6 Reasons Your YouTube Shorts Get Less Than 1K Views

Are your YouTube Shorts stuck under 1,000 views no matter how many you post? Don’t worry — you’re not alone. In this guide, you’ll learn 6 real reasons your Shorts aren’t getting traction, and how to fix them starting today.

1. Low View-to-Swipe Ratio

Your view-to-swipe ratio tells YouTube how many people stop to watch your Short versus how many skip it. A good target is at least 70% watch and 30% swipe away.

Quick fix: Keep your Shorts under 20 seconds.
Use a strong hook in the first 2 seconds — something surprising, emotional, or eye-catching.
Try to aim for 80%+ watch rate if you want to go viral.

✅ One viral Short with 12M+ views had an 86% view-to-swipe ratio!

2. You're Using a Brand-New Channel

YouTube doesn’t trust brand-new accounts. Uploading too soon might flag your channel as spammy or even a bot.

What to do: Use an account that’s at least 2-3 weeks old.
Before uploading, spend time watching, liking, and commenting on videos to build activity history.

🕒 Warming up your channel helps YouTube trust your content.

3. The Algorithm Missed Your Video

Sometimes, even great Shorts get ignored by the algorithm. It happens to everyone.

Fix: If your Short gets fewer than 100 views in 2 days, delete and reupload with a new title or thumbnail.

🔁 One Short got only 47 views at first — then 6M after a reupload.

4. You're Using the Wrong Tags

Tags help YouTube show your Short to the right audience. Bad or missing tags = low reach.

Tag strategy:
- Post-specific tags (e.g., “bicep workout”)
- Niche-specific tags (e.g., “fitness”, “bodybuilding”)
- Broad tags (e.g., “viral”, “shorts”, “for you page”)

🎯 Use 3–4 tags in each category to boost discoverability.

5. You’re Posting Too Much

Yes — posting too often can hurt your growth, especially on a new or small channel.

Best practice: Post once per day to give YouTube time to test your Short.
Uploading too many Shorts can split YouTube’s focus and reduce the success of each one.

📈 Let each Short breathe so the algorithm can do its job.

6. You’re Using Hashtags in the Title

Putting hashtags in your title wastes valuable space. Your title should spark curiosity, not show off hashtags.

Instead: Place 2–3 relevant hashtags in the description only.
Look at MrBeast’s Shorts — no hashtags in titles, ever.

🚫 Hashtags belong in the description, not the title.

Final Thoughts

Growing a YouTube Shorts channel takes time, testing, and patience. If your views are low, it’s often one (or more) of these 6 reasons. Fix them, and your Shorts will stand a much better chance of going viral.