What is the "Thumbnail Preview" feature?
Thumbnails are more important now than they have ever been on YouTube! The YouTube algorithm is designed with the viewer in mind, so videos that gain higher retention rates are shown to even more people. So, it is vital to attract viewers with a powerful thumbnail that accurately reflects the content of the video and complements the title.
The ‘Thumbnail Preview’ feature in the vidIQ Extension allows you to preview how your video will appear on YouTube before you publish or update it. This feature helps you make informed decisions to optimize your titles and thumbnails, ensuring your videos look appealing in search results and are more likely to capture viewers’ attention.
To see the Thumbnail Preview in action, watch our video: "Get More Views with the vidIQ Thumbnail Preview." In it, we explain exactly how to use the Thumbnail Preview feature and demonstrate how it can boost your content strategy!
How to Get Started with "Thumbnail Preview"?
This feature is available within the vidIQ extension (click here to download it). After downloading the vidIQ extension, you will see the Thumbnail Preview feature:
Upload page: While uploading a new video on YouTube, you will see the option to optimize your video details using vidIQ’s ‘Thumbnail Preview’ tool.
Edit Page: If you’re editing an existing video, click on the ‘Details’ tab inside YouTube Studio. You will find the ‘Thumbnail Preview’ option in the vidIQ extension panel.
How ‘Thumbnail Preview’ Works
When you open the tool, you’ll see a realistic YouTube preview window containing your thumbnail and title as displayed on YouTube:
Here are the main areas you’ll interact with:
Left-side Video Setup Controls:
Upload or generate thumbnails: You can upload a custom thumbnail from your computer or generate one using vidIQ’s AI thumbnail feature. This lets you quickly test different designs and see which one stands out the most inside the preview window.
Add multiple title variations: You can enter and switch between different title ideas directly from the sidebar. This helps you see how each title looks next to other videos.
Select your channel: If you want to test a different channel name, you can use this feature to preview the change.
Choose competition: This is where you decide which types of videos appear around yours inside the preview. You can:
Include your own video.
Include trending or high-performing content on YouTube.
Use search terms when you want to preview against a specific keyword.
Add competitors by channel name or URL to see how your videos show up against similar videos in the same niche.
Use collections when you want curated content types.
Full-Screen Preview Toggle: Next to the thumbnail panel on the left, you’ll see a full-screen toggle. Clicking it hides the left configuration panel and expands your preview window to full-screen mode.
Bottom (Center) Preview Display Controls:
View selector: This is useful for testing visibility, text size, brightness, and clarity in the environments where viewers actually discover videos. Switch between different browsing contexts:
Home View: how your video might appear on YouTube’s home page.
Search View: how it might appear inside search results.
Suggested View: how it might appear next to other videos on watch pages.
Mobile View: how thumbnails, titles, and text appear on a phone-sized interface.
Thumbnail View: isolates your thumbnail without feeds or search formatting.
Position Controls (Order):Changing position helps you understand how noticeable your thumbnail remains when it isn’t always first. You can decide where your video appears among the surrounding content:
First: places your video at the very first position
Third: places it in the third row/spot
Random: places it randomly inside the browsing grid
Shuffle: Shuffle automatically refreshes the browsing grid with a different order of surrounding videos. This gives you a broader understanding of how your thumbnail behaves when competing against a variety of content styles and topics.
Dark Mode: Toggle between light and dark modes to make sure your thumbnail and text remain easy to see in both environments. Many viewers browse in dark mode, so this is a quick way to validate visibility.
Save Changes: If you edit your title, metadata, or thumbnail inside this preview, you can save those changes directly without leaving the window. This is extremely helpful when iterating through multiple thumbnail or title ideas.
Close: Click Close to exit the window and return to YouTube Studio or the extension panel.
Once you’ve previewed your video, you might want to adjust its title, thumbnail, or description to improve its performance. This can be done directly from the ‘Thumbnail Preview’ window, where you can save changes to the video directly by clicking on "Save changes" at the bottom:
Additional Thumbnail Tools:
The Thumbnail Preview feature doesn’t just stand alone: it’s seamlessly integrated into several vidIQ tools to enhance your video optimization workflow.
Note that while this feature visually shows how your video might appear among other videos on YouTube, it does not guarantee that it will show up exactly as shown. YouTube’s algorithm considers various factors, such as viewer engagement and watch time, which will affect your video’s final placement in search results
Ready to see how your video stands out? Try the Thumbnail Preview feature during your next upload or edit session. If you want to explore more vidIQ features within YouTube Studio's upload/edit flow, follow this link.