Category: Keyword Research

While scrolling on your YouTube feed, what’s the first thing about a video that catches your attention? While you search for something on YouTube, what’s the first thing which you see about a video? Undoubtedly, the answer to both these questions is a thumbnail. Did you just realize how important are YouTube thumbnails? 

With tons of content flooding the platform, you need to catch your audience’s attention and hook them to your video from the first glance on the search results page to the last minute of your video. Keeping them until the last minute might sound easy once you drive a user to your video; keeping them till the last minute might sound easy. However, driving that potential user to you might sound tricky. However, with a perfect first impression via your thumbnail, you will undoubtedly win the hearts of your users with the first click. 

So, let’s get started on a journey with Vidtechy to understand exactly what YouTube thumbnails are. Then, we shall explore various essential facts about YouTube thumbnails, finally discovering some of the best tips to create scroll-stopping YouTube thumbnails.

What Is A Youtube Thumbnail? 

A YouTube thumbnail refers to a still image that functions similar to a preview image for your video. A YouTube thumbnail is quite similar to the cover page of a book. These small clickable images actually help your user decide whether or not to click on your video. The reason why it’s called “thumbnails” because they are like the nail of your thumb finger, encasing the beauty of the thumb finger. Similarly, your YouTube thumbnail is a small still image that provides a preview of the entire content present in a video. Now, let’s understand why you should use YouTube thumbnails.

Why Should You Use YouTube Thumbnails? 

A YouTube thumbnail is the first opportunity where you have to persuade a user to click on your video rather than other videos. It’s your thumbnail that sets the first everlasting impression on your audience on your video, thus dragging them into your content. To set your first basic impression perfectly, you need to spend enough time and creativity experimenting with various aspects of thumbnails to figure out which perfect combination actually works for you. 

Why Should You Go For Custom YouTube Thumbnails? 

Whenever you upload a video, you’ll find some default thumbnail options suggested by YouTube, from which you can choose one from your video. However, many people prefer creating a custom YouTube thumbnail. These custom YouTube thumbnails take time and effort from you but trust me, they are really worth it. Let’s explore how.

About 90% of the top-performing videos on YouTube are backed up with custom thumbnails. Custom thumbnails often contain a high-quality image followed up with 2-5 simple main elements. They are very eye-catching and will catch the audience’s attention quicker. 

Custom thumbnails are far beyond simple still images. They consist of professionally shot and edited images well crafted to tease and excite someone to know what the content contains inside. Custom thumbnails contain the perfect blend of all the essential ingredients where a creator not just reaches the users’ pain points but also provides a possible solution to it. It’s why they earn more clicks than default thumbnails.

What Is The Appropriate YouTube Thumbnail Size? 

According to YouTube’s algorithm, the minimum dimensions for a YouTube thumbnail should be no less than 640 pixels wide. However, when used as thumbnails, smaller-sized images will appear hazy, blurry, or pixelated when viewers see them.

The most appropriate and ideal YouTube thumbnail size is 1280 pixels wide x 720 pixels tall. These dimensions may look too large for a YouTube thumbnail, but they help maintain flexibility even when the video is played on external websites. Moreover, the large size of the thumbnail also ensures that it stays crisp, sharp, and unaffected even on Retina screens and other high-density displays. 

The ideal aspect ratio for a YouTube thumbnail is 16:9. Moreover, your image file should not be more than 2 MB. Files greater than 2 mb are rejected. Your image file should be in either of the following formats: GIF (non-animated), BMP, JPG (or JPEG), and PNG.

Best Fonts Which You Should Use In YouTube Thumbnails 

Fonts are also an important factor in deciding the quality of your YouTube thumbnail. Your YouTube thumbnail should contain an easy to read, stylish, and attention-grabbing font. Here are some fonts which you can consider using while creating your YouTube thumbnail: Dustin Font Quartet, Traveller typeface, Caribold, Herona, Horsemen, Quantum Profit, Chucklesome, Wolfskin, The Tide, Frisky Puppy, Vandalism, etc. 

Here are some common fonts which you’ll find used more often on YouTube: Impact, American Captain, Cooper Black, Myriad Pro Bold, Obelix Pro Bold, EA Sports, and Evogria. Moreover, choose your font according to your niche. You’ll find various niche-specific fonts. Niche-specific fonts really go with images of that particular niche. 

Best Color Which You Should Use In YouTube Thumbnails 

While choosing colors for creating your YouTube thumbnail, go for complementary colors. Complementary colors refer to those colors which are positioned opposite each other in the color wheel. These colors are well known to create a contrast, thus making a design that stands out. Moreover, try to include some yellow color in your thumbnail. It’s because human eyes are more sensitive to yellow color. 

Moreover, you should also prefer colors like green, red and blue. They also catch the audience’s attention well. Green symbolizes trust, and blue symbolizes peace, whereas red symbolizes danger. So, use these colors according to the type of video you’re making. However, always refer to the color wheel for getting the perfect combination.

Features Of An Effective YouTube Thumbnail  

Your YouTube thumbnail is your way of presenting yourself before potential users. Thus, an effective YouTube thumbnail must possess the following characteristics:

1. It must connect with the users.
2. It must convey the message of the creator. 
3. It must be optimized for all devices.
4. If you include a face picture, make sure to keep an inviting and flattering expression.
5. It must include the identity of your brand. 
6. The title or text must be clearly visible and easy to read. 
7. Give a clear value to your users regarding why they should watch your video.
8. Don’t forget to add a CTA (Call-to-action) such as “Watch now,” “Click Here,” etc. 

Why Should You Use Patterns In YouTube Thumbnails? 

