divided by the number of times that YouTube has displayed your thumbnail in search results and related videos.
- Watch time
- The average percentage of minutes that people watch your videos. For example, if you have a 10-minute video and people only watch 3 minutes of it, then your video watch time is 30%.
- Alignment between video topic and viewer interests
- YouTube uses advanced machine learning algorithms to understand the content of each video. It also uses the same techniques to understand and categorize topics each viewer is interested in. YouTube then combines both data sets to bring together videos and people interested in a specific topic.
- Recency of upload
- To prevent an infinite loop in which only the most popular videos are recommended to viewers, YouTube introduced freshness as an important ranking factor, thus giving new videos the chance to outperform older videos.
Other ranking factors that you can consider optimizing for your Wow-Factor videos
- Metadata / SEO
- Videos with complete metadata, including title, video description, tags, subtitles, etc., have a better chance of being recommended for two reasons. They are considered higher production quality because most creators don't bother updating anything beyond the video title and are an indicator of quality. They also allow YouTube to confirm if their understanding of a video matches the creator's metadata. Please note that YouTube will ignore the creator's data if it does not match, at least in part, with YouTube's AI algorithm assessment.
- Title
- Optimizing your video title in combination with your thumbnail has a huge impact on your video clickthrough rate. The higher your click-through rate, the more YouTube will show it to more creators. If the video has a high percentage of watch time, the video will be permanently boosted on YouTube.
- Description
- Your video description allows you to include a written summary of your video content. YouTube uses Google's systems to classify text and extract topics from it. These insights are compared with insights from automatic video transcription. If both match, then YouTube will recommend your video with more confidence to people who share the same interests.
- Subtitles
- YouTube automatically transcribes every video and creates subtitles from it. Accessibility is only a secondary benefit of this. The main reason why YouTube is transcribing videos with voice recognition software is to create machine-readable content that can be processed by its AI to classify a video and to extrapolate video topics from each video to then match it with matching audiences who share the same interests.
- Visual video content
- YouTube's AI is quite capable of understanding any written text in images, as well as a wide variety of objects via its AI. This information is used to further classify the topics and themes of each video.
- Tags
- Video tags allow you to use phrases that people might type into the YouTube search engine. I use the TubeBuddy Keyword Explorer to identify phrases that have a high search volume but few matching videos. This way, it is possible to optimize videos for YouTube SEO and get early traffic even if your channel has very little or even no traffic at all.
- Production Quality
- Did you know that YouTube measures the production quality of each of your videos? Crazy, right? They look at a variety of different factors that its AI has previously identified, for example, if someone spent the time to add complete metadata to a video, uploaded their own subtitles, added a unique thumbnail, used background music, use overlays, transitions, good video quality, lighting, and audio quality, etc. Videos of higher quality rank better because YouTube knows from experience that these videos are on average watched more and keep viewers on their platform longer.
- Thumbnail
- A custom thumbnail is a must if you want to achieve a high click-through rate for your YouTube videos. You can check out my article on how to find the best video thumbnail ideas in this article.
- Video quality
- The quality of your video has very little to do with your camera and lens. Lighting is much more important. Before you invest in a new camera, consider buying a professional LED light source for your home studio.
- B-Roll
- Adding b-roll footage to your videos, whether you recorded it yourself or bought it from a subscription service such as Artgrid, makes almost every video ten times more interesting. The reason this works is that the human eye and brain quickly get tired of looking at the same person talking for a long time. By overlaying video clips that match specific keywords you are talking about, you help viewers visualize and stay more engaged throughout the video.
- Music
- Adding music to your video can instantly change your mood and amplify everything you show on screens. I recommend checking out my article about royalty-free music for some guidance on selecting an affordable subscription service for your YouTube channel that does not break the bank.
- Transitions
- Adding animated transitions with section title overlays to your YouTube videos makes your videos easier to digest. It also has the added benefit of enabling the YouTube auto chapter system to add chapters to your videos without the need to timestamp them in your video description.
- Engagement
- Far less important than in the past are engagement metrics such as views, likes, comments, and shares. From my experience, the number of comments in combination with your comment quality (length + uniqueness) plays by far the biggest ranking factor overall.
- Early traffic
- If you can drive early traffic to your YouTube video, you can kickstart the YouTube algorithm so that it starts to recommend your video to a wider organic audience from the start. I recommend promoting new videos on your email list and on social media the moment a new video goes live.
YouTube notifications
People who have turned on notifications will receive an alert every time you upload a video.
Notifications are very important and are often responsible for most views within the first hour of uploading a video.
