How to Increase YouTube Shorts Views

Getting your YouTube Shorts in front of more people isn't about chasing a secret formula, it's about understanding what makes viewers stop scrolling. This guide will walk you through actionable strategies for crafting Shorts that grab attention, keep people watching, and signal to the YouTube algorithm that your content is worth pushing to a wider audience.

Hook Them in the First Three Seconds

On the Shorts feed, attention is the scarcest resource you have. You don't have minutes or even thirty seconds to build up to a point. If you haven't given someone a reason to keep watching within the first three seconds, they're already gone. The hook is everything.

Your opening needs to be immediate and impactful. Think about what a user is experiencing as they scroll: a rapid-fire sequence of videos vying for a sliver of their time. Your goal is to be the one that instantly breaks that pattern.

How to Craft an Unskippable Hook:

• Start with Peak Action: Don't show the setup, show the payoff first. If you're creating a food Short, begin with the finished, insanely delicious-looking dish before showing how you made it. If it's a DIY project, lead with the amazing "after" shot. This creates an immediate "How did they do that?" moment.
• Pose a Provocative Question: Use on-screen text or a voiceover to ask a question your ideal viewer can't help but want answered. For example, a personal finance creator could start with, "Are you making this common budgeting mistake?"
• Make a Bold or Contrarian Statement: Saying something that goes against conventional wisdom is a powerful way to make people stop. A fitness coach might say, "Doing 1,000 crunches a day is a waste of your time. Here's why." It creates instant curiosity.
• Use Intriguing Visuals: Open with a strange, visually interesting, or unexpected shot that doesn't immediately make sense. This visual disconnect forces the viewer's brain to pause and try to figure out what's going on, giving you a few extra seconds to deliver your message.

Master the Art of the Seamless Loop

One of the most powerful metrics for the YouTube Shorts algorithm is Average View Duration (AVD) and Audience Retention. When your AVD exceeds 100%, it means people aren't just watching your Short to the end - they're watching it again. This is a massive signal to YouTube that your content is sticky and engaging.

A "seamless loop" is a video that ends in a way that flows perfectly back into its beginning, encouraging viewers to watch it multiple times without even realizing it. They get caught in the loop, and your view duration skyrockets.

Techniques for Creating Perfect Loops:

• Match Your First and Last Scenes: The simplest way to create a loop is to make the final frame of your video nearly identical to the first. For a "day in the life" clip, you could start with a shot of you waking up and end with a nearly identical shot of you going to bed, creating a clean cycle.
• Use Sound Design: Let the audio guide the loop. A sound effect or a piece of music can reach its peak, cut out, and then start again just as the video restarts, making the transition feel natural and intentional. Many trending audio clips are designed specifically for this purpose.
• Create "Wait For It" Moments: Structure your video so the "reveal" or punchline happens in the last second. When viewers miss it or want to see it again, they naturally re-watch. This is particularly effective for satisfying, surprising, or funny content.

Ride the Wave of Trending Audio and Topics

YouTube, like other short-form video platforms, wants to keep users entertained by showing them content that feels fun and relevant. Using trending audio clips is one of the easiest ways to get your foot in the door. When a sound is trending, YouTube is actively looking for more Shorts that use it so it can serve that content to users who have already shown an interest in it.

This isn't about just copying someone else's video. It's about taking a popular format or sound and putting your own unique spin on it that aligns with your niche and brand.

How to Find and Use Trends Effectively:

1. Browse the Shorts Feed: The most straightforward research you can do is simply spending 10-15 minutes scrolling through the Shorts feed. What sounds, songs, or video formats are you seeing repeatedly? That's your trend.
2. Check the Audio Library: When creating a Short in the YouTube app, tap "Add sound." The app will show you a list of top and recommended sounds right there.
3. Adapt, Don't Just Copy: The most successful creators don't just redo a trend, they adapt it. How can you use that trending lip-sync audio to tell a story about starting your own business? How can you apply that popular meme format to a problem your audience faces in their daily lives? The combination of familiarity (the trend) and novelty (your unique take) is a powerful recipe for views.

