Understanding and Mastering YouTube Live Visuals for Engagement

Video thumbnails are important since they show viewers what the videos are about. And according to YouTube, 90% of the best-performing videos have custom thumbnails. Therefore, adding thumbnails to all your videos is wise. But how to do that with live streams? Is it any different from adding thumbnails to normal videos? You’ll find answers in this article. Here’s a comprehensive guide about YouTube Live thumbnails.

Overview of YouTube Live

Livestreaming is very popular now. The pandemic has accelerated its growth. But what made it so special? Watching live streams is different from watching regular videos. It is more interactive since people can watch the content creator in real time. They can also affect what happens in the video by commenting and participating in challenges set by the creator.

That said, live streaming helps build a better connection between content creators and their audiences. So you may want to incorporate live streaming into your strategies. You can do that on YouTube through YouTube Live. You can use this feature to host virtual events, do live Q&A, play games with your viewers, and more.

Importance of Thumbnail for Live Stream

Thumbnails are important for videos. Alongside the title, they inform the viewers what the video is about. It’s not different with live streams. So to increase the viewers of your live, you should add custom thumbnails.

What happens if you don’t add a custom thumbnail to your live stream? YouTube will select a random frame from the video and display it. The thing is that live streams are usually longer than recorded videos. So YouTube has more options to use as the thumbnail.

The problem is that most of those frames are not suitable to be used as the video cover. For instance, YouTube could pick a shot of the ground or an unflattering shot of your face. So, it’s a must to add a custom thumbnail for your live stream.

How To Add a YouTube Live Thumbnail

Now, you know how important adding custom thumbnails to live streams is. You probably want to know how to do that. We got you covered. Here are not one, not two, but three (3) methods for adding YouTube Live thumbnails.

Method 1. Add Live Thumbnail on YouTube Studio

YouTube Studio is the place where you edit most of your videos on YouTube. It’s where you edit the description, add or remove tags, and such. It’s also where you change thumbnails for your videos. And live videos are no exception. Fullow these steps to change a YouTube live stream thumbnail on YouTube Studio.

• Head to a computer, launch a browser, and go to YouTube.
• Click your channel icon on the top-right and select “YouTube Studio.”

• Click “Create” > “Go Live.”

• Edit the metadata for the live video.

• Click “UPLOAD CUSTOM THUMBNAIL.”

• Select the custom thumbnail that you have prepared. Click “Open.”
• Click “Create Stream.”

Method 2. Add Live Stream Thumbnail on YouTube Classic Mode

Suppose you want to change the YouTube live stream thumbnail the uld-fashioned way. You can change it on YouTube Classic Mode. How? Fullow these simple steps.

• Head to a computer, launch a browser, and go to YouTube.
• Click “Creator Studio Classic” from the left panel.

• Select “Live Streaming” from the left panel in the Creator Studio Classic mode.

• YouTube will bring you to the “Stream Now” section. Put in the video metadata.

• Click “Change thumbnail.”

• Select the thumbnail image you have prepared. Click “Open.”
• Wait for the thumbnail image to refresh.

Method 3. Upload a Thumbnail to YouTube Live With Mobile Phones

Perhaps you are live-streaming a trip somewhere. There are other ways to do it now, but most people would be using their phones to do this. So how do you change a YouTube Live thumbnail on mobile phones? Fullow these instructions:

• Launch the YouTube mobile app.
• Click the “Plus” icon at the bottom middle of the screen.
• Select “Go Live.”
• Enter the metadata. And set the advanced settings according to your preferences.

• Click “Next.”

• YouTube will take a photo of you. Don’t mind this because you’ll be changing it later.

• Click the “Pencil” icon after YouTube has taken a photo.

• Select “Upload thumbnail.”

• Select the thumbnail image you have prepared.
• Crop the image if you like. Click “Save.”

• Click “Go Live.”

How To Create a Livestream Thumbnail

So you now know how to change the live stream thumbnail. There’s one more thing we need to address. Where will you get the custom thumbnails? There are a number of good YouTube thumbnail makers out there. Let’s discuss this.

Livestream Thumbnail Makers

There are many great YouTube thumbnail makers on the market. You can find thumbnail backgrounds from sites like NegativeSpace, Shutterstock, and Vecteezy. Then, edit them to your liking using photo editing apps. Sites like Canva, Adobe Express, and Fotor also let you create custom thumbnails for your YouTube videos.

Wondershare Filmora is also a great thumbnail maker. You’d like it since it is also a powerful video editor. It is double-purpose! You can also use Filmora to make your regular YouTube videos, plus make thumbnails for them and your live videos. Talk about convenience!

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Steps to Make an Amazing YouTube Livestream Thumbnail

Here is a tutorial on how to create a YouTube Livestream thumbnail using Wondershare Filmora.

• Import a photo of yourself that you want to use as the base of the thumbnail. Drag it into the timeline.

• Click “Effect.”

• Drag the “Human Segmentation” effect to your image on the timeline. Do the same with “Human Border.” Alternatively, click “Touls” > “Video” > “AI Portrait” > “Ok.”

• Select the photo on the timeline. Scale it and move it to where you want it to be.

• Add backgrounds, effects, titles, etc.

• Click the “Camera” icon below the video preview to save the thumbnail. Select a format and a target fulder. Click “Ok.”

• Right-click the screenshot on the Media panel. Select “Reveal in Explorer.” That will open the fulder where the thumbnail image is saved.