I recommend adjusting your call-to-action at the end of your video by asking your viewers to subscribe and turn on notifications.
You can also create your own notifications by promoting new uploads to your email list and social networks to boost your initial engagement.
You can learn more about why notifications are so important in this article, in which I break down the YouTube algorithm in detail.
How Uploading More Frequently Helps You Grow Your Channel
Take advantage of YouTube's freshness bonus
When someone watches a high percentage of one of your videos, YouTube will instantly recommend some of your other videos in their newsfeed.
This is usually a mix of some of your most popular, related videos with a proven watch time track record and some of your most recent videos.
New videos always receive a freshness algorithm boost from the YouTube algorithm and often by viewers, who are often interested in recent news and events.
By uploading more frequently, you essentially double the number of recommended videos a new viewer will see in their newsfeed.
Each fresh video view creates a new opportunity loop that you can hijack with a regular upload schedule.
Become a more charismatic YouTuber.
There are very few people who are naturally charismatic.
Most people have to practice, practice, practice to feel more comfortable in front of the lens.
The more videos you record, the easier it will be.
But...
If you take a break in between, the confidence boost effect will slowly fade away.
That is why it is so important to record regularly so that you never miss your spark.
Maximize your potential to go viral
Simply by uploading more videos about more topics, you increase the likelihood that you hit the nail on the head sooner than later.
Enjoy the benefits of having a clear YouTube Content Cluster
By uploading more videos on related topics, YouTube will better understand which content cluster your YouTube channel is targeting.
The more confident YouTube is about your particular niche, the more likely they are to recommend your videos to viewers in your niche.
The Risks of Uploading Too Many Videos to Your YouTube Channel
What is more important for YouTube growth?
Video quality?
Video quantity?
As discussed earlier, there are many advantages of uploading videos more frequently.
BUT...
If you upload many poor quality videos, you can harm your channel growth.
If your video watch time is consistently low, YouTube will stop recommending your videos and give future videos an initial penalty on your next upload.
Meaning:
Because YouTube is less confident about the quality of your videos, they will show new videos to fewer people at a slower pace to test how they are doing.
And only then, when YouTube feels confident again that your video is valuable, will it speed up organic discoverability to new viewers.
That is why it is super important to always keep a minimum level of quality at all times to not jeopardize your growth.
If you cannot maintain that minimum quality level with every video, it is better to decrease your upload frequency until all your videos are of reasonable quality.
How Many Videos Are Enough?
Is uploading daily on YouTube good?
How many videos do you have to upload to YouTube to be successful?
There is no blanket answer to this.
Every genre and culture on YouTube is different.
If you are a daily news show, obviously, you must upload every day.
If you are the person with the latest news, you must upload whenever there is a new story. Maybe even multiple times a day.
And guess what, it does not hurt these channels at all.
But only because people are interested in these types of videos.
Look at what is normal for the type of channel you want to build.
This will often dictate a certain range of acceptable upload schedules.
Best Upload Schedule for Views, Subscribers, and Watch Time
What time is the best time to upload a YouTube video? Should I post two videos a day on YouTube? Does scheduling a YouTube video affect my video views?
Uploading YouTube videos consistently really helps you get more YouTube subscribers fast.
But how frequently should you upload a new video for the best results?
Once a month? Perhaps... But only if each of your videos is a true masterpiece of the highest possible production quality standard that requires weeks of research, filming, and editing to complete.
If you want to get results faster, you need a much shorter upload cycle.
If you are just starting out, you can start by uploading a new video every other week and then slowly, as your filming and editing skills improve, you can shorten your schedule.
I recommend filming at least one video every week for most creators.
This is totally doable, even if you are just a part-time YouTuber with a full-time job.
Ideally, you also want to pick a specific weekday, for example, every Wednesday, so people can get excited in anticipation of seeing your new video.
Viewing habits play an important role in the number of views you get within the first 24 hours after publishing a new video.
If you are serious about your YouTube journey, meaning that you want to turn your YouTube career into a sustainable business that will eventually allow you to become a full-time YouTuber, you should aim for an even more ambitious upload cycle of 2-3 videos or more each week.
This requires systems and processes to organize your time and a lot of effort and discipline.
Depending on your budget, you may have to think about hiring a team to help you with your production schedule.
Most video creators will see huge benefits, including more time and less stress, from hiring a video editor.
Make sure you decide on a schedule that fits your goals and stick with it.
For the rest of this article, I am going to assume that you are aiming for an ambitious upload schedule of 2-3 videos every week.
