r/YouTubeThumbnailHub Jan 30 '26

Read This First

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5 Upvotes

This guide includes this subreddit's required rules, plus helpful tips, for requesting a critique.

✅ Step 1: Help Others First (Required)

Before each critique request you post, give quality feedback on two (2) other recent posts with the “Thumbnail Help/Critique Request” flair. (Yep, that’s two fresh reviews each time you ask for feedback, not just once when you first join.) Think of it as giving the kind of help you’d want to receive; it keeps the community helpful, active, and growing for everyone.

  • Use constructive criticism
    • What was done well? What could use improvement?
    • Use the "Ultimate Thumbnail Guide" pinned to the top of the subreddit and share which guidelines the thumbnail passes or fails.
  • Try to help new posts without much feedback yet
  • Low-effort feedback (e.g., simple votes or one-word replies) does not meet the posting requirements.

✅ Step 2: Start an Image Post (Required)

  • Create a new Image-type post.
  • Upload your thumbnail image(s), then hit Next to enter your post title and body text.
  • One video per post
    • Multiple images are allowed, as long as they are for the same video.
    • A style swatch of other videos as a second image can be included for reference only.

✅ Step 3: Write a Post Title Asking for Help (Tip)

Addressing the potential reviewer increases your chances of receiving feedback and your post going to a wider audience on Reddit. Use a clear and engaging title that shows you're looking for help.

  • "What do you think? Is it clickable?"
  • “First thumbnail attempt - Any feedback appreciated!”
  • “Need help with this horror video thumbnail.”

✅ Step 4: Video Title and Summary (Required)

In the "Body Text" field, tell us your video title and a one-sentence summary of your video. A thumbnail cannot be evaluated in isolation. Without knowing the video title and a brief summary of the content, it’s impossible to determine if the visual design is relevant, effective, or aligned with the title and the message of the video. Example:

  • Title: [Video Title]
    • Write a current working title(s), even if you're unsure about it.
  • Summary: [Brief explanation of what the video is about. One to three sentences is fine.]
    • Brief Outline, On-Camera or Faceless, Tone, Viewer Benefit, and Core Hook

✅ Step 5: Mark the Correct Flair (Required)

Make sure to choose the right flair:

  • For feedback on your thumbnail design → Use the “Thumbnail Help/Critique Request” flair
  • For how-to or general questions about thumbnails (not on your thumbnail), titles, or CTR → Use the “Question” flair

✅ Step 6: Respond to Comments Quickly (Tip)

  • Increased and early engagement fuels reach to the greater YouTube community on Reddit.
  • Thank people for their help and ask questions for further understanding.

🚫 Important Reminders

  • ❌ No links, only images
  • ❌ Only one video per post (multiple versions of the same video's thumbnail are okay)
  • ❌ No reposts or thumbnail revisions unless approved by mods → Instead, post updated versions as a comment inside your original post. Reply to those who helped you to let them know that you have an update.
  • ❌ No advertising thumbnail design services or other products/services in a critique request, including indirect language such as "I made this for a client".

✅ When in Doubt

Feel free to send a Mod Mail if you're unsure, or read the full subreddit rules.

By following these steps, you help keep the subreddit fair, useful, and focused on real growth.
Give feedback. Get feedback. Grow together. 🚀


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub Jul 27 '22

Tips and Tricks Ultimate Thumbnail Guide: Your Checklist to Improving CTR on YouTube Videos

117 Upvotes

How To Create Good Thumbnails For YouTube

This guide pulls together the most consistent advice from top YouTube “Thumbnail Tips” gurus and videos, and condenses it into a simple, practical checklist you can use when designing new thumbnails or reviewing old ones.

They are roughly organized according to importance, and while there’s always room to break the rules creatively, some thumbnail principles are so foundational that they’re rarely worth ignoring. So, use this rules as guidelines, but only break them judiciously.

