Why No One Watches Your Youtube Videos

I get it – Youtube is tough. It’s even harder when you spend hours making an awesome video only for it to get no views.

It’s also the reason 90% of content creators give up. Staying motivated when you see that low view counter takes superhuman strength.

It’s happened to me plenty of times. I’ve been making Youtube videos since 2008, and there have been hundreds of videos that just flopped or performed horribly.

But – I managed to figure it out, and now my content is pushed to my subscribers and even new viewers every single time.

So what’s the reason? Why is no one watching your Youtube videos? Take it from someone who’s been there and done that – it could be a number of things. Here are the most common.

How To Make Youtube Thumbnails That Get Clicked

A thumbnail is the first thing someone sees when looking at your video. If the thumbnail sucks – they’re not going to click on it regardless of how good the title, description, or the actual video is.

Thumbnails with a lot of hard-to-read text, strange colors, or those that look like they were hastily created in Microsoft Paint will simply not get clicked.

How to Write the Perfect Youtube Video Title

After the thumbnail, the title of your video is the second-most important thing. The thumbnail should draw people in, and the title should “seal the deal”.

Time and time again I see the “SEO” and “Youtube” gurus claim that you should load your title with keywords and make it as descriptive as possible. This would have been good advice – if it was still 2015.

Think of the algorithm not as a bunch of mathematical formulas, but as a real-life person – because that’s exactly what Youtube developed it to emulate.

I assume you’re also a real-life person and not a cyborg? Do you enjoy reading keyword-packed titles that barely make sense? Or do you prefer a more “natural” sounding title that’s easier to understand?

Besides, the algorithm already knows exactly what your video is about, because it scans and analyses the words you speak, and even the text inside the video. Why double up on this with keyword-loaded titles? It’s a wasted opportunity.

Title Case Study

I made a video on an external drive enclosure for laptops. Sounds boring, right? Yeah, I thought so too at the time. So – I thought about how I could “spice up” the title. I came up with the following:

I don’t think ANYONE would have clicked on the first title…

And if you think the title I used was “clickbait”, or “not accurate enough” – that video went viral immediately and received 400,000 views within 8 days.

YouTube analytics screenshot

Here are some more title tips:

  • Don’t make the title too long. You can use this helpful free thumbnail tool to check how your title will appear. I try to keep titles to around 50 characters to prevent truncation (the end of your title is cut off in some search results).
  • Try to think outside the box. Experiment with different types of titles and monitor video performance to see if views spike. Maybe your videos perform best with short, exciting titles. Or maybe they perform better with longer and more descriptive titles. Only you can find out.
  • TubeBuddy can also provide A/B testing to give you statistical data on what types of titles perform better
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Liam Lorin

Liam Lorin

Liam has been creating content online since 2008, but always dreamed of making it his full-time income. After graduating with a business degree and slaving away in corporate tech jobs, he realized it was time for this dream to become reality.

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