Did you ever think of including patterns in your YouTube video thumbnails? While some people prefer adding patterns, some don’t. Here’s why the pattern must be a part of the Youtube thumbnail:

1. The human brain connects well with patterns: Your eyes will automatically search for patterns and connections as you focus on a thing. Moreover, you must have noticed that you understand a concept well when someone teaches them to you through a logical sequence of patterns. Similarly, a thumbnail provoking a sequence of correlated patterns will force a potential user to click on your video.
2. YouTube Neural Network Algorithm also appreciates patterns: Just like the human brain, YouTube’s neural network algorithm also finds and understands patterns. Thus, you can keep a similar element in all of your videos so that your videos are listed in the users’ suggestions. 
3. Patterns help you build your brand presence and consistency: Your patterns help your brand in building its own presence. Between, the repeated sequel of inter-related videos also helps establish your brand consistency, making your videos more recognizable by your name. 
4. Patterns are simple and can be easily created: Patterns mean you need to use the same element in your video thumbnail over and over. Thus, you can easily create it or copy and paste it from one thumbnail to another. Moreover, when people start using your videos either on their social media page or on their blogs, they become an interactive advertisement, thus bringing the audience to you. 

Top 10 Tips To Make Your YouTube Thumbnail Stand Out 

As you already know the basic information you must keep in mind while creating a YouTube thumbnail, here are some more tips to spice up your game to help you create a scroll-stopping thumbnail. Let’s get started without any further delay!

1. Your YouTube Thumbnail Must Be Of The Ideal Size  

Ensure that your YouTube thumbnail doesn’t less or more than the ideal dimension of 1280 x 720-pixel size (16:9 ratio). Try to include high-resolution images. However, keep in mind that your file size shouldn’t exceed more than 2 MB and should be of the appropriate format. Take care of the basic necessities first.

2.Your Background Image Should Resonate With The Content Of Your Video. 

Your background image should be clear and not sophisticated or busy with lots of elements and unwanted elements. Keep it clean to clearly carry the message you want to convey to your users. Thus, your background image should reflect the message and content of your video. 

3.When To Overlay Your Background Image With Texts?

In case you wish to enhance the background image and wish to add some text as an overlay, use only your branding-related texts. You can also include your title with the primary keyword in it. Moreover, keep your text and font clear and legible for the common man. Thus, choose the font and the color combination wisely.

4.Select An Appropriate Image

You need to choose the perfect image to get the maximum clicks. Your image must be memorable and enticing enough to make the users click it. You can also use a close-up image of the subject or the person. Make sure that the image is bright, includes highly expressive facial expressions, and is clicked on with perfect lighting. 

5.Go for The Rule Of Thirds

In photography, the rule of thirds is used to create more engaging and balanced images. It’s a composition guideline where the image is divided by 2 horizontal and 2 vertical lines. These lines help you in proper positioning of the elements. You can use this rule to place important elements either at intersections or along the lines.

6.Your Brand Must Have Its Identity

Remember to maintain your brand identity consistent throughout all your video thumbnails. You can use an icon or any element that must signify your brand and be present in all your thumbnails and videos. You’ll not just create your brand identity but also gather a loyal family for your brand. 

7.Go For Faces

Recently, faces have dominated the new trend of YouTube thumbnails. It’s natural human nature to focus on the faces of individuals. Thus, Youtubers have experimented by creating a YouTube thumbnail including the picture of the person it describes. 

8.You Can Include Some Emojis Also. 

Emojis and emoticons are playful recognizable cartoon images that help a potential user recognize and anticipate the video content with much ease. Youtube has also seen the booming of videos that have emoticons in their thumbnails. 

9.Play Your Game With The Perspective.

Perspective becomes useful if you’re trying to represent 3-D objects on a 2-D surface, thus giving the perfect impression of the images’ width, height, depth, and position in correlation. While creating thumbnails, you can also add in your creativity and distort normal measures of objects to make them appear small/big or either far/close. This game with perspective has proven to catch the attention of the audience. 

10.Try To Show Progress 

You can also include a before/after preview in your thumbnail. Such thumbnails will often catch the eyes and minds of the audience, thus making them curious. You can also spice up your user’s attention by blurring out the final result. For example, you have image editing video content. You can show the thumbnail representing a contrast between before and after the preview, thus making the audience question, “How?” This question will ultimately trigger them to click on your video and watch it. 

Top 7 Thumbnail Mistakes Which You Must Avoid 

Every creator wants to create the perfect click-winning YouTube thumbnail. However, it’s common on our part as humans to fall prey to mistakes. Here are the six blunders which you need to avoid while creating YouTube thumbnails. I wish I had read this blog earlier; I would have saved lots of effort and time and gained many more views and clicks.

1. Use Of Excessive Text 

One of the most common mistakes which Youtubers commonly make while making custom YouTube thumbnails is adding too much text. Remember, you just need to convey your message through the thumbnail. Adding too much text leaves no space, thus making the thumbnail unclear and illegible at times. “Busy” thumbnails with lots of content are not appreciated by the users. Thus, always try to keep your text short, simple, crisp, and convey your message. 

2. Using A Boring Or Fake Expression 

YouTube creators who use a person’s face in their thumbnail should keep in mind this point. While capturing the person’s snapshot, go for a flattering and pleasant facial expression. Your facial expression shouldn’t be boring and must not reflect a fake smile or scared look. Such facial expressions don’t go well with the reader’s mindset and piss them off straight away. It’s why you should choose many snapshots and choose the best one from them.

Moreover, also try to avoid a fake or boring candid. Candid expressions notifying intense happiness and surprise look good. However, candid expressions with your eyes closed don’t excite your audience well. Go for a friendly look instead of a weird expression.

3. Use Of Boring Thumbnails 

Your thumbnail should be interesting enough so that people click on your video. Using dull-lit images, low-resolution images, or making a thumbnail filled with graphs and charts will not catch your users’ attention. Instead, try creating a contrast. You can also create a contrast by editing the pictures and images you’re about to use in the thumbnail. Moreover, never go for a mono-color image as your background image. Also, try to avoid images with dull colors. Instead, go for pictures with rich and multiple colors. They are eye-catching and will really give great results. 