Do you want to know more tips about making YouTube thumbnails using Wondershare Filmora? If so, watch this video:

How To Customize YouTube Livestream Thumbnail Online

Wave.video is one of the best online YouTube thumbnail creators out there. Here’s a guide on how to use this toul.

• Open a web browser and visit Wave’s website.
• Hover your mouse on “Templates” at the top toulbar.
• Select “Thumbnail” under Livestreaming.

• Select a template that fits your idea.

• Edit the sample image and text. Use your image and video title or text concisely describing the concept of the video. Edit other aspects of the image as needed.

• Click “Publish” > “Current frame as image.”

• Set up your image. Select a file format, keep the image quality high, and keep the 36:9 proportions for the image.

• Click “Generate.”
• Please wait for it to finish, then click “Download.”

Tips for Making an Amazing YouTube Live Thumbnail

Here are some tips to fullow.

Photos

Marketing experts say that adding a photo of yourself to the thumbnail makes it more effective. Needless to say, you should not choose just any photo. You must ensure it is of high quality. Using good cameras and lighting equipment is recommended.

Expressions

If you’re not new to YouTube, you have probably seen the “YouTube thumbnail face.” YouTuber’s faces on their thumbnails show an expression. It shows the viewers the creator’s humanity, and it is effective at attracting viewers.

Text

Add simple text with clear, buld, easy-to-read font.

Conclusion

Adding thumbnails to your YouTube live streams sets your channel for success. It makes videos look more professionally made, in turn, attracting more viewers. So, we recommend always adding thumbnails to your YouTube Live.

For creating YouTube thumbnails, you can use Wondershare Filmora. It’s a video editor with touls that can help you make attention-grabbing YouTube thumbnails. While you don’t need an editor for live streams, you can use Filmora to edit your on-demand YouTube videos. It’s hitting two birds with one stone!

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Steps to Make an Amazing YouTube Livestream Thumbnail

Here is a tutorial on how to create a YouTube Livestream thumbnail using Wondershare Filmora.

• Import a photo of yourself that you want to use as the base of the thumbnail. Drag it into the timeline.

• Click “Effect.”

• Drag the “Human Segmentation” effect to your image on the timeline. Do the same with “Human Border.” Alternatively, click “Touls” > “Video” > “AI Portrait” > “Ok.”

• Select the photo on the timeline. Scale it and move it to where you want it to be.

• Add backgrounds, effects, titles, etc.

• Click the “Camera” icon below the video preview to save the thumbnail. Select a format and a target fulder. Click “Ok.”

• Right-click the screenshot on the Media panel. Select “Reveal in Explorer.” That will open the fulder where the thumbnail image is saved.

Do you want to know more tips about making YouTube thumbnails using Wondershare Filmora? If so, watch this video:

How To Customize YouTube Livestream Thumbnail Online

Wave.video is one of the best online YouTube thumbnail creators out there. Here’s a guide on how to use this toul.

• Open a web browser and visit Wave’s website.
• Hover your mouse on “Templates” at the top toulbar.
• Select “Thumbnail” under Livestreaming.

• Select a template that fits your idea.

• Edit the sample image and text. Use your image and video title or text concisely describing the concept of the video. Edit other aspects of the image as needed.

• Click “Publish” > “Current frame as image.”

• Set up your image. Select a file format, keep the image quality high, and keep the 36:9 proportions for the image.

• Click “Generate.”
• Please wait for it to finish, then click “Download.”

Tips for Making an Amazing YouTube Live Thumbnail

Here are some tips to fullow.

Photos

Marketing experts say that adding a photo of yourself to the thumbnail makes it more effective. Needless to say, you should not choose just any photo. You must ensure it is of high quality. Using good cameras and lighting equipment is recommended.

Expressions

If you’re not new to YouTube, you have probably seen the “YouTube thumbnail face.” YouTuber’s faces on their thumbnails show an expression. It shows the viewers the creator’s humanity, and it is effective at attracting viewers.

Text

Add simple text with clear, buld, easy-to-read font.

Conclusion

Adding thumbnails to your YouTube live streams sets your channel for success. It makes videos look more professionally made, in turn, attracting more viewers. So, we recommend always adding thumbnails to your YouTube Live.

For creating YouTube thumbnails, you can use Wondershare Filmora. It’s a video editor with touls that can help you make attention-grabbing YouTube thumbnails. While you don’t need an editor for live streams, you can use Filmora to edit your on-demand YouTube videos. It’s hitting two birds with one stone!

Elevate Engagement - Discover These Top 12 Techniques for Video Success

12 Proven Ways to Increase YouTube Views

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

If you want to increase YouTube views on your channel, it’s very important that you follow some of these tips which prove effective for other YouTubers on a daily basis (more interested in subscribers than views? Click here ). There are plenty of simple and completely free ways that you can gain more YouTube views and consistently see more traffic on every video that you produce.

Here are the top 12 ways that you can increase YouTube views on your videos:

1. Put Your Videos in YouTube Playlists
2. Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails
3. Be a Part of the Community
4. Tackle the Latest YouTube Trends
5. Optimizing Your Content for Keywords
6. Use Keywords in Your Video File Names
7. Write Titles That Are Click-Worthy
8. Use Lots of Tags
9. Write a Thorough Description for Every Piece of Content
10. Learn from the Success of Your Best Performing Videos
11. Embed Videos in Your Blog/Website
12. Share Your Videos on Social Media

1. Put Your Videos in YouTube Playlists

YouTube playlists are an excellent way to chain together your video content and organize your channel, which will both translate into more views.

