What you need to know
- YouTube detailed a change rolling out to its platform that involves its search filters and content discovery.
- Now, users will find a new Shorts filter when searching, as well as renamed “Prioritize” and “”Popularity” options.
- YouTube states that some of these options will only display popular content relevant to your query, while others cut out long-form content for Shorts.
Filtering out content, on any platform, is a useful tool to have, which is why YouTube is rolling out several updates this week.
Late this morning (Jan 8), YouTube posted the details regarding a content discovery update, which concerns how users interact with its search filters. When it comes to filtering out content, YouTube says it’s making the process simpler this week. Two options are out: Upload Date – Last Hour and Sort by Rating. While important filtering choices, YouTube says users can achieve the same end by utilizing an “Upload Date” option and the “Popularity” filter choice.
With the house cleaning done, the more substantial portion of this update concerns new filters and some subtle changes.
YouTube states that, for “dedicated content types,” it’s rolled in a Shorts filter to the “Type” menu. If Shorts is selected, of course, the search results will prioritize those over long-form video content. It also makes sense that YouTube would bring Shorts here, considering how incredibly popular they are with viewers.
As for the changes, YouTube says it’s renaming the “Sort By” menu to “Prioritize.” This is designed to attract more attention and hopefully drive more engagement for users looking to fine-tune their content. Second, the “View Count” filter is now “Popularity.” The goal here is to help users discover video content that’s hot, popping, and relevant to their initial query. Watch time and view count are taken into account during this search process.
These updates are slowly rolling out, so users may begin seeing them soon. We have not seen them appear yet at Android Central; however, 9to5Google has spotted them.
The content you want to see
Outside of refining content discovery in search results, YouTube started a test before 2025’s end for Shorts. This test was in a similar vein, as the platform started testing a “dislike” button change for users. The thumbs down button was often an object of mystery for some users, so YouTube said it merged “dislike” and “not interested” into one button.
The platform said that, in its research, most users used the two buttons “interchangeably.” Moreover, users weren’t really sure about the differences between the two. The test would offer users one option or the other (dislike or not interested). YouTube states that users would see a short survey after hitting the thumbs-down button.
The purpose of this button is to help users weed out the type of content they’d rather not see, which can happen from time to time.