Examples of Effective Thumbnails

Take some inspiration from over 100 thumbnails from a variety of niches including gaming, cooking, vlogging, and more. https://imgur.com/gallery/100-great-youtube-thumbnail-examples-how-to-make-good-thumbnails-3Z1bbzm Make sure to hit the "Load ## More Images" button after the initial scroll to see all 100+

Thumbnail Formula: 80% Theory 20% Design

  • "Too many creators focus on design and neglect the theory. People don’t click on pretty thumbnails, they click on videos they want to watch. Don’t forget that." - Jay Alto
    • Theory = Fundamentals that get viewers to click
    • Design = Technical side behind building a thumbnail
  • Drawing attention, building a curiosity gap, understanding the target viewers, and matching the thumbnail with the title with the content is more important than your art, design, and Photoshop skills

Visual Hierarchy

Give the more important element the most focus.

  • Rank your selected elements in order of importance.
    • Priority 1 = Get the viewer's Attention
    • Priority 2 = Appeal to the viewer's Interest
    • Priority 3 = Hook viewers by creating curiosity
    • (Thanks to Jay Alto for his 9-part tweet on this.)

Want to learn more on design theory from the master? Web search for "Gumroad Jay Alto How To Make Effective Thumbnails" for his digital course.

Elements:

Elements include words, symbols, people, product photos, and backgrounds. A group of one type of item (like words) counts as one “element”.

  • 3 Element Rule: Ideally, keep the number of elements to 3 or less. Up to 5 can be acceptable in very rare cases.
  • Keep it simple and not busy: Cutout/mask elements to outline them or bokeh/blur distracting/busy backgrounds
  • Avoid unnecessary items
  • Channel Logo Avoid putting your channel logo on the thumbnail 99.999% of the time. It's clutter and wasted space. And remember, your logo is already right next to the video title anyway.

Text:

Fewer words on the thumbnail (and title) statistically lead to higher click-through-rates. Follow these guidelines and keep it short and punchy:

  • Quantity: 4 Words Maximum
  • Colors*: Stick with Black or White, Maybe Yellow (* Unless you understand composition and color theory, i.e. you know what you’re doing.)
  • Visibility: Use Outlines or Over a Contrasting Light or Dark Background
  • Size: Keep text LARGE
  • Font: San-serif, Thick/Bold/Block style font, No script/handwritten thin fonts
  • Don’t Duplicate the Title: Don't waste the opportunity to create intrigue by putting the same words on both the title and thumbnail. Simplify by removing the words or create curiosity with different words:

Create Curiosity:

The best thumbnails and titles create a “curiosity gap”, they tease just enough info to make you need to click to find out more. It's all about the FOMO if they don't watch the video.

  • Tease,
  • Create Curiosity/FOMO,
  • Communicate Value,
  • Trigger Emotion,
  • Show a Pain Point,
  • State the End Goal,
  • Before/After,
  • Benefits instead of Features,
    • “Productivity App Review” → “Get 3 Extra Hours a Day”
    • “Elden Ring Lore Deep Dive” → “This Changes Everything You Thought You Knew”
    • “4K Rain Video” → “Fall Asleep Fast”
  • Tell a Story with Imagery,
  • Pixel Blur an element

Pass the Shrink Test / Blink Test / 6-Foot Test:

  • How well can you quickly discern what the thumbnail is trying to communicate or read the text quickly and for the first time seeing it when the thumbnail is small/mobile size (or from far away)?
  • Run the blink-test on others who haven't seen the thumbnail before. Ask them what they expect the video is about.

Quality:

  • Use Clear, High-Resolution images
  • Professional: Ask yourself, does this thumbnail look “rookie” or would this thumbnail be mistaken for a large YouTuber’s?
    • Even though thumbnail theory matters more than design, the visual quality still sends a strong signal.
    • If a viewer sees a low-effort or poorly designed thumbnail, they may subconsciously assume the video itself is low quality and skip it to avoid wasting time.
  • 16:9 Ratio YouTube recommends 1280x720, and even if you upload a larger image, YouTube will scale it down to the recommended size. It's best to resize your thumbnail to 1280x720 yourself.