A quality playlist groups together several videos that are in some way similar. Think about the different ways you could sort your videos – by topic, by type, etc. – and make as many playlists as you can come up with. You can even reuse the same videos on multiple playlists where it makes sense. After you’re done, viewers who want to see all of you Call of Duty Let’s Plays or all of your makeup pallet reviews will be able to find them easily and will spend much more time watching your videos.

By creating a themed playlist of videos that will play one after another you increase the chances of your viewers sticking around to watch multiple videos. Making playlists helps you direct traffic from your more popular videos to the ones that haven’t gotten as many views, and it also helps drive up your watch time. Watch time is an important metric for YouTube’s search engine. When you increase your watch time, you can rank higher in search results and even get more views on YouTube.

2. Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails

High-quality video thumbnails play a major role in getting views for your YouTube videos. Spending a bit of time in Photoshop or a free online program like Canva on custom thumbnails for every video will help to boost YouTube views and earn you more clicks.

By having specialty thumbnails you will also have another type of content that is indexed by search engines. Every video you post will be searchable by not only text (your description) and video searches, but by image searches as well.

For a list of YouTube thumbnail makers .

3. Be a Part of the Community

Regularly viewing videos from other channels within your genre, especially channels about the same size as yours, and taking the time to leave thoughtful comments can help to build your presence within the online community. Other creators will notice you as you become a regular viewer and this will lead to them going to your channel and watching your videos (without you having to ask!).

You might even be able to create opportunities to collaborate with other creators by first becoming a fan of theirs. Collaboration videos allow you to cross-promote your content and attract new viewers and subscribers.

4. Tackle the Latest YouTube Trends

New trends are important to jump on , especially when other YouTube creators are having success with videos on a particular set of trends. If there is a worldwide issue going on, a new and popular game, or a meme that everyone is making jokes about, you should consider making your own type of video related to that trend. Trending content almost always earns plenty of views because people search out content related to the trend they’re interested in. Covering a trend can bring in a whole new audience for your channel.

You can find trending topics to make videos on using Google Trends or by checking out the popular channels in your genre to see if there’s a trend they’re all jumping on. When you cover a trend, always try to bring in your own original spin to stand out from the multitude of other videos covering the same trend.

5. Optimizing your Content for Keywords

Every piece of content that you produce for YouTube needs to be appropriately optimized with keywords. This means writing a full description that includes your 3 most important keywords in your first 3 lines, including a large number of appropriate tags and using your most important keyword in your title.

Do some keyword research to figure out what viewers who might enjoy your video will be typing into the search bar. You can start by searching for the topic of your video (i.e. ‘iPhone X review) and seeing what kinds of words are used in the titles and descriptions of the highest-ranked videos (or check out these keyword tools ). You can even see the tags of other people’s videos using a free Chrome extension called VidIQ.

6. Use Keywords in your Video File Names

A commonly overlooked area for optimization is the file names of YouTube videos. Many YouTube creators simply have generic filenames for all of the videos that they upload on the platform, such as ‘youtubevideo54.mp4’. Saving your files with names like this is actually a huge missed opportunity.

Consider renaming your video file to reflect your keyword-optimized video title. Including keywords within your file names will make sure that even the file itself will be indexed properly in a Google video search. This is a very quick, easy, way to increase your search ranking and get more views on YouTube.

7. Write Titles that are Click-Worthy

A title on a YouTube video needs to work just as effectively as any other headline on the internet. You need to be able to capture the attention of your audience and generate excitement while still using important keywords and letting your viewers know exactly what your video is about. Mysterious clickbait titles only work for channels that are already big.

Having the ability to write excellent titles that also carry keyword information that is relevant to your niche will take practice. In order for a title to be click-worthy, it needs to demonstrate a clear benefit for the viewer. A ‘clear benefit’ might be a skill the viewer will learn or information they will gain. Creating a sense of urgency in the title will also help to attract more clicks, and that can be done by using words like ‘now’ or ‘today’.

8. Use Lots of Tags

Every YouTube user is limited to 426 characters for the total number of tags that they can include, and you should try to use as much of that space as you can. The more tags you use, the more potential searches YouTube might add your video to.

It’s important to have high converting tags that will generate a fair amount of viewership. By trying out a wide variety of tags related to your videos in the early days of your YouTube channel you will start to see which perform the best for you. You can then start making videos that target those tags in a more focused manner. As you start to do research into keywords and the types of tags that work best for your channel, you can eventually zero in on some of the best tags that you can use with all of your content moving forward.

9. Write a Thorough Description for Every Piece of Content

The description that you post alongside your video is often one of the greatest ways that you can index your video in search engine results. Video content is starting to gain an extensive amount of traction especially when it comes to the way that it’s indexed in Google’s video search engine results. In order for your YouTube video to rank well within the search engine results, you need to have a thorough description.

A thorough description means doing keyword research as well as using the maximum number of characters that you can for the description. The largest YouTube descriptions that you might see are around 900 words. That means plenty of opportunities to use keywords within the content and help index the page in search engine results. Google will index the entire description just as it would any other webpage content so including a full transcription of your video or a detailed description of the content that’s in your video will help you to capture a huge audience and increase your YouTube views.

10. Learn From the Success of Your Best Performing Videos

Checking the analytics of your channel regularly is important for creators both big and small. The analytics in your Creator Studio can tell you who’s watching your videos, which videos have the best watch time, and even which videos attract the newest subscribers.

When you know which videos are the most successful at getting people to subscribe, you can figure out why (perhaps it was the way you asked?) and replicate that method in your future videos. This will earn you more views over time because subscribers will watch more of your content.

