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YouTube’s search function has a growing problem: instead of returning results that match what you typed, it fills the page with recommendations that have little to do with your actual query. This is not a new glitch — it is a long-running pattern that is getting harder to ignore.
What Is Actually Happening
When you type a specific keyword into YouTube’s search bar, you reasonably expect results that match those exact words. What many users get instead is a mixed feed — a few relevant videos, followed by unrelated Shorts, random playlists, and algorithmically pushed content. Some users report fewer than three genuinely relevant results before the page shifts into recommendation territory entirely.
Tech writer Jeff Geerling highlighted this problem publicly on X, pointing out that DuckDuckGo’s YouTube search integration often returns cleaner, more accurate results than YouTube’s own native search. The reason is straightforward: external search engines rely on keyword indexing, not behavioral data, to rank results.
Why YouTube Does This
YouTube has not officially explained the shift, but the likely driver is watch time. Surfacing recommendations alongside search results keeps users watching longer — even if what they watch has nothing to do with what they searched for. YouTube itself has acknowledged that your search results are influenced by your watch history and broader Google account activity, which explains why two users searching the same phrase can see completely different pages.
This design choice has a real cost. Task-based searches — where you need a specific tutorial, review, or explanation — become slower and less reliable. Niche content loses visibility because the algorithm favors content that is already popular. Creators who produce specialized videos are directly affected: their work gets buried under recommendations for mainstream content, regardless of how well their title and tags match the search query.
The Resident Evil 9 Problem
A widely discussed example involved users being shown Resident Evil 9 spoiler content during unrelated searches. YouTube’s response — that results are shaped by user activity — is technically accurate but misses the point. Search intent should override behavioral inference. If someone types a specific phrase, that phrase should anchor the results, not serve as a loose starting point for the algorithm to wander from.
Workarounds That Actually Help
Until YouTube addresses this at the platform level, several practical options can reduce the noise:
- YouTube Unhook (browser extension): Gives you granular control over which page elements appear — you can hide Shorts, related videos, playlists, and the home feed independently
- Clear your watch and search history: Removing history resets the behavioral signals YouTube uses to personalize results, which can reduce irrelevant recommendations
- Use DuckDuckGo or Google to search YouTube: These engines search by keyword and bypass YouTube’s internal algorithm, often returning more accurate results
- Mark videos as “Not Interested”: Signals the algorithm to stop pulling similar content into your results
What YouTube Should Do
The fix is not complicated. YouTube has the technical infrastructure to separate keyword-matched search from recommendation logic — it simply chooses not to. A dedicated “keyword-only” search mode, or a filter that deprioritizes algorithmic suggestions in favor of exact-match results, would address the core complaint directly.
Search and recommendations serve different user needs. Search is intentional — someone wants something specific. Recommendations are passive — the algorithm suggests what to watch next. Mixing the two in search results does not serve either purpose well. As a user, you deserve a search tool that respects the query you typed. As a creator, you deserve visibility based on relevance, not just on what the algorithm already considers popular.