4. Keeping The “Play” Button In A Hard To Detect Position 

Another common mistake often committed by Youtube creators while creating a thumbnail is that they put the thumbnail button within the picture. A potential user will often mistake it as a part of the image, thus not really focusing on the play button. He may also face the problem of not finding the button quickly. Thus, here your play button is hard to detect, due to which you’ll lose a huge chunk of traffic who tried to reach you. You can try placing the play button in conjunction with the play bar to solve this problem. 

5. Including Too Much Motion 

Excessive use of motion videos or action content in your video will also degrade the quality of thumbnails, thus making them appear foggy and blurry. Hence, use the optimum and required amount of motion videos as necessary. 

6. Eye Mask 

Often, we place our main subject or element in the center of the frame. However, if you are adding a play button in the thumbnail, make sure that the play button doesn’t cover the eyes of the image of the main subject or person. The eyes start the game of conversation. So, you can try another frame where the person’s eyes are more clearly visible even after the placement of the play button. Otherwise, you can also skip using the large play button and instead use the default one, which YouTube suggests.

7. Using Same, Similar, Or Slightly Modified Thumbnails 

You must be thinking that using the same, similar, or slightly modified thumbnails will help you create your brand presence and awareness. However, remember that your users always want to try something new. Thus, using the same or similar thumbnails won’t excite them or invite them to click on your action. Moreover, using the same thumbnails will also bore your users. So, keep experimenting with various forms, formats, colors, and fonts. 

What’s A YouTube Thumbnail Creator? 

A YouTube thumbnail creator helps you create a free thumbnail according to the standard dimensions. These creators contain pre-made templates which you can use to create your thumbnail. The best feature about these tools is that they contain a plethora of tools, elements, and images, thus making your task super easy. Vidtechy also offers a free “Thumbnail Maker,” which you can use to create amazing thumbnails for your YouTube videos.

How Can You Create Scroll-Stopping YouTube Thumbnails With Vidtechy? 

Vidtechy provides a one-stop solution to all your YouTube marketing needs. To make you more productive and help you focus more on the content of the video, Vidtechy comes up with another productivity tool, i.e., “Thumbnail Maker.” It’s a free tool that contains various elements and pre-made templates to make your thumbnail-making task a cakewalk. Here’s how you can do it.

1.Open and refresh your browser. 

2. Navigate to https://vidtechy.com/login . Login using your appropriate login credentials.

3. On your dashboard, scroll down to the “Productivity Tools” section and click on “Thumbnail Maker.” 

4. In the new screen, you can choose the desired YouTube thumbnail size. Otherwise, you can also browse files and select your desired and appropriate image.

5. Now, you’ll see a blank canvas where you can create your design. Click on the pen icon present on the top left corner of the page. If you are using desktop version you may not spot any pen button, as all the option will be automatically visible on the screen.

6. Choose your background image and texture. You can customize and create your own thumbnail here by using the various elements and objects it offers. Moreover, when you click on Templates, you’ll see a list of pre-made templates, which you can choose and edit slightly, thus creating your own version of the thumbnail. Isn’t using the tool super-easy? Let us know your experience in the comments section below.

A Word From VidTechy 

YouTube thumbnails are like proposals that you need to pitch in the best possible way to gather more clients and users. I hope we have provided you with all the necessary information related to YouTube thumbnails and how you should create them for maximum optimization. Moreover, we would love it if you would go and check out Vidtechy’s “Thumbnail Maker” tool. So set your first impression right with Vidtechy! For any doubts, queries, comments, or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comments section below. We’ll reach out to you at the earliest. Happy reading!

So you’ve uploaded your video on YouTube, and now what? Your video will not get millions of views or organic thumbs-ups by itself. You need to implement an effective YouTube SEO strategy to help your video stand out from the rest of them. You may have heard that YouTube ranks videos by their relevance to keyword searches and assigns them a number of views based on how many times they are clicked. 

While this may be partially true, ranking high in YouTube search results isn’t as simple as including relevant keywords in your video title and description. There are several factors that influence the visibility of your video and drive up your views over time. And these are what make up a solid YouTube SEO strategy. This article will cover everything you need to know about optimizing your videos’ visibility on YouTube.

What is YouTube SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. Thus, YouTube SEO refers to improving a YouTube channel and its video content to achieve higher visibility in search engine results. It’s a complex process that requires plenty of time and effort, but it can be well worth it if you implement winning strategies correctly.

As with any type of SEO, certain best practices will help you rank higher in search results. Keyword research is the most popular. But other strategies contribute to YouTube SEO success. The rest of this article will shed light on them and introduce you to a highly efficient tool to leverage.

Select the Best Keywords for Your Content

If you want to rank well on YouTube, it’s important to choose the right keywords relevant to your video content. Your keywords are what people search for when looking for content on YouTube. So if you’re creating a video to help people learn how to bake a cake, your keywords would include “cake baking” or “how to bake a cake.” But these are short-tail keywords with large search volume, so they are highly competitive. 

It’s best to consider long-tail keywords when choosing your keywords. Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific. For example, “how to bake a cake” is a short-tail keyword, while “how to bake a cake without an oven” is a long-tail keyword. Long-tail keywords usually have little search volume compared to the short-tail variants, but they are less competitive, so you can easily rank for them. Moreover,  long-tail keywords tend to be more specific and closely related to the viewer’s actual search intent. For this reason, they are generally more valuable as they drive better conversion. 

To select the best keywords, you have to do some research. First, look at your competitors’ videos and see what keywords they’re using. Secondly, use YouTube’s Autocomplete Keywords feature to find long-tail keywords. Then analyze these keywords to uncover their SEO-relevant data, including the search volume, competition, optimization strength, and the channel ranking highest for that keyword. You’ll need a YouTube SEO tool like VidTechy to uncover this data.

