Views from external traffic on your YouTube videos could be cause for concern. Don’t let the excitement overshadow the concerns.
Something disturbing happened to my YouTube channel recently. New audiences were joining my community through a particular video, and I noticed increased views in other related videos.
That was a good development, but I started noticing increased comments and likes on my recent uploads, which I see as abnormal. When I went through the comments, I noticed that the comments from these users were not relatable to the videos. You’ll see comments like “wow!”, “Interesting!”, etc.
Invalid Traffic from Malicious Website
So, I checked the source of the traffic and found that a significant part was from external sources, which is not normal for most of my videos. This prompted me to investigate further, and I discovered that this external traffic was from a video website.
I tried to find out why people from this website were watching my videos and discovered that they are on a “watch and earn” platform whose activities violate YouTube terms and services – because users on the platform are “paid to watch YouTube videos” and could lead to demonetization of my channel for invalid clicks or invalid traffic.
Some External Metrics are not Tracked.
While YouTube prioritizes internal metrics like watch time and engagement to optimize user experience, these metrics are more reliable and actionable for creators. However, the algorithm doesn’t track impressions and CTR from external traffic because YouTube can’t control or track external websites, apps, or platforms.
What Options are Available to stop it
I tried turning off the “Allow Embedded” feature of these videos to protect them from getting traffic from external third-party sites, but that didn’t work (I will share why it didn’t work in a future post). I complained to YouTube support but wasn’t satisfied with the solution they offered.
In the video below, I explained my experience in details and what you should look out for when more eyes start seeing your YouTube videos.
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