Before we discuss about managing YouTube recommendations, let’s first understand how the company algorithm works and which factors it uses to show videos on the Home menu.
How Do YouTube Recommendations Work?
YouTube relies on your search and watches history to recommend videos with similar topics. YouTube also shows videos based on your subscriptions. If you subscribe to cooking channels, you may find similar videos on the Home tab. Thankfully, YouTube offers several options to customize video recommendations. Let’s check them out.
1. Show Your Disinterest in Unnecessary Videos
You can tap ‘Not Interested’ for irrelevant videos and train YouTube not to show similar videos. Here’s how. Step 1: Open the YouTube app on your phone. Step 2: Tap the three vertical dots menu beside a video and select ‘Not Interested.’ Repeat the same for all such videos, and you won’t see the same in the future. Do note that it may take some time before YouTube learns your input.
2. Turn off Video Recommendations from a Specific Channel
If you come across below-average channels spreading misinformation and fake news, stop video recommendations from it. Step 1: Launch the YouTube app on your phone. Step 2: Whenever you come across below-average YouTube channels, tap the more menu beside the video. Step 3: Select ‘Don’t recommend channel.’ YouTube won’t recommend videos from the channel to you again.
3. Remove Individual Videos from Your Watch History
YouTube uses your watch history to recommend similar videos in the Home tab. You can remove videos you have watched on that topic to stop getting recommendations in the future. Go through the steps below. Step 1: Open YouTube on your phone and move to the Library tab. Step 2: Tap ‘View all’ beside History. Step 3: Tap the three-dot menu beside a video and hit ‘Remove from watch history.’ Repeat the same for all such videos and remove them from the watch history.
4. Remove Individual Searches from Your Search History
As we mentioned above, YouTube shows video recommendations based on your search history too. You’ll need to delete irrelevant individual searches from your YouTube search history. Step 1: Launch the YouTube app on your phone and hit the search icon at the top. Step 2: Long-press on a search term and hit Remove. You’ll need to remove unnecessary searches from your YouTube search history to stop getting recommendations on similar topics.
5. Pause YouTube Watch and Search History
If you plan to search for a specific topic on YouTube and don’t want recommendations based on it in the future, you can temporarily pause YouTube watch and search history on your phone. Here’s how. Step 1: Launch the YouTube app and tap your account picture at the top right corner. Step 2: Tap Settings. Step 3: Select ‘Manage all history.’ Step 4: Tap ‘Saving your YouTube history.’ Step 5: Tap Turn off, and YouTube disables your search and watch history. You can now browse videos without worrying about getting the same recommendations in the future.
6. Use YouTube Incognito Mode
If you don’t want to go through the lengthy steps above, you can simply enable incognito mode on YouTube to browse videos privately. YouTube won’t save your search and watch history during the active incognito mode. Step 1: Open the YouTube app and tap your profile icon at the top-right corner. Step 2: Tap ‘Turn on Incognito.’ Incognito mode does come with a major limitation, though. If you have subscribed to YouTube Premium, the benefits won’t apply here. You will see ads while browsing videos.
7. Use YouTube Guest Account on Smart TV
Your guests or little ones may use your YouTube account on your smart TV to check their favorite creators. If you don’t want them to mess up your video recommendations, enable guest mode on YouTube on TV before handing over the remote. Step 1: Open the YouTube app on your TV. Step 2: Select the side menu and click your account. Step 3: Enable Guest mode and start browsing.
8. Recheck Your Subscriptions
YouTube also recommends videos based on your subscribed channels. You should recheck your subscribed YouTube channels and unsubscribe to irrelevant ones. Step 1: Open the YouTube app and tap the Subscriptions menu on the bottom bar. Step 2: Tap All. Select a bell icon beside a channel and hit Unsubscribe.
Find Useful YouTube Videos
YouTube showing unrelated videos can spoil your app experience. Instead of finding relevant videos, use the tricks above to train YouTube algorithms better so that it works to your advantage. The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
