In response to ongoing user feedback, YouTube has officially announced a significant update to its search infrastructure.
The platform is rolling out a series of “more effective advanced search tools” designed to help users locate specific content more efficiently.
According to a statement from Hank (TeamYouTube), the primary objective is to “equip you with more effective advanced search tools, ensuring you can consistently and efficiently locate the content you love.”
Expanded Control with New Filtering Options
A major focus of this update is providing viewers with greater control over video formats. To address this, YouTube has introduced a dedicated Shorts filter within the ‘Type’ menu.
This addition allows users to explicitly choose between Shorts or VODs (long-form videos) in their results, regardless of the format.
Furthermore, the platform has rebranded several existing tools to better align with user expectations:
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‘Prioritize’ Menu: The former ‘Sort By’ menu has been renamed to ‘Prioritize’ to maximize its utility for users.
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‘Popularity’ Filter: Previously known as ‘View count,’ this filter now assesses both view counts and other “relevance signals,” such as watch time, to determine the most popular videos for a specific query.
Streamlining the Search Experience
As part of an effort to make the interface more intuitive, TeamYouTube is simplifying the filter menu. This reorganization involves removing specific features that were underperforming or contributing to user complaints.
Notably, the following two filters have been removed:
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‘Upload Date – Last Hour’
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‘Sort by Rating’
Despite these removals, YouTube clarified that users can still access the most recent content through the existing ‘Upload Date’ filters and identify top-performing content using the new ‘Popularity’ tool.
Commitment to User Feedback
The platform noted that these enhancements were driven by a desire to resolve inconsistencies in the search experience.
“We’ve heard your feedback and are enhancing the search experience by updating our filters to make them more effective and intuitive for everyone,” the statement read.
Users are encouraged to explore the new updates and provide further feedback as the rollout continues. Detailed guides on these changes have also been made available in the YouTube Help Center.