Using Analytics to make better content?

Skyd

Skyd

Wannabie Member
I've been doing content creation for quite a while now although I've not been real successful with it, I know how to use Google analytics to interpret what's working or not working on my websites. But I'm new to the video world and using YT analytics in a way that will help me out.

It seems like aside from the obvious number of views and new subs....the most important things would be click through rate, retention, and watch time. Maybe?

Anyway, I guess I'm wondering what you all have found to be the best things to look at and what good or bad numbers look like. What's a good or bad CTR for example? Retention percentage? I have no clue if my stuff is performing ok or poorly.

And then how do you use this info to make better content and grow your channel? Example, I would think a better CTR would show you what's working for title and thumbnail and the opposite would show you what's not working.

My best video is one I did on flushing the brake fluid on my Hawk and has more than double the views of any of my other HUGE library of like 7 videos, HAHA, but I don't know why it's done better. It was an earlier one and frankly it's not that great IMO. I wasn't real comfortable talking to the camera, the editing was sorta sub par, etc etc.

Wow - I got long winded here but hopefully gave you the gist of where my thought process is. Looking forward to hearing what you all think on this topic.
 
Some of the numbers are all relative, motovloghing being a smaller niche, I am not sure some of the metrics YouTube people talk about for target numbers are really accurate, but for motovlogs your stats get compared to videos like it.

I have it really seem numbers from myself and @Drakhen99 , but the breakdown for both of us pretty similar.

CTR - This is how well your thumbnail and title are working, if this is really low, swap out the the thumbnail or mix up the title a bit, and see if it improves. My vids hey 8%-20% on the first 24-48 hours, when the subscription feed drives traffic to new vids. After that it drops, my channel average is right around 4%, the last couple vids have done well for me, last 28 days I am at 4.7% now. Drakhen can update his numbers if he wants, but I think average across YT is about 3%, so if you are doing over that, you are doing ok. I bet some of the channels that blow up and grow superfast, are way above that.

I look at retention, to try to figure out how to make my vids better, there is a lot to that, it is part how long they watch, but also when they leave your vid, for example, I am trying doing much shorter intro information and getting it to the meat of the vlog quicker, to see if I lose less people in the intro phase.

My average view percentages are all over the place actually, my average view duration is almost always 4:30-5:00, even though my vids range from 6 minutes to 20 minutes. I think 5-7 minutes is about the limit of people's short attention span.

The other metric I look at is the impressions numbers, those will tell you if your description and tags are working to get your videos seen. You can couple those, with the search terms people actually used to find your video to change your tags and keywords to get to those search terms that are working.

There is a lot to this, hopefully that helps, ask more if there is something that didn't make sense. Those numbers are also only from my tiny little channel. I really have nothing to compare it to, since I can't go look at other channels stats.
 
Nice Post @Dewey316

I mainly try to focus on retention, as for me that is the biggest metric to suggest people are enjoying the video.
I find "How To" videos get great retention, even if my explanation is not very well executed lol.
Bike reviews get the best views for me generally.
My best performing video is showing people how to mount their 360 cameras, which continues to get a lot of views daily (in relation to my other content).
My shorter videos get a higher percentage watched, but mostly my longer vids get much more view time it is just that the percentage is a lot lower.
I think if you are constantly seeing close to or above a 50% viewer retention, then you are doing great. That is my goal, to get more videos hitting that sort of stat.
 
Wow @Dewey316 thanks for the detailed info and also to HippoDrone for the added bit. I'm decently well versed in analytics for websites but ya like I say, these metrics are a bit new to me. That was a good explanation and made sense to me.

Two things you said that hadn't even occurred to me. Changing my thumbnail and/or title to see how it affects my CTR. The other thing is tags....I haven't used any I don't think. Tags for website building have more or less lost thier SEO and are really only used for organization at this point so it never occurred to me that perhaps they're useful on YT still.

I'll have to dive in when I get home with a fresh perspective to see what my little world is doing.
 