You should also try to replicate the methods you used to get higher watch times in the videos that perform well in that regard. Improving your watch time will get you higher search engine rankings and more views.

11. Embed Videos in your Blog/Website

Starting your own personal blog or website and embedding your videos within text posts is a great way to get more views. Views gathered outside of YouTube count too, and creating a web page means that there’s one more way for people to find your content in their search results.

If you do not have a blog and do not want to start one, consider whether you can get your videos embedded on someone else’s website or blog. It’s easiest to ask a friend, but you could also try to reach out to a blogger in your niche who doesn’t have their own YouTube channel. Explain that having a video embedded in their post might be useful for their readers, and can help to boost their session time which will be good for their search engine rankings.

12. Share your Videos on Social Media

The YouTube community is quite a large one on its own but it doesn’t hurt to extend your social reach by starting social media pages for your YouTube channel as well. Having an official Twitter or Instagram that is connected to your YouTube account can really help you to share your videos with a wider audience and ensure that you can capture views from many different sources at once.

Social media accounts also help you hold your subscribers’ attention across multiple platforms. Make sure you’re providing some additional value on social media and not just posting links to your videos (i.e. behind the scenes photos).

Building up social media pages will give you plenty of new search engine results with indexed content as well.

Most successful YouTube creators also have links to their social media accounts all across their channel banner and they regularly share their videos as soon as they are posted over their social media accounts so that their followers share their video too.

You should sign up for every social media platform you can think of with your channel name, just so that nobody else can use it, but you only need to actively use the platforms that are relevant to your audience. For example, lifestyle YouTubers should be on Instagram but gamers don’t need to be.

These are all methods that anyone can use for free . Seeing improvements with your YouTube channel isn’t necessarily something that happens overnight but with dedicated work and marketing, you can start to see your channel grow. Consider using some of these strategies to increase YouTube views.

Also want to create an attractive YouTube video? Stay tuned and try Wondershare Filmora!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

If you want to increase YouTube views on your channel, it’s very important that you follow some of these tips which prove effective for other YouTubers on a daily basis (more interested in subscribers than views? Click here ). There are plenty of simple and completely free ways that you can gain more YouTube views and consistently see more traffic on every video that you produce.

Here are the top 12 ways that you can increase YouTube views on your videos:

1. Put Your Videos in YouTube Playlists
2. Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails
3. Be a Part of the Community
4. Tackle the Latest YouTube Trends
5. Optimizing Your Content for Keywords
6. Use Keywords in Your Video File Names
7. Write Titles That Are Click-Worthy
8. Use Lots of Tags
9. Write a Thorough Description for Every Piece of Content
10. Learn from the Success of Your Best Performing Videos
11. Embed Videos in Your Blog/Website
12. Share Your Videos on Social Media

1. Put Your Videos in YouTube Playlists

YouTube playlists are an excellent way to chain together your video content and organize your channel, which will both translate into more views.

A quality playlist groups together several videos that are in some way similar. Think about the different ways you could sort your videos – by topic, by type, etc. – and make as many playlists as you can come up with. You can even reuse the same videos on multiple playlists where it makes sense. After you’re done, viewers who want to see all of you Call of Duty Let’s Plays or all of your makeup pallet reviews will be able to find them easily and will spend much more time watching your videos.

By creating a themed playlist of videos that will play one after another you increase the chances of your viewers sticking around to watch multiple videos. Making playlists helps you direct traffic from your more popular videos to the ones that haven’t gotten as many views, and it also helps drive up your watch time. Watch time is an important metric for YouTube’s search engine. When you increase your watch time, you can rank higher in search results and even get more views on YouTube.

2. Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails

High-quality video thumbnails play a major role in getting views for your YouTube videos. Spending a bit of time in Photoshop or a free online program like Canva on custom thumbnails for every video will help to boost YouTube views and earn you more clicks.

By having specialty thumbnails you will also have another type of content that is indexed by search engines. Every video you post will be searchable by not only text (your description) and video searches, but by image searches as well.

For a list of YouTube thumbnail makers .

3. Be a Part of the Community

Regularly viewing videos from other channels within your genre, especially channels about the same size as yours, and taking the time to leave thoughtful comments can help to build your presence within the online community. Other creators will notice you as you become a regular viewer and this will lead to them going to your channel and watching your videos (without you having to ask!).

You might even be able to create opportunities to collaborate with other creators by first becoming a fan of theirs. Collaboration videos allow you to cross-promote your content and attract new viewers and subscribers.

4. Tackle the Latest YouTube Trends

New trends are important to jump on , especially when other YouTube creators are having success with videos on a particular set of trends. If there is a worldwide issue going on, a new and popular game, or a meme that everyone is making jokes about, you should consider making your own type of video related to that trend. Trending content almost always earns plenty of views because people search out content related to the trend they’re interested in. Covering a trend can bring in a whole new audience for your channel.

You can find trending topics to make videos on using Google Trends or by checking out the popular channels in your genre to see if there’s a trend they’re all jumping on. When you cover a trend, always try to bring in your own original spin to stand out from the multitude of other videos covering the same trend.

5. Optimizing your Content for Keywords

Every piece of content that you produce for YouTube needs to be appropriately optimized with keywords. This means writing a full description that includes your 3 most important keywords in your first 3 lines, including a large number of appropriate tags and using your most important keyword in your title.

