Great Video Titles and How To Write Them

November 18, 2022
Contents

The rise of short video forms of videos on most social media platforms is living proof of the fact that these formats have become popular in the past few years.

The popularity of Tiktok, Instagram reels, and Youtube shorts have been a game changer on all of these parent platforms.  

One of the first things we notice and consider while watching a video is its title and the cute little preview thumbnails.  

Even the search engines find the related content with the help of the video description and its title. 

This is why video titles are crucial.

Now the question is how to create a title that grabs the attention of its targeted audience, right? Don't worry; we got you covered. Stay with us to learn how.

What Is A Video Title?

A video's title summarizes what your entire video is about. That's why YouTube and other search engines put so much weight on the keywords you use in your title. 

They play a significant role in helping people decide whether the video is worth watching or not.

It is more than just the heading or the context of the video. 

You can get everything else right, but if your title isn't compelling, you will have difficulty getting people to click on the video. 

On the other hand, a catchy video title will help you get more views and rank your video better.

Why Are Video Titles Important?

There are many reasons why video titles matter, but there are mainly two crucial reasons as to why they are essential:

To Make The Video Stand Out From The Crowd

With the amount of video content on the internet and more being uploaded, you need unique ways to make your videos stand out. 

Or else, they'll probably get lost in this vast universe of online content.

While many things go into making a good video, one of the essentials is that you can't afford to miss out on strong titles.  

Most of the time, a title or headline is often the only shot at getting somebody's attention. 

For example, a title is the most crucial element noticed in a blog by readers. The same is true also for videos and viewers.

Easier For Your Video To Be Found

Good titles also make it easier to be found. Publishing high-quality videos with good titles puts you in a smaller pool of competitors.

You can also enhance the quality of the content of your videos by choosing your titles carefully. 

People love a funny or witty title more than a serious, formal one. 

For Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools, a strong title is a must if you want users to find your video through the organic search algorithm of platforms like YouTube or Google. 

Choosing a clear, descriptive, keyword-focused title is one of the simplest ways to boost a video's views. 

While it may not add much to the rankings, it is still a contributing factor in improving the search rankings. 

The higher the SEO rankings of a video, the higher its performance and reach.

What makes a great video title?

Titles play an essential role in your videos getting discovered and watched.

But what exactly makes a great title? How do you know what title is a great one and which one is mediocre? 

Generally, a good video title satisfies the following requirements:

Short and sweet

People's ever-decreasing attention span makes them tend to skim more than they read, and you have just seconds to grab a viewer's attention. 

So, make sure to make the best of what you get. Also, long titles tend to get cut off in search results. 

A good title is short and sweet without taking up more than necessary space. Your title should be able to deliver its motive in just a few impactful words.

Precise

A good title must tell its audience about its contents and what they can expect from the video. 

It should be clear with its intentions, to the point, and mean business. 

People have a short span of attention. So, they would not appreciate a lengthy and unclear title and would probably leave your video unnoticed.

Also, misleading titles or click baits may make your audience curious for a moment but, eventually, leave your audience feeling cheated and disgusted. So, refrain from doing that.

Rare 

Coming up with a title that is to the point, short, and rare can be difficult. 

But then, a good video title should avoid being ordinary. Making your video and its title stand out is tough with the amount of competition. 

But, adding a couple of relevant details, a little fun, wit, or sass will make your video seem rare and thus grab more attention.

Keyword-centric

Keywords are essential everywhere. So, they also matter for video titles.

Google and YouTube can't process videos and understand the video content. 

So if you want people to find your videos when searching for specific terms, those keywords should be loud and clear in the title.

Search engines tend to process text and meta-descriptions better than video. That's why the video description, tags, and title play a huge role in search rankings. 

Interesting

A good title attracts the right target audience. People won't pay much attention to a bland title. 

Therefore, you need your video title to stand out. Making your video title engaging is quite challenging.

Make sure it intrigues the audience. Reading a title must make users curious, so they click on the video to see it. 

 Once you can do so, you'll probably notice your videos getting more engagement, even if you don't do anything differently.

How Do Titles Affect Your Videos’ SEO?

How Do Search Engines Understand Video Content?

Search engine optimization (SEO) doesn't simply count numbers for text-based content anymore.

With the rise of videos and image-based content, it's crucial to recognize how to optimize all kinds of media for search engines like Google.

Videos are specifically compelling cases because search engines can't understand the video content material itself. 

Therefore, they rely on text-primarily based metadata – like titles, descriptions, and tags – to recognize what the videos are actually and to rank them.

