Why are popular channels on my sidebar are different?

[Walreye]

My YouTube channel is in English and is a gaming channel. However the bar on the side shows different language channels(see picture). I'm afraid that YouTube is recommending me to people who don't care about my videos. When I had a bar full of channels related to mine I was gaining subscribers and views. However, now I am not. When I started my channel it was giving these recommendations. Then it switched to related channels. And now it's for some reason back to these random channels. Somebody please help me!

 

[UnboxingSve]

I have the same question lol. I suppose reviving this topic from 2014 is better than opening a new one (it proves I use search bar ) .. I see one related channel to my profile. That channel has nooooooooothing similar with my channel lol. And if I go to that channel I see also my channel is related to his profile. How does this related channel work?

 

[Gaijillionaire]

It's based on recent subscribers activity with other channels. This is only my opinion though. Once a Spanish website with a channel posted something of mine, 10 people subbed in a day or so and for a week or so, Spanish channels popped up. Now subs are coming from friends I've made or channels with similar hit topics and so they pop up.

 

[Rolz]

Are those channels not gaming related? They might be a different language but are they gaming related?

 

[WoodenRailwayStudio]

Are you writing long keyword descriptions and using strong tags? You can point Youtube in the right direction by making sure its search engine knows what your channel is about. Somehow, the search engine spider did not get enough information and your channel began appearing in foreign speaking recommended videos.

Your post is old so I am sure you figured things out but for those who are having similar problems, it is critical to tag and write long descriptions for each of your videos. This really helps in the optimizing process.