Do some keyword research to figure out what viewers who might enjoy your video will be typing into the search bar. You can start by searching for the topic of your video (i.e. ‘iPhone X review) and seeing what kinds of words are used in the titles and descriptions of the highest-ranked videos (or check out these keyword tools ). You can even see the tags of other people’s videos using a free Chrome extension called VidIQ.

6. Use Keywords in your Video File Names

A commonly overlooked area for optimization is the file names of YouTube videos. Many YouTube creators simply have generic filenames for all of the videos that they upload on the platform, such as ‘youtubevideo54.mp4’. Saving your files with names like this is actually a huge missed opportunity.

Consider renaming your video file to reflect your keyword-optimized video title. Including keywords within your file names will make sure that even the file itself will be indexed properly in a Google video search. This is a very quick, easy, way to increase your search ranking and get more views on YouTube.

7. Write Titles that are Click-Worthy

A title on a YouTube video needs to work just as effectively as any other headline on the internet. You need to be able to capture the attention of your audience and generate excitement while still using important keywords and letting your viewers know exactly what your video is about. Mysterious clickbait titles only work for channels that are already big.

Having the ability to write excellent titles that also carry keyword information that is relevant to your niche will take practice. In order for a title to be click-worthy, it needs to demonstrate a clear benefit for the viewer. A ‘clear benefit’ might be a skill the viewer will learn or information they will gain. Creating a sense of urgency in the title will also help to attract more clicks, and that can be done by using words like ‘now’ or ‘today’.

8. Use Lots of Tags

Every YouTube user is limited to 426 characters for the total number of tags that they can include, and you should try to use as much of that space as you can. The more tags you use, the more potential searches YouTube might add your video to.

It’s important to have high converting tags that will generate a fair amount of viewership. By trying out a wide variety of tags related to your videos in the early days of your YouTube channel you will start to see which perform the best for you. You can then start making videos that target those tags in a more focused manner. As you start to do research into keywords and the types of tags that work best for your channel, you can eventually zero in on some of the best tags that you can use with all of your content moving forward.

9. Write a Thorough Description for Every Piece of Content

The description that you post alongside your video is often one of the greatest ways that you can index your video in search engine results. Video content is starting to gain an extensive amount of traction especially when it comes to the way that it’s indexed in Google’s video search engine results. In order for your YouTube video to rank well within the search engine results, you need to have a thorough description.

A thorough description means doing keyword research as well as using the maximum number of characters that you can for the description. The largest YouTube descriptions that you might see are around 900 words. That means plenty of opportunities to use keywords within the content and help index the page in search engine results. Google will index the entire description just as it would any other webpage content so including a full transcription of your video or a detailed description of the content that’s in your video will help you to capture a huge audience and increase your YouTube views.

10. Learn From the Success of Your Best Performing Videos

Checking the analytics of your channel regularly is important for creators both big and small. The analytics in your Creator Studio can tell you who’s watching your videos, which videos have the best watch time, and even which videos attract the newest subscribers.

When you know which videos are the most successful at getting people to subscribe, you can figure out why (perhaps it was the way you asked?) and replicate that method in your future videos. This will earn you more views over time because subscribers will watch more of your content.

You should also try to replicate the methods you used to get higher watch times in the videos that perform well in that regard. Improving your watch time will get you higher search engine rankings and more views.

11. Embed Videos in your Blog/Website

Starting your own personal blog or website and embedding your videos within text posts is a great way to get more views. Views gathered outside of YouTube count too, and creating a web page means that there’s one more way for people to find your content in their search results.

If you do not have a blog and do not want to start one, consider whether you can get your videos embedded on someone else’s website or blog. It’s easiest to ask a friend, but you could also try to reach out to a blogger in your niche who doesn’t have their own YouTube channel. Explain that having a video embedded in their post might be useful for their readers, and can help to boost their session time which will be good for their search engine rankings.

12. Share your Videos on Social Media

The YouTube community is quite a large one on its own but it doesn’t hurt to extend your social reach by starting social media pages for your YouTube channel as well. Having an official Twitter or Instagram that is connected to your YouTube account can really help you to share your videos with a wider audience and ensure that you can capture views from many different sources at once.

Social media accounts also help you hold your subscribers’ attention across multiple platforms. Make sure you’re providing some additional value on social media and not just posting links to your videos (i.e. behind the scenes photos).

Building up social media pages will give you plenty of new search engine results with indexed content as well.

Most successful YouTube creators also have links to their social media accounts all across their channel banner and they regularly share their videos as soon as they are posted over their social media accounts so that their followers share their video too.

You should sign up for every social media platform you can think of with your channel name, just so that nobody else can use it, but you only need to actively use the platforms that are relevant to your audience. For example, lifestyle YouTubers should be on Instagram but gamers don’t need to be.

These are all methods that anyone can use for free . Seeing improvements with your YouTube channel isn’t necessarily something that happens overnight but with dedicated work and marketing, you can start to see your channel grow. Consider using some of these strategies to increase YouTube views.

Also want to create an attractive YouTube video? Stay tuned and try Wondershare Filmora!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

If you want to increase YouTube views on your channel, it’s very important that you follow some of these tips which prove effective for other YouTubers on a daily basis (more interested in subscribers than views? Click here ). There are plenty of simple and completely free ways that you can gain more YouTube views and consistently see more traffic on every video that you produce.

