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.
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 the 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.
Creating Outstanding Thumbnails
Tips to consider while creating video thumbnails
To create strong and appealing thumbnails, keeping in mind the below-stated elements is incredibly crucial.
YouTube’s Terms of Service
When selecting an image and finalizing it as your video thumbnail, you must ensure that the image and text don’t violate copyright and that your chosen thumbnail is age-appropriate for your target audience.
Selection of Image
Choosing an image is undoubtedly the most significant element to consider. Ensure the image is strong and vibrant and portrays the overview you want to convey through your content. The image must also look appealing in both larger and smaller sizes. Lastly, run a quick quality check to ensure the thumbnail makes your content stand out.
Image Resolution
The higher the image resolution, the better the promised quality of the thumbnail. However, keep the size under 2 MB.
Photo Composition & Text
Apply the “rule of thirds ” to improve the photo composition and make it more interesting. Also, ensure the text is fresh, original, and not plagiarized.
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 Design Trends
Exploring what’s going on on YouTube Thumbnail Trends can help you to grab attention. Below are some examples of YouTube thumbnail Trends you can create using an AI YouTube thumbnail generator.
4 Trending Thumbnail Designs On YouTube
- Thumbnails with Faces: The content creators on YouTube usually choose thumbnails with faces. That’s mainly because our brains are compelled to respond to faces.
- Thumbnails that Play with Perspective: Creativity is the key to perspective-oriented thumbnails. When creating thumbnails that play with your perspective, you can create engaging visuals that build curiosity in the audience.
- Emoji Thumbnails: Many YouTube content creators use emoticons as thumbnails for their videos. The emojis are easy to understand and convey a overview of the video.
- Progress Showing Thumbnails:… don’t we all love the before/after video or image content on social media? The content creators use this formula to grab their audience’s attention and trigger some gripping points through the portrayal of the thumbnail.
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 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. Hence, it 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, and not in a good way. So, the better the quality, the better the impression.
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
Remember YouTube’s guidelines when creating a thumbnail. 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 everything, 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, 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?
To ensure it fits, it is important to focus on size and format when creating a video cover. 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 when it’s 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 quite straightforward. Take a screenshot that best suits the video’s content. Then, modify and edit the screenshot using an online graphic tool like Canav to add a final touch.
Q5. Are there specific guidelines for YouTube thumbnails?
No, there aren’t such guidelines for creating a YouTube thumbnail, but you need to ensure the size and format of the video cover. The preferred YouTube thumbnail size in pixels is 1280 x 720 with a minimum width of 640 pixels.
Q6. Why can’t I change the thumbnail on YouTube Shorts?
YouTube currently doesn’t allow creators to customize thumbnails for Shorts. The platform automatically selects a frame from the video as the thumbnail.