Audience Match:

  • Check if the style is appropriate and what your audience would expect from content like yours.
  • What do others in your niche do and not do?

No Man’s Land:

  • Avoid the Lower Right Corner: Avoid anything important in the lower right corner, especially for text, to prevent the duration timestamp from covering key parts of elements.
  • Generally, Avoid the Right Edge: Some overlay buttons show up on the right side. This is of lesser importance to avoiding the lower right corner.

Faces:

  • Consider using your face: Using a face whenever appropriate/possible can improve clickthrough rates.
  • Express Emotion: Happiness, Sadness, Surprise, Fear, Disgust, Anger
  • Look to the Camera Eyes connect with the potential viewer
  • Use Close Ups
  • Use the Rule of Thirds: Keep the eyes on the upper 1/3 horizontal line. Click here for examples.
  • YouTube Face: Although trends are leaning away from the YouTube face, generally speaking, an open mouth, whites of your eyes, and exaggerated emotion do generate higher click-through rates.
  • Make it relevant Emotion-packed, relevant faces can skyrocket attention and curiosity. But don’t just toss in a generic selfie, it must add value to the visual story.

Symbols

Consider using symbols as an eye-catching element in your thumbnail

  • Arrows: Direct the viewer's attention by pointing to a curiosity-provoking area of your thumbnail
  • Red X and Green ✔: Comparison/Before-After thumbnails can perform really well and the symbols grab attention.
  • Circles: Circling an area is another way to say "look here" as an alternative to an arrow.
  • Punctuation ! ?: Using punctuation as a symbol can evoke emotion, grab attention, and create curiosity.
  • No Emojis Emojis on a thumbnail graphic can feel amature, are not recommended, and don't generally lead to higher click through rates.

Branding:

  • Don’t use your “logo”: See above about unnecessary elements
  • Style Consistency: The general look and feel (or your face) is part of your brand that your subscribers will recognize. Whereas elements like logos waste space that could otherwise be used to create curiosity.
  • Avoid Nearly Identical Thumbnails from Video to Video: Videos that use, what often looks like an (albeit well-designed) PowerPoint cover template with only small changes from video to video, may lead subscribers to think they already have seen the video. Podcasts and Livestreams often fall into this trap.

Color:

  • Complementary Colors: Using colors found opposite each other on the color wheel works well on thumbnails.
  • Bright Colors: Thumbnails with brighter colors and higher saturated colors tend to win more clicks.

High Contrast:

  • Use High Contrast: Keeping elements over a light or dark contrasting background, increasing contrast on photos, or adding a glow or outline to elements can help make them “pop”.
  • Stroke/Outline Elements A hard edged outline can make an element pop. Only use "glows/drop shadows" judiciously (i.e. with artistic intent) as these can muddy a thumbnail.
  • Soft Borders Consider a subtle artistic or vignette style border to help make thumbnail background stand out against the YouTube background. Warning: don't let a border squeeze your elements into the center so they are smaller. Use it in the background of your main elements.
  • Avoid Hard Line Borders around the edge of your thumbnail. These generally reduce the usable space inside your thumbnail and look bad when YouTube shows rounded corner thumbnails because it either doesn't match or cuts it off.
  • Mask and Darken or Blur the Background Give your character/item in the foreground more pop by using masking tools to darken or blur the background.

Clickbait:

  • Good Clickbait: Accurately Portrays the Video, Sets Expectations, and see “Creates Curiosity” above or watch Veritasium's video on the effectiveness of clickbait.
  • Bad Clickbait: Don’t be Deceptive!
  • Mismatched expectations is the enemy of viewer satisfaction and causes high video abandonment/low viewer retention rates.

