by Dan Sullivan
Whether you realize it or not, thumbnails are an incredibly important element of video optimization and YouTube ranking. Without an attractive thumbnail, you won't grab the attention of your potential viewers, which means you'll miss out on the click and the view. Fortunately, there are simple ways to create effective thumbnails and boost your content's popularity on the biggest video sharing platform on the Internet. In this article, we're going to run through a short YouTube thumbnail tutorial so you can follow along step by step.
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Every time your video is shown in search results or in a viewer's suggested feed, YouTube is tracking it as an impression. And every time your video gets clicked, that's tracked as a click. So, the ratio of total clicks that your video receives versus the total number of times that your video is shown is called your click-through rate, or CTR for short. Your CTR is a great indicator that YouTube can easily use to compare your videos to all the other ones that are being displayed alongside it. So, why is this important? Well, really, quickly, if your content has a low click-through rate relative to other types of similar content, YouTube is likely to rank it lower in the feed or in the search results. This is done so that YouTube can better highlight the content that viewers are clearly more attracted to. And thumbnails are a considerable factor in grabbing that attention and determining whether it's your video that gets clicked. Ready to ingratiate yourself with the YouTube algorithm and 10x your results? Then, let's jump into it.
When it comes to creating a clickable thumbnail for your YouTube video, size actually matters. You may start by checking YouTube's guidelines, which clearly specify that your thumbnail should be 1280 x 720 pixels and have no less than 640 pixels in width; 16:9 is considered an ideal aspect ratio for YouTube thumbnail images. If you look at the most viral videos on YouTube, you'll see that most of them use thumbnails that fully comply with these requirements.
Refrain from using small and blurry images. That always looks cheap and unprofessional. You want to incorporate bigger images. If need be, YouTube will scale them down without impacting their quality. Still, if you opt for a small image, YouTube will need to scale it up and ruin its original quality and impression.
Probably the biggest misconception concerning creating YouTube thumbnails is that you need to utilize paid professional software like Photoshop. Of course, if you've got a Photoshop and know how to make the most out of its abundance of tools, then, by all means, definitely go for it. But you can get by with simpler tools like KeyNote or even PowerPoint, which can be a fantastic option for crafting clickable thumbnails. There are also free online services like Crello or Canva, which can work across all platforms, that can help you create a thumbnail for YouTube in no time. You can choose from a wide selection of customizable templates that substantially simplify the process of creating your thumbnails. You can select the colors, font, and graphics that best match your brand personality or are congruent with the spirit of your video.
About Dan Sullivan
Dan Sullivan is a renowned professor and esteemed education writer with a passion for inspiring students and transforming the field of education. With a diverse background in academia and practical teaching experience, he has become a leading figure in educational research and pedagogy.
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