Much like ordinary search engine optimization, video search engine optimization has a lot of different moving parts, and the major search algorithms aren't fully understood.

Titles are important, but they aren't the entirety. Other elements, like a video's feedback, comments, and views, also work heavily into how search engines like Google rank the video.

How To Use Video Titles For Better Search Engine Optimization?

However, no matter what else you're doing to boost your videos' rank, deciding on excellent titles will help your content get found and watched. 

YouTube can understand synonyms in titles now, so it doesn't rely on locating word-for-word matches anymore. 

The usage of the most applicable keywords on your video titles is a great concept, and it will possibly help you a bit. However, don't expect it to convert your rankings overnight. 

Video titles matter for SEO outside YouTube, too. As the main text content associated with a video, a descriptive and keyword-optimized title can help your video rank higher in search engines like Google.

Most importantly, video titles affect your search engine optimization by making your content more or less user-friendly. 

SEO isn't approximately exploiting tricks to improve your rankings – it's about supplying a fair user experience in creating and making your content material easy to discover. 

A great title allows you to deliver value for your human target audience, and that's the most crucial thing you could do to enhance your SEO over a long time.

How To Create Titles For Youtube Videos To Get More Views?

These are the few things you should keep in mind which will help you create a good title which in turn will help you in getting more views-

Use Words Your Audience Can Relate To

Have you noticed that the YouTube search bar auto completes every query? 

You could type the phrase "how to play" – a basic search – and YouTube will share a list of relevant searches to explore. 

Pay attention to these suggestions.  If YouTube is recommending them, it's because viewers are searching for them right now. 

You can use this to your benefit, thus collecting more and more views.

Want to make the suggestions more specific for your targeted audience? 

Try to make sure that you're using the correct verbs. We used "play" in the example above, which works well for a gaming channel. 

You can use your proper keywords to get more accurate suggestions. 

Video SEO (search engine optimization) is everything on YouTube. If people aren’t searching for the kind of videos you make, getting views as a new creator is tough. 

So before you press upload, create a Youtube title with strong keywords. 

Start by studying your category to see what phrases and keywords your fellow creators use in their videos. 

Like we say, a little research takes you a long way. So make sure you do it properly.

Use The Right Keywords For Youtube Search

Include your main topic in the title to help people discover your video. Do not miss out on the essential keywords while writing the title of your video. 

Put the most critical keywords upfront at the beginning of your video title.

For example, let us assume that you’re making an instructional video about cooking a dish, let’s say Biryani. 

There will be people out there searching for the process of making biryani. Do you want them to find your video? Then include “how to make/ prepare biryani” in the title.

Avoid Youtube Clickbait Titles

Tempting as it seems, using clickbait video titles gets you nowhere. 

Don’t try to scam the viewer into clicking your video title by providing sensational and unrealistic expectations from your video. 

YouTube is smart enough to see the difference between the number of people clicking on your video and the number of people watching it to the end. 

If most people leave early on, you will see a drop in your audience, and your video will drop down in the search results.

Here are some examples of clickbait titles:

  • “How to stop hair fall in five minutes.” 
  • “How to make a million rupees in one day.”
  • “How to get healthy instantly and without exercise.”

Add Emotive Words to Your Title

Watching a YouTube video doesn’t cost money, but what video to watch is still a subconscious decision by most people. 

That means you should find what emotions arise when subconsciously think of specific topics. 

Once you know this, it’s easier to write titles that grab attention. You’ll know which emotive words to use, such as “profitable” for finance enthusiasts or “Award-winning” for literature and movie geeks. 

Here are a few more emotive words that you can incorporate into your titles:

  • wonderful
  • magical
  • adorable
  • proud 
  • beautiful
  • lucrative

Create Harmony Between the Title and Thumbnail

Most of the time, thumbnails are typical afterthoughts while writing the title of the Youtube videos, thumbnails are typical afterthoughts. 

But this could prove fatal to the views of your video. The thumbnail beside the title is mostly a preview image of the video. 

So combining them both to make sense can attract more views.  If the title doesn’t build upon what the thumbnail shows, it's not accurate or strong enough. 

Try to create harmony between the thumbnail and the title to make more sense.

Use Numbers When Necessary

Keywords are helpful for YouTube SEO to find your video in the search. But there is a possibility that people might have uploaded the same thing you did, even the title.

In this case, YouTube ranks the videos based on different factors. After the search, generally, videos in the first three places will get more views. 

Yes, viewers initially go to watch the videos at the top. So, you need to push your video to the top by using tricks like Numbers on the title.”

Videos that have numbers on the title will have high click-through rates. Hence, use numbers in the title if it’s needed. 

Notice how the titles contain numbers? These are the top two results you find when you search for the best k-pop songs to dance to. So, use numbers when you’re required to in the video title.

Stay Under The YouTube Title Character Limits (60 Characters Max)

On YouTube, you have a title limit of 100 characters. But even that's too long. 

The best titles are around 60-70 characters and display fully on most devices. Anything longer will show up as a truncated title. 

Keep the title under 60 characters (5-7 words), including spaces. This will help ensure that people see your entire title in suggested videos, search results, and on mobile. 

Be Descriptive

Describe to the viewers what your videos are about and how they can help them rather than simply saying it’s a “must-see.”

The best you can do is to create titles that accurately represent the content of your video. 

You can do this by fuelling their curiosity or adding a question without revealing the answer. But also ensure you don’t use it as clickbait, as it may backfire.

Mention Another Creator

Mention other creators in your title to highlight collaborations and broaden your potential audience. 

You can use them to tell your audience about how they influenced you or the ways they helped you with the creation of the video etc.

 

Avoid Vulgar Language

Avoid inappropriate or vulgar language and make sure your video title does not violate YouTube’s community guidelines.

This could land you and your video both into deep, deep trouble. Your video might also get blocked. So avoid making use of verbally abusive words or vulgar language.

Make it Advertiser-Friendly

If you monetize your videos through the YouTube Partner program, make sure your titles are advertiser-friendly. 

Advertisers can opt out of your videos — even your entire channel — if your title does not align with their brand. 

Avoid using profanity, controversial, or sexually suggestive titles, even if you intend to seem funny, to ensure the advertisers don’t exclude your video from their campaigns.

Use Proper Capitalization

Avoid EXCESSIVE CAPS, symbols, and dramatic punctuation!!! 

Although you meant for the title to stand out, it may seem aggressive, inappropriate, and rude to your viewers and thus drive them away from your video

Optimize Old Titles

Use YouTube analytics to check which keywords the viewers are using to find your video. 

To run the report, select your video in YouTube studio, click on the Analytics icon, and then select the “Reach” tab from the menu. Look for the “Traffic Source: YouTube Search” section of the report.

youtube video analytics

 

If a good keyword is missing from your title, try adding it to improve your video ranking in the search results.

FAQs: Great video titles

What is the title of a YouTube video?

A video’s title summarizes what your entire video is about. That's why YouTube and other search engines put so much weight on the keywords that you use in your title. 

They play a significant role in helping people decide whether the video is worth a watch or not.

How do you make a catchy title for a video?

Given below are some tips that will help you make a catchy title for a video:

  • Keep your titles within 60 characters (including spaces)
  • Mention the search term you'd like to rank for naturally in the video title.
  • Promise value to the user with the title
  • Make your title interesting and intriguing.

How long should a video title last?

On YouTube, you have a title limit of 100 characters. But even that's too long. The best titles are around 60-70 characters and display fully on most devices. Anything longer will show up as a truncated title.

How do I make a short video title?

Just choose the keywords that you think are important and relevant for your title. Limit it to 60-70 characters and word it correctly. 

Mostly you can use question-like titles to be closer to what viewers are searching for like “How to make lasagna” or “What to do when you are feeling sad?”.

Does changing the YouTube title affect views?

Yes, changing YouTube titles can affect views in positive and negative ways. 

If you initially poorly optimized a video, re-optimizing it and changing the title can help it rank higher in the search results and get more views. 

Along with this, however, changing video titles can also cause videos to get fewer views if it is not optimized rightly. 

What are some catchy titles?

Here are a few examples of some catchy titles that adhere to the above-stated conditions and work well for the creators:

  • The Secret of Creating DIY Interior Décor
  • Beautiful Earrings Made Easily
  • 10 Do’s and Don’ts of Traveling Alone
  • Just 5 Minutes for Your Night Skincare routine
  • How to Cook a Tasty Cake Without Baking

Conclusion: Great Video Titles

Writing titles for your videos don’t have to be a daunting task. While your titles do matter a lot, it’s not as difficult as it seems to come up with titles that have a lasting effect on the viewers and are catchy. 

Exploit the ideas in this article to your advantage, and soon you’ll have your way with writing great video titles for your videos.

We hope this article will help you write engaging, click-worthy video titles for your videos. 

Written By
Ankita

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