What gets you more YouTube views without even reading the title? That’s right—it’s a thumbnail! YouTube thumbnails are crucial for gaining views and making your video stand out.
In this practical guide, you’ll gain enough knowledge to become a pro at creating video thumbnails that pop. These thumbnails will help you grasp your audience’s attention and make them enthusiastic about watching your content. Let’s explore creating an eye-catching YouTube thumbnail that will boost your viewership and benefit YouTube SEO.
What is YouTube Thumbnails?
Don’t judge a book by its cover. However, don’t we all do that? We judge a book by its cover design like your target audience judges and get a hint about what your YouTube video has to say. A YouTube thumbnail is the cover design of the video.
The thumbnail is an image with compromised quality that also talks a lot about your video. It is primarily the first thing your audience will see while browsing that helps them decide the best video solution or content to view. In short, YouTube thumbnails are small clickable images that the viewers will click on if they choose to watch the video.
Why Are Thumbnails Important?
Thumbnails are essential as they serve as the video’s first impression. They should be enticing enough to entice viewers to click and watch the video. A compelling thumbnail increases click-through rates. Clear, high-quality, and engaging thumbnails help your video stand out among competitors, ultimately driving more views and boosting channel growth.
Why use Custom Thumbnails?
- The thumbnail provides an overview of the video’s content, making it easier for the audience to choose from various online videos. Therefore, a top-notch custom video thumbnail will help you make your content look outstanding.
- However, is a custom thumbnail that important? Why not use a snapshot from the video or YouTube’s recommendations by default? Well, you have everything you need, right? You need an appealing headline, good content, and competent SEO keywords. Then, why choose a custom thumbnail?
- Well, here’s the answer: Most of the best-performing and trending videos on YouTube have custom thumbnails! Yes, you read it correctly. You can easily boost your YouTube channel by customizing attention-grabbing thumbnails.
- Imagine people browsing YouTube, hoping to find the one video they’ve been looking for. Instead, attention-seeking headlines and enticing thumbnails trap the viewers in a loop of watching the videos. Jumping from one video to the next in the suggestions section, the magic of thumbnails works!
- Specifically, the thumbnails are also designed to provide the audience with a valuable overview of the content, be compelling enough for the audience to watch, differentiate your brand, and make the viewing experience easy on any device.
- Your video thumbnail can either effectively build your brand name or destroy it. This is mainly because your thumbnail will create the first impression on your audience, ultimately leading to their decision to view it or skip it. The first impression is the best—at least in this case!
- Additionally, the thumbnail image of your choice must make your audience curious enough to watch the video.
Tips to consider while creating video thumbnails
To create strong and appealing thumbnails, keeping in mind the below-stated elements is incredibly crucial. These guidelines will help you understand how to make a thumbnail for YouTube:
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Title & Thumbnail must be in sync
Your title and thumbnail must complement each other. The title must add context to the thumbnail image, and the visual must explain the context of the video. It can help increase the video’s CTR, improving its discoverability and visibility.
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Text must be readable
An essential point to consider while learning to make a video thumbnail is to focus on making the text clear and readable. The text should be bold and pop. You must also ensure that the text is concise and short. The thumbnail text should be uncluttered. The font must be visible on various devices. The font, colors, and text size must be consistent with the channel’s branding.
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Use Emotions & Human Faces
Thumbnails must use human faces to connect with the audience. Humans can depict emotions, which trigger a response from viewers. So, a close-up shot of the face showing emotions like curiosity, shock, or joy grabs attention. It can also be one of the factors that drives clicks for YouTube.
How To Create Custom Thumbnail?
You must create a compelling thumbnail to increase the number of clicks on your video. Here’s how. You can also make a custom thumbnail of your choice.
1. Create an online graphic design tool account
Multiple graphic design tools, including Canva, are available online. Its free and premium versions offer access to amazing features. Visit the official Canva website and create an account.
2. Choose the background and add text
While creating a template, you can either upload a photo from the gallery or select a template from the list. The template option is on the left panel.
If you create a video cover yourself, you will need graphic skills to understand the color palettes. If your background is dark, brighten your text and other elements, and vice versa.
3. Download the image and upload
Before downloading the thumbnail, check that it matches the video’s title. Remember, you must make a compelling thumbnail, not a clickbait one. Once you are done, follow the steps to download the video cover.
- Click on the share button at the top.
- Click on the download option.
- Select the file type to JPG.
- Type out the page number under the Select Pages section.
- Once done, click on the download button.
