If you look at one of his tags "ucxsz6jvymzvhtkrahwzc7hq", then you search on Yt search bar, you get taken to this channel:
youtube.com/channel/UCxSz6JVYmzVhtkraHWZC7HQ (which belongs to Liza Koshy)
So instead of using the name "Liza Koshy" he's using the unique channel identifier ucxsz6jvymzvhtkrahwzc7hq. Internally the algo references channels by the unique string identifier, not the user defined channel name.
So in a way he's being sneaky, he wants to use other channel names in his tags to get his channel associated in the algo with other big channels (against TOS), but do it in a way that the typical Ytbuer would not know what he's doing.
How effective is this? Is TubeBuddy correct in its rating system here?
In your opinion what does have weight these days?Tags have very little weight these days.
In your opinion what does have weight these days?
^ This. As much as SEO is important, I feel a lot of people obsess way too much over it rather than focusing on improving content to extend retention/viewer session. SEO is only for that initial discoverability but a user's experience with your content highly affects how much you'll keep getting recommended.Direct from the horse's mouth - watch time and the contribution your video makes to viewer session time. On the Seo side, titles and the first few sentences of the description. Things like CC and intl translations help foreign viewers as well. Playlists help organize your content into viewer friendly lists. Tags are way down the list. Things like backlinks, external embedding, are pretty much useless unless they contribute to watch and session time. Anything that kills the viewer session should be avoided like the plague, ie don't take viewers off Yt to social media.
^^That!.... a lot of people obsess way too much over it rather than focusing on improving content to extend retention/viewer session...