Optimize Your Title, Hashtags, and Description

Even though Shorts discovery is heavily driven by the swipe-up feed, search and suggested videos still play an important role. Treating your Shorts with a light SEO mindset can give them a longer shelf life and help them get discovered by the right people, even weeks after you've posted.

Your title and description are small but important pieces of metadata that help YouTube's algorithm understand what your video is about and who might want to see it.

Simple SEO for YouTube Shorts:

• Write Curiosity-Driven Titles: Your title should be short, punchy, and make someone want to know more, just like your hook. Instead of "How to make a great cup of coffee," try "You're Making Coffee Wrong." Incorporate a primary keyword naturally if possible.
• Always Include `#shorts`: This is a direct instruction from YouTube. Including `#shorts` in the title or the description helps their system specifically identify and categorize your video as a Short, which can improve its distribution.
• Add Relevant Hashtags: Beyond `#shorts`, add 3-5 other hashtags that are highly relevant to your video's content. If you're sharing a coding tip, use hashtags like `#programming`, `#webdevelopment`, and `#techtips`. This provides extra context for the algorithm.
• Don't Skip the Description: You don't need to write an essay, but a short sentence providing more context about the video can be valuable. A simple sentence like, "Here's the simple website design trick I use to impress every client," adds more searchable keywords.

A Consistent Publishing Rhythm Feeds the Algorithm

The YouTube algorithm favors creators who show up consistently. When you regularly upload content, you're not just building a habit with your audience, you're providing the algorithm with more data about what your channel is about and who enjoys your content. Each Short you publish is another opportunity for the system to learn and find your ideal viewers.

This doesn't mean you have to burn out by posting five times a day. It means finding a pace you can sustain for the long haul, whether that's one Short a day or three times per week. The rhythm is more important than the raw volume.

Tips for Staying Consistent:

• Batch Your Creation: Set aside a few hours once a week to film and edit multiple Shorts at once. This single "creation block" can provide you with content for the entire week, freeing you from a daily creative grind.
• Look at Your Analytics: Once you have some Shorts published, check your YouTube Analytics to see if certain days or times of the day perform better. Over time, you can tailor your posting schedule to align with when your audience is most active.
• Simplicity is Your Friend: Not every Short needs to be a masterpiece. Some of your best-performing videos might be simple, low-effort takes on a trend or a quick tip you film at your desk. Don't let perfectionism get in the way of consistency.

Convert Long-Form Content into Shorts

If you're already creating long-form videos for YouTube, you're sitting on a goldmine of potential Shorts content. Repurposing pieces of your longer videos is an incredibly efficient way to stay consistent and promote your primary content at the same time.

Viewers who discover you through a quick, engaging Short may be intrigued enough to visit your channel and watch the full-length video that it came from, turning a momentary view into a long-term subscriber.

Smart Ways to Repurpose:

• Pull Out "Golden Nuggets": Review your long-form videos and identify the most impactful moments. This could be a powerful quote, a key takeaway, a funny outtake, or a surprising statistic. Clip these 15-60 second highlights and format them vertically for Shorts.
• Create Mini-Tutorials: If your full video is a step-by-step tutorial, pull out a single, quick step and present it as a standalone tip in a Short. Add text overlays summarizing the essentials.
• Use Shorts as Trailers: Create a fast-paced cut trailer for an upcoming or recent long-form video. Show the most exciting clips back-to-back to build hype and end with a call-to-action to watch the full video on your channel.
• Important Note: When repurposing, always edit the video for a vertical format (9:16 aspect ratio). If you're also sharing clips from platforms like TikTok or Instagram, make sure you download the video without their watermark. Platforms tend to suppress content that cross-promotes competitors.

Final Thoughts

Growing your views on YouTube Shorts comes down to mastering the hook, keeping viewers engaged with loops and trends, and consistently signaling to the algorithm what your content is about. Focus on making each Short count by being direct, relevant, and creative, and you'll create a powerful funnel for channel growth.

Building that consistency and repurposing content across Shorts, Reels, and TikTok can be a serious grind. I experienced this myself, which is why we built Postbase. We made a tool designed specifically for today's short-form video world, allowing you to plan everything on one visual calendar, schedule across platforms simultaneously, and see what's working without needing to jump between five different apps. It gives you back the time to focus on creating videos that stop the scroll.