Many people know how important a good thumbnail is to get viewers to watch your videos, but if your title is bad, your CTR is going to go through the floor. Making good titles isn’t a complicated process; this article will share the most important things you can do to make one.
Making titles too long is bad for two reasons. For one, viewers scrolling through their home page don’t want to read a title the length of a short story. Also, after 55-60 characters, your titles will start getting cut off on mobile devices. Titles that are complicated are harder to understand. If a viewer doesn’t understand your title, they aren't going to give you the benefit of the doubt; they will just scroll away. Finally, make sure you keep your titles clear. Don’t make the mistake of making them vague, thinking that would pull in viewers' curiosity. As mentioned above, if viewers don’t understand your titles, they just won’t click.
This might sound obvious, but make sure your titles and thumbnails have some connection. For example, let's say you have a before-and-after thumbnail for a car repair (FYI, before is always on the left side of the thumbnail, and after is on the right; don’t switch them). Your title should be something talking about the car repair transformation (something like “Before Vs After Car Transformation”).
Make sure you use the main keywords (a keyword is just something a viewer types into their search bar) of your niche in about the first 3-5 words. The reason why is because any viewer that has even a little interest in your video will at least read the first 3-5 words. So you want to make sure your main keywords are here. Also, keywords that are closer to the beginning of your title are weighted higher by the algorithm. For example, let's say you have the title “Car Repairs: Do’s and Don'ts"; since “Car Repairs” is the first phrase in the title, those keywords would have the greatest weight compared to the rest of the title (“Weight” means in this case that if a viewer searched up any individual keywords in a title, keywords with more weight would appear higher up in the search results).
Don’t write numbers out (i.e., two, three, four); write them as digits (i.e., 2, 3, 4). Use lists when appropriate. Use words with high impact, like 'fast' or 'proven', but don’t overdo it.
Keep your titles short and sweet; make sure your titles and your thumbnail match. Use your most important keywords as soon as possible in the title. Don’t write out numbers; use digits. Use lists when needed. Use words with high impact, but don't use too many. Making a good title will help your video perform, but a good thumbnail is just as important. If you want a thumbnail editor designed for speed, check ours out.