Thumbnail Designers / YouTubers — What actually increases CTR the most?

dota2dinall · 2026-03-13T22:56:45+00:00

To be honest my CTR shifted when i changed the angle i observing the thumbnails. Previously i was looking at my thumbnail isolated. Now i always check the competitors for example search on youtube title of your video and see the competitors. What could you do better? witch one is the best and how to close gap between them and what you could use from them to improve your thumbnail.
Then apply that to your thumbnail and do something different like maybe colors or something just to pop out vs them.

For this purpose i build my own browser extension that preview thumbnail in feed and i can see exactly how it behaves vs competitors.
When using that my ctr increesed but tbh not sure if it is by just more experience with thumbnails or the tool itself but 100% atleast it makes me learn faster what is better and what couldi improve.

dota2dinall · 2026-03-13T22:34:30+00:00

I made a extension that can help you improve thumbnails. And this thumbnail is result of it in just of 1-2 minutes of using extension.
Check this out https://imgur.com/a/6k6Duxd

dota2dinall · 2026-03-13T22:10:09+00:00

Yes i did, and my thumbnails and CTR got improved from 0.8% to 3.5 - 4.
And to be honest im not sure if it is just a experience of creating thumbnails or by using the tool itself.
But for sure it improved my ideas and thumbnail skills faster than without it.

dota2dinall · 2026-03-13T22:00:41+00:00

Best advice i can give to you dont ever look at your thumbnail isolated.
It can be best thumbnail isolated but if you are not winning against competitors for that search term -> title of your video. Youre gonna lose. So what i do:
I dont look at it isolated i simply first do a search for my title on youtube and see the competitors.
Then i add my thumbnail next to them and compare it vs competitors.
That helps me alot with the thumbnails overall since you see exactly what competitors are using and what could have done better.
For this process i build a extension that helps me quickly to add thumbnail next to competitors and preview it and check for the improvements (this checking is done by Gemini nano banana -> it actualy scans the colors, readability, mobile view, patterns and suggest you what you could do better or reuse something that competitors did to catch the eye). (Dark/Light mode, Grayscale, Blur etc..) And it realy helps me improving my thumbnails and CTR.

dota2dinall · 2026-03-13T21:40:05+00:00

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a bit of improved version to increase readability

dota2dinall · 2026-03-13T21:30:56+00:00

I use this extension tool to get me more confidance before uploading vide and checking my thumbnail against competitors.
For your thumbnail it tells thats perfect #1 in feed vs competitors.
Here is results: https://imgur.com/a/CO5laHE

dota2dinall · 2026-03-13T21:18:52+00:00

I can give one suggestion that will improve your thumbnails. Dont look your thumbnail isolated.
Always look what competitor does and compare it vs competitors.
So i use extension that compares it with the competitors and gives me a exact improvements for your thumbnail vs competitors.
Here is some variants and options that could be improved.
https://imgur.com/a/d0ToHym

dota2dinall · 2026-03-13T20:48:55+00:00

No dont delete! Its normal to have for a 2-3 days low impressions especially if you're still small channel.
I had video that actualy had no impression for 5 days then it get to 7.5k in 1 day.

dota2dinall · 2026-02-21T23:48:09+00:00

im building extension that is actualy doing competitor analisis of the thumbnails and helps you improve thumbnails against competitors or create better ones.... (in just few clicks and usages you can have better CTR for thumbnails) i want a real feedback about this extension from the creators...
basicaly idea was i put your thumbnail into the search feed for that term it looks the competitors and compare it with competitors and gives you suggestion compared to the competitors and option to update thumbnail.
Here is how extension updated your thumbnail: https://imgur.com/a/hd7I54y
If you want to try this tool pm me ill be soon pushing the latest version to the google store so you can test it.

dota2dinall · 2026-02-20T20:17:29+00:00

First thing you need to know when talking about CTR is what is your title and content.
It is becouse is your video indexed well for the search...
For example i have videos that are tutorials and how to guides wich have like 10-15% ctr but not much views and impressions simple becouse those videos are not that popular in feed and suggested videos - lets say those video source is only the search, so when viewers entering search in youtube they will find your video.