Skyd said:
Wow @Dewey316 thanks for the detailed info and also to HippoDrone for the added bit. I'm decently well versed in analytics for websites but ya like I say, these metrics are a bit new to me. That was a good explanation and made sense to me.

Two things you said that hadn't even occurred to me. Changing my thumbnail and/or title to see how it affects my CTR. The other thing is tags....I haven't used any I don't think. Tags for website building have more or less lost thier SEO and are really only used for organization at this point so it never occurred to me that perhaps they're useful on YT still.

I'll have to dive in when I get home with a fresh perspective to see what my little world is doing.
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My understanding is the title and description are primary for SEO, bit tags are used, just not weighted as heavily. They are also useful for common misspelling. Tags are there, so I use. Even if it is a small use, anything that can drive traffic I will take the time to fill out.
 
My average CTR for my channel is 7.4%, with an AVD of 39.4%. But I do more than just motovlogs - I do how-tos, Davinci Resolve tutorials, testing videos, installation/setup videos, and there's one RAM 1500 how-to video. I have a few vids at >10% CTR, basically those how-tos and installation vids.

For just my motovlogs, my CTR is around 4-5%. It always starts out high when my subs are watching, and then drops off quickly. I've seen as high as 25% CTR after a day, but it always drops off until YT doesn't really show it much.

My AVD for the motovlogs is 5-6 minutes, but that's growing higher as my vids in general get longer, so it's 30-50% AVD.

It's hard to get good stats when you do a range of things and the lengths aren't uniform AT ALL. I have vids from 2m to 26m long.

I strive for a 5% CTR and a 50% AVD for my vids. If you check the analytics for Intro/Spikes/Dips, you'll see what works and what doesn't, and you can adjust from there. At the end of the day, however, I make the vids I want to make, and let the chips fall where they may. Pacing and cutting the fluff are the #1 and #2 things to look at though. Dewey watched my latest vid today and said he was surprised that 20m went by that fast. That's evidence of good pacing and keeping the viewer interested. Of course, I had the "when's he gonna lose his 360 camera?" going for the first several minutes, and what I think was a good "hook" to get the viewer interested. Not all [or many] of my vlogs will have that - it's just the nature of what I do.

I have found that if I force something, or try to talk about an "in the moment" topic [which gets lots of views and subs] for which I'm not an expert, the viewers sense that - or I'm just not "me", and it turns people off. So, I try to make vids *I* think are good, and let it be.

I've said it before, but people watching vlogs on YT are more interested in your personality than anything else, so if you're acting like someone else, you better be good at it - and I am NOT. Ever since I stopped censoring myself [and trusted the editor in me to bleep it out later], I've found my CTR & AVD have gone up, as has my sub count.

My main takeaways from looking at the stats are to talk about non-YouTube stuff, don't complain too much [unless it's a rant video I guess], keep the intro short & sweet or non-existent, and cut out the fluff.

Then again, there's vloggers who do very minimal editing and leave the dead air in, and they've got thousands of subs, so what do I know?

-John
 
Drakhen99 said:
My average CTR for my channel is 7.4%, with an AVD of 39.4%. But I do more than just motovlogs - I do how-tos, Davinci Resolve tutorials, testing videos, installation/setup videos, and there's one RAM 1500 how-to video. I have a few vids at >10% CTR, basically those how-tos and installation vids.

For just my motovlogs, my CTR is around 4-5%. It always starts out high when my subs are watching, and then drops off quickly. I've seen as high as 25% CTR after a day, but it always drops off until YT doesn't really show it much.

My AVD for the motovlogs is 5-6 minutes, but that's growing higher as my vids in general get longer, so it's 30-50% AVD.

It's hard to get good stats when you do a range of things and the lengths aren't uniform AT ALL. I have vids from 2m to 26m long.