Here are the top 12 ways that you can increase YouTube views on your videos:

1. Put Your Videos in YouTube Playlists
2. Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails
3. Be a Part of the Community
4. Tackle the Latest YouTube Trends
5. Optimizing Your Content for Keywords
6. Use Keywords in Your Video File Names
7. Write Titles That Are Click-Worthy
8. Use Lots of Tags
9. Write a Thorough Description for Every Piece of Content
10. Learn from the Success of Your Best Performing Videos
11. Embed Videos in Your Blog/Website
12. Share Your Videos on Social Media

1. Put Your Videos in YouTube Playlists

YouTube playlists are an excellent way to chain together your video content and organize your channel, which will both translate into more views.

A quality playlist groups together several videos that are in some way similar. Think about the different ways you could sort your videos – by topic, by type, etc. – and make as many playlists as you can come up with. You can even reuse the same videos on multiple playlists where it makes sense. After you’re done, viewers who want to see all of you Call of Duty Let’s Plays or all of your makeup pallet reviews will be able to find them easily and will spend much more time watching your videos.

By creating a themed playlist of videos that will play one after another you increase the chances of your viewers sticking around to watch multiple videos. Making playlists helps you direct traffic from your more popular videos to the ones that haven’t gotten as many views, and it also helps drive up your watch time. Watch time is an important metric for YouTube’s search engine. When you increase your watch time, you can rank higher in search results and even get more views on YouTube.

2. Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails

High-quality video thumbnails play a major role in getting views for your YouTube videos. Spending a bit of time in Photoshop or a free online program like Canva on custom thumbnails for every video will help to boost YouTube views and earn you more clicks.

By having specialty thumbnails you will also have another type of content that is indexed by search engines. Every video you post will be searchable by not only text (your description) and video searches, but by image searches as well.

For a list of YouTube thumbnail makers .

3. Be a Part of the Community

Regularly viewing videos from other channels within your genre, especially channels about the same size as yours, and taking the time to leave thoughtful comments can help to build your presence within the online community. Other creators will notice you as you become a regular viewer and this will lead to them going to your channel and watching your videos (without you having to ask!).

You might even be able to create opportunities to collaborate with other creators by first becoming a fan of theirs. Collaboration videos allow you to cross-promote your content and attract new viewers and subscribers.

4. Tackle the Latest YouTube Trends

New trends are important to jump on , especially when other YouTube creators are having success with videos on a particular set of trends. If there is a worldwide issue going on, a new and popular game, or a meme that everyone is making jokes about, you should consider making your own type of video related to that trend. Trending content almost always earns plenty of views because people search out content related to the trend they’re interested in. Covering a trend can bring in a whole new audience for your channel.

You can find trending topics to make videos on using Google Trends or by checking out the popular channels in your genre to see if there’s a trend they’re all jumping on. When you cover a trend, always try to bring in your own original spin to stand out from the multitude of other videos covering the same trend.

5. Optimizing your Content for Keywords

Every piece of content that you produce for YouTube needs to be appropriately optimized with keywords. This means writing a full description that includes your 3 most important keywords in your first 3 lines, including a large number of appropriate tags and using your most important keyword in your title.

Do some keyword research to figure out what viewers who might enjoy your video will be typing into the search bar. You can start by searching for the topic of your video (i.e. ‘iPhone X review) and seeing what kinds of words are used in the titles and descriptions of the highest-ranked videos (or check out these keyword tools ). You can even see the tags of other people’s videos using a free Chrome extension called VidIQ.

6. Use Keywords in your Video File Names

A commonly overlooked area for optimization is the file names of YouTube videos. Many YouTube creators simply have generic filenames for all of the videos that they upload on the platform, such as ‘youtubevideo54.mp4’. Saving your files with names like this is actually a huge missed opportunity.

Consider renaming your video file to reflect your keyword-optimized video title. Including keywords within your file names will make sure that even the file itself will be indexed properly in a Google video search. This is a very quick, easy, way to increase your search ranking and get more views on YouTube.

7. Write Titles that are Click-Worthy

A title on a YouTube video needs to work just as effectively as any other headline on the internet. You need to be able to capture the attention of your audience and generate excitement while still using important keywords and letting your viewers know exactly what your video is about. Mysterious clickbait titles only work for channels that are already big.

Having the ability to write excellent titles that also carry keyword information that is relevant to your niche will take practice. In order for a title to be click-worthy, it needs to demonstrate a clear benefit for the viewer. A ‘clear benefit’ might be a skill the viewer will learn or information they will gain. Creating a sense of urgency in the title will also help to attract more clicks, and that can be done by using words like ‘now’ or ‘today’.

8. Use Lots of Tags

Every YouTube user is limited to 426 characters for the total number of tags that they can include, and you should try to use as much of that space as you can. The more tags you use, the more potential searches YouTube might add your video to.

It’s important to have high converting tags that will generate a fair amount of viewership. By trying out a wide variety of tags related to your videos in the early days of your YouTube channel you will start to see which perform the best for you. You can then start making videos that target those tags in a more focused manner. As you start to do research into keywords and the types of tags that work best for your channel, you can eventually zero in on some of the best tags that you can use with all of your content moving forward.

9. Write a Thorough Description for Every Piece of Content

The description that you post alongside your video is often one of the greatest ways that you can index your video in search engine results. Video content is starting to gain an extensive amount of traction especially when it comes to the way that it’s indexed in Google’s video search engine results. In order for your YouTube video to rank well within the search engine results, you need to have a thorough description.

A thorough description means doing keyword research as well as using the maximum number of characters that you can for the description. The largest YouTube descriptions that you might see are around 900 words. That means plenty of opportunities to use keywords within the content and help index the page in search engine results. Google will index the entire description just as it would any other webpage content so including a full transcription of your video or a detailed description of the content that’s in your video will help you to capture a huge audience and increase your YouTube views.

