Did You Know?
Every day, YouTube hosts 3.7 million new videos. That's over a quarter-million hours of content, assuming each video is just 4.4 minutes long 🤯. With so much content flowing in, standing out is key to success. Sometimes, even the best videos get lost in the shuffle!
Introducing the Optimize Page
Dive into Optimize, one of our latest innovations in vidIQ, which is designed to help elevate your videos from hidden gems to viral successes. This tool isn't just about getting noticed; it's about crafting videos that resonate and captivate, ensuring your creative spark finds its audience.
Your video's title and thumbnail aren't just introductions; they're your first chance to grab the attention of your potential viewers. With Optimize, vidIQ helps transform these elements into irresistible calls to adventure, setting the stage for your video's journey to success. Together, they can turn a casual glance into a click, boosting your video's chances of success.
How to get Started with Optimize
If you're using a computer: First, log in to your vidIQ account. Once you're in, you'll see an "Optimize" section on the left navigation bar of your screen:
If you're on your phone: Open the vidIQ mobile app, and you'll see an "Optimize" section on the bar at the bottom of your screen.
Once you visit the page, you will see all your videos displayed and available for optimization.
Please note that some of our Premium features, including sorting, getting more recommended titles and thumbnails, and getting feedback on titles and thumbnails, are not included in the free/basic plan. However, on the Boost and 1-on-1 coaching plan creators can optimize an unlimited number of videos and have access to the features mentioned.
Sorting
On the Optimize page, you are able to sort all your videos to make it easier to find exactly the one you want to optimize:
Most Recent (default setting).
Lowest Title Score.
Lowest Thumbnail Score.
Optimize!
Once you find a video you want to optimize, click on the video title or thumbnail to receive personalized feedback and actionable suggestions for your video:
As soon as you click on any video title or thumbnail, you will see this window show up with three sections inside (1. Title, 2. Thumbnails, and 3. Details):
Let's break down each one of them and see what you can optimize inside each one:
1. Title Optimization
Looking for more eye-catching, captivating titles? Inside this section, you can:
Edit your title: Edit your title here and get a score immediately, along with the character count of your title:
Generate Suggested Titles: This feature helps you get title suggestions based on the title inputted. You also have the option to tweak the suggested titles using the Refine feature (Make shorter, make longer, change tone, etc.)
Get Feedback on your thumbnails (breakdown of the score): If you are satisfied with your original/initial title and/or would like feedback on a new one, this will provide a detailed explanation to help you make any necessary adjustments:
Here are some of the actionable insights the score is based on. It's always tailored to your content, sharing what you can do to improve your titles and thumbnails. The more you get them right, the higher your optimized score will be, making clicking on your videos irresistible:
Direct Description and Relevance
Brevity
Grammar and Spelling
Universal or Personal Appeal
Value to Viewer
Emotional Triggers
Intriguing Elements
Use of Common Formats
Viewer Value
2. Thumbnail Optimization
Think of your thumbnail as the cover of your video's story. It must be compelling, evocative, and downright clickable. vidIQ's Optimize assesses and grades your thumbnail, ensuring it's dressed to impress.
You will be given a summary of everything that works well and what might make your thumbnail even more clickable.
If you want to explore the feedback and suggestions more deeply, you will see a breakdown of the score and actionable insights again, similar to the title feedback but specifically related to your thumbnails:
Here are a few insights inside the feedback section for thumbnails you might come across and the insights the score is based on:
Emotional Triggers
Eye-catching Elements
Uncluttered Composition
Color & Contrast
Curiosity Elicitation
Brevity
Clarity
Facial Features
Resolution & Aspect Ratio
Visual Harmony
Unique Concept
Creative Execution
Topic Match
Finally, inside the thumbnails section, you get the ability to edit the thumbnail to your liking and generate more thumbnails:
Also, you can Preview your Thumbnail, which allows you to see how a video thumbnail would appear across different sections of YouTube, helping you ensure it stands out and attracts viewers:
This tool allows you to visualize your thumbnail in various contexts and make data-driven adjustments to optimize its performance. Here’s how you can use the feature:
1. Home Page (Browser): Preview how your thumbnail would look on YouTube’s homepage, where users are presented with a mix of recommended videos. This helps you understand if your thumbnail grabs attention among a variety of content.
2. Search Results Page: See how your thumbnail appears when users search for keywords related to your video. This preview shows whether your thumbnail stands out among competing videos in search results.
3. Mobile View: Preview your thumbnail on the mobile version of YouTube. Given the growing number of mobile users, ensuring your thumbnail looks appealing on smaller screens is essential.
4. Next to Videos on Browser (Home Page, Without Details): Visualize how your thumbnail will look when displayed alongside other videos on YouTube’s homepage without additional details like the title, publication date, or views. This is crucial for understanding if your thumbnail can attract clicks purely on visual appeal.
Additionally, you can customize the preview with the following options:
5 & 6. Light/Dark Mode Toggle: Switch between light and dark mode previews to see how your thumbnail performs under different background settings. This ensures your thumbnail looks excellent regardless of the user’s YouTube theme preference.
7. Refresh Button: Use the refresh button to update and new display results.
The Preview Your Thumbnail feature provides a visual representation of how your thumbnail might appear in different contexts on YouTube. It helps you get a feel for its visibility and appeal, but it won’t exactly match the real-world placements or the surrounding videos once your content is published. YouTube’s algorithm considers many factors to determine video performance and visibility, so use this feature as a guide to optimize your thumbnail for maximum impact.
3. SEO Optimization
In this Details section, you can optimize your video description and tags. Although tags do not play a crucial role in video optimization anymore, you can still add recommended keywords/tags to your video description and tags. Remember, according to Google: "Tags can be useful if the content in your video is commonly misspelled. Otherwise, tags play a minimal role in helping viewers find your video."
Once all the details, title, and thumbnails are updated to your liking and updated based on the recommendations/feedback provided you can go ahead and click on "Publish". For security and privacy reasons you might be prompted to authorize your channel again (you'd need to click on the Google account your channel is under):
Since this page allows you to make changes directly to your videos by allowing you to change the title or description of your choice, this means that you might be prompted to authorize your channel again. Your channel's security is our top priority, and we want to make sure you are the rightful owner who authorized these changes.
Just Starting on YouTube? No Videos to Optimize Yet?
Optimize works its magic with your videos as the starting point. If you're new to YouTube and haven't uploaded any content yet, the Optimize page may look empty. That's perfectly okay! It's just waiting for you to dive in. Head over to the Create section for guidance on making your first video. Once your debut is live, Optimize will kick in with personal insights to help boost your video's performance. You will see this on the Optimize page if that is the case:
What do different color means for the Title and Thumbnail scores?
Three colors are available for the title and thumbnail scores inside the Optimize feature: red, yellow, and green. Here are the ranges according to the score and the color:
0 - 40: 🛑 (Red)
41 - 80: 🟡 (Yellow)
81 - 100: 🟢 (Green)