Within YouTube marketing there are plenty of metrics available to track the success of your videos. YouTube CTR (click-through-rate) is just one of them. However, it’s one of the most important to understand and continually work toward improving.
With 37+ million YouTube channels and 500 hours of content being uploaded EVERY MINUTE, you need to think about how to stand out and get people to click your video!
So in this article we’ll cover what CTR is, why it’s important to track, and how to increase it. If you prefer to watch vs. read this content, check out our YouTube video below instead.
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4 Ways to Improve YouTube CTR
What Is YouTube CTR
YouTube CTR is the percentage of viewers who clicked to watch your video after being shown the video thumbnail and title. This is also known as an impression. For instance, on the YouTube homepage, videos appear based on your interests and subscriptions:
In this example, all the videos here on the YouTube homepage just gained an “impression”. However, only the ones that are “clicked” and played by the viewer will get a “view”. By dividing these clicks and impressions, you get your “click-through-rate”.
Having a high YouTube CTR indicates that your videos are enticing, high quality, and not misleading to viewers. For reference, the average CTR on YouTube is 4-5%.
On the other hand if your YouTube CTR is low, you know that some work to bring this up. If you’re going through the effort of creating videos for YouTube, you need people to actually watch them to generate positive results for your business.
So with that in mind, let’s look at four factors that are essential to increasing your YouTube CTR.
Develop An Interesting Theme
Theme is always an important aspect of any form of video marketing. Theme refers to the nature of the content. It’s the genre, style, topic, and main focus.
While this may seem obvious, many businesses lose sight of their theme due to the variety of subcategories within one topic. Or they never settle on a theme to begin with and begin producing a variety of different types of videos.
When determining your theme, you need to first take a step back and consider who your audience is. Your goal should always be to cater to their interests. Understand which topics would be helpful to them so when they see your video, they click because it’s information or value that they’re looking for.
Clarity is extremely important for achieving a high CTR. Having a clear and consistent theme to your videos will go a long way in getting viewers to click them.
Once you have a clearer understanding of your audience, you can focus on your differentiating factor. More specifically, why would someone choose to watch your video over someone else’s similar video?
Maybe it’s because you go into more depth with your explanations. Or because you share more examples. Or it’s your editing style that eliminates the fluff and gets straight to the point.
These are just a few examples, but by considering these options and others, you can increase the focus and value of your video.
Lastly, if the topic is something unique or hasn’t been covered before, then it’s much more likely to get viewership. Rather than making the same how-to video that’s already been published 30 times, step out of the box. You need to think of other helpful ways to cover that topic or look for similar topics that haven’t been covered as much yet.
Make A Thumbnail That Pops
Nowadays with the decreasing attention span of audiences, the thumbnail is the most important aspect to increasing your CTR rate. Before you even consider making the video, plan out your thumbnail.
While making a good thumbnail could use its own article, here are three tips to keep in mind when going through this process.
- Minimal screen elements: when designing your thumbnail avoid too much clutter. Try to keep only 2-3 screen elements in-frame so that the viewer doesn't feel bombarded or overwhelmed.
- A face: humans are wired to naturally react and be intrigued by faces. Before they even begin reading the title or the thumbnail, the face is what grabs attention. This is one of the main reasons why online businesses tend to be more successful when there is a face associated with the brand. Among a sea of thumbnails, a face will grab the attention of the viewer more than just text or graphics.
- Contrasting colors: color is another effective way to draw the attention of viewers. This doesn’t mean you need to over-saturate all of your thumbnails. However, try to find a good balance and use colors that can draw attention while remaining on brand for your business.
Thumbnail Split Testing
As you’re designing your thumbnails, consider testing more than one to achieve better results. A/B testing is a method of doing exactly that. This is when you compare two versions of the same design to see which one is more effective at driving conversions – in this case, from an impression to a view.
One tool we use for A/B split testing is TubeBuddy. They provide a feature that allows you to test different thumbnail designs for your videos to determine which will generate a higher CTR.
The tool breaks down a wide range of data on how the two thumbnails performed against each other, and gives you it’s verdict on which to use for your video to maximize your video’s potential.
It’s a really helpful tool that we recommend and use ourselves here at Vireo Video. If you’d like to give it a try, use code “VireoBuddy” to save 20% on your purchase.
Write A Title That must be Clicked
Alongside the thumbnail, the title is one of the first things your audience will see before deciding to watch your video or not. Therefore, thought needs to be devoted to the title, just as it’s needed for the video creation process itself. Here are some aspects to consider when deciding on the perfect title:
- Front-load important terms: the order of the words in your title can make or break your video. If you’re using vague terms that don’t pertain to the topic, it will be unlikely to catch the eye of your audience. Furthermore, there is limited space for the title on the homepage, so words at the end can be cut off.
- Eye-catching expression: using questions, quirky statements, or unique expressions can also increase the CTR of your video. Creativity goes a long way since the majority of the creators in the digital space tend to take the traditional approach. If you creatively present a traditional topic, it can make a difference in whether or not a viewer will click.
- Word diversity: if you repeat the title of the video in the thumbnail, you are wasting prime real estate to communicate with your target audience. As a result, it is best practice to avoid repeating the same phrases in the title and the thumbnail. Instead, include another word or maybe a graphic that relates to the topic and draws the attention of the viewer.
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Review Analytics In YouTube Studio
Analytics is the final step to increasing the CTR on your videos. Having a solid understanding of your analytics will enable you to make the right strategic decisions. When looking at your YouTube analytics, you have the option to sort your videos by the “impressions click-through rate” option, shown here:
Typically, videos in YouTube analytics are sorted by views or watch time. While those factors are important, sorting by “impressions click-through rate” can actually better show us which topics or thumbnails are most enticing to our audience.
CTR can also reveal which factors actually lead to that higher CTR – such as noticing commonalities between which theme, thumbnail, style or titles are working the best.
With looking at YouTube CTR, you can also see which videos may be getting overlooked. For example, a video may not make it to the “Top 10” section of the list but have a higher CTR.
Conclusion
The theme, thumbnail, and title all work in unison to entice your audience to click on your video. Finding the right thumbnail design and title format will go a long way in maximizing your potential viewership on the platform. Then, making a point of reviewing your analytics often to see how your designs are performing is how you will keep improving.
It’s important to remember that having a strong CTR is important, but it doesn’t excuse the need to create great content. Ensuring that you are creating interesting, insightful and valuable content consistently is still key to keep viewers coming back for more.
The internet continues to become increasingly saturated, meaning the competition is only going to increase. Having a healthy CTR for your videos, and creating great content will ensure your continued success and exposure on the platform.
