Holy smokes, we've just analyzed over 9 million YouTube videos that reveal some valuable insights into helping you get more views. Sifting through all of this data took an ungodly amount of spreadsheets and enough coffee to alter my DNA because now I actually like coffee, [snorts] but it was worth it. So, in this video, I'm going to break down this enormous YouTube study crammed full of data insights to determine what positive actions we can take as creators to write better titles.
Trust me, you're not going to want to miss this one. All right, let's start with one of the most common questions. How many words should your YouTube title actually have?
Well, we've tested everything. 1 to three words, 6 to 7 words, 11 to 15 words. We even tested more than 16 words in a YouTube title.
16 words. 16 words, >> which sounds ridiculous. Spoiler alert, it is.
Don't do that. And that's because there is one word range that absolutely destroys every other combination in terms of performance. Six to seven words was the sweet spot for both views and engagement.
As for shorter titles, they're too vague. You get no context, no curiosity. For longer titles, people don't want to read your thesis.
They want the hook. But six to seven words, just enough information to understand the premise, just short enough to stay punchy, and long enough to create curiosity. That's why titles like this have over 200 million views.
It's literally the ideal structure. It sets the premise, it sets the stakes, but it leaves you with a bunch of unanswered questions. >> Barreling down on it right now is a massive train.
But before the impact, I'm giving this Lamborghini to Blake. Now, before we dive head first into the nitty-gritty of title breakdowns, we need a 20 second math lesson because you're going to hear two terms quite a lot. Average views and medium views.
All right, buckle up. Hello everybody, Professor Vid IQ here. Definitely not AI generated.
Average views can get thrown off by a few giant viral videos. If even a handful of videos of the data set go crazy, the average shoots way up. Even if most videos perform normally, but median views shows the middle video in the entire data set.
It's not affected by those massive outliers. It tells us what a typical video in the data set actually did. Okay, math lesson over.
Let's talk about question marks. You would think they're just punctuation, right? Or a polite way to end a sentence or just the way Australian people speak.
Well, not when it comes to YouTube. When we compared 650,000 titles with question marks against 8. 4 million titles without question marks, the results were pretty wild.
The average views per video was pretty much tied. But medium views, yeah, that's a relatively big jump. As for engagement, well, the data suggests questions spark more interaction with a video to a significant degree.
Put simply, your brain hates an open loop that's never closed. A question mark forces you to stop and think, wait, what's the answer? And YouTube loves that.
To satisfy their curiosity, the viewer must click on that video to close that loop. And that's why titles like are tariffs bringing in more money and what's really happening in Nepal are performing. So well, so when it does come to AB testing your titles, which is now available in the YouTube studio, one experiment that you can certainly try is reframing your video as a question, even a small one.
Adding a question mark is one of the easiest high impact upgrades you can make according to our data. All right, next up, emojis. I know they're cute, they're fun, and they can be a personification of your YouTube presence, but do they actually help your videos?
So, for this one, we tested one and a half million titles with emojis against 7 and a half million titles without emojis. And here's what happened. Every metric that actually matters, from reach to average views to medium views, all of it was lower when creators added emojis to their titles.
But then, in a weird plot twist, the moment you look at engagement, emojis suddenly kick the door open because engagement actually goes up when you use them. So, now we're kind of stuck in this weird YouTube paradox where emojis make your audience interact more, but YouTube shows your video to fewer people. So, incredible.
Thank you, YouTube algorithm. Wonderful work. Yes.
So, what do you do with that? For most creators, the rule is probably pretty simple. Skip emojis entirely.
when the audience is more nuanced, perhaps leaning towards a younger demographic. There is potential benefits to graphics in your titles. Okay, now let's talk about [clears throat] capitals.
>> I see CVS quite often in titles, so I was curious about them as well. In this study, we tested 1. 8 million titles in capitals >> versus 7.
2 million regular titles. And honestly, I expected >> the capitals >> to flop completely, like really aggressively, but nope. It turns out screaming at your audience actually works a lot.
All caps titles had significantly higher engagement. And I'm talking a big jump because caps instantly signal hype, urgency, emotion, drama. However, and this is pretty important, this only works in certain niches.
for example, music, gaming, K-pop, stunts, entertainment. On the other hand, if you're trying to explain important settings on your camera and your title is screaming, >> "How to fix your white balance in five easy steps. " >> Yeah.
That's when your viewers will quietly back away. So, next time, if your content is all hype, emotion, fast-paced, lean into all capitals. But if your content is calm, educational, or serious, use your indoor voice.
Now, a happy middle ground might be to test emphasizing important words with all caps in the title. We've done this on the Vid IQ channel in the past to great effect. Now, then, one last thing before we jump into the perfect title formula we've all been waiting for.
Let's talk about the dramatic stuff, the insane, the crazies, the unbelievables. I'm talking about the words that make your title sound like it had three red balls and a spiritual awakening. We've tested them all and the results were honestly kind of disappointing.
Sensational words barely move the needle. I know. To use an extreme word, shocking.
You'd think throwing crazy into your title would instantly double your views, right? Nope. We compared 107,000 titles using sensational words to 8.
9 million titles that didn't. And the difference quite frankly was minuscule. Average views almost identical.
Engagement actually lower with sensational words and medium views also lower. So yeah, turns out all caps looking insane doesn't magically make your video insane. But and this part matters, just because sensational words don't guarantee performance, it doesn't mean they never work.
They can help if they're backed up by actual substance. For example, these videos work and go viral because ultimately they are extreme and they are insane. So use these sensational words when the videos truly merit them, not as a shortcut.
So we've taken all of this data, 9 million titles, and combined it into one formula. Not a maybe this works and not a hope and pray. It is a literal statistically backed blueprint for writing titles that get you more views on YouTube.
And here it is. Use six to seven words in your title. Use question marks to raise curiosity.
Avoid gimmicks like emojis and sensational words. And only use all caps if your niche deserves it. And that's it.
Simple, proven, effective. However, we do have to remind ourselves that the video title is only a small part of the YouTube puzzle overall. Great content with a smart title, that's how you go viral.
But bad contents with a perfect title, yeah, you're still going to need some luck. But at least now you know some of the secrets behind title optimization that actually work based on 9 million real videos. Now go forth and dominate YouTube with your legendary titles.
