Most people don't realize this, but you could be just one or two videos away from seeing total success on your channel because there's five major signs that appear on almost every YouTube channel right before the moment it blows up. Now, these signs are buried deep in your analytics, which is why most people never see them. But in this video, I'm going to break them down so they're easy to spot and easy to understand.
And if you recognize any of these, it could mean that your channel is on the verge of something very exciting. Let's get into it. Okay, then.
So sign number one, your returning viewer rate is increasing. Now this is a brand new metric that was released late last year in 2025, but YouTube is now making a huge push on this for 2026. It's going to be their new main metric to judge channel success on.
So if you haven't really paid attention to it yet or you don't know what it is, listen closely because this will be one of the most important metrics on the platform from now on. Now your returning viewer rate basically now separates all of your viewers into three main categories. brand new viewers, casual viewers, and regular viewers.
So, in other words, it shows YouTube how many people are discovering your content for the first time versus how many people are actively choosing to come back and regularly watch your content. But to simplify it for you, new viewers are people who are watching you for the very first time. Casual viewers are people who have watched one or two of your videos in the past, but are not regular viewers.
And then regular viewers are people who come and watch pretty much every video you post out. So, in the ideal world, what you want is a big solid portion of regular viewers who are consistently coming back and watching more and more of your content because the algorithm would see this as a massive positive signal. Because look, anyone can get a random view on a random video.
But actually, getting someone to keep coming back and watching more of your content is now how YouTube will measure loyalty and trust. But let's imagine the opposite scenario. Let's say the vast majority of your viewers are brand new, like brand new viewers on every single upload, and you have very little or very few casual or regular viewers.
This would tell YouTube that people might be clicking on your videos, but nobody's actually like coming back and watching more. And that would suggest that something might be off. Like maybe your content isn't giving people enough reason to return to you.
Now, don't get me wrong, you do want a large portion of new viewers on every video because that's how your channel grows and how you gain new subscribers by having new eyeballs on your content. But the key here is balance. YouTube wants to see new viewers coming in, but it also needs to see casual and regular viewers staying high.
And when all three of these are moving in the right direction, that's when the algorithm really starts to trust your channel. So, if you're noticing your returning viewer rate climbing over time, even if it's just slowly, that's one of the clearest signs that your channel is about to blow up. Then we have sign number two.
Your impressions are increasing, even if your views aren't. Now, this number right here is impressions. And this basically shows how many times YouTube is suggesting your video out to people.
Now, impressions happen when your video appears on someone's homepage or on their suggested videos or in their subscription feed. like it's YouTube putting your title and thumbnail in front of someone in a bid to have that person click on it and watch it. So if your video has let's say 10,000 impressions, that means YouTube has shown your video to people 10,000 different times.
So if you see this number start to gradually increase over time, it means that the algorithm is actively testing your video with wider audiences to try and find people who are most likely to be interested in it. because it basically now thinks that your content is good enough to be pushed out more. And this only ever happens to videos that are of high quality.
Like, we all know how harsh the algorithm can be. Now, if you're getting loads of impressions, but you're not getting loads of views in return, don't panic. That doesn't immediately mean your content is bad.
It might just mean that YouTube hasn't found the right audience yet. And this is actually one of the hardest jobs the algorithm has to perform. But you can help the algorithm and YouTube find the right audience much faster by improving things like your SEO, your titles, your thumbnails.
Like you need to make it crystal clear who your video is for. Now, if you do struggle with SEO or titles or thumbnails, give this video a watch after. I'll cover everything in there.
But the key thing to understand here is this. YouTube will only ever increase your impressions if it believes your content is good enough to test in the first place. like rising impressions are a good sign that your channel is about to blow up.
Trust me. Now, if you're starting to see these signs like increasing impressions and YouTube testing your content more or loads of new subscribers coming in, this is actually the best time to start thinking about your online presence outside of just YouTube. Because the truth is, even when your channel is doing well, we are all like still held hostage by the algorithm.
Plus, on YouTube, we don't actually own our audiences. YouTube does. So, if anything ever changes, like a really big algorithm update or if your channel gets hacked or if your views just suddenly drop, then you risk losing everything and you'll probably have absolutely no way of being able to access any of your subscribers that you work so hard to get in the first place.
