About The New "Ask YouTube" Feature

The new “Ask YouTube” feature is rolling out, and wow…

It’s a big update!

I have some thoughts and opinions on YouTube's new “Ask YouTube” feature that they announced last week.

And I'll be honest with you… I'm kind of excited about it.

BUT it's a big, big change… it could probably be one of the biggest shifts on YouTube in a really, really long time.

I have some tactical things for you to know, and there's also some things I wanna share with you that you're probably not gonna wanna hear as a business owner on YouTube…

I am sharing my honest thoughts on how this new feature could shift everything we know about YouTube search and content strategy.

I am breaking down what “Ask YouTube” means for your channel, how to adapt, and why showing up authentically matters more than ever.

VIDEO: About The New “Ask YouTube” Feature

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YouTube Is More Than a Search Engine

Before we get into Ask YouTube, I want to zoom out for a second.

Yes, YouTube is a powerful search engine.

But it's more than that.

Search is only one way people discover content on YouTube. Your audience can also find your videos through recommendations and other parts of the platform.

That's important because you don't want to build your entire YouTube strategy around trying to rank for search terms.

YouTube ultimately wants users to find content they want to watch, enjoy it, feel satisfied by it, and continue watching.

As a creator, that gives you a pretty straightforward job.

Make videos on topics your audience already wants to watch.

Provide value.

Show up consistently.

For the business owners I work with inside Video Brand Academy, that's still the foundation. You don't have to reinvent your entire YouTube strategy every time the platform introduces a new feature.

There are tactics and strategies that can help, of course.

The foundation doesn't need to change every time YouTube changes.

So, What Is the Ask YouTube Feature?

Here's where things get interesting.

The Ask YouTube feature appears in the same place where you would normally find the YouTube search bar.

Instead of simply giving you a list of videos based on the search phrase you entered, Ask YouTube can take a question, a search phrase, or even a longer paragraph of context and use YouTube videos to create a curated guide.

The easiest comparison I can make is Perplexity, but for YouTube.

You're not just getting a list of possible videos and then having to figure out which one is useful.

YouTube is taking pieces and sections from different videos and organizing them into something that answers your question.

At the time I recorded the episode, access appeared to be limited to YouTube Premium users and certain locations, so this is still something that's rolling out and evolving.

I upgraded to YouTube Premium so I could actually test the feature for myself.

The user experience is fascinating.

I Tested Ask YouTube With a Beginner's Question

Here's what happened when I tested it.

I searched for:

“Learn to quilt for beginners.”

With regular YouTube search, I got what we're used to seeing: a list of videos.

If I wanted to figure out which video was actually going to help me, I would need to click on the videos, watch them, and decide for myself.

Ask YouTube did something completely different.

It created a guide using sections from multiple videos.

The guide included:

Preparing and cutting fabric
Piecing the quilt top
Basting the quilt sandwich
Machine quilting the layers
Binding the edges

It was essentially building a beginner's guide from content that already existed across YouTube.

Then it suggested beginner-friendly quilt patterns.

It also offered additional questions I could explore, such as choosing quilt fabric or finding a sewing machine.

That's what makes this Ask YouTube feature so interesting.

As a user, I don't necessarily have to know what question to ask next.

YouTube can help me figure that out.

I can continue the conversation, too, building out a resource that becomes more customized to what I'm trying to accomplish.

As a user, that feels really useful.

As a creator, it creates a pretty big “holy crap” moment!

Why Ask YouTube Changes the Way We Think About Views

Now let's look at this from the creator side.

This is where things get interesting.

We're used to thinking about a YouTube view in a very specific way.

Someone sees your thumbnail.

They see your title.

They click the video.

They start watching from the beginning.

Your hook matters.

Your opening matters.

Your thumbnail matters.

Your title matters.

The Ask YouTube feature changes that experience.

If YouTube pulls a specific section from your video and places it into a curated guide, someone may not see your thumbnail at all.

They may not notice your title.

They may not start at the beginning of your video.

Instead, they could land directly on the specific section of your video that YouTube thinks answers their question.

That's a significant shift.

It also creates some unknowns around analytics.

I've always loved looking at YouTube analytics because the numbers can tell us a lot about how viewers interact with a channel.