Optimize Your Video Title, Video Description, Tags

Once you’ve chosen your keywords, insert them into your video title. Your title should be short and capture the main topic of the content. Also, make it compelling so that it attracts viewers’ attention. Your video description is another important spot to fix your keywords. It gives YouTube and Google a clue about the context of your video. And when you’ve done this correctly, the search algorithm will rank your videos higher and showcase them to viewers in the Suggested Video sidebar.

To get the best results, ensure your target keyword appears in the first 25 words of your video description. Use it 2-4 times in the description, which should be at least 250 words. Try to use them as naturally as possible, so it doesn’t look spammy and get flagged by the search algorithm.

Finally, use your target keywords in your video tags. When it comes to tags, you should use both broad and specific tags to help people find the right video. For example, if you’re selling golf clubs, you can use broader tags like “golf” or “sports” as well as more specific ones like “golf clubs” or “men’s golf clubs.”

Encourage Viewers to Like, Comment, and Subscribe

Likes and comments are among the most important metrics to track on YouTube. Increased likes and comments on your content show YouTube that your videos are engaging and should be featured more prominently in the search engine. This will improve your SEO on YouTube significantly. Also, a study has found that higher view counts on YouTube lead to higher rankings in Google search results. So if you’re trying to rank higher on Google, likes and comments should be an important part of your strategy.

Another way comments help to boost your ranking is by providing relevant keywords for your videos. With more people writing up their thoughts, they often use these keywords in their comments. Their input will feed more relevant keywords into the system for the search algorithm to crawl. 

If you want to get maximum engagement for your YouTube videos, the first thing you need to do is to create quality content. That means choosing high-quality equipment and editing the footage to look its best. Also, the information in your content should help your viewers solve their problems effectively. If it helps them get over their worries, they’ll be compelled to give you a thumbs up and share their experiences in the comment section. Another way to get more likes and comments is by asking questions in your videos. If you do so, it encourages viewers to comment and start discussions about the topic you’re covering. Finally, make sure that you respond to comments as soon as possible. Don’t leave viewers hanging.

Try to Create Longer, High-Quality Videos

In May 2015, Google’s Panda algorithm update rolled out to penalize low-quality content and reward high-quality content. This update was particularly focused on the length of content. Sites with longer videos were rewarded with higher rankings than sites with shorter videos, regardless of other factors. In the weeks following the announcement, there was a noticeable uptick in the average length of videos on YouTube. YouTube rewarded longer videos with better rankings than shorter ones.

Since the Panda update, the average video length has increased by over 50%. The logic behind this update is simple: if your video is longer, it has a lot more to say about the topic, which means there are more opportunities for YouTube to recommend related videos to viewers. There are two reasons why longer videos rank higher. First, longer videos tend to be more engaging to viewers. They provide a greater value for the time invested. Second, longer videos tend to be more informative. They contain more detailed information and tend to be of better quality overall.

Besides the video length, you also have to pay attention to its quality. If you want to maximize your chances of ranking at the top, you need to create high-quality videos. This means videos with HD graphics, high-quality audio, and good production value. It will cost you more money and production time, but it’s definitely worth the investment if it puts you in the number 1 spot.

Promote Your Video 

Promoting your YouTube videos can improve your overall SEO in several ways. The most obvious is through the number of views it receives. The more people who see your video, the more likely YouTube’s search engine will pick it up. So how do you go about promotion? There are three main ways. 

First, take advantage of social media. Share your YouTube video on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. You can even share it on Reddit and Tumblr. It’s free and easy. But there is a catch. Many social media groups and forums have a strict “no promotions” policy. To get around this, you need a value-focused approach. Don’t just pop in; drop a link to your latest YouTube video and leave. Instead, engage with the people in the group and share your content only if it will benefit them. 

The second way to promote your YouTube video is by sharing it with influencers. Reach out to influencers who might be interested in your product or service. They may be willing to share your video with their audience in exchange for a fee, free product, or service. Finally, you can also add a YouTube video link to your website’s homepage, your email signature, and your business cards. So your leads and customers can watch it right away.

Select a Video Category

Make sure you select a video category before you publish on YouTube. There are two reasons why you have to do this: first, your video could be rejected if it doesn’t fall within the right category. The audience of the given category will not find it relevant, so it will have no place there. 

Second, and most important, selecting the right category helps you reach a broader audience. This is because YouTube’s algorithm will know what your video is about and show them to people who would be most likely to engage with it. Also, when users include your category in the advance search, YouTube narrows the search results to only that category, improving your chances of ranking at the top.

As you choose categories for your videos, try to stay consistent with your choices. By being consistent, you’re reinforcing to YouTube that your content is focused on that topic and should reach people interested in it.

Customize Your Thumbnail

Your video thumbnail is the first thing viewers notice about your video, not even your title. It’s your first impression, so ensure that it gives an interesting preview of your video. An attractive thumbnail can fetch you more views, which signals to the YouTube algorithm that your content is popular. As your content gains more traction, you’ll see a significant boost in your rank.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to get more exposure for your videos. It works on YouTube the same way it does for every other social media platform. People who click on hashtags from another popular channel will be able to find your video more easily if you’re using the same hashtag. So take advantage of this feature to get more exposure for your videos.

You can include a hashtag in your video titles and descriptions. It’s important to use relevant hashtags when creating your video. For example, if you’re creating content about vacation destinations, it would be best to include the hashtag #traveling when posting your video. By doing this, visitors looking for travel-related content can easily find your videos. To ensure your video is getting the most out of hashtags, try to use them consistently across all your old and new videos.

Invest in a Good YouTube Marketing Software

If you want to take your SEO game to the next level, you should start using YouTube SEO software. These tools can help you optimize your video’s title, description, and tags to get more views and shares on YouTube. They also allow you to track what’s working and what isn’t, which helps you identify weaknesses and adjust your strategy accordingly.

While there are dozens of YouTube SEO tools in the software market, it’s best to select one that helps you handle every aspect of your video marketing, including research, audit, analytics, and advertising. An all-in-one program will save you the cost of using multiple tools. A good example of a good YouTube SEO tool is VidTechy. This free software helps you stay on top of your SEO game. You may want to give it a try.

How to Use VidTechy For YouTube SEO

Besides being an all-in-one YouTube marketing tool, Vidtechy stands out for its simple interface and easy-to-use options. Here are the incredible SEO features of this tool and how to use them.

Video Optimiser 

VidTechy has a free video optimisation checklist which will assist you in creating the perfect video upload without compromising with the SEO or the content in any way. To use the video optimiser, follow the following steps:

1. Open your browser and navigate to https://vidtechy.com/login
2. A new screen opens up, which asks you to enter your username and password. Enter your account credentials carefully. Click on the “Login” button. The interface will automatically navigate you to the dashboard page.  
3. In your dashboard, you can spot a small YouTube icon on the extreme end of the screen. Click on it. 
4. The “Video Optimise Checklist” will open up in a portion of the screen. 
5. Enter the main keyword, title, description and tags for your video. Now, in the main checklist, click on the checkboxes which you have completed. 
6. After completing all these tasks, click on the “Analyze” button. Next, you’ll see the optimization score of your video. The optimisation score of your video will also be shown in a speedometer indicator showing the exact score in a percent form below the speedometer indicator.
7. Below the score, you’ll also see the recommendations and suggestions. As you start working on the suggestions, you can see your scores increasing. These suggestions will help you to increase the optimisation score of your video. I’m sure you’ll enjoy optimising your video with Vidtechy’s free video optimiser tool.

Thumbnail Maker

Now, you can also use Vidtechy’s Thumbnail maker tool which is completely free and creates amazing thumbnails which earn you clicks. To get started, follow these steps:

1. Login to your VidTechy.com account.
2. On your dashboard, scroll down to find the “Productivity Tools” Section. In the section, you will find “Thumbnail Maker”. Click on it.
3. The new page opens up with the thumbnail maker. On the next page, you can choose your image file and start editing. In the top left corner of the screen, you can spot a pencil icon. Click on it.
4. You’ll see a list of menus. In the templates section, you’ll find amazing pre-made templates which you can use. You can choose your image from the free images icon. You’ll also find tools for drawing, editing and for inserting the texts and objects. Now, stop wasting your time on other complicated tools and try Vidtechy’s free thumbnail maker which is super easy to navigate and user friendly.

Keyword Analyzer

The keyword analyzer can help you find out which keywords are driving traffic to your channel and help you to rank for them. To use the keyword analyzer:

• Login to your VidTechy.com account.

• On your dashboard, find the SEO Tools section and click on Keyword Analyzer under it.

• Enter your chosen keywords into the keyword textbox.

• If your keyword is region-specific, you can select any region you want in the box next to the keyword.

• Use advance settings to narrow your search. Specify the minimum or maximum CPM, views, subscribers, and age of videos you want to find. Then click on Analyze.

• The top keyword analysis results it will show will include the search volume, competition, and optimization strength of the keyword.

• You’ll also see the opportunity to rank for the keyword, the top 20 search results for that keyword, and other detailed statistics like the number of views, likes, and subscriptions.

Title Analyzer

The next option, Title Analyzer, can help you generate compelling SEO headlines to rank better in search results. It can also score your title to determine whether it’s captivating enough to make a good impression. To use the title analyzer:

• Open Title Analyzer under SEO Tools.

• Enter your target keyword in the Title Idea Generator.

• Click on Generate Title.

• Copy your best title from the provided results.

• Click on the Analyzer button beside Generator at the top of the screen.

• Paste the title in the Title textbox and click Analyze.

• The results will reveal a measure of the common, uncommon, emotional, and power words in your title.

• You’ll also see data on the word count, character count, and reading grade level of the title.

Description Generator

The Description Generator instantly creates snippets explaining the content of your video to give viewers a clue and help you rank higher in search results. Here’s how to use the description generator.

• Open Description Generator under SEO Tools.

• You’ll see editable templates of your full video description, including About the Video, Timestamps, and About the Channel. Edit the text blocks as you want and click on Generate Description.

• Copy your description.

• Alternatively, click on the Generator button at the top of the screen.

• Enter your keywords in the keyword textbox and click on Generate Description.

Tag Finder

The Tag Finder creates a list of tag ideas based on your target keyword. To use the tag finder:

• Open Tag Finder under SEO Tools.

• Type in your keyword and select the number of videos to analyze in the next box.

• Click on Suggest Tags. 

• Select the best tags from the result list.

Hashtag Finder 

The Hashtag Finder generates a list of hashtag suggestions for your keyword. Here’s how to use the hashtag finder.

• Open Hashtag Finder under SEO Tools.

• Type in your keyword and select the number of videos to analyze in the next box.

• Click on Suggest Hashtag. 

• Select the best hashtags from the result list.

Final Thoughts

Patience and consistency are two of the most important skills in SEO. You need to understand that it takes time for the search algorithm to recognize your content and boost it. So don’t give up on your SEO journey because you’re not seeing instant results.

Finally, don’t underestimate the power of a good SEO tool. Using software to optimize your YouTube channel saves you time by automating key processes. The software will also help you keep track of your content, recognize trends, and evaluate how it’s performing against competitors. What are you waiting for to begin? Create a free account on Vidtechy today and start growing your channel.

Introduction 

Did you know that YouTube is the second most important digital marketing platform, following Instagram? With the massively expanding user base and competition on YouTube, you must be wondering which content to work on next to keep your audience engaged? 

If you’re someone who spends lots of time finding YouTube content ideas, then we are here for you. So, let’s light up your creative juices and get started to know about the top 7 ways to help you generate YouTube content ideas for your channel in minimal time. 

Top 7 Manual Ways To Generate Profitable YouTube Content Ideas 

There are two basic ways of generating YouTube content ideas: manual and automatic. In a manual mode, you actually experiment with various ideas and then analyze the results to find out the best-suited one for your audience. However, in the automatic method, you will use a YouTube content idea generator which will provide you with a list of related topics within a few minutes. 

YouTube Search 

The basic idea behind YouTube video content ideas is to deal with problems and pain points and present solutions to those problems. While researching topics, I make sure that my videos should help my audience do something better or solve a problem they have been experiencing for a long time. Thus, I tried out browsing YouTube content related to my content and niche.

YouTube Search provides the best content ideas. Confused? Let’s figure it out. Whenever any random idea pops into my head, I quickly surf YouTube and check the results. While searching, I randomly searched about the keyword, thus using the autosuggest feature to figure out the other additional keywords suggested by YouTube. The list of topics that come up on the search results page indicates the content your target audience is interested in. So, now, you can pick any of those ideas and create your content.

Then I analyze the search results to figure out if the topic is already saturated with content on that topic. In case it hasn’t, I have the opportunity to place my best content, and yay! That’s a win-win. 

Do you want to save time while searching for content ideas? If yes, you must check out Vidtechy’s free topics research and keyword autocomplete tool. The “Topics Research” tool lets you get keywords and topics with high search volume. It also has an inbuilt keyword analyser tool by which you can see various analytics of the keyword such as its difficulty, optimization score. The “Keyword Autocomplete” tool provides you with the top 10 topics. You can also get the keywords according to your target country. The list of results also shows the keyword length and the source of the keyword. Moreover, this tool is completely free!!! Isn’t it amazing?

Groups And Communities 

Rather than staying confined to your channel and audience, you can also join communities and groups where you will find both creators and audiences of your niche. It’s by far the best way of generating YouTube content ideas. In a group or community, you will come across creators who will motivate the creator on your inner side to come up with something that will make you stand out from the common.

Besides, you can also use the discussion between creators and audience or between audiences to grab some content ideas. You will find many such groups and communities on LinkedIn. This way of connecting with people will also help you grow your YouTube channel, thus helping you reach your target audience organically. Honestly, I have gained a considerable audience by creating videos on queries they posted in the group and sharing them with them. 

Comments Section 

The comments section of every video is an integral part that you should focus on besides the analytics metrics. Your audience will often leave their feedback regarding your recent video. Besides feedback, your audience will also drop their queries, questions, and additional topics which they want you to get covered. 

Moreover, besides hovering over the comments section of your YouTube channel, you can also visit your competitor’s video and search their comments section to find the suggestions. Later, you can beat your competitor by making a video on the content idea you got from his comments section before he does.

Surveys And Polls 

Surveys and polls are another efficient way of engaging with your audience directly while generating YouTube content ideas for your channel. After posting a video, I head for my *Community” tab, where I first post a poll asking my audience if they have watched my most recent video? After 2-4 days, I again posted a poll asking them if they liked the video. I also ask them to add their valuable comments and suggestions in the comments section. 

This way, you discover the expectations of your audience, the content areas where you could’ve given your best, and other related content which your audience wants. Moreover, you also engage with your audience, which is one of the most important ways of making your channel grow.

Local Magazine 

Even in today’s digitizing world, the importance of print media and local magazines is incomparable. The local magazines appear in weekly publications. You can flip the pages and head to the pages related to your niche. You’ll find a list of events that have occurred in the past. Moreover, you’ll also find the latest updates on various happenings in your niche. You can create questions out of headlines to entice your audience’s interests and create a video on the content.

Ask Your Audience 

Another best way to gather YouTube content ideas is by asking your audience. Your audience will generally pour in their queries and topics on which they wish to get content from you. However, you can spike their interest level by asking them to suggest more content ideas in your video itself. You can also have a live question and answer session and create videos on the topics from which you get the most questions. Besides Youtube, you can also use forms and Instagram stories to know the content demands of your audience.

Brainstorming 

For brainstorming, take a notebook and a pen. Keep your channel’s niche in mind and try to get all the possible subtopics. Create a rough mindmap. You can now use the rough mindmap to figure out the next content areas and subtopics on which you need to focus on. For example: if you have a “movie recap” YouTube channel, you can create a mindmap containing the various types of movies, say horror movies, sci-fi movies, etc. You can use this mindmap later for recapping the top 10 horror movies one by one. Isn’t it a great idea?

Should You Use A YouTube Video Ideas Generator Tool To Generate YouTube Content Ideas? 

A YouTube Video Ideas Generator tool is an AI-powered tool that lets you generate hundreds of content ideas for a single keyword. All you need to do is navigate to the tool, search the keyword, and then you will get a list of keywords according to their search volume. 

These manual ways of generating YouTube content ideas discussed above are time-consuming. Moreover, it will be difficult for you to distinguish between keywords with high search volume and low search volume. As a result, you cannot target the right keywords. Here’s when a YouTube content idea generator tool comes to your rescue. Tools like Vidtechy provide you with all the relevant information related to a keyword, starting from keyword search volume, top 20 videos on the keyword, optimisation score and others.

It generates hundreds of results within a few minutes. Not just this, these tools curate their list according to the search volume of keywords, thus prioritizing keywords with high search volume to the top of the list. With a YouTube content idea generator tool, you not just save hours and hours of hard work but also target your audience well with the most searched keywords.

How Can You Use Vidtechy To Generate 100+ Profitable YouTube Content Ideas In Less Than 5 Minutes? 

VidTechy is a “FREE” AI-powered solution for your YouTube marketing needs. Starting from topics research, keyword analyzer, and keyword autocomplete to thumbnail designer, title & headline analyzer, it contains the complete set of tools you need to bookmark your Youtube success story. Here’s how you can use Vidtechy to generate 100+ YouTube content ideas in less than 5 minutes:

1.Open and refresh your browser.  Navigate to https://vidtechy.com/login

2. A new screen opens up, which asks you to enter your username and password. Enter your account credentials carefully. Click on the “Login” button. The interface will automatically navigate you to the dashboard page.  

