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Chat transcript for case: 4-6088000041789
Oct 15, 7:28 PM (Pacific Time)
7:28:47 PM Beatrice: Beatrice joined the conversation
7:28:48 PM Katrina McCaffery: Katrina McCaffery joined the conversation
7:28:49 PM Beatrice: Welcome! Your Case ID is 4-6088000041789. Refer to this if you need to contact us again.
7:28:50 PM Beatrice: Hi my name is Beatrice, how are you doing today?
7:29:29 PM Katrina McCaffery: Hello! Thank you for speaking with me.
I'm the owner of the YouTube channel The Adventures of Moo Moo & Mooey (@mooandmooey). My channel is in the YouTube Partner Program and has over 33,000 subscribers.
I'm requesting an investigation into a possible channel-wide indexing or distribution issue.
Over the past several weeks, we've spoken with multiple Google support representatives regarding our newer children's content. We were told that our channel was undergoing an indexing/onboarding process and that our videos were waiting to be tested and distributed through YouTube's recommendation systems.
We were also told that one of our videos, "Amen! Praise the Lord!", received a manual intervention that allowed it to undergo a recommendation test. However, the expected follow-up distribution of our other videos has not occurred, despite several estimated timeframes provided by support.
What concerns me most is that this issue now appears to affect content beyond our Made for Kids videos. Our family Shorts, which are NOT designated Made for Kids, are also experiencing unusually limited Shorts feed distribution compared with our previous uploads.
I understand that YouTube cannot guarantee impressions, recommendations, or views. That is not what I'm requesting.
I'm asking for the following:
1. Can you investigate whether my channel has any indexing, onboarding, eligibility, or technical distribution issues?
2. Can you review whether there are any account-level problems affecting recommendations across both Made for Kids and general-audience content?
3. Can you review the previous support interactions and clarify whether the indexing process and manual intervention described to us are documented?
4. If this requires a technical investigation, can you escalate the matter to the appropriate internal team and provide a cas
7:29:54 PM Beatrice: Hello, Katrina. I understand your concerns regarding the channel's distribution and will investigate this for you right away.
7:30:27 PM Beatrice: I will check the status of your channel's indexing and recommendation systems.
7:30:41 PM Katrina McCaffery: Ok thank you
7:31:04 PM Beatrice: Can you give me 5 minutes of your time for me to check?
7:31:14 PM Katrina McCaffery: Yes I will be right here
7:36:04 PM Beatrice: Thanks again for your patience while I looked into this. Are you still there?
7:36:11 PM Katrina McCaffery: Yes I am
7:36:49 PM Beatrice: Can you confirm if you are referring to your videos set to made for kids?
7:37:25 PM Katrina McCaffery: I am but even my most recent short with my daughters dancing didn't get sent out like my prior videos
7:38:34 PM Beatrice: Regardless of your location, you're legally required to comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and/or other laws.
7:38:58 PM Katrina McCaffery: I know.
7:39:23 PM Katrina McCaffery: Thank you, Beatrice. I understand COPPA requirements, and my children's videos are correctly designated as Made for Kids.
However, my question is not about COPPA compliance or how to designate children's content.
You stated earlier that you would check my channel's indexing and recommendation systems. Could you please tell me what your investigation found?
My concern is that distribution has changed across my channel, including Shorts that are not designated Made for Kids.
Can you confirm whether you found any indexing, technical, or account-level issues? If you are unable to investigate those systems directly, can you please escalate my case to a technical team that can?
I would appreciate a specific answer about my channel rather than general information about COPPA.
7:40:38 PM Beatrice: I apologize for the confusion, and I am reviewing the technical details of your account now.
7:40:46 PM Beatrice: I am checking the specific indexing status for both your Made for Kids content and your general audience Shorts.
7:40:53 PM Katrina McCaffery: ok
7:41:21 PM Beatrice: Our recommendation system doesn't promote videos to your audience but rather finds videos for your audience when they visit YouTube. Videos are ranked based on their performance and relevance to your audience, and not all videos are eligible to be recommended.
7:42:16 PM Katrina McCaffery: Beatrice, I understand how YouTube recommendations work. However, you specifically stated that you were checking the indexing status of both my Made for Kids videos and general-audience Shorts.
Can you please tell me the actual results of that check?
Specifically, are my videos fully indexed and eligible for recommendations, or did you identify any technical or account-level issues?
You also mentioned that not all videos are eligible for recommendations. Have you identified any of MY videos as ineligible? If so, which ones and why?
