Signal 4: External Traffic Source. Where does your stream traffic come from? Algorithms heavily weight intent-driven external traffic.

The 70/30 weight differential: external traffic (TikTok, Shorts, Reddit, Discord, Twitter) is weighted approximately 70% in the recommendation engine. Internal traffic (browse pages, recommendations, autoplay from category) is weighted approximately 30%.

Why external matters more: a viewer who clicked a TikTok clip and arrived at your stream demonstrates intent. They sought you out. The algorithm reads this as proof of genuine audience demand.

A viewer who arrived from browse-page autoplay shows zero intent. The algorithm discounts this traffic in ranking.

How to engineer external traffic dominance:

• Daily clips to TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels (the highest-volume external sources)
• Reddit posts in niche-relevant subreddits (when permitted by community rules)
• Discord cross-posts to communities you participate in
• Twitter/X clips with bio-link CTAs
• Active Linktree maintenance with current "live now" prominence

Streamers with 50%+ external traffic compound faster than streamers with under 20%. The compounding accelerates because external traffic begets internal placement begets more external traffic from algorithm-amplified clips.