If people start consuming videos through Ask YouTube in this way, though, I'm not sure the metrics will tell us the same story unless YouTube eventually gives creators specific data about those interactions.

Right now, there are still a lot of unknowns.

That's okay.

We can focus on what we can control.

Use the Spiderweb Strategy to Build a Stronger Channel

Here's where something I've been teaching inside Video Brand Academy for a long time becomes especially relevant.

The spiderweb strategy inside Video Brand Academy is about covering the topics around your niche from multiple angles and perspectives.

Instead of making one video about a topic and moving on, you create a connected collection of videos.

You answer related questions.

You explore different problems.

You cover the things your audience needs to know next.

You establish yourself as someone who consistently talks about that subject.

That's important because, based on what I've seen while using the Ask YouTube feature, it isn't simply looking for one perfectly optimized video.

It's looking at the actual content of videos and the broader context of a channel.

That makes the spiderweb strategy especially practical right now.

You want to make it easy for YouTube to understand what you know and who you help.

If your channel has one video about a topic you want to be known for, YouTube has relatively little information to work with.

A channel containing multiple videos that explore that topic from different angles gives YouTube much more context.

That's the whole idea behind the spiderweb strategy.

You're not just creating videos.

You're building a body of work around your area of expertise.

What You Can Do

Look at the main topic you want your channel to be known for.

Then ask:

What questions does my audience have about this topic?
What problems come up after they solve the first problem?
What related topics could I explain from another perspective?
What does my audience need to know before they can take the next step?

Use those questions to build connected videos instead of isolated uploads.

That's how you start creating your own YouTube spiderweb.

Your Transcript Matters More Than You Might Think

Here's another thing I've noticed while using the Ask YouTube feature.

Some of the videos appearing in the curated results don't have chapters or timestamps.

That's interesting because YouTube already has access to something incredibly important:

Your transcript.

YouTube automatically transcribes your videos, which means it already has a lot of information about what you're actually saying.

I'm not saying you shouldn't use chapters or timestamps.

I still think they're helpful for the humans watching your videos, and I think they can be helpful for the bots crawling your content.

I've even been lazy about adding them myself!

Descript is good at finding chapters and timestamps, so that's something I can improve on, too.

The bigger point is this:

What you actually say in your video matters.

That brings me to the part of this whole update that might make you uncomfortable.

Tightly Scripted Videos Might Be a Problem

I've had a love-hate relationship with scripting for years.

Sometimes I want every single word written out.

I'll put it on a teleprompter and read it.

Other times, I'll decide I'm just going to riff off the top of my head and talk.

Then I end up with two hours of footage and five hours of editing!

Somewhere between those extremes is where I think the sweet spot is.

When you script every word, you're often trying to make your content as concise and polished as possible.

You take a long explanation and turn it into a perfect paragraph.

You remove the extra details.

You remove the tangents.

You make everything more efficient.

That can be useful.

Those details and bits of context, however, may also be where the richness of your content lives.

Think About How You Use AI

Think about how you use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity.

You don't always type in a perfect keyword.

Sometimes you give the tool a whole paragraph explaining your situation.

You give it context.

You explain what you're trying to accomplish.

You tell it what's important to you.

The more context you provide, the more customized the response can become.

That's exactly what I was thinking about when I tested Ask YouTube.

For example, I recently had to drive my dog to the dermatologist. It was about a two-hour drive from my house one way.

On the way home, I wanted to find something to eat.

I didn't want to leave my dog in the car, so I needed a drive-through.

I also wanted something more like a wrap or something semi-healthy instead of a burger.

I gave Claude all of that context.

Instead of simply searching for “drive-through wraps,” I explained my actual situation.

The results felt much more customized to what I needed.

That's the kind of natural-language interaction that made me think about what happens when YouTube starts helping people find content in a similar way.

Scripts Are Training Wheels, Not the Destination

Now, before you throw your scripts in the trash, let me clarify something.

I created a toolkit for Video Brand Academy that helps you script your videos.

I provide fill-in-the-blank scripts.

I still think scripts can be incredibly useful!

When you're learning how to communicate on camera, having something to guide you can make the whole process less intimidating.