So let me show you how to put this into practice.
How to Grow Your YouTube Channel Faster by Uploading More Videos?
Optimize your research workflow
I recommend spending a good amount of time developing your Content Cluster strategy so that you are always 100% clear about whether a video idea would fit into your big picture content strategy.
You can check out this article to learn how to develop a content cluster strategy completely from scratch.
Use keyword tools to evaluate video ideas
I recommend shortening your research time on specific video ideas but testing each idea with TubeBuddy's Keyword Explorer tool.
It will quickly tell you how many people are searching for the topic of your video.
And how many competing videos cover the same topic.
This way, you can swiftly identify high-search-volume, low-competition keywords that are easier to rank for.
But don't spend too much time finding search phrases with a perfect score.
Any "green" rating is good enough.
What type of videos should you create if you want to upload more frequently
While most creators naturally tend to focus on uploading pretty and polished videos, if you want to implement a tighter upload schedule, you have to rethink your strategy.
I recommend creating a mix of polished Cha Bu Duo videos for the majority of your content and the occasional Picture Perfect masterpiece once every one to two weeks for best results.
Learn how to make Cha Bu Duo videos
Cha Bu Duo (差不多) is a Chinese expression that loosely translates to "close enough".
The idea is to create something that gets the job done, nothing more, nothing less, and especially no gold plating on top.
These Cha Bu Duo videos are hyper-focused and only optimize for 2-3 essential YouTube ranking factors that are most critical for success.
This process starts when you research new video ideas. There is no need to spend 10 minutes optimizing the perfect video title with the highest search volume and the lowest competition.
Start by visiting the YouTube homepage and start typing phrases into the search field slowly, word by word, until YouTube shows you autocomplete suggestions. These are popular YouTube search phrases.
Take any complete phrase and copy it over into the TubeBuddy keyword explorer tool. Anything yellow and above is good enough.
Then switch to your next video idea.
Don't overthink the scripting process.
Never write a word-by-word script. Instead, create a bullet point list and outline 2-3 core ideas that you want to cover in your video.
You can use the free version of ClickUp and Workflowy to organize your ideas. Both have mobile apps for your phone that allow you to remind yourself of all the videos that you want to film when you are on the go.
When you film your videos, keep everything simple. Bring the gear that is quickest to set up.
You can film indoors or outdoors, depending on the weather. Keep it as simple as possible. You don't need a home studio. Your couch or kitchen table is good enough.
Let me introduce you to a different Chinese concept from the Thirty-Six Stratagems that can be loosely translated to: seize the opportunity, or if you go for a walk and notice a $100 bill lying on the ground, pick it up! (順手牽羊).
The idea is that something does not require a lot of extra effort to receive a benefit.
For example, if you have to drive to work every day, why not record a YouTube video during your journey? This only requires minimal extra effort, with the potential of big results.
If you do daily walks anyway, why not do a walk and vlog? (If you need help with coming up with vlogging ideas, check out my article: Best Q&A Questions & Content Ideas for Vlogging.)
If you rent an office at a co-working space, why not record your videos there after work?
This way, you are more likely to get all videos recorded instead of overthinking how and where to film them.
When you edit your videos, use a tool such as Timebolt to create a rough cut and avoid any type of special effects, b-roll, transitions, sound effects, etc.
Remember that you are not striving for perfection!
Pretty good is good enough.
Wow-Factor videos
Then, occasionally, you want to create a picture-perfect masterpiece video to blow your audience away.
Here you optimize every aspect of your YouTube video from A-Z. Each step is more detailed, and you give yourself enough time to do everything properly.
You spend more time researching each topic in the video.
Your video outline can be much more detailed.
Your video length can be longer.
It is possible to take more time to film, including bringing out your best video gear and filming at the most interesting locations.
B-roll and video effects can be used to improve the quality of your videos.
Adding royalty-free music to your videos can make them more memorable.
These high-gloss videos often have great potential to become evergreen.
They also help you become a better filmmaker by experimenting with new filming and editing techniques and will improve your YouTube videos in general.
Best content mix for maximum results with a fast upload schedule
Quality and quantity do not matter if there is no value for the viewer.
When you think about how much you should upload on YouTube, consider if uploading more delivers more value to people who need your content?
You have to be able to answer that question.
Now, if uploading more diminishes the value in some way, then it is not helpful.
If it enhances the value, then it is.
So, make a decision and stick with it.
How long should my YouTube videos be?
The ideal video length for most of your Cha Bu Duo videos should be less than 10 minutes long. I recommend 3-7 minutes on average.