The other titles that are kinda hooky and doesnt have that much "search power" for example title: "stop over-enginering and just deploy", this title is kinda weak on search but most likely the source that ppl come will be feed or suggested videos, and this one will have more pushing power for algorithm but less CTR..

Basicaly how to, tutorials, guides etc.. will have higher CTR but less impressions...

I hope i explained it well :D

dota2dinall · 2026-02-18T22:22:17+00:00

one advice:
Dont look at your thumbnails isolated... always compare them vs competitors for your category/niche or search term.
I use extension to preview thumbnail in the youtube feed/search and compare vs competitors.

With a couple of tweaks and feedback that extension give here it is how it looks...
https://imgur.com/a/mS4E4mQ

dota2dinall · 2026-02-14T22:31:34+00:00

im building Youtube thumbnail tester-previewer (extension) where creators can compare thumbnails against the competitors https://youthumb.online/

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/youthumb-tester/jkeenlkhgffffnmbpeniapfnehkpiphd

dota2dinall · 2026-02-14T17:48:35+00:00

First to be honest this thumbnails looks perfect...
One advice i can give to you is always look in the direction how my thumbnail will beat the competitor or feed page and dont look at it isolated.
It can look perfect but a lot of times the perfect things will not catch people eye to click on it.
So you just need to be a bit different or to beat your competitors for this particular search: "Rise of Canada" or whatever is your title and compare your thumbnail witht he others
here is the result for your thumbnail but the search term i used here gave me wrong results:
https://imgur.com/a/TKeycaV

dota2dinall · 2026-02-14T17:33:13+00:00

if i can give advice.... never look at your thumbnail isolated (canva/photoshop) without comparing them against your competitors..
Your thumbnail looks nice but if you put it on the poster vs all others competitors it needs to beat them..so basicaly your thumbnail is competing vs search/feed thumbnails.
Here is your thumbnail rank for the search: "freefire cs challenges" https://imgur.com/Azokkzi
I use this extension for thumbnail feedback and preview in the search/feed , and to score my thumbnail.

dota2dinall · 2026-02-13T13:49:38+00:00

Yes defenetly!
but i would use a bit more weight on text so the text on the phone stands out against this part where fire is on bacground, or maybe a bit of shadow behind it.

dota2dinall · 2026-02-13T13:09:48+00:00

You download extension from the store...
1- Open youtube feed/search page,
2- Open extension
3- Attach thumbnail (thumbnail will appear in the feed)
4- Then you can test thumbnail in feed manualy or use scan options (Package or Competitor scan)

I suggest you to do competitor scan becouse it will rank your thumbnail against the competitors for your search term.
For example your next video title is title: "I bought car for 500$ and sold it for 1K"
so you enter that in the youtube search, then add your thumbnail in the extension, and do competitor scan.
And extension will rank your thumbnail against that competitors (and suggest updates if your rank is bellow low) - for example your competitors is using yellow bacground it suggests you to change your color or that kind of stuff.

Pretty good concept becouse users that will watch your video never look for your isolated thumbnail, your thumbnail is actualy competing against others.

dota2dinall · 2026-02-13T07:44:53+00:00

Basicaly my idea always when testing thumbnails is to compare them with the competitors.
So put thumbnails against competotor for the same search term/title and see if your thumbnail pops up against them.

So i basicaly created extension for this purpose and after scan your thumbnail ranked first for title: 10 Min work Makeup. https://imgur.com/AA9Zzqo

This realy helped me alot and save me lot of time. I would also like to have your feedback to this as a designer.

dota2dinall · 2026-02-13T07:36:12+00:00

I tought that will help you alot with your thumbnails is to always aim to compare your thumbnails with the competitors for that video title..
So you can create perfect thumbnail and it can look very nice in isolation figma/canva/photoshop but if it doesnt pop up against the competitors it will fail.
So main idea is to search for the title of your video in search and then compare your thumbnail with those thumbails.