YouTube Thumbnail Dimensions
It is essential to know the correct thumbnail dimensions for a YouTube video.
- The recommended YouTube thumbnail size is 1280 x 720 pixels
- The thumbnail file size should not exceed 2MB
- The aspect ratio should be 16:9.
- The file type should be PNG, JPEG, GIF, or BMP
YouTube Thumbnail Design Trends
Exploring what’s happening on YouTube Thumbnail Trends can help you grab attention. Below are some YouTube thumbnail Trends you can create using an AI YouTube thumbnail generator.
- High contrast color palettes theme
- Emojis, figurines, and human faces are used to express emotions.
- Bold yet minimal theme, text overlays to attract attention.
- Story-telling elements
Thumbnail Patterns and Why Are They Important
What is one of the most significant factors many content creators overlook while choosing a thumbnail? That’s right, the pattern! Well, most people don’t or hardly use any design to create thumbnails. However, you don’t want to be ‘most people, do you? Incorporating patterns while creating the thumbnail will make it look unique and different.
Visual patterns make the content visually appealing and help gain more viewership. Patterns also make video thumbnails look more professional and help maintain brand consistency. One of the most important reasons to incorporate patterns with thumbnails is the YouTube Neural Network Algorithm. The algorithm is specifically programmed to search for patterns, which will increase viewership.
Conversely, if you want the pattern to work its magic fully, include your recognizable channel icon and text.
Common Thumbnail Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Well, to err is human, right? Let’s examine common mistakes when creating a thumbnail and learn how to avoid them.
Using More Words Than Required
The text used in the thumbnail must be concise and crisp. If the line seeks your audience’s attention, your work here is done! Using too many words in thumbnails will make your audience lose interest, and your video will be scrolled down!
Boring Video Thumbnails
When creating a thumbnail, avoid using dull images. Instead, choose something that your viewers will resonate with. Don’t forget that they’re browsing YouTube in the first place, probably because they are bored!
Blurry Thumbnails
Always try to choose a thumbnail without too much motion. The action will make the thumbnail look blurry, which will say a lot about the content, not in a good way. So, the better the quality, the better the impression.
Wrong Size
Following the YouTube thumbnail size guide is essential, ensuring the aspect ratio is 16:9, and optimizing all the elements so that viewers can watch the video on any device. The thumbnail should be mobile-friendly, so all the components must be properly visible from smaller screens, like placements of images and objects placed at the corners of the thumbnail image.
Misleading Images
Avoid using clickbait thumbnails that do not reflect the video’s content. This can increase bounce rates and reduce credibility and trust, hurting your channel in the long run. So, the thumbnail images must always align with the actual video topic.
These are some of the common mistakes to avoid while learning how to make a thumbnail for YouTube.
How to Change YouTube Thumbnails?
Let’s go through the quick steps of setting up or changing a thumbnail on YouTube.
- Sign in to your YouTube account
- Click on your channel icon
- Click on “Creator Studio.“
- Go to “Video Manager“
- Click on “Edit“
- Select a thumbnail or click on Custom Thumbnail
- Choose the image
- Click “Open.“
- Save changes
YouTube’s Guidelines for Thumbnail Creation
- Your video thumbnail must not include nudity or sexual content, violence, copyright infringement, or illegal typefaces, such as default system fonts, purchased or free fonts, etc.
- To summarize, you know the importance of compelling thumbnails, which will help you increase your content viewership.
- Choose customized thumbnails with classic pattern incorporation while keeping the guidelines in mind.
- Also, to make your video thumbnail flawless and curiosity-building, avoid mistakes, and carefully weave all the significant elements.
So, all the best with creating your video thumbnail—the new internet trend!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Can I add text to my YouTube thumbnail, and what should it include?
Yes, you can add text to your YouTube thumbnail, but make sure the text is related to the content. YouTube will consider it clickbait if you use something irrelevant to your video.
Q2. Are there size and format requirements for YouTube thumbnails?
When creating a video cover, it is important to focus on size and format to ensure it fits. The perfect thumbnail size is 1280 x 720 pixels, with a minimum width of 640 pixels.
Q3. Can I change my YouTube thumbnail after uploading a video?
Yes. YouTube allows you to change the video thumbnail while uploading the video, during processing, and even after it’s uploaded.
Q4. Can I use a screenshot from my video as a thumbnail?
Adding a screenshot of the video as a thumbnail is relatively straightforward. Take a screenshot that best suits the video’s content. Then, modify and edit the screenshot using an online graphic tool like Canva to add a final touch.
