Getting out of a “shadow ban” on YouTube for a dog school: +30k subscribers, YouTube silver button, and ROAS >1000%

Work on getting out of the “shadow ban” on YouTube

Stage 1: Analysis of the client’s account

We started by analyzing the current situation on the client’s channel.

The screenshot shows the period from January 1 to January 31, where there were 188 thousand views, subscribers, etc. We can see that 30% of the traffic was generated by advertising, and the rest was organic traffic that promoted old videos

We also analyzed the period from February 1 to February 28, which shows that the top videos are mostly commercials and those that were popular earlier.

This screenshot shows the statistics: 17% of ads, but the total number of views was significantly lower.

Stage 2: Starting our work

Here’s the channel in March, when we started working on it in a preparatory format, and we can all see that 50% of the traffic is advertising. The advertising views were not for the promotion of the YouTube channel itself, but promotional videos for lead generation were uploaded to the channel, which were used in Youtube ads to get registrations for the auto-webinar.

We had a goal and a strategy to bring this channel to a level where most of the views would come from organic.

Preparatory stage

We conducted a thorough analysis of competitors in this niche, studying channels in Russian, English, and Spanish. One of the key findings was that our client needed to change its approach to content creation.

For the growth of our YouTube channel, it is critical to attract a “New Audience”. The easiest way to achieve this goal is to expand the topics and content formats that have already proven effective for competitors and received a high number of views.

In addition, it is extremely important to develop serialized content so that the new audience turns into a regular one. After conducting an in-depth competitive analysis, we developed a content strategy for creating videos and YouTube Shorts based on the Hero-Hub-Help-Hype-Action strategy.

After identifying those videos with high potential for organic promotion, we developed new shooting formats for both content videos and YouTube Shorts. Once we had the topics for the shoot, we revised the script structure for the videos, focusing on keeping attention during the first 30 seconds, engaging viewers at the video level, organically introducing ads for the client’s product, cross-referencing with other videos on the channel, and more.

We also developed a detailed technical task for the shooting. After the client conducted the shooting, we provided the editor with references so that he could see what result we were trying to achieve, and after viewing the test edit, we made adjustments.

The purpose of the preparatory stage is to create content that meets the needs and interests of our audience, while ensuring the natural promotion of our brand. We focused on popular formats that grab customers’ attention and implemented engaging scenarios to keep them interested, which helps increase the time they spend with our content.

Stage 3: New video formats

We expanded our approach to content creation beyond the “Help” format, which attracts a limited audience and averages 2 to 3 thousand views, sometimes reaching 5 thousand.

We added the “Hub” and “Hero” formats. “Hub” is a serial content designed for a wide audience, containing interesting thematic selections, such as “Top 5 Family Dog Breeds” and “Top 5 Dog Breeds that are Better Not to Buy”. These sections attract the attention of not only dog owners, but also a wider range of viewers, so we go beyond solving specific problems of the audience and offer educational content that is of interest. The videos in this format attracted more views, which in turn helped to increase the popularity of our other specialized videos thanks to YouTube’s algorithms.

The Hero format featured content with viral and provocative themes, such as “Don’t buy these dogs!” When we started shooting a new entertainment format aimed at a wider audience, it brought a good number of views: 300 thousand views.

This video contributed to the growth of views of all other videos:

Next, we started experimenting on the channel by holding raffles. They turned out to be quite effective, but overall, the results were average.

Interestingly, our Shorts used to get a few thousand views, and now some of them reach 20-30 thousand, as all the traffic has moved and the channel has come to life.

Stage 4: Changing the number of videos per week

We started publishing two videos a week, and then (on the 6th and 7th month of our work) in August we switched to three publications per week, with 30 Shorts per month. We also experimented with broadcasts, which showed average results.

These actions resulted in a significant increase in organic traffic from all major sources compared to previous periods (see the details in the screenshot below).

Stage 5: Developing videos for a wide audience

The main stage of work was working with formats that will work for a wide audience, and the realization of this sales funnel through a specific video. We can see a video that has garnered 440 thousand views entirely in organic. It drove traffic to all other videos, as well as the Help format, which proved to be a great success in sales.

Another video was published 2-3 weeks after the previous one and also received a fairly large number of views.

Comparative figures for March and August, i.e. 31 days, show a threefold increase in all indicators. The first one has 50% of advertising, while the second one has only 2%.

A comparison of March and August in terms of the number of subscribers, time spent viewing and impressions shows that after a period of stagnation, the figures began to grow sharply.

Stage 6: Changing covers

We started experimenting with covers, adding interesting images. This is how we found a format that attracts the attention of viewers, so the CTR increased from an average of 4-5% to 7%, and in some cases above 10%.