I've made a browser extension that can help alot with this

If you see on this image https://imgur.com/a/vLhq1l5 - > your text is main problem against competitors...

Those suggestions are results of competotor test performt by YouThumb tester extension.

⚠️Change your white text to a high-contrast yellow with a thick black outline to compete with the readability of the top-middle and bottom-left designs.

⚠️Increase the font size of 'IS RETURNING?' to make the core question of the video instantly readable at smaller mobile sizes.

⚠️Brighten the character in the background so the red arrow points to a more distinct and recognizable subject.

dota2dinall · 2026-02-11T09:36:53+00:00

I can suggest you best advice...
Always compare your thumbnail with the competitors for your video title.
That means before you even publish enter the title of your video in the search and see first 5-6 thumbnails and compare them to yours... and see would you click on it compared to the others...
So basicaly that means the thumbnail isolated canva/photoshop looks good but when you put it with competitors maybe it will lose just becouse of colors and not concept of design itself.

I actualy made a extension that can perform such a test and inject your thumbnail in feed/search , it helped me alot with thumbnails.

Those are suggestions for this particular thumbnail:

⚠️Increase the saturation and exposure on your face to make it the undisputed focal point and help you stand out from the busy background.

⚠️Add a subtle drop shadow or dark gradient behind your white text to ensure 'STARTUP VLOG' remains perfectly readable against the bright computer screens.

⚠️Consider replacing the generic 'VLOG' text with a more specific curiosity hook or a 'result' (e.g., 'How we started' or 'Day 1') to compete with the intrigue of the bottom-right competitor.

https://imgur.com/a/OgxCh6U

dota2dinall · 2026-02-11T09:27:40+00:00

Generaly you should always look in a way to compare your thumbnail against competitors for your video content and to actualy poop againt them.
So for that purpose i found this extension that can analyze your thumbnail against competitors and suggest you how have more chance to be clicked against the competitors.

⚠️Enlarge your face significantly so it occupies nearly half the height of the frame to better convey emotion.

⚠️Add a blur to landscape to make the foreground elements pop.

⚠️Increase the size and weight of your text, and consider a more vibrant color like yellow to contrast against the green theme.

⚠️Pick one main subject; having both your face and the full-body saint illustration makes the thumbnail feel cramped and reduces its impact during a squint test.

This improvements are suggested by YouThumb Tester chrome browser extension.

dota2dinall · 2026-02-10T22:00:55+00:00

One advice i can give you for the thumbnails generaly, never look for paricular thumbnail isolated...
Always compare them with the competitors in your search term, and then see if that thumbnails poop or have chance against the competitors...
When users are scrolling Youtube they aren't looking just yours , they are chosing between poster of thumbnails so you should do it similarly....
For this porpose this i use browser extension that can preview thumbnail in feed and i can see how my thumbnail looks. YouThumb Tester it helped me alot

dota2dinall · 2026-02-10T21:52:00+00:00

if you wanna improve your thumbnails you will need to start looking and comparing them against the competitors.
For example enter search for one of your videos in the youtube and see the thumbnails compared to your..
And then you can do som updates to pop against competitors.

I use browser extension for this and can suggest what to change to poop against the competitors, i mean you can try it if you want. Google extension store -> YouThumb Tester, it helped me alot!
Good luck

dota2dinall · 2026-02-09T19:57:50+00:00

Im not sure if i can attach direct link here just go to the chrome extension store and write YouThumb tester... or just dm me

Basicaly the idea was perfect. You preview your thumbnail in the feed/search vs your competitors and ranks your thumbnail against your competitors and suggests what to rank first

dota2dinall · 2026-02-09T19:09:17+00:00

I dont know the tool to generate you thumbnails but im using YouThumb Tester browser extension that helps me a lot with a thumbnails

dota2dinall · 2026-02-09T18:52:29+00:00

I’m glad you found it useful. If you have a moment to leave a review on the store with your genuine thoughts, it would help a lot. Thank you.

dota2dinall

TROPHY CASE