Getting the right thumbnail on YouTube
YouTube certainly does not have the best quality video out there (not by a longshot), but if you want to post a video for viral distribution and search optimization, you have to upload your video to it. Anybody who has uploaded a few videos to YouTube knows that the thumbnails YouTube picks for you can be quite lame.
As far as video search optimization goes, the thumbnail (the still image they see before your movie runs) is an extremely important tool in compelling people to click on your video. It’s no different that choosing the magazine with the better cover at a newsstand.
Most other video serving sites let’s you pick your own image…not YouTube. YouTube generates three seemingly random thumbnails to chose from. However, after a lot of debate about how they choose the thumbnail, “thecro” did a simple, smart experiment to end the debate. Thumbnails on YouTube are generated at the frame exactly 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 throughout the movie. See 32 second test vid to see how he solve the puzzle.
So now you know the secret to YouTube’s puzzle. Use smartly and responsibly. I have a feeling that many, many savvy/seedy folks are already starting to put 1 frame of a sexy woman at the exact center point of the video. That is actually classified as subliminal advertising and is illegal on broadcast/cable TV. That’s a whole ‘nother story.
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Came across your initial post SE journal. Never realised you could tweak the video that way. Thanks for that.