Alternatively, you can also consider replacing your Cha Bu Duo video strategy with a YouTube Shorts strategy, which limits the video length to 60 seconds.
Your Picture-Perfect videos can be more than 10 minutes if needed.
Should you use a script?
Whether that value is entertainment, education, or a bit of both.
The more you plan your videos, the more likely you can create something that is concise to the point and delivers the value the viewers are looking for.
Writing a script will really help you execute your YouTube content strategy.
But if you want to upload more and more frequently, you cannot outline each of your videos word by word.
Instead, focus on writing bullet point outlines for multiple videos in bulk.
What is the ideal number of retakes?
A tight production schedule also requires you to be less perfectionist when it comes to filming multiple retakes.
You just don't have time for it.
Although it will take a while to get everything done in one take, most people should be able to record everything they need in 3-5 takes max.
What is the best gear to film more videos?
What can I say?
Don't worry too much about gear, especially if you are a small YouTube creator.
It is important that your equipment is reliable and can be set up rapidly.
The more time you have to spend setting up your shoot, the fewer videos you will be able to squeeze into your busy schedule.
Start with an instant value proposition
Don't waste the first precious seconds of your videos for intro music and channel logo animations.
Instead, instantly summarize the content of your video and why someone should watch it at the beginning.
This will dramatically increase your video watch time and allow you to send the right signals to the YouTube algorithm, so uploading videos more frequently will work for your channel.
Create a strong emotional impact
Here is the secret to making uploading more videos work.
You can simplify and shorten your research time, write shorter outlines, and be less perfectionist.
But what you cannot be is boring!
That is why you have to hype yourself up before you turn on the camera.
This way, you will sound more energetic and passionate about whatever topic you are going to talk about.
Every time you film, I want you to think about capturing emotions.
People will not remember what you said or what you did.
But people will always remember how you made them feel.
Think about the emotion that you want to evoke from someone who is watching your video.
Focus on your vocal delivery
When someone is really engaged with your video, they will watch a higher percentage of your video and are more likely to subscribe to your channel.
That is why I want to focus on improving your on-camera performance.
Especially your vocal delivery.
Developing a charismatic voice is much more important than having a better camera.
Film multiple videos in bulk
Finally, make sure to film your videos in bulk.
When doing something multiple times in a row, you save a lot of time.
And you get better and faster with each additional task.
This is called economies-of-scale if you want to geek out a bit.
Streamline your editing process
If you do a lot of pauses in your video, sign up for TimeBolt. It allows you to remove all the gaps in your video in seconds.
If you have a lot of filler words, consider signing up for Descript.
It has a built-in filler removal tool and also allows you to edit your videos in a text editor.
If your budget allows, hire a video editor on Fiverr.
If you want to edit yourself, make sure to plan a bulk editing session in which you edit multiple videos in bulk.
If you want to enhance your production quality with music, sign up for a paid, royalty-free music subscription service. This will save you hours of searching for free songs without ever having to worry about copyright.
Schedule all of your videos ahead of time
Once you have edited and uploaded all your videos, take advantage of TubeBuddy's scheduler tool.
Boost initial views with email and social media
I also recommend scheduling promotional social media posts in an app like SocialBee. This way, your video will automatically be promoted the moment your video goes live.
This will increase your initial views and give the YouTube algorithm the confidence it needs to promote your videos to new audiences.
How to Grow a Successful YouTube Business / What Is the Key to Success on YouTube?
It is entirely possible to accelerate the growth of your YouTube channel by uploading more videos more frequently without burning out.
The secret to success is to balance the ratio of "good enough" videos and "perfect" videos.
Most of your videos should be low-effort, medium-return, so you are capable of fitting everything into your busy schedule without breaking down.
Once a week or once every two weeks, you should create a high-effort, high-return masterpiece video to wow your audience so that they keep watching your regular videos in anticipation of your next blockbuster.
If you want to learn more about how to grow a successful YouTube business that allows you to eventually quit your 9-5 job to become a full-time YouTuber, you can also check out my article on how to get your first 1,000 subscribers and first 4,000 hours of watch time to be eligible for YouTube's partner program.
Next, you can learn how to design better thumbnails and how to write better video titles to skyrocket your video click-through rate.
If you are just starting out, you should have a look at my content cluster strategy article that shows you how to define a killer content strategy for your YouTube channel that the YouTube algorithm will love.
I also recently published an article on how to dramatically improve the production quality of your videos by adding royalty-free background music to your videos.
And, of course, you can read my series on making money on YouTube here.