I strive for a 5% CTR and a 50% AVD for my vids. If you check the analytics for Intro/Spikes/Dips, you'll see what works and what doesn't, and you can adjust from there. At the end of the day, however, I make the vids I want to make, and let the chips fall where they may. Pacing and cutting the fluff are the #1 and #2 things to look at though. Dewey watched my latest vid today and said he was surprised that 20m went by that fast. That's evidence of good pacing and keeping the viewer interested. Of course, I had the "when's he gonna lose his 360 camera?" going for the first several minutes, and what I think was a good "hook" to get the viewer interested. Not all [or many] of my vlogs will have that - it's just the nature of what I do.

I have found that if I force something, or try to talk about an "in the moment" topic [which gets lots of views and subs] for which I'm not an expert, the viewers sense that - or I'm just not "me", and it turns people off. So, I try to make vids *I* think are good, and let it be.

I've said it before, but people watching vlogs on YT are more interested in your personality than anything else, so if you're acting like someone else, you better be good at it - and I am NOT. Ever since I stopped censoring myself [and trusted the editor in me to bleep it out later], I've found my CTR & AVD have gone up, as has my sub count.

My main takeaways from looking at the stats are to talk about non-YouTube stuff, don't complain too much [unless it's a rant video I guess], keep the intro short & sweet or non-existent, and cut out the fluff.

Then again, there's vloggers who do very minimal editing and leave the dead air in, and they've got thousands of subs, so what do I know?

-John
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For sure different strategies work for different people and types of videos. I, like you, intend to have a bit of a mix with how-to's/wrenching (already have some up) some motovlogging, and some reviews, maybe something else I dunno we'll see.

I agree though, we have to do what we are interested in and what's fun for us otherwise people see through it and can tell it's forced which is unappealing. I've gotten 30 seconds in and gone, this dudes fake...skip.

But ya, thanks for the info that's actually quite helpful. I'm not so much looking at analytics to change myself or what I do videos about, but more to see what's working and what isn't. Maybe more stuff needs to hit the cutting room floor or maybe I'm leaving out stuff that people seem to enjoy.

My newest video has my first ACTUAL motovlogging in it and I was surprised to see my retention through the first 6 or 7 minutes of the vlogging portion was excellent. It started to drop off once I had delivered the meat and potatoes of info, which is to be expected.

I just really had no clue what a good CTR or view duration was for example. I'll have to go look at my stats again and see. I try not to obsess over stats because it can be a time waster but there is some good info there worth investigating.
 
Glad it was helpful... the one thing I forgot is "Continuous Segment" - that analytic data point tells me a lot. It really shows where people were glued to their screen watching your content, and can give you a clue as to what works for your viewers.

I've had several "throwaway" topics that popped into my head, so I talked about them on camera. I kept them in, only because I felt they were funny or interesting or whatever, and they're some of my biggest continuous segments... and they're not even motorcycle-related.

-John
 
Drakhen99 said:
Glad it was helpful... the one thing I forgot is "Continuous Segment" - that analytic data point tells me a lot. It really shows where people were glued to their screen watching your content, and can give you a clue as to what works for your viewers.

I've had several "throwaway" topics that popped into my head, so I talked about them on camera. I kept them in, only because I felt they were funny or interesting or whatever, and they're some of my biggest continuous segments... and they're not even motorcycle-related.

-John
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Ya that was what stuck out from my last video was a 6 minute continuous segment, it actually really surprised me as I don't feel like I'm all the electrifying. LOL
 
Skyd said:
Ya that was what stuck out from my last video was a 6 minute continuous segment, it actually really surprised me as I don't feel like I'm all the electrifying. LOL
Click to expand...

If you're telling a story, and it's a good one, it happens. Ask me how I know :D

-John
 
How to's & reviews are always popular, my most successful video is a seat hack for my bike, took literally 10 mins to record and twenty mins to edit and upload. Close to being my worst production yet but has brought my channel much needed growth. It's poorly executed and terribly filmed but what people wanted it seems. In that instance it was a niche problem no one else had solved. Luck, timing and a unique requirement. Win.

