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How to Delete Recommended Videos on YouTube

From the time YouTube sync with the technology giant Google, we have been witnessing an abundance of new and the improvement of existing features. 

However, a few of YouTube’s features, though helpful to the developers and engineers, are nothing but irritating nuances. One such feature is the “Recommended Videos” feature.

To settle this irritating nuance, I am here to share some helpful insights and hands-on tips on how to delete recommended videos on YouTube. 

Talking about the feature, it’s what keeps track of everything you search and watch on YouTube – so that the feed can track down relatable and similar videos for you. Then these “recommended videos” suggest to you. 

Most of you may be okay with this feature if only you’re signed into YouTube via their YouTube or Google account, but sadly, it’s also not the case. As many YouTube recommended videos are just crap, or you called it pretty unwanted. 

Thankfully, it is possible to filter the list of recommended videos, and also, you get rid of all of them that are displayed on your YouTube homepage. 

Note: Signing in to YouTube, deleting the feature of recommended videos is easy and straightforward. However, if not signed into the platform, the task gets quite a tad bit and can be accomplished in multiple ways. 

Ways to delete Recommended Videos on YouTube

The following are the most tested workarounds that will delete your recommended videos on YouTube, especially if you’re not signed in:

1. Cookies, Cookies, Cookies – Clear them all!

Yes, this is the most basic practice to get away with search/watch-based suggestions; now, here we have a couple of layers of cookies that need to be cleared simultaneously – to become unknown to Google, YouTube, and any other extension you’re using YouTube with. 

 a. Delete all stored cookies & Clear the browser’s cache 

If you are not signed in, YouTube must heavily be relying on your browser’s cookies and the cache being stored, helping the YouTube homepage with recommended videos. 

So to deal with this, delete recommended videos from your YouTube by simply deleting all stored cookies and clearing your browser’s cache. 

Here’s how you can delete the stored cookies and the browser’s cache:

  • Click on the hamburger/three-dot menu button in the top-right corner of your window.
  • Go to options/settings.
  • In the left pane, go to Privacy or search “cache” in the given search bar.
  • Here click History/clear browsing data. A pop-up will occur with basic and advanced tabs.
  • On the window, a time-stamp will also be given with respective preferences.
  • Preferably, click on “All Time” as the Time Range → Clear Now.

b. Clear YouTube’s cookies (for Chrome users)

  • Launch YouTube.
  • On the homepage, right-click on an empty space.
  • Click on Inspect, or simply press/hold CTRL + SHIFT + I
  • Here, go to Resources in the toolbar.
  • Now, click on Cookies in the left pane and expand it.
  • Here, click cookies → right-click youtube.com → clear.

To check whether it worked or not, reload YouTube, and you will no longer see any recommended videos. 

c. Clear and then pause YOU-TUBE search & watch history

Other than your browser’s cache and the stored cookies, YouTube also relies a little bit on your YouTube search and watch history too, although you can’t view either of them without signing in with a YouTube or Google account. 

Still, you need to clear and then subsequently pause both your YouTube search and watch histories – of course, to get rid of the recommended videos, to do that:

  • Open YouTube in a browser.
  • Scroll down to the bottom of the homepage.
  • Go to history → Clear all watch history.
  • Now, click on Pause watch history.
  • Head to the search history → Clear all search history.

Worry not, it may take a few hours to get the desired results, but once all of these steps are completed, your YouTube homepage will be free from all those unwanted recommendations.

2. Use the YOU-TUBE Options Browser Extension

This option is costly, as this requires you to download, install, and then integrate the YouTube Options browser extension into your browser.

  • Once in the browser, navigate to its settings
  • Now, go to the Appearance section and enable Hide video suggestions

So, if you can spare $1.99/month for the subscription of YouTube Options browser extension, then it’s the best deal to get away with unwanted YouTube suggestions.

You can also try its free trial before committing to paid plans; make sure that the YouTube Options browser extension is only available for Google Chrome, Safari, and Opera. 

Besides getting rid of the recommended videos section, the extension is also helpful for doing a lot more. 

3. Teach YOU-TUBE to RECOGNISE your likes and dislikes appropriately.

Another way to delete or restrict YouTube to show up recommended videos, especially when you’re not signed in, is to train YouTube to recognize your likes and dislikes better while displaying recommendations. 

It should be noted that this option is time-taking as it deals with removing individual videos from the list of recommended videos. 

So, to remove suggested videos individually from your recommendations.

  • Log in to your YouTube account.
  • Find the video you don’t want to keep in your suggestions.
  • Now, click on a three-dot button at the bottom-right of the thumbnail video, a pop-up menu will open.
  • Here, select Not interested.

It’s done!

This workaround will take some time but will fine-tune the dynamics of recommended videos on YouTube – so, start removing individual titles and see the videos that you find interesting.

You can also reject videos recommended to you to achieve a similar outcome; whichever you choose, your YouTube feed will soon be filled with content suiting your needs.

Last, not least.

And, if you want to remove an entire channel from your recommendations

  • Log in to YouTube.
  • Go to the recommended videos, find a video or the channel you want to remove.
  • At the bottom-right of the thumbnail, click the three-dot menu.
  • While in the pop-up menu, select Don’t recommend channels.

Now, you will not see any videos from the selected channel.

Don’t forget to share your recommended method to delete recommended videos on YouTube in the comment section below. 

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