Have you ever wondered why YouTube videos don’t get clicked? If so, you aren’t alone.
Ask any successful creator, and they’ll tell you how important it is to position your videos to get clicked. After all, you can’t gain views if your videos don’t get clicked!
4 Reasons Why YouTube Videos Don't Get Clicked Share on X
Read on and learn why many YouTube videos do not get clicked on, and how the issues contributing to the lack of clicks can be addressed.
Why Is It So Important for Videos to Get Clicked?
Chances are, if you’ve done any research into getting more views or growing a channel, you’ve been advised to get more clicks on your videos. But have you ever wondered- why is it so important for YouTube videos to get clicked?
Put simply, if a video does not get clicked, it cannot gain views. To grow an audience, videos need to get viewed. So, if videos do not get clicked, a channel cannot grow. This is why it’s so important for videos to get clicked.
Of course, you should not sacrifice the quality of your content to get views. However, it is important to recognize that if you wish to get your videos seen and grow an audience, you must position your videos to get clicked.
Common Reasons Why YouTube Videos Don’t Get Clicked
There are many reasons why YouTube videos do not get clicked on. However, a few reasons are more common than others. Knowing this, it’s a good idea to focus on these main reasons, as there is a good chance that addressing them will solve the issue at hand.
Here are 4 common reasons why YouTube videos typically don’t get clicked:
1. Poor thumbnails
2. Poor on-page optimization
3. Irrelevance
4. Lack of authority
Let’s go over these reasons in more detail.
1. Poor Thumbnails
The first thing viewers tend to see before deciding to click on a video or not is the thumbnail. Thumbnails attract clicks more than any other element on YouTube, which is why it’s important to use click-friendly thumbnails on your videos.
Many people struggle to create click-friendly thumbnails, but the process isn’t very difficult. To create thumbnails that are likely to get clicked by your target audience, all you need to do is reverse-engineer competitor thumbnails and monitor the click-through rate of your videos.
Look for large channels that create videos similar to yours. Take note of the colors, images, etc that they use in their thumbnails. Then, create similar thumbnails for your videos and monitor the click-through rate of your videos to determine if they are getting clicked.
2. Poor On-Page Optimization
If people cannot discover your videos, they cannot click on them. The number one reason why creators struggle to get their videos discovered is poor on-page optimization. Poorly optimized videos rank lower in the search results and receive fewer impressions.
While improving your on-page optimization isn’t the most difficult thing to do, you must ensure that you do not make the mistakes that people tend to make when optimizing their YouTube videos.
When you optimize your videos, ensure that you select good keywords. Then, include these keywords in your video metadata (title, description, tags). Do this for every single video and your videos will start to get discovered and clicked on more often.
3. Irrelevance
Each person has their own set of viewing interests. Meaning, they are more interested in certain topics and types of videos than others. When they come across irrelevant videos, there’s a good chance they won’t click on them.
It’s important to recognize that suggestions are algorithmic. Meaning, your videos will get suggested to people based on how they perform with similar viewers. However, sometimes your videos will be suggested to viewers who will find them to be irrelevant.
The best thing you can do to ensure your videos get suggested to viewers who will find them to be relevant is to create videos that resonate with your target audience. Also, ensure your videos have good thumbnails and are optimized using relevant metadata.
4. Lack of Authority
Let’s face it- people trust authoritative figures and sources than non-authoritative figures and sources. Since this is the case, when videos lack authority (low view count, unprofessional thumbnail, poor title) they’re often ignored by viewers.
You obviously cannot control your view count- views are gained when other people watch your videos. However, you can position your videos to receive the most views possible but using good thumbnails and optimizing them properly.
Speaking of thumbnails and on-page optimization- you should do your best to present your videos professionally. Meaning, use high-quality thumbnails with nice fonts, images, etc., and use proper punctuation and grammar when optimizing the metadata of your videos.
Should You Use Clickbait?
At this point, you might be wondering- should you use clickbait to get more clicks on your YouTube videos? After all, clickbait has been proven to be an effective tactic for getting more clicks on videos.
Remember what I said about irrelevance contributing to a lack of clicks? Well, that is the main issue with clickbait. Often, when clickbait is used to attract clicks on videos, videos become more irrelevant to viewers.
You should entice people to click on your videos, but you should not mislead them. This is the difference between following best practices and using clickbait. Best practices entice people to click on your videos tastefully, whereas clickbait misleads people.
Never design a thumbnail that does not accurately represent the content in a video. Do not use misleading titles, descriptions, etc. when filling out the metadata of your videos. Misleading people will cause your videos to suffer, which will cause your growth to decline.
Conclusion
You now know 4 of the main reasons why YouTube videos don’t get clicked. If you wish to grow an audience, you must ensure that you address these 4 issues. Failing to address these issues will lead to fewer clicks on your videos, which will lead to fewer views and growth.
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General FAQs
According to the marketers we surveyed, the average CTR on Youtube is 4-5%. However, this is simply an average CTR. Your CTR can vary wildly depending on the number of subscribers you have, your niche, number of views, and how long the video has been on Youtube.
Average view duration is the average length of time a viewer watches your video. On average, no pun intended, a good average view duration should be between 50 to 60%. And videos with 70% or higher are performing extremely well.
Altering your content strategy could be one reason for the drop in viewership. While Analytics can be helpful in determining if this is a cause, think back about the types of videos you’ve been producing and if you’ve made any changes.