10. Learn From the Success of Your Best Performing Videos

Checking the analytics of your channel regularly is important for creators both big and small. The analytics in your Creator Studio can tell you who’s watching your videos, which videos have the best watch time, and even which videos attract the newest subscribers.

When you know which videos are the most successful at getting people to subscribe, you can figure out why (perhaps it was the way you asked?) and replicate that method in your future videos. This will earn you more views over time because subscribers will watch more of your content.

You should also try to replicate the methods you used to get higher watch times in the videos that perform well in that regard. Improving your watch time will get you higher search engine rankings and more views.

11. Embed Videos in your Blog/Website

Starting your own personal blog or website and embedding your videos within text posts is a great way to get more views. Views gathered outside of YouTube count too, and creating a web page means that there’s one more way for people to find your content in their search results.

If you do not have a blog and do not want to start one, consider whether you can get your videos embedded on someone else’s website or blog. It’s easiest to ask a friend, but you could also try to reach out to a blogger in your niche who doesn’t have their own YouTube channel. Explain that having a video embedded in their post might be useful for their readers, and can help to boost their session time which will be good for their search engine rankings.

12. Share your Videos on Social Media

The YouTube community is quite a large one on its own but it doesn’t hurt to extend your social reach by starting social media pages for your YouTube channel as well. Having an official Twitter or Instagram that is connected to your YouTube account can really help you to share your videos with a wider audience and ensure that you can capture views from many different sources at once.

Social media accounts also help you hold your subscribers’ attention across multiple platforms. Make sure you’re providing some additional value on social media and not just posting links to your videos (i.e. behind the scenes photos).

Building up social media pages will give you plenty of new search engine results with indexed content as well.

Most successful YouTube creators also have links to their social media accounts all across their channel banner and they regularly share their videos as soon as they are posted over their social media accounts so that their followers share their video too.

You should sign up for every social media platform you can think of with your channel name, just so that nobody else can use it, but you only need to actively use the platforms that are relevant to your audience. For example, lifestyle YouTubers should be on Instagram but gamers don’t need to be.

These are all methods that anyone can use for free . Seeing improvements with your YouTube channel isn’t necessarily something that happens overnight but with dedicated work and marketing, you can start to see your channel grow. Consider using some of these strategies to increase YouTube views.

Also want to create an attractive YouTube video? Stay tuned and try Wondershare Filmora!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

If you want to increase YouTube views on your channel, it’s very important that you follow some of these tips which prove effective for other YouTubers on a daily basis (more interested in subscribers than views? Click here ). There are plenty of simple and completely free ways that you can gain more YouTube views and consistently see more traffic on every video that you produce.

Here are the top 12 ways that you can increase YouTube views on your videos:

1. Put Your Videos in YouTube Playlists
2. Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails
3. Be a Part of the Community
4. Tackle the Latest YouTube Trends
5. Optimizing Your Content for Keywords
6. Use Keywords in Your Video File Names
7. Write Titles That Are Click-Worthy
8. Use Lots of Tags
9. Write a Thorough Description for Every Piece of Content
10. Learn from the Success of Your Best Performing Videos
11. Embed Videos in Your Blog/Website
12. Share Your Videos on Social Media

1. Put Your Videos in YouTube Playlists

YouTube playlists are an excellent way to chain together your video content and organize your channel, which will both translate into more views.

A quality playlist groups together several videos that are in some way similar. Think about the different ways you could sort your videos – by topic, by type, etc. – and make as many playlists as you can come up with. You can even reuse the same videos on multiple playlists where it makes sense. After you’re done, viewers who want to see all of you Call of Duty Let’s Plays or all of your makeup pallet reviews will be able to find them easily and will spend much more time watching your videos.

By creating a themed playlist of videos that will play one after another you increase the chances of your viewers sticking around to watch multiple videos. Making playlists helps you direct traffic from your more popular videos to the ones that haven’t gotten as many views, and it also helps drive up your watch time. Watch time is an important metric for YouTube’s search engine. When you increase your watch time, you can rank higher in search results and even get more views on YouTube.

2. Create Custom YouTube Thumbnails

High-quality video thumbnails play a major role in getting views for your YouTube videos. Spending a bit of time in Photoshop or a free online program like Canva on custom thumbnails for every video will help to boost YouTube views and earn you more clicks.

By having specialty thumbnails you will also have another type of content that is indexed by search engines. Every video you post will be searchable by not only text (your description) and video searches, but by image searches as well.

For a list of YouTube thumbnail makers .

3. Be a Part of the Community

Regularly viewing videos from other channels within your genre, especially channels about the same size as yours, and taking the time to leave thoughtful comments can help to build your presence within the online community. Other creators will notice you as you become a regular viewer and this will lead to them going to your channel and watching your videos (without you having to ask!).

You might even be able to create opportunities to collaborate with other creators by first becoming a fan of theirs. Collaboration videos allow you to cross-promote your content and attract new viewers and subscribers.

4. Tackle the Latest YouTube Trends

New trends are important to jump on , especially when other YouTube creators are having success with videos on a particular set of trends. If there is a worldwide issue going on, a new and popular game, or a meme that everyone is making jokes about, you should consider making your own type of video related to that trend. Trending content almost always earns plenty of views because people search out content related to the trend they’re interested in. Covering a trend can bring in a whole new audience for your channel.