3. In the “Research Tools” section, you will find “Topics Research.” Click on it. 

4. A new page comes up. Enter your desired keyword on which you want to search for topics and content ideas. For example, I’m going to search for the keyword “healthy foods.” 

5. After a few seconds of processing, you can see a detailed mind map of various types of topics related to your keyword. Starting from “how-to” issues to “comparisons” related topics, there are multiple kinds of content ideas. 

6. Now, click on “Data.” You will get the entire mind map in a detailed, elaborated, and listicle format. You can also analyze the SEO of that particular topic by clicking on the keyword analyzer. When you click on “Search Videos,” you’ll get the list of top-ranking YouTube videos related to the topic.

A Word From VidTechy

Before choosing any content idea, make sure that you are pretty clear with the basics of the content and strive to make yourself stand out from the crowd. I hope we have provided you with various ways of finding YouTube content ideas. Moreover, we would love it if you would go and check out Vidtechy’s “Topics Research Tool.” For any doubts, queries, comments, or suggestions, feel free to drop them in the comments section below. We’ll reach out to you at the earliest. Happy reading!

YouTube gets over 30 million visitors per day. That’s more than enough traffic to go around; still, many YouTubers struggle to seize a decent share of this traffic. While several factors could hamper a channel’s success, poor keyword research is one of the most common.

If you want to get more views for your content, you must position yourself for more visibility. And that’s what proper keyword research can help you achieve. This article will help you understand the concept of YouTube keyword research and why it’s important for your channel. You’ll also learn to perform keyword research like a pro using a highly efficient tool.

What Is YouTube Keyword Research?

YouTube keyword research is the process of finding and analyzing words and phrases that people enter into the search box when looking for videos on YouTube. During the research, the YouTuber uncovers queries to target, the popularity of these queries, their ranking difficulty, and cost per click. The keyword researcher then includes these keywords in their content to rank higher on YouTube’s search engine results page (SERP) and attract more views.

The video description and title are the two best places to fix these keywords. They give YouTube’s algorithm clues as to what your video is about.

Why Is Keyword Research Important for Your YouTube Channel?

Why is keyword research a big deal for YouTubers? Here are three main reasons.

Get More Views

Keyword research is the best way to get consistent views for your content. When you know the right keywords and fix them strategically into your content, it gets the attention of the YouTube algorithm, which then promotes your content on the search results leading to a higher number of views, likes, and subscriptions.

Understand Your Target Audience

It gives you a clear insight into what your viewers are searching for. And if you know what your target audience wants to see, you can create content around their queries and cater to their needs. You can even build a well-rounded content strategy off keyword research. That way, you don’t have to struggle brainstorming content ideas every time.

Understand Your Competition

A keyword’s competitiveness is the second most important metric to check after its volume (total number of searches within a defined timeframe). Keyword research will reveal which keywords have already worked well for your competitors. The more competitive a keyword is, the harder it will be to rank for it. If an authoritative channel already ranks for the keyword, it’s best to avoid it and focus on less competitive keywords. But if the channel is about the same size as yours, you stand a good chance to compete.

4 Types of YouTube Keywords

To maximize the results of your keyword research, you have to understand the different types of keywords and how they work. These keyword types are listed below.

YouTube Channel Keyword

These types of keywords are meta tags that summarize the category or purpose of your channel. Specifically, they help YouTube understand the type of content you produce and who your target audience is. For example, if you own a channel specializing in delivering Italian cooking classes, your ideal channel keywords would be ‘Italian cooking, Italian recipes, or Italian cuisine.’ Ideally, you should select about seven keywords like this so that the extent of topics you can cover is neither too broad nor too narrow.

YouTube uses channel keywords to decide which videos to promote in the Suggested Video column. It also screens these keywords to suggest similar channels to users. So if you use these keywords correctly, you’re very likely to benefit from the extra exposure.

Short-Tail Keyword

As the name implies, short-tail keywords (also known as headwords) are search queries consisting of one to three words. These keywords usually have a large search volume; hence they are highly competitive. If you’re running a new channel, it’s best to avoid these keywords and target longer ones. Not only because they are hard to rank for, but because they have low conversion rates as they are not well-targeted.

Good examples of short-tail keywords for an Italian food channel would be ‘popular Italian dishes, best Italian food, or traditional Italian recipes.’ Most users begin their search with these keywords, but they don’t quite pinpoint their search intentions.

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are search queries that have more than three words in them. These keywords don’t bring as much traffic as short-tail keywords, but traffic gotten from here would be more relevant to the channel. Long-tail keywords are more targeted than their short-tail variants; hence they drive more conversion.

Using the Italian food channel as an example, ideal long-tail keywords would include ‘best Italian dishes for a dinner party’ or ‘traditional Italian recipes for weight loss.’ If you’re looking to get easy wins for your YouTube channel, target long-tail keywords and see how fast your rankings improve.

Geo-Targeting Keyword

These keyword types target a specific neighborhood, city, state, or country. Some local businesses run YouTube channels to attract potential customers to their storefronts. If you run such a channel, endeavor to include the name of your location in the title or description of your content. Examples of geo-targeting keywords include ‘best Italian dishes in Colorado’ or ‘prices of Italian dishes in Alabama.’

Steps to Finding the Best Keywords for Your YouTube Channel and Videos

Pick a Topic: Find a Search Intent

The first step in discovering the right keywords for your YouTube video content is to find out what your audience wants to learn about. And to do this, you need to understand the user’s persona and journey. Who are they? What is their profession? What are their primary pain points? What do they value most? And what are their goals? What’s important to them in selecting a product or service provider? These are some questions you need to answer.

