Youtube playlists not showing up in search results

If you’ve created playlists on Youtube but they don’t show up when you search for them, there are a few possible reasons why this might happen. The most common causes are that the playlist privacy is set to private, the title or description doesn’t match the search terms, or the playlist simply hasn’t been indexed by Youtube yet.

Checking your Youtube playlist privacy settings

The first thing to check is whether you have the playlist set as public or private. Private playlists are only visible to you when logged in to your account. Other users won’t be able to find or see them through search or your channel.

To check your playlist privacy settings on desktop:

1. Go to www.youtube.com and log in to your account if needed.
2. Click on your profile icon in the top right corner.
3. Select “Your channel” from the drop down menu.
4. On the left side of the screen, click on “Playlists”.
5. Click on the playlist you want to check.
6. Look for the “Privacy” setting below the title and description. Make sure it’s set to “Public”.

On mobile:

1. Open the Youtube app and tap on your profile icon.
2. Tap “Your channel”.
3. Tap “Playlists” on the left side.
4. Tap on the playlist to check.
5. Tap the 3 dot menu next to the title.
6. Make sure “Visibility” is set to “Public”.

If your playlist privacy was set to “Private”, change it to “Public” and it should start appearing in Youtube searches within a day or two after being indexed.

Checking your Youtube playlist title and description

Another factor that affects search visibility is your playlist title and description. These should clearly match the keywords users are likely to search for.

For example, if your playlist is called “My Favorites” and the description just says “Some videos I like”, that doesn’t give Youtube much to work with. A better title and description would be something like “Cute Cat Videos Compilation” with a description including keywords like “funny cats, kittens playing, calico cat videos”.

To optimize your playlist title and description for search:

1. Think about what search terms you want your playlist to rank for.
2. Incorporate those keywords naturally into the title and description.
3. Avoid excessive repetition and spammy keyword stuffing.
4. Keep it clear, descriptive, and appealing to viewers.

This gives the Youtube algorithm a better sense of what your playlist is about so it can match searches. Just changing the title/description without altering privacy or content can sometimes be enough to get a playlist showing up in results.

Waiting for Youtube to index and rank your playlist

Even with the right settings and optimization, it takes time for Youtube to crawl, index, and rank your playlist. So you may need to be patient for a bit after initially publishing or making changes.

Some general guidelines on Youtube indexing and rankings:

• It can take 24-48 hours for a new playlist to start appearing in search results.
• Existing playlists may take a few days to reflect title/description changes.
• The more content in the playlist, the quicker it will get indexed.
• Popular channels and content get prioritized for faster indexing.
• Initial indexing happens faster than actual ranking, which takes more time and signals.

So give your playlist a few days after optimizing and making it public before worrying too much about search visibility. You can also try searching for unique words from the title/description to check if it’s indexed even if not ranking highly yet.

Improving playlist content quality and engagement

Beyond just settings and metadata, the content of your playlist matters for discoverability too. Playlists with more views, likes, comments, watch time, and subscriber-attributed views tend to perform better in search rankings.

Some tips for improving Youtube playlist engagement:

• Have at least 10-20 quality videos in the playlist.
• Keep adding fresh, relevant videos over time.
• Choose videos that fit a consistent theme.
• Put your most popular/best videos first.
• Use eye-catching thumbnails on the videos.
• Promote your playlist on your channel.
• Share it on social media and link back to Youtube.
• Encourage viewers to like, comment and subscribe.

The more compelling content you have in the playlist, the more Youtube will see it satisfying user searches and suggest it in the future. So engagement and curation quality create a positive feedback loop for rankings.

Checking for Youtube community guideline violations

In some cases, playlists get removed from search results if they violate Youtube policies even if otherwise public and indexed. So it’s worth confirming your playlist and videos don’t go against any community guidelines.

Some common YouTube policy violations that can impact search rankings include:

• Hateful, dangerous, or harassment content
• Nudity or sexually explicit content
• Violent, graphic, or shocking content
• Spam, scams, or other deceptive metadata
• Copyright infringement or unlicensed use

If your playlist was removed for a guidelines violation, you will need to edit it to address the problematic content before it can regain search visibility. Having multiple violations on your channel may also lead to restrictions.

Requesting a Search indexing review

If you’ve verified all the above issues aren’t applicable and your playlist still isn’t searchable, you can request Youtube reviews the indexing status. Just be aware these reviews may take some time and aren’t always actionable.

To request a search indexing review:

1. Go to the YouTube Help Community forum at https://support.google.com/youtube.
2. Post a new topic explaining your playlist search issue.
3. Include details like playlist name, channel name, and troubleshooting steps taken.
4. Youtube staff will then review and provide guidance if possible.

Keep in mind these reviews are done manually so may take days or weeks depending on volume. But it’s an option if you’ve tried everything and believe there is still an indexing error impacting your playlist.

Using SEO best practices for long-term discoverability

While the steps above can help diagnose and resolve specific playlist issues, optimal search visibility really comes down to applying SEO best practices consistently over time.

Some playlist SEO tips to keep in mind:

• Choose descriptive titles with target keywords.
• Write compelling descriptions that sell the playlist.
• Tag videos with relevant keywords.
• Link to your playlist from high authority sites.
• Encourage engagement metrics like views, comments, watch time.
• Refresh with new videos and metadata periodically.

The playlists that rank the best aren’t one-off projects, but continuously optimized as part of an overall Youtube channel strategy. So take a long-term view of improving search traffic rather than expecting overnight results.

Leveraging other discovery features beyond search

Finally, keep in mind that search is not the only way users find content on Youtube. Recommendations, browsing, external links, and channel subscriptions also play a big role in playlist discovery.

Some other ways to get your playlist seen include:

• Linking it prominently on your channel homepage.
• Featuring it on other social media profiles.
• Mentioning it in relevant Youtube video descriptions.
• Promoting it to your current subscribers.
• Paying for Youtube ads to target interested viewers.
• Collaborating with others in your niche to cross-promote.

So while search optimization is important, having a balanced discovery strategy that leverages multiple outlets gives your playlist the best chance of being found by your ideal audience.