What is Click-Through Rate (CTR)?
Click-Through Rate (CTR) is the measure of how many people are clicking on your video when they scroll through it. For example when the person is scrolling through the YouTube videos, is the person more likely to click on your video over other videos? If yes, then your Click-Through Rate is higher than other videos.
Whats the importance of high Click-Through Rate (CTR)?
Now that you know what is Click-Through Rate, i know you are asking yourself what is its importance. What is the significance of the CTR? The Click-Through Rate is very important because it leads to more views. The higher the CTR the more the views you get. This is because there are more people who click on your video. The more people who click the more who watch hence the more views. Remember that YouTube is a competition. The better competitor carries the day. Every YouTuber is competing for the same space. Hence make sure that your video is the one that they click.
Now we are going to talk about How to Improve Click-Through Rate (CTR) on YouTube.
#1. Create Captivating Thumbnails.
The easiest way to increase CTR for your videos is by making captivating thumbnails. Remember the last time you scrolled through YouTube? What as the thing that caught your attention. When you are scrolling, what catches your eye first? Its the thumbnail. A good thumbnail will catch the attention of everyone. This is because a thumbnail is the first thing everyone sees of any video. It is like the face of the video. So pay a lot of attention on your thumbnails and make sure that they are as captivating as possible. If your video is about informing people, make sure that the thumbnail implies that. The thumbnail should give an image of what your video is all about.
#2. Write Compelling Video Titles.
Another thing that really matters when it comes to CTR is the title. The title is like your name. It carries a lot of weight. It informs the people what your video is all about. People don’t just click on videos on YouTube randomly. They click on specific videos because the videos provide the information that they need. If it is a song then make sure that the title makes it very clear it is a song. Make sure that the title is fully informative so as to make more people click. A good title with proper keywords will also make YouTube algorithm promote your video even farther.
#3. Test Different Thumbnails and Title Combos.
No single thing works all the time. Sometimes you have to try different things to see what works. You can try an array of different thumbnails in combination with a different array of title combos to see what works. When you find out what works then, keep doing it and improve and you will eventually make it.
#4. Make good use of proper SEO.
One of the main factors that affect the CTR of any video is the publicity of the video. This means that your video needs to be served by the YouTube algorithms. We cannot even start talking about CTR if your video is not even being served by YouTube. The talk about CTR comes when we start counting how many times your video was placed in-front of people and how many times they clicked. A ratio of how many times it has been clicked vs how many times it has been clicked. Hence we cannot talk about CTR before we talk about ranking on YouTube so that it can promote you. A major way of ranking is by doing good SEO for your video.
#5. Build a Loyal Following.
One major difference between random audience and loyal audience is the difference in the CTR. A loyal fan will very likely click on the video. This is contrary to random audience because they only click if they find it interesting. The loyal fans will always click and play your video because they love your content. In addition to loving your content, they could also click because they love you. You know some of those people love you for the relationship you have established with them. Maybe its even the topic that you talk about. One of the easiest ways to build a loyal audience is through subscribers. Always ask the people to subscribe to your channel. Above all the best way yo keep a loyal audience is by making great content.
#6. Post Videos at Peak Hours.
Publishing videos on YouTube is not just about clicking publish. It also matters when you publish the videos. Not all the time is right for publishing. There are times when if you publish, you are likely to get more views than other times. Usually, you should always publish your videos when your audience is awake. Do not publish your videos when your audience is asleep. Publish it during the day and especially when they watch the most. Actually, that initial view boost can influence YouTube algorithms to continue promoting your videos even farther.
#7. Improve your video engagement.
This is not a direct point of increasing your CTR as your potential viewers don’t see this. However, the reason why this matters is because if you have good engagement, YouTube algorithm considers your videos as useful to the people. With this in mind, then you understand that the YouTube algorithms are going to promote your video even farther hence more people who get to see your video. So do not ignore engagement metrics. It is as important as any other metrics when it comes to YouTube videos Click Through Rate.
#8. Make excellent content.
This too is not directly related to CTR as the people don’t get to see it before clicking. However it is very powerful in influencing your CTR. The reason for that is because of previous return viewers. The impact you leave on your viewers deeply affect their likelihood to click on your videos next time. If the viewer was impressed by your previous videos, then he/she will most likely click on this latest video. If the viewer was not impressed with your previous video, then he/she will not click on this latest one. So always try to leave the best impact on your audience so that they click on your next videos.
#9. Maintain a branding consistency.
One of the biggest problems that many YouTubers repeat is not maintaining a branding consistency. You need to make sure that the branding of your videos is constant. This involves maintaining constant graphic designs. For example if you majorly employ the color blue on your thumbnails, make sure you do the same to all other videos. Also, always include the logo or name of your business/brand/channel on your thumbnails. The reason for this is to make sure that your loyal audience or viewers are able to identify your videos. Think about this, every time you see a CNN video on YouTube, you always know it is a CNN video even without clicking it. That’s is called branding consistency.
#10. Analyze Video Performance.
Now that you know all the ways of increasing your video Click-Through-rate, its time to improve and optimize on it. What you need to do is make sure that you always analyze how your videos are performing. Always analyze how your strategy is working. When you do that, you will be able to tell which strategy works and which strategy does not work. With that, you can improve and become better.
Conclusion.
Now you know How to Improve Click-Through Rate (CTR) on YouTube.
