YouTube Metrics
Browse Features
Browse features is the YouTube Analytics traffic source for views from the home page, the subscriptions feed, Watch Later and other browsing surfaces.
By Aymane Senhaji · checked against YouTube's own help pages ·
What are browse features on YouTube?
Browse features is a traffic source in YouTube Analytics. It counts views that came from the home page, the subscriptions feed, Watch Later, Trending and Explore and the other places where people browse rather than search. When a viewer opens YouTube and picks your video without typing anything, that view lands here.
Which surfaces it includes
YouTube's traffic source list groups these under browse features:
- the home page, the personalized feed most viewers start on
- the subscriptions feed
- Watch Later
- Trending and Explore
- other browsing surfaces that are not search, suggestions or a channel page
Browse features vs suggested videos vs search
| Traffic source | Where the viewer is | What the thumbnail is up against |
|---|---|---|
| Browse features | Scrolling the home page or a feed, with no query | Every other video YouTube picked for that person |
| Suggested videos | Watching a video, looking at what comes next | The video they are already watching |
| YouTube search | Looking for something specific | Other answers to the same query |
Where you see it
In YouTube Studio, open a video's Analytics and go to the Reach tab. The "How viewers find this video" card splits views by traffic source, browse features included.
Why browse features matter for thumbnails
In search, the viewer brought a question and the title can answer it. In browse, nobody asked for anything. The thumbnail has to create the interest on its own, in the second or two a scrolling thumb gives it.
That makes browse the hardest test a thumbnail faces. It is also why the click-through rate from browse runs lower than from search: the audience is wider. A lower number here is normal. A thumbnail that reads instantly at feed size, with one subject and almost no text, is what moves it.
Questions about Browse Features
Why is my CTR from browse features lower than from search?
Because browse reaches people who were not looking for your video. YouTube's help notes that a video getting many impressions, for example from the home page, naturally has a lower click-through rate than one whose impressions come from places like your channel page.
Is the Shorts feed part of browse features?
No. YouTube Analytics lists Shorts as its own traffic source, for views from the vertical Shorts viewing experience. Browse features covers the home page, subscriptions, Watch Later, Trending and Explore and other browsing surfaces.
Sources
Make the thumbnail
Paste your video's link: the brief is written for you, the text is read back and the image is checked at feed size. 60 free credits, no card.