I filled my roommate’s car with 5,000 balloons
Prank Patrol
2.9M views · 3 days ago
- Home
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- Same videos again
Why YouTube keeps recommending the same videos
YouTube doesn’t explain why a particular video keeps coming back, but its help page lists what recommendations are built from: your watch and search history, videos you’ve liked, feedback like “Not interested”, and activity in your Google account. When Home feels stuck, those are the levers you have. Here’s which one to pull for which problem.
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When tuning gets old, turn on Hide Home feed. No feed, nothing to get stuck.
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What YouTube says shapes your feed
From YouTube’s recommendations help page:
- Watch history and search history, which you can edit, delete or turn off.
- Liked videos, and dislikes.
- Feedback: “Not interested”, “Don’t recommend channel” and “Show fewer Shorts”.
- Google account activity from myactivity.google.com, which YouTube may also use.
The help page also mentions topics at the top of Home on a computer, built from your existing suggestions, for narrowing the feed to one subject.
Fix it by problem
| What you see | Try this |
|---|---|
| Videos you’ve already watched | ⋮ → Not interested → Tell us why → I’ve already watched the video |
| One binge took over Home | Delete those videos from watch history, and the searches that led to them |
| The same few channels | ⋮ → Don’t recommend channel, or block them |
| A topic you’re done with | Delete old searches about it, and block its key words |
| Everything feels the same | Use the topic chips, or search for something new and watch it through |
| It’s beyond repair | Reset recommendations |
Researching something? Pause history first
YouTube’s own example: if you’re researching a subject for a school project that you aren’t personally interested in, turn off watch and search history while you do it, then turn it back on. The research won’t leak into Home afterwards. History controls are in My Activity, under Controls.
When it’s rewatches you want gone
If you don’t rewatch things, “I’ve already watched the video” is the answer that says so. The help page lists it as its own reason, separate from “I don’t like the video”, so it tells YouTube something a bare “Not interested” doesn’t.
When tuning isn’t enough
Every fix above works for a while, then the feed drifts again, because that’s what a feed does. If you’re tired of steering it, the alternative is to remove it. On a computer, FeedCut’s Hide Home feed leaves YouTube with search, Subscriptions and your playlists, and Hide Up next does the same for the column beside a video. Your history keeps working; it just stops filling a page you didn’t ask for.
Questions
Do likes and dislikes change recommendations?
Yes. YouTube’s help page says recommendations and search results are based partly on videos you’ve liked, and that liking, disliking and removing likes all influence them.
I watched one video by accident. How do I stop the follow-ups?
Delete that video from your watch history in My Activity. YouTube says it won’t base future recommendations on history you delete.
Does watching signed out avoid this?
Not entirely. YouTube keeps a watch history for signed-out viewers in each browser, and recommends from it. A private window starts without one.
Can I make YouTube show only my subscriptions?
Not as a setting. On a computer, hide the Home feed with FeedCut and bookmark the Subscriptions page; that becomes your start page.
Take YouTube back to what you came for
Block channels, words and Shorts everywhere on YouTube. Free, no account, nothing leaves your browser.