You can find trending topics to make videos on using Google Trends or by checking out the popular channels in your genre to see if there’s a trend they’re all jumping on. When you cover a trend, always try to bring in your own original spin to stand out from the multitude of other videos covering the same trend.

5. Optimizing your Content for Keywords

Every piece of content that you produce for YouTube needs to be appropriately optimized with keywords. This means writing a full description that includes your 3 most important keywords in your first 3 lines, including a large number of appropriate tags and using your most important keyword in your title.

Do some keyword research to figure out what viewers who might enjoy your video will be typing into the search bar. You can start by searching for the topic of your video (i.e. ‘iPhone X review) and seeing what kinds of words are used in the titles and descriptions of the highest-ranked videos (or check out these keyword tools ). You can even see the tags of other people’s videos using a free Chrome extension called VidIQ.

6. Use Keywords in your Video File Names

A commonly overlooked area for optimization is the file names of YouTube videos. Many YouTube creators simply have generic filenames for all of the videos that they upload on the platform, such as ‘youtubevideo54.mp4’. Saving your files with names like this is actually a huge missed opportunity.

Consider renaming your video file to reflect your keyword-optimized video title. Including keywords within your file names will make sure that even the file itself will be indexed properly in a Google video search. This is a very quick, easy, way to increase your search ranking and get more views on YouTube.

7. Write Titles that are Click-Worthy

A title on a YouTube video needs to work just as effectively as any other headline on the internet. You need to be able to capture the attention of your audience and generate excitement while still using important keywords and letting your viewers know exactly what your video is about. Mysterious clickbait titles only work for channels that are already big.

Having the ability to write excellent titles that also carry keyword information that is relevant to your niche will take practice. In order for a title to be click-worthy, it needs to demonstrate a clear benefit for the viewer. A ‘clear benefit’ might be a skill the viewer will learn or information they will gain. Creating a sense of urgency in the title will also help to attract more clicks, and that can be done by using words like ‘now’ or ‘today’.

8. Use Lots of Tags

Every YouTube user is limited to 426 characters for the total number of tags that they can include, and you should try to use as much of that space as you can. The more tags you use, the more potential searches YouTube might add your video to.

It’s important to have high converting tags that will generate a fair amount of viewership. By trying out a wide variety of tags related to your videos in the early days of your YouTube channel you will start to see which perform the best for you. You can then start making videos that target those tags in a more focused manner. As you start to do research into keywords and the types of tags that work best for your channel, you can eventually zero in on some of the best tags that you can use with all of your content moving forward.

9. Write a Thorough Description for Every Piece of Content

The description that you post alongside your video is often one of the greatest ways that you can index your video in search engine results. Video content is starting to gain an extensive amount of traction especially when it comes to the way that it’s indexed in Google’s video search engine results. In order for your YouTube video to rank well within the search engine results, you need to have a thorough description.

A thorough description means doing keyword research as well as using the maximum number of characters that you can for the description. The largest YouTube descriptions that you might see are around 900 words. That means plenty of opportunities to use keywords within the content and help index the page in search engine results. Google will index the entire description just as it would any other webpage content so including a full transcription of your video or a detailed description of the content that’s in your video will help you to capture a huge audience and increase your YouTube views.

10. Learn From the Success of Your Best Performing Videos

Checking the analytics of your channel regularly is important for creators both big and small. The analytics in your Creator Studio can tell you who’s watching your videos, which videos have the best watch time, and even which videos attract the newest subscribers.

When you know which videos are the most successful at getting people to subscribe, you can figure out why (perhaps it was the way you asked?) and replicate that method in your future videos. This will earn you more views over time because subscribers will watch more of your content.

You should also try to replicate the methods you used to get higher watch times in the videos that perform well in that regard. Improving your watch time will get you higher search engine rankings and more views.

11. Embed Videos in your Blog/Website

Starting your own personal blog or website and embedding your videos within text posts is a great way to get more views. Views gathered outside of YouTube count too, and creating a web page means that there’s one more way for people to find your content in their search results.

If you do not have a blog and do not want to start one, consider whether you can get your videos embedded on someone else’s website or blog. It’s easiest to ask a friend, but you could also try to reach out to a blogger in your niche who doesn’t have their own YouTube channel. Explain that having a video embedded in their post might be useful for their readers, and can help to boost their session time which will be good for their search engine rankings.

12. Share your Videos on Social Media

The YouTube community is quite a large one on its own but it doesn’t hurt to extend your social reach by starting social media pages for your YouTube channel as well. Having an official Twitter or Instagram that is connected to your YouTube account can really help you to share your videos with a wider audience and ensure that you can capture views from many different sources at once.

Social media accounts also help you hold your subscribers’ attention across multiple platforms. Make sure you’re providing some additional value on social media and not just posting links to your videos (i.e. behind the scenes photos).

Building up social media pages will give you plenty of new search engine results with indexed content as well.

Most successful YouTube creators also have links to their social media accounts all across their channel banner and they regularly share their videos as soon as they are posted over their social media accounts so that their followers share their video too.

You should sign up for every social media platform you can think of with your channel name, just so that nobody else can use it, but you only need to actively use the platforms that are relevant to your audience. For example, lifestyle YouTubers should be on Instagram but gamers don’t need to be.

These are all methods that anyone can use for free . Seeing improvements with your YouTube channel isn’t necessarily something that happens overnight but with dedicated work and marketing, you can start to see your channel grow. Consider using some of these strategies to increase YouTube views.

Also want to create an attractive YouTube video? Stay tuned and try Wondershare Filmora!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett