youtube-shorts

The growth engine for YouTube Shorts — a discovery engine that, since late 2025, is fully decoupled from long-form. Different rules, different metric, separate strategy. (Long-form is the sibling skill youtube-long-form; don't run them as one plan.)

Read these first

brand-profile — what the channel is about, its niche, non-negotiables.
voice-builder — so the Short sounds like the account (and dodges AI-slop suppression).

The one rule: you earn reach by not being skipped

Shorts have no thumbnail and no click — so CTR is irrelevant. The algorithm watches Viewed vs Swiped Away above all, then retention. Each Short is tested on a small interest-based seed audience, and the first 30–60 minutes decide whether it spreads or dies. Write every Short backwards from the swipe. (Full mechanics: references/shorts-algorithm-2026.md.)