10 Useful Tips Helping to Create Catchy Titles for YouTube

YouTube is the second most popular search engine after Google. 720 000 hours of new video content is uploaded to YouTube every day. 720K hours each day, let that sink in! Everyone who creates content for this website needs to grab viewers’ attention, so it is very important to learn how to create catchy titles for YouTube.

Top 10 Tips to Create Catchy Titles for YouTube 

A good title should reflect the main idea of a video. First, you need to determine the type of your content (for example, entertaining, advertising, educational, etc.) and the target audience. Then, you can use various techniques taking into account the tips below to create catchy and attention-grabbing headlines.

For example, your video is a tutorial on how to take beautiful photos with a mobile camera. The title “How to take a beautiful photo” does not say anything, and it is unlikely that the user will click on it. When a viewer sees the title “How to take a professional portrait photo with a smartphone camera”, they are more likely to watch it. We’ll help you figure out what tricks you can use to create compelling YouTube video titles and promote your content.

1. Define Keywords

When creating any type of content, you need to select the right keywords, including keywords for headlines. Using digital tools, choose the best keywords and include them in the title. I recommend putting the main key in the first or second place in the title, so the video will be ranked higher according to Google’s ranking criteria. To determine keywords, use the free Google Adwords service if you do not want to use the services provided by content marketing agencies.

Example:
Portrait as the Main Genre of Photography. This title is perfect for a video about portraits. 

2. Keep Appropriate Length

Good YouTube video titles are short and contain all the necessary information. Technically, YouTube allows up to 100 characters in the title, but it’s best not to exceed 60 – 70. This will allow it to be fully displayed in the video thumbnail. What’s more, Google search results automatically reduce long titles, and this can negatively affect the number of views.

Example:
How to Take High-Quality Shots in London’s Misty Weather.

3. Use Action Verbs

When you clearly understand the purpose and focus of your video, you can easily select the right call to action to use in the title. Think of the desired action that a viewer should take and put it in the title. You can use such words as watch, read, do, create, etc. It allows you to add a sense of urgency that encourages a user to watch your video content as quickly as possible.

Example:
Start Using These Lightroom Tools to Edit Instagram Photos. 

4. Put the Question in the Title

YouTube video titles containing a question also will catch a viewer’s attention and will be very catchy. Think about what problem your audience can solve by watching your video clip. Find the most accurate question and reformulate it into advice or a statement. Don't write clickbait questions just to be clickbaity though!

You can also formulate a question aimed at increasing curiosity. According to stats, an informal appeal to a person is more attention-grabbing, but you also need to take your target audience into account.

Example:
What is the Difference Between DSLR and Mirrorless Cameras: Main Differences?  

5. Specify Year and Use Numbers

Numbers always help to grab attention and make your video stand out among the rest. I recommend including the year in the YouTube clip title, as users are always looking for the latest and most relevant information. By specifying the year, you can add value to your information.

What’s more, you can use numbers to give the viewer more information about the video itself. Odd numbers get more clicks than even numbers, so you can consider this when creating list-style headings. According to visual content marketing researchers, numbers also add visual appeal.

Example: Top 9 Best Cameras for Beginner Street Photographers in 2022

6. Add Brackets

If you’re wondering how to create catchy titles for YouTube with no effort, just add brackets to the title. This way you will increase the clickthrough rate (CTR) of the video. According to the research conducted by Hubspot, brackets in titles increase clicks by almost 40%. This is due Google’s business content and SEO ranking best practises - they are similar for videos and website meta titles. You can put important clarifying information in brackets so that a user would select your video among many similar ones.

Example: Where to Find Creative Photo Ideas (Not Just Pinterest)

7. Create Interest with Attractive Words

Use words that evoke a WOW effect. These can be adjectives like fantastic, amazing, unusual, atypical, cool, etc. At the same time, try to choose an adjective that will most accurately characterize the information contained in a video. Don’t use emotionally charged words in vain.

Example:
‍Top 5 Editing Techniques to Take Fabulous Christmas Photos.

8. Avoid Clickbait

When working on creating a creative and emotionally powerful headline, try not to go to extremes. Clickbait creates a feeling of relevance that does not match the content. Such titles can significantly increase the click-through rate one time, but if a viewer gets disappointed once, the next time they will not open your video. The best tactic, in this case, is an honest description of what a viewer will see in the video.

Good YouTube video titles should not include capital letters and multiple exclamation marks to attract attention. You don’t need to write all the words using uppercase, you can highlight one word to focus on. Also, note that headlines, where each word starts with a capital letter are more attention-grabbing.

Example:
‍Do This EVERY DAY to Earn $1000 for Every Shoot!!!

9. Include Word “Video” in the Title

This recommendation may seem unusual, but adding the word “Video” to the title of a YouTube clip will help your video rank higher. Thanks to this simple trick, your video will be shown in the list of Google search results when a user types in the relevant query. The word “Video” in the title gives the search engine a signal to show the video when the user requests it.

‍Example:
Short Video Course on Taking Product Photographs at Home

Conclusion

Be helpful and understand what your audience needs! Use all the best practises, but don't be tooo spammy and clickbaity.

Oh, and whenever you need to download your videos from YouTube - use VDownloader for that!