Title and Cover
The cover shows the story. The title names it. They have to be the same video. There is one real exception, and it is not a free pass to ignore the title.
Kids
often never read the title
Search
only words can match
Both
still one story
In short. On channels for younger viewers, the click is the picture. Many never read the line under it. That is true. It does not make the title optional. Search cannot see a picture, and a cover that lies still loses the person in the first seconds.
Two jobs
The cover
A sentence someone understands with no words. On a phone, it is most of the decision.
The title
The words. Search uses them. A lot of adults read them before they click. The opening has to be able to pay them.
The caveat is real
On channels made for younger viewers, the click often happens with no reading at all. Children decide from the picture: the face, the object, the color. The title can sit there unread. If you design that channel as if everyone studies the words, you will make covers that need a caption. They will not get clicked.
What they use
The image. One clear read. Almost no dependence on the words beside it.
What they skip
The title. Especially on a phone. Especially in a hurry.
What still fails
A cover that tells a different story from the video. They did not read the title. They did believe the picture, and they leave.
The title still works
“Kids don’t read it” is not “delete it.” The title does work the cover cannot do.
Search
YouTube matches words. A picture does not rank “we escaped the school.” Vague words mean that traffic never arrives.
Anyone who does read
Older viewers, parents, desktop, and people in Suggested who glance at the line under the image. For them the title is half the click.
The contract
The edit is written against the title. If the title says one video and the cover shows another, the opening can only pay one of them.
For a young audience, write the title so it does not fight the picture, and so search can still find the episode. For everyone else, the title has to earn its half of the click. In both cases it has to be true.
Three shelves
- 1
Kids, one glance
The cover leads. The title stays true and simple. Do not hide the story in words the picture does not show.
- 2
Browse, older viewers
Both are read. A strong cover with a lazy title loses the person who needed the words.
- 3
Search
The title leads. The cover confirms the words. A clever image with a vague title is invisible here.
One rule
Design the cover as the sentence a child gets with no reading. Write the title as the sentence search, and a skeptical adult, need. If those two sentences are different videos, fix one of them before you publish.