Youtube Shorts
The growth engine for YouTube Shorts in 2026. Use when someone asks to "grow on Shorts," "get views on YouTube Shorts," "write a Shorts script," "w…
By Frank Heijdenrijk, MIT licence. Shared here with credit.
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.)