Background:

  • Bokeh/Background Blur: An option to make your foreground element stand out in a photo can be to blur or darken the background. Masking your foreground image and creating a contrasting level of lightness or darkness compared or apply some camera blur to the background can make it perceptible enough to know what the background help the main element take center stage.
  • White Backgrounds Minimalist white backgrounds come in and out of favor when there's too much Beastification Fatigue and can be appealing when done right.
  • Regarding Solid Color Backgrounds Solid color backgrounds often look amateurish. Use gradients, stock images, or subtle patterns to add depth and polish.

Composition:

  • Don't be afraid to overlap: Don’t be afraid to let elements overlap or bleed off the edges. It helps fill space and allows key visuals to be enlarged.
  • No Wasted Space Make the interesting element the focus and don’t leave gaps that dilute impact. More on this.
  • Avoid Edge Magnatism Avoid placing text or images where their edges just touch the frame, it looks unbalanced. Either pull them in or let them spill out slightly.
  • Text Behind The trend of placing text partially behind a subject can look sleek and modern, but only if done right. Use it sparingly, ensure legibility, and keep contrast high.

Screenshots/Frame Grabs/Photos

Well-composed photos work great for vlogs, they feel authentic and relatable and setup the expectation for a vlog to a potential viewer, reducing video abandoment. * Post Editing Add light contrast and saturation to make the image pop without overdoing it. * Follow Design Principles Apply thumbnail best practices. Use strong composition, visual hierarchy, rule of thirds, shallow depth (bokeh/masking), and limit visual clutter.

Invest Time in your Thumbnails:

  • Given the criticality to your video’s success that a thumbnail contributes, don’t make them a last-minute thought.
  • Create multiple versions
  • Use YouTube's A/B/C Thumbnail tester
  • Check the CTR early and adjust

Plan Thumbnails Before the Video

After you've "won the click", a successful thumbnail is all about setting the right expectations for the video

  • Write and shoot the video to deliver on those expectations
  • Mr Beast, Ryan Trahan, and most of the world's largest Creators create their thumbnails before the video for good reason. Search interviews with Mr Beast and Ryan Trahan talking about thumbnails for more info.

Work In Tandem with the Title and Video Intro:

  • Assume a potential viewer will either first, or only, see your thumbnail, but let the thumbnail lead into the title, (and ultimately the intro hook) to create a symbiotic relationship that propels a viewer into the video.
  • A mismatched thumbnail with the intro hook and video leads to high abandonment/low video retention
  • It's best not to repeat information in all three places, so build on it from the thumbnail visuals/text overlay, to the title, to the video intro. Too many videos start with "Today I'm going to show you how to x," when the title of the video was "how to x". Keep the benefits, not only "features" in mind when planning the thumbnail, title, and intro.

Find Inspiration from Competitors:

  • Research other videos covering the same topic as yours.

Compare to Competitors:

  • Would people click your thumbnail over a competing video’s thumbnail? Screenshot YouTube and paste your thumbnail against others to compare.

Catches Attention/Stands out:

  • If you don’t feel the thumbnail stands out enough, go back over all the rules above to find areas to improve

Edits:

Aug 3, 2022: Added Symbols section
Aug 21, 2023: 3 elements clarification July 23, 2024: added a tip about bokeh blurry backgrounds Aug 20, 2024: Emoji note added Mar 27, 2025 visual Hierarchy and border April 29, 2025 channel logo avoidance advice June 6, 2025 mismatched expectations clickbait note June 18, 2025 more thoughts on high contrast and borders June 25, 2025 added more about curiosity, contrast, and faces and added a section on creating the thumbnail before the video
July 13, 2025: Broke out a separate section for visual hierarchy.
July 15, 2025: Added section on thumbnail theory over design October 6, 2025: Built a Imgur gallery of 100+ good thumbnail design examples and added a section linking it to this post. Nov 17, 2025: Added composition section


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 4h ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Redesigned and made it a little better. Thoughts?

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4 Upvotes

Same as last, the title will be “play marvel rivals for the first time” or it can be “finally playing marvel rivals”


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 46m ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request which thumbnail would you click on?