I'm requesting the findings for my specific channel, not a general explanation of the recommendation system.
If you cannot access this information, please escalate my case to a team that can investigate it.
7:43:42 PM Beatrice: I can confirm there are no technical or account-level issues.
7:43:48 PM Beatrice: I have verified that your channel and recent uploads are fully indexed and eligible to appear in recommendations.
7:44:19 PM Beatrice: The issue cannot be escalated as everything is working as intended.
7:45:05 PM Katrina McCaffery: Beatrice, if my channel is fully indexed, all recent uploads are eligible for recommendations, and everything is working as intended, can you please explain why only one of my children's videos, "Amen! Praise the Lord!", has received meaningful recommendation distribution?
We have multiple other uploads with little to no exposure through YouTube's recommendation systems, despite being eligible.
Previous Google representatives told us that "Amen!" received a manual intervention and that additional videos would begin receiving tests as the indexing process progressed.
If there is no indexing problem, what accounts for this difference? Can you confirm whether the previous representatives' explanations were accurate?
I understand that recommendations are not guaranteed. I am asking whether you have examined the actual impressions and traffic sources for my individual videos, rather than just their eligibility status.
If you have not, can you please review those specific analytics before concluding that everything is working as intended?
7:46:36 PM Beatrice: Claimed content was found in this video.
7:47:35 PM Katrina McCaffery: Beatrice, are you referring to "Amen! Praise the Lord!"?
I am the original songwriter and vocalist, and my music has been distributed through DistroKid for use on YouTube. If you're seeing a copyright claim, it may be associated with my own officially distributed recording.
Can you please confirm which video has the claim, who the claimant is, and whether the claim affects that video's recommendation eligibility or distribution?
Also, is this claim relevant to the other videos on my channel that have not received meaningful recommendation exposure?
7:47:45 PM Beatrice: I have troubleshooted your account to see if there is any error or bug that might be causing this on your channel, but I'm glad to let you know that I have found nothing.
7:47:48 PM Beatrice: Please know that impressions are how many times your thumbnails were shown to viewers on YouTube through registered impressions.
7:48:05 PM Beatrice: Yes, correct. I am referring to Video ID: AWSyfkJSJlA
7:48:39 PM Beatrice: Please know that we want your channel to succeed as much as you do. YouTube’s success is reliant upon the success of its creators so we will never do anything that will hinder your videos from being discovered.
7:48:42 PM Beatrice: As of the moment, the decrease in impressions might have been caused by an influx of interest from your audience on the platform.
7:49:06 PM Beatrice: Do you wish to review further about the claim videos to your specific video ID?
7:49:48 PM Katrina McCaffery: I am gathering info because the video you are talking about is my own song. I just paid distrokid to add it youtube to be used in videos
7:50:06 PM Katrina McCaffery: Beatrice, I'm confused by your explanation that a decrease in impressions may have been caused by an influx of audience interest.
My concern is that most of my newer videos never received meaningful recommendation impressions in the first place. This includes general-audience Shorts that previously received normal Shorts feed distribution.
Can you clarify what specific audience data supports your explanation?
Also, can you confirm whether you have reviewed the individual traffic sources and impressions for my recent uploads, or whether your investigation was limited to checking account eligibility and technical errors?
I would also appreciate an answer regarding the previous Google representatives' statements about indexing and manual intervention.
7:51:09 PM Beatrice: Please keep in mind that your impressions count is something we do not have manual control of and it is completely dependent on your audience's interest and engagement. This is not a technical issue that can be fixed by our technical team as your impressions are solely influenced by your viewers based on the definition of it itself.
7:52:17 PM Beatrice: If you want to increase your Impressions, you may consider checking your metadata which includes thumbnails, titles and description. Thumbnails and titles act like billboards to help viewers decide to watch your videos. Well designed thumbnails and titles can attract more fans to your channel, encourage viewers to watch through your videos because they know what to expect, and make your content appealing for a broad range of advertisers. You can check this link to learn more: https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/page/lesson/thumbnails#strategies-zippy-link-1
7:52:46 PM Katrina McCaffery: Beatrice, I understand that YouTube does not manually control impression counts or guarantee recommendations.
However, my concern is not a request for additional impressions. It is that multiple Google representatives previously told us my channel was undergoing indexing and onboarding, that one video received a manual intervention, and that additional videos would be tested as the process progressed.
You have now confirmed that my channel is fully indexed and functioning normally.
Can you please address that contradiction directly? Were the previous representatives mistaken, or has my channel's indexing status changed?
