YouTube SEO: Can low quality videos you posted in the past hurt your seo for future videos ?

[glinski.netflix]

I have a very old youtube channel (10 years maybe) with some low quality videos and a few thousands subscribers.

Now I decided to give it go and make good quality videos.

But one question keeps coming: maybe the fact that this channel is old and with bad videos with very low retention, this would affect the seo of the new videos ?

Is it better to start a new channel from scratch ? even if its more difficult ?

Thank you!

[effectdigital]

The results on YouTube and on Google, for your current channel should shape and dictate your thinking. Did those videos, even if you perceive them to be low quality, get lots of views? Did they pop up in Google's search results quite often?

If your older channel gained no real following or views on the videos, if the videos never seemed to quite make it into Google's results - then they probably wouldn't help your new endeavor. If the older videos wouldn't help your new channel re-brand, why even keep them? If they certainly won't help your future activities, then even a slight chance of them hurting your new channel isn't worth it (at this point, the answer to the original question becomes irrelevant - you'd just start fresh)

If the videos failed to perform and you think, Google might even consider them toxic (they were for unproven medicine or medical treatments, they were related to get rich quick or make money online schemes, they were related to porn or gambling somehow) - then just drop them completely. There's no reason to contaminate your new channel with poor quality content

The proof factor is in the results though. You can have your human thoughts, but what was achieved through those videos? Why? Maybe they are worth keeping around, maybe not

Hope that helps