And that's where Hostinger comes in. Because Hostinger's new AI website builder makes it ridiculously easy to create your own website and actually start building a real brand outside of YouTube, even if you have like zero technical skills. Their AI builder can create a fully professional website for you in literally under a minute.
Now, for me, I use my own websites to host my online academy, and then I also have another landing page that allows me to include all of my links to everything. But you could build your own website to collect emails from your viewers or showcase your content or sell digital products or courses or even like create a work with me page for brand deals. And their drag and drop editor as part of the AI website builder allows you to fully customize the entire thing.
Now look, having your own website gives you total control, something that YouTube will never give you. So, if you're serious about growing long-term, click the link in the description below and use code Dan to get an extra 10% discount on top of hosting a huge January sale. Link is in the description below.
Go and click it. But anyway, let's get back to the signs. Sign number three, you're getting more comments than your subscriber count would suggest.
Now, you may have heard of the view to subscriber ratio before, which basically compares how many views you get per video against how many subscribers your channel has. Now, for example, if you're getting like 2,000 views per video, but you only have like 400 subscribers, that's a really strong ratio, but this also applies to comments, too. So, if you find that your videos are generating more and more comments compared to your subscriber count, that's also a massive sign that your content is really starting to connect with your audience.
Because think about it, like leaving a comment requires effort. Like, someone has to literally care enough to stop watching and actually go down there and write something. And YouTube knows this.
So when it sees strong engagement like this, especially on small channels like yours, it stands out and the algorithm notices. Now, this signal tells the algorithm that viewers aren't just passively watching you, they're actively engaging with you. And that's what we want.
And once YouTube sees enough of these signals, which usually happens over the course of multiple videos, it will start pushing your videos out much, much harder because engaged viewers are more likely to return. they're more likely to subscribe and they're more likely to watch more content. So, if your comment section is active, even if it's just with a small audience, it doesn't matter because it's a still a really strong indicator that your channel is on the verge of something big.
Then, we have sign four, your view to swipe ratio starts consistently hitting over 70%. Now, this sign is really important, especially if you mainly post shorts. And for those of you that don't know, your view to swipe ratio is basically just how many people choose to stop and watch your video versus how many people actively swiped away.
Now, my view to swipe ratio on average is around 70 to 30%. Which is barely passing. If your view to swipe ratio is below 70%, there's a high chance that YouTube won't push your shorts or your videos out as much because it basically means that most people are actively swiping away from your content as opposed to staying and watching it.
And that's not a good sign for the algorithm. But if you can get your view to swipe ratio to like on average 80%, which is tough, I know, I have to be honest. But if you can do this, you'll have every chance of going viral with pretty much every short you post because anything above 70% is the sweet spot.
Like one of my shorts on my travel channel has over 8 million views and my view to swipe ratio is just hitting 73. 7%. Proving to you that anything above 70% should make your videos go viral.
So, if you're seeing some or maybe all of your shorts hitting over 70% with the view to ratio, it could be the sign you're on to something big. Sign number five, YouTube starts recommending your videos next to bigger creators. Now, this is one of the signs that most of you probably won't notice at first, and you might actually have to rely on other people telling you about it.
But, if you start to see your videos appearing in the suggested section or on the home feed next to the bigger creators in your niche, that's not random. That's now your competition. And what this means is YouTube now believes your content is good enough to sit alongside the bigger channels in your niche and you're no longer being treated as a small creator.
You're now being tested directly against established players. Now, this is huge because it means you're starting to solidify your place in your niche and YouTube now sees you as someone worthy of capturing a larger share of the audience's attention. And it also means that more and more viewers are being exposed to you in the right context.
Like people start seeing your channel next to creators they already trust. And then subconsciously they begin associating your channel with those bigger names. And once that association starts forming, growth can accelerate very very quickly.
So, if YouTube is putting you in the same arena as the big players, it's a very, very strong sign that your channel is much closer to blowing up than you might realize. Now, look, if you want to take your channel to the next step, I have a number of different YouTube growth courses that start from just $50. My YouTube Academy is incredibly popular right now, but I've also just released a YouTube web accelerator.
It's a cheaper course, but full of a ton of value that will teach you all you need to know about YouTube growth. link is in the description below. So, come and join us.
If not, YouTube thinks that this video right here is a perfect one for you to watch next.