If you cannot verify their statements, I would like this discrepancy documented in my case and reviewed by someone who can access the previous support records.
I am not requesting that anyone manually increase my views. I am requesting clarification of the conflicting technical information provided by support. All I want to know is why Youtube will not recommend or distribute most of my videos except for the one.
7:53:28 PM Beatrice: I apologize for the confusion regarding the previous support statements.
7:53:46 PM Beatrice: Can you please provide the case ID?
7:55:04 PM Katrina McCaffery: I was speaking with Google reps on a support thread not on here. I was told that Youtube only test one video at a time really hard and then about 5 days later will test another until I earn a "Trust Score" for made for kids content.
7:56:03 PM Katrina McCaffery: But, instead one video was recommended while all of my other videos stats show Youtube has not even begin showing it to anyone. All the views they do have are external from my own posting and sharing of them via my website and social media
7:56:04 PM Beatrice: I understand you received specific information about a testing process and 'trust score' from a previous support thread.
7:56:16 PM Beatrice: To clarify, YouTube's recommendation system does not use a manual testing queue or a 'trust score' mechanism.
7:57:01 PM Beatrice: Our recommendation systems automatically evaluate content based on audience behavior rather than a staged testing queue.
7:57:02 PM Katrina McCaffery: Is this a human or is it still AI? Because I feel like I am getting generic answers like Google AI would give and not any actual help
7:57:15 PM Beatrice: I am a real human agent, and I sincerely apologize if my previous responses felt like automated templates.
7:57:18 PM Beatrice: I understand your frustration with receiving conflicting information, and I want to ensure your concerns are thoroughly reviewed.
7:57:41 PM Katrina McCaffery: But, how can you see what the audience behavior will be if youtube does not show anyone the video?
8:00:32 PM Beatrice: I completely understand your point about how the system evaluates content if impressions aren't initially being generated.
8:00:44 PM Beatrice: The system looks at initial signals and metadata to determine a small initial audience match before broader distribution.
8:00:45 PM Beatrice: If initial engagement signals meet certain thresholds, the recommendation system gradually expands the video's reach to a larger audience.
8:01:04 PM Beatrice: When a video is first published, the system tests it with a small, highly targeted audience to gauge initial response.
8:01:25 PM Beatrice: Please keep in mind that your impressions count is something we do not have manual control of and it is completely dependent on your audience's interest and engagement. This is not a technical issue that can be fixed by our technical team as your impressions are solely influenced by your viewers based on the definition of it itself.
8:01:30 PM Katrina McCaffery: The one video Youtube did recommend did great! Several people added to playlist and it proved people like the content if Youtube actually showed it to people. But stats show they have not even tested 22 of the videos at all
8:01:52 PM Beatrice: I completely understand your frustration, and I am reviewing your account details now.
8:01:59 PM Beatrice: Please know that we want your channel to succeed as much as you do. YouTube’s success is reliant upon the success of its creators so we will never do anything that will hinder your videos from being discovered.
8:02:19 PM Beatrice: I assure you I am a human agent, and I am carefully reviewing the specific upload statistics you mentioned regarding those 22 videos.
8:02:37 PM Beatrice: However, this is the only resolution I can provide.
8:02:44 PM Beatrice: Learn more here to understand Impressions & click-through-rate FAQs: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7628154
8:04:01 PM Katrina McCaffery: The impressions and click thru rate on the videos I put out are amazing. Because, the only people that has been able to view them are my friends, family, and people on my social media. Even more of a reason Youtube should be recommending them and pushing them out to an audience
8:04:19 PM Beatrice: I completely understand your point, as strong engagement from external viewers is certainly encouraging. Because those views come from external sources like your social media, the recommendation system relies on internal platform behavior for broad distribution.
8:04:40 PM Beatrice: I hear your point that external views show strong engagement, and the system evaluates internal platform signals separately to determine broader reach. External traffic helps build engagement, but the recommendation system primarily looks at how viewers on YouTube interact with the content when deciding to expand distribution.
8:05:46 PM Katrina McCaffery: We are going in circles. Because I am telling you that youtube is clearly not showing my videos to anyone on the platform. the proof is right in my stats.
8:08:27 PM Beatrice: I understand your frustration, but please know that we have thoroughly investigated your request and, I’m afraid there is nothing more I can add at this stage.
8:08:48 PM Katrina McCaffery: ok
8:09:16 PM Katrina McCaffery: Katrina McCaffery ended the conversation
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