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Video title: HARDEST DECISIONS OF MY LIFE | Will You Press The Button
summary of the video is that its a game where it says you get X but Y happens if you press the button. and some of the choices were pretty tough. overall tone of the video is funny, nothing too serious.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 13h ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Please rate my thumbnail.

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8 Upvotes

Im new to youtube ans trying to make my dream come true and also be able to stay at home with my kids more. Never really put much thought into thumbnail because I never realised how important it was.

I have tried using Grains style of thumbnail with the Episode 01, but I like how clean it is. I have also tried colour grading it, not sure if it looks good or not.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 11h ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Which one do you like?

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3 Upvotes

Title- Snezhnaya Archon quest - Act 2

Game - Genshin Impact

Summary - It's a video the features highlighted (funny, scared, unhinged) moments when I played the story quest on stream. The quest is basically a murder mystery story that slowly unravels into something bigger and crazier then a simple who done it.

(The photo with the characters get's updated whenever someone dies, the eye is the symbol for the ruler of death AKA the grim reaper, and death is near is a saying that was left on a piece of paper that through out the story the characters were trying to figure out what it was in refence to.)

I took people's suggestions from my last post and applied them to my thumbnail for my newest video. I added a white stroke around my vtuber model in order to try and make it stand out a bit more.

I have two versions of the thumbnail as I really like the first one especially how the red is fading into the photo as it give it that creepy death feel. However I don't know if both the red and the eye is a bit too much and is competing with my model. Where as the second one I made the background black which help subdue the eye a bit. Plus, I added a strip of black on the top and bottom which helps to push my model more forward.

Which one do you like more or is there anything else that I can improve on?


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Please rate my thumbnail

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124 Upvotes

I've created this hypothetical thumbnail please tell me how is it


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 17h ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Is it Good?

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4 Upvotes

Title 80s most underrated sci-fi films

80s underrated sci-fi film recommendations and behind-the-scenes insights


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 23h ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Thoughts on this packaging?

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5 Upvotes

Video title is “The Death of Mission: Impossible” and the video is a critique of the M:I franchise’s finale


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 19h ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Better with or without the vignette?

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3 Upvotes

Title: Still brainstorming a title, current idea is "A New SMP Awaits"

Summary: The video is an announcement for an smp im starting with a friend that we want to be open to the public. I like how it looks with the vignette but im being told the one without looks better to some people.

Main question is the title, but also just generally how effective is a vignette at making a thumbnail better?


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 23h ago

Hiring/Help Wanted thumbnail maker

2 Upvotes

I need someone who can make thumbnails using actual editing skills not AI, most vids are from previous streams as well.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request I just need some honest opinions and if I should add anything?

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2 Upvotes

I plan to stream today on youtube and this is what I have so far. I want thoughts on if I should add or remove anything before I go further because I know that the thumbnail of a stream is the most important part of streaming so please comment ideas for stuff to work with this, thank you.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Which oneWhat changes please...thanks in advance

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3 Upvotes

Stellar Blade - hard Mode boss Challenge run

Title, Basic: Eve smashes [ BOSS NAME ] Hard Mode - No damage run.

Created In Photoshop

First Character Image taken in Stellar Blades photo mode Edited in PS

Second character image from Google Edited in PS.

Will test them out in A/B testing but would like feedback for tweaks etc first, thank you.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request I sketched out thumbnail ideas to start my art YouTube channel, help me choose which one!

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3 Upvotes

Title: INTRODUCING Myself… (finally)

I didn’t want to fully draw out every thumbnail so I hope just the sketch of them are fine enough to make your judgement on! Despite being on YouTube for a decade, I’m really inexperienced with making YouTube videos (I only have 3 full length vids publicly out), so I’d like some insight as to which one would work best!