Your brain is basically saying, “Oh my gosh, we're talking to a camera. What are we supposed to do?”

A script gives you something to lean on.

It's like training wheels.

But eventually, you want to become a better communicator.

You want to trust yourself to explain what you know.

You want to have a structure without having to memorize every sentence.

You want to show up as yourself.

That's where I think the sweet spot is.

Have a structure.

Have an outline.

Know what you're trying to communicate.

Then give yourself permission to actually communicate it like a human.

The Human Part of Your Content Matters

This is one of the biggest ideas I took away from thinking about the Ask YouTube feature.

When AI can process natural language and curate information based on context, there's an opportunity for your content to contain more of that context.

You don't have to strip everything down until every sentence sounds perfectly polished.

You can explain.

You can tell stories.

You can add examples.

You can share your experience.

You can communicate the way you naturally communicate.

That doesn't mean you should ramble for two hours without a plan!

I've done that, and I can tell you firsthand that it creates a lot of editing work.

Instead, find the middle ground.

Use an outline.

Know your key points.

Then trust yourself enough to say what you actually need to say.

Ask YouTube Could Be Good News for Creators

This is actually one of the reasons I'm excited about the Ask YouTube feature.

If people start using it the way I've experienced it, we may have less reason to obsess over the traditional YouTube formula of getting someone to see the thumbnail, click the title, and watch the perfect opening.

Someone could discover you because YouTube pulled a useful section from your video that directly answered their question.

They may never see your carefully designed thumbnail.

They may never hear your perfectly crafted hook.

They may simply encounter you in the middle of a video and decide:

“This person knows what they're talking about.”

That's an interesting opportunity.

You don't have to manufacture a perfect version of yourself.

You have the opportunity to simply be useful.

You have the opportunity to be human.

You have the opportunity to be a thought leader and communicate your expertise in a way that only you can.

And with AI-generated content everywhere, I think that matters.

What You Should Do Right Now

You don't need to completely change your YouTube strategy because of the Ask YouTube feature.

Instead, use this update as a reason to strengthen the foundation you've already been building.

1. Build Around Your Core Topics

Choose the subjects you want to be known for.

Then create multiple videos that explore those subjects from different angles.

2. Give YouTube More Context

Don't make one isolated video about your topic and move on.

Build a library of connected videos that demonstrate the depth of your knowledge.

3. Use an Outline Instead of Depending on a Word-for-Word Script

If you're comfortable doing so, experiment with speaking from structured bullet points.

Keep the structure.

Let the actual wording sound like you.

4. Keep Your Content Useful

Think about what your target audience is actually trying to accomplish.

Create videos that answer real questions and solve real problems.

5. Keep Showing Up

You don't need to chase every new YouTube feature.

Keep creating consistently for the people you want to reach.

That's still the job.

You Don't Have to Panic About Every YouTube Update

If there's one thing I want you to take away from this, it's this:

Don't let every new YouTube feature send you into a strategy spiral.

The Ask YouTube feature is interesting.

It could be a significant change in how people discover and consume content.

There are still a lot of things we don't know.

But the fundamentals haven't suddenly disappeared.

Know who you're trying to reach.

Create videos around topics your audience wants to watch.

Build a connected body of content around your expertise.

Provide real value.

Show up consistently.

Most importantly, communicate like a human.

The spiderweb strategy can help you build that connected body of content.

Your transcripts give YouTube a huge amount of information about what you're actually talking about.

Your own voice, perspective, experience, and expertise give your content something that a perfectly polished script can't provide.

Conclusion

The Ask YouTube feature may change how people discover our videos, but it doesn't change the reason people want to watch them.

They want useful information.

They want answers.

They want someone who understands what they're trying to accomplish.

So don't chase every algorithm change.

Keep building your expertise, your channel, and your body of work.

Create connected content around the topics you want to be known for. Use an outline when you need structure, but give yourself permission to sound like a real human being.

And if you want to keep up with YouTube changes as they evolve, make sure you're subscribed to my channel. If you want a more strategic approach to building your YouTube presence, come check out Video Brand Academy.

I'm excited to see where Ask YouTube goes, and I'll keep talking about what these changes mean for creators as they happen!

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