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Have you ever wondered what type of YouTube thumbnails get more clicks and ultimately bring in more views? If you have been making YouTube videos for a while, then you might be aware of the importance of YouTube thumbnails.
In case, you haven’t had a chance to upload hundreds of videos on YouTube, then don’t worry about it. I’ve got this covered; you’ll get to know what type of YouTube thumbnails get more clicks.
I’ve uploaded over 500 videos across 4 different YouTube channels. So I want to be brutally honest with you about getting more views and clicks on YouTube. One of the things I learned about YouTube in the last four years or so is that you can do every bit of optimization, but you can’t guarantee what video would do better than the other. All you can do is try everything that’s working for you as well as others.
Please be advised that these tips and tricks work for me and many other YouTubers I follow. However, I can’t promise that it would work for you as well. I’m being helpful here by sharing something I’m doing myself.
| I don’t want to waste your time, but it could help you: you might have noticed that I’m using a bunch of screenshots in the blog post, which could increase the page loading speed. Well, it’s not a problem anymore because I use the ShortPixel plugin to compress all of the blog images. It helps every blog post load faster. |
So let’s get right into the answer to your question.
Types of YouTube thumbnails that get more clicks
YouTube can produce default thumbnail suggestions for you when you upload a video. However, it’s recommended to make the most of this opportunity by adding a custom thumbnail. Here are the strategies that make YouTube thumbnails standout:
An Identifiable Person
A clearly identifiable person in the thumbnail gives the creator an edge, especially if the picture is in HD or the person is famous. However, other factors come into play as well: if the picture doesn’t relate to the video title, then it becomes a little unattractive for the audience to click.
Since thousands of videos are being published every second on YouTube, it becomes harder for such videos to dominate. According to Wikipedia, more than 500 hours of video content was being uploaded to YouTube every minute back in 2019.
There is a common thing among these thumbnails: the picture of a person
So try using a clear and prominent picture in your thumbnails so that people find it easier to understand the context of the video. You may see thumbnails with low-quality or blurry pictures that don’t make a difference. Using the best quality pictures in your video thumbnails would do the job.
Attractive Graphics Design
Have you noticed we tend to click on the YouTube videos with well-designed thumbnails? I can tell you that attractive graphics designs get my attention and I always want to check out the video with such fantastic thumbnails.
I remember the last time I couldn’t resist clicking on the thumbnail of a video from Authority Hacker. They’re so good at designing attractive thumbnails. You might notice that they use their pictures in the video thumbnail, so do other people, but their graphics designing on the thumbnails is worth applauding.
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You may also come across YouTube channels that design incredible thumbnails, which might be helping them grow. So don’t shy away from trying out beautifully designed thumbnails.
The Explanatory Signs
Sometimes, you need to add a few signs on the thumbnail to make a distinction or explain the context of the video. This type of YouTube thumbnails also helps the videos get a lot of clicks.
The science behind this is that those signs send out a message or start a thought-process in the viewers’ minds. Therefore, they become curious about the content and eventually click on the video thumbnail to watch.
I’ve tried this methodology on YouTube, and it worked for me. While designing the thumbnail, I simply used an arrow and a circle to indicate a road accident, and the video did quite well as compared to other videos on that channel.
A Story-revealing Text
It may seem a little sneaky, but it works incredibly well for some YouTube channels. What they do is that they write a description of the video on the thumbnail, and it makes viewers more anxious when they read out the text on the thumbnail.
I’m an admirer of Income School. Take a look at their thumbnail:
Some channels use a whole lot of text while others may not be doubling-down on the thumbnail text. The idea behind text on the thumbnail is that it uncovers the story or the gist of the video, which makes the potential viewers curious to watch the video. Hence, those YouTube channels end up getting more clicks, views, and subscribers.
What Type of YouTube Thumbnails Get You Clicks?
I’ve shared something that I noticed or tested myself, and the results are quite astonishing. The reason I wrote about YouTube thumbnail is that it’s something the majority of YouTube channels aren’t paying attention to. No wonder they don’t get views on YouTube.
I don’t say that I’m the expert at this, but at least, I’m always tweaking a thing or two on YouTube. Sometimes, things work and sometimes they don’t. As far as YouTube thumbnails are concerned, I’ve noticed that the majority of unsuccessful videos start to perform better after 3 weeks of changing the thumbnail. I’ve done a lot of experiments on YouTube thumbnails, which is why I always tell others to pay close attention to video thumbnails.
You’d even find YouTube experts like Derral Eves and Tim Schmoyer talk about thumbnails all the time.
You’re free to share your thoughts and ideas that are working for you.
Furthermore, let me know one more thing:
What type of YouTube thumbnail works for you?