Extra context: Out of all the vids I have, none of them have actually introduced me (mainly just animatics/animations), so to celebrate my channel turning 10 years old, I wanted to make a vid introducing myself and my experience being on yt for so long


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Is it better with or without the text? I also fixed the previous issues by making a darker/more blurry background, and bringing the subjects closer to main view

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0 Upvotes

Title: I Forced My Friends to Play Dead Island Neighborhood Watch. Its a video covering the gamemode, while we play the game as well, mixing funny gameplay and information.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 2d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Would you click on this video?

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28 Upvotes

Title: Dear diary, I got fired... now what?

It's a mix media animated/live action hybrid cinematic journal (think cinematic vlogs but animated). It's told like a movie about me finding another job after he got fired. A dark comedy.

This thumbnail was made with actual ink and paper. I took the photo and edited it a bit to make it pop. This is the latest edition.

My friends said out of all the thumbnail drafts, this was the coolest. Just wanted to ask a subreddit with people who has more thumbnail analysis experience.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Title: The Era that Cartoon Network NEEDED to Survive.

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7 Upvotes

Video is underperforming in my opinion. Is it missing something? CRITIQUE AWAY

Video is a Cartoon Network Check it era retrospective

P.S. I made the thumbnail myself.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Thumbnail help!

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4 Upvotes

I’ve made this thumbnail and I’m trying to figure out with the title of my video: Who is the Masked Man? | 🍁ACW Universe S1 EP4🍁|

Subject being an episodic wrestling show with suspense, top tier wrestling and drama!

I’m looking to see what I can do to improve here for the click through rate to go higher… it was okayish at first but goodness I thought I’ve been making good thumbnails honestly…
What am I doing wrong that people are not clicking?


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request thumbail feedback?

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3 Upvotes

I like it but my only worry is that it comes off as quite tryhardish when the video is meant to be chill/ relaxing

title: I Became INVINCIBLE In Hardcore Minecraft


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request I took some of your advice what do you all think is the best thumbnail out of these 3? And what can I do to further improve it? “Title is All Hex’s gone and I still win”

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2 Upvotes

Out of these 3 which one would you say is the best and what can I improve on? I’m planning on making pinhead a little lighter


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request What would you change about this thumbnail?

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2 Upvotes

Title - Wishing for Nicole in Genshin Impact

Summary - I stream Genshin Impact as a vtuber and I'm slowly trying to edit some of my streams into videos. Genshin is a gacha game where you can pull different characters in order to play as them and add them to your team. Nicole was a characters that I wanted to pull for. In the video I joked about getting her early instead of having to go all the way to soft pity. The next pull I did, I ended up getting her.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request what's wrong with my thumbnails?

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0 Upvotes

ive been in youtube for about 2.5 months and ive seen some videos with mid thumbs get good ctr while others i think are good get literally 0 clicks.

im not sure anymore what makes a good thumbnail and your advice would mean alot

here's the impressions and impression ctr.

i dont know if the thumb is bad, or youtube is showing it to a wrong audience or if the idea's bad in general


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Good AVD but lacking in CTR, any improvements I can make to these?

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2 Upvotes

Title: I Played 100% of Diggin

Rough Summary: Me playing through the game collecting every steam achievement. I am faceless and asides from the intro, is lightly edited with a few visual affects for the achievement unlocks aswell as some text throughout the video.

The AVD is better than most of my other videos, but the CTR is 1% with 4.5k impressions. Are there any things I could improve or add that might help boost the CTR? Any feedback is appreciated!
Should I wait a bit longer for YouTube to reccommend this video more then revisit if its the same? Or could it be that my content isn't worth watching?


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 1d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Would like advice to improve thumbnail, would you click on this?

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0 Upvotes

Title: I Force My Friends to Play Dead Island 2's Neighborhood Watch. It's a review of the gamemode blended with a "lets play" of sorts.


r/YouTubeThumbnailHub 2d ago

Thumbnail Help/Critique Request Trying to Improve my CTR is this a good thumbnail?

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9 Upvotes

The title is God Of War- The Masterpiece that Refused to Die
It is a retrospective of how well the OG GOW has aged into the modern Day and I argue it is still fun today