For example, users looking for video content on Italian food recipes could include a curious stay-at-home mom looking to try out new dishes for the family and a college student who wants to prepare a nice Italian meal on a tight budget. Or an amateur chef who wants to improve on his food decoration. These people are looking for your content for various reasons: new culinary techniques, economy, creativity. Once you figure out this part, you can move on to the next step.

Leverage Youtube’s Autocomplete Keywords

After you’ve determined which topics to cover, type in the short-tail keyword into the YouTube search bar (in this case, ‘Italian dishes for…’). While typing, you’ll notice a list of keyword suggestions under your search, which YouTube automatically generates for you. These suggestions are known as YouTube Autocomplete Keywords. YouTube suggests these keywords because many other people use them to find video content on the platform. So if you can take note of them and use them in your new content, you’ll stand a good chance to rank.

Did you notice how this step takes you from having only short-tail keywords to gathering plenty of long-tail keywords for your video content? With YouTube’s Autocomplete Keywords, you can generate endless long-tail keywords to rank for. All you need to do is type in your short-tail keyword and keep adding a new alphabet to its end from a-z.

Find Keywords From Other Popular Videos

Another way to find the best YouTube keywords for your videos is to look at what your competitors are doing. Instead of starting from scratch, visit one of your competitor’s channels and explore the video section. Sort the video list by ‘Most popular’ and take note of the keywords used in the description and titles of these videos.

You can also look at their tags if you want to extend your research beyond the videos’ titles and descriptions. Unfortunately, You won’t find these tags on the user interface because they are hidden, so you’ll need to check the page’s HTML. To do that, right-click on the page and click ‘view page source. It will reveal the page’s HTML code. Use Ctrl F to open a search box, type in ‘keyword,’ and explore the search results.

This method effectively finds top-performing keywords, but there’s a catch. Avoid the authoritative channels in your niche and only target channels about your size. It’s harder to outrank the bigger channels because they already have way more shares, likes, comments, and subscribers than you do. And these metrics give them a pretty solid advantage over your channel.

Evaluate Keywords

After doing your research, you’ll most likely have more keywords than you’d need. So you have to select the best and focus on them while giving up the rest. Ideally, the best keywords to stick with are those with moderate to high popularity and low competition. But using the above research methods, there’s no way to figure out precisely the keyword volume and its competitiveness. You won’t even be able to determine whether or not pursuing a particular topic is worthwhile.

If you choose to filter keywords based on your gut feeling about their potential performance, you’ll be doing so blindly. You need precise and comprehensive data to single out the golden keywords from the rest. And to do that, you need an efficient YouTube keyword research tool.

Use YouTube Keyword Research Tools

A YouTube keyword research tool provides comprehensive and precise data to help you make the most of your research. A tool like this can help you perform a competition study because it spells out the authoritativeness of other channels in terms of keywords they rank for.

There are dozens of YouTube keyword research tools, so deciding which one is best for you can be puzzling. Before subscribing to any tool, make sure it operates using a simple system ideal for beginners. That’s the idea behind the tool in the first place: to make research fast and painless. Also, ensure that the research tool combines many different features in a single program. That way, you get to enjoy the convenience and economy of using only one tool.

If this description matches your ideal keyword research tool, consider giving VidTechy a try. VidTechy is a free cloud-based tool that can help you grow your channel fast and outrank competitors through advanced search results and accurate metrics.

How to Do YouTube Keyword Research With VidTechy

Here’s a step-by-step guide to using this amazing software for your YouTube keyword research.

Topic Research

• After creating a free account on Vidtechy.com, log in to your account and go to your dashboard.

• Under the Research Tools section, you’ll see Topic Research. Click on it.

• On the new page, you’ll see a box that prompts ‘Type Any Keyword…’. Enter your desired keyword and click Suggest Keywords.

• The next page that comes on will contain a plethora of ideas around your keyword. These ideas are categorized into Questions, Prepositions, and Comparisons.

• Below the search box, you’ll see two buttons where you can select how you prefer to visualize the ideas, whether as mind maps or as linear data.

• Select the topics that interest you.

Keyword Autocomplete

• You’ll find this option next to Topic Research under the Research Tools section. Open it.

• On the new page, you’ll see four boxes. One of them is where you’ll enter the keyword related to your topic. The other three are labeled Provider, Country, and Language. Select the appropriate options and click on Start.

• The tool will start loading keyword suggestions indicating how many it has found. When you’re satisfied with the number of suggestions it has found, click stop, and your results will appear on the page.

• Alongside the keywords, you’ll find the keyword length, word count, source, country, top 10 badges, and a link to the keyword analyzer.

Keywords Analyzer

• You can proceed to the Keyword Analyzer directly from the Keyword Autocomplete results or find it under the SEO Tools section of your dashboard.

• If you access it directly from the Keyword Autocomplete results, you’ll find a page containing all the relevant data you need to evaluate your keywords. But if you open it from your dashboard, you’ll have to enter your chosen keywords and click on Analyze.

• The data contained in the Keyword Analyzer results include the search volume, competition, optimization strength, and the channel with the highest ranking for that keyword.

• You’ll also see whether any other video has ranked for that keyword in the last seven days or one month.

• Other detailed statistics in the Keyword Analyzer results include the total video search results, latest published video, closed captions, and the top 20 YouTube videos ranking for that keyword.

• The page also shows the minimum, maximum and average views, subscribers, likes, and duration. It also tells you the extent of opportunity you have to rank for the keyword.

With such precise information, you can decide whether or not to create content around the keyword. And if you decide it’s worthwhile, you can easily select the high-volume, low-competition keywords since VidTechy has shown them to you.

Final Thoughts

Are you ready to grow your channel quickly and outrank your competitors? If your answer is yes, you need a smart, reliable tool like VidTechy to assist you. Besides its research and SEO features, it also offers ad tools, auditing tools, and productivity. All these features are for free. So what are you waiting for? Sign up today and start growing your YouTube channel.