I'm struggling with the stats on all my videos in that I don't know what half of them mean so I tend to not worry too much. I wouldn't know if a CTR of 7% was better than 4%? I'm assuming the higher the percentage the better? I like playing with my Thumbnails and improving them, even on my older ones to freshen the channel up when I get a few minutes spare (rarely). I look at the main stats via the YT Studio app but don't really know how to improve them, I just like it when I see an improved overall watch time or/and views. 1% female views 1% better than I had previosly due I think to my wife joining the fun recently. I'll not be stressing about going in to detail on the stats, just going to keep enjoying doing what I do I think and see where it goes.
 
You can easily get lost in stats and go round in circles and come out with nothing. When I first started doing contect creation (or Internet marketing as I used to refer to it) I was on Analytics DAILY. For a website, that's just silly....Everything you do on a website happens months out.

Anyway, the stats themselves I mostly understand and know what's better or worse. I get impressions, and click through rate and how that turns into views and time watched, etc etc.

What I have zero idea about is what's good or bad on Youtube, what does youtube see and go...oh man this sucks, stop recommending it. LOL

That being said, my latest video is BLOWING UP (in relation to my others) It's got over 3x the views in the first 4 days as any other video and I think it's got decent retention and CTR but again, I'm not sure what to expect or aim for here.
 
Maybe I'm naïve, but I haven't bothered to use any of my analytic data at all so far. I simply make videos I want to make and put them online for people to either enjoy or ignore! :D

Maybe one day I'll delve a bit deeper into the data and try to put some of it to use.
 
Moto Mengy said:
Maybe I'm naïve, but I haven't bothered to use any of my analytic data at all so far. I simply make videos I want to make and put them online for people to either enjoy or ignore! :D

Maybe one day I'll delve a bit deeper into the data and try to put some of it to use.
Click to expand...

Ya ultimately I'm going to make the videos I want to make, however I think there's good info there to help with editing, thumbnails, and titles. I figure why not optimize what I can, plus I kind of enjoy SEO so it's part of the process for me.

Drakhen99 said:
And you're better off for it! I put way too much time & effort into YT, for the results I actually get.

-John
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Well that's the rub isn't it - What's the ROI? For sure mine is low at the moment but as long as I'm not doing it because I feel I have to, and I do it because I want to....I'm ok with that.
 
Skyd said:
Well that's the rub isn't it - What's the ROI? For sure mine is low at the moment but as long as I'm not doing it because I feel I have to, and I do it because I want to....I'm ok with that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been trying to do pure vlogs lately, and as it turns out, I'm just not that interested or intelligent, so I think I'll stick with testing 360 mounts, product reviews, and destination rides. :D

Occasionally I have [what I think is] an interesting topic to discuss where I DO have some info, so I'll keep that, but I've scrapped about 8 videos this week that I just looked at after getting them into "rough cut" and went, "NAH, that's rubbish! Into the bin with you!"

And yes, I mix Aussie, British, American Current, and American Old slang in my daily speech and typing.

-John
 
Drakhen99 said:
Yeah, I've been trying to do pure vlogs lately, and as it turns out, I'm just not that interested or intelligent, so I think I'll stick with testing 360 mounts, product reviews, and destination rides. :D

Occasionally I have [what I think is] an interesting topic to discuss where I DO have some info, so I'll keep that, but I've scrapped about 8 videos this week that I just looked at after getting them into "rough cut" and went, "NAH, that's rubbish! Into the bin with you!"

And yes, I mix Aussie, British, American Current, and American Old slang in my daily speech and typing.

-John
Click to expand...

Is that not normal to do? Cause I do the same bloody thing :-)

Ya I don't think I'm electrifying enough to just go out and do a straight up motoVlog where I just talk. I need to have a destination or something intriguing to discuss. I actually have an idea for one because I found this old Cemetary way out in the middle of nowhere and I researched it a bit. Might be cool to ride back to it and talk about the history a little bit. It's from the late 1700's
 
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