VSEO Thumbnail Test Results |
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VSEO Thumbnail Test Video Thumbnails The thumbnail chosen for your video is VERY important. It is the first impression someone gets while they are deciding if they are going to watch your video or move on. It is like a magazine cover! We believe that VSEO Thumbnail Testing is an important part of VSEO. We perform thumbnail tests all over the Internet to verify how each of the video hosting sites grab what part of the videos we upload to make a thumbnail out if it. YouTube gives you 3 thumbnails to choose from, but most of the other video sites we upload to across the Internet make that very important choice for you. |
How we tested the Thumbnails A component of our thumbnail testing involves video with a counter running. These videos are captured at 30fps (frames per second). We have formatted the counter to show seconds to the left of the "." and frames to the right. As an example, 1.15 means 1 second, 15 fames. When this is translated into pure seconds, you get 1.5 seconds. It is important to know the length of the uploaded video so we usually include that in the title of the clip as well as the description meta text. This is important in calculating where the various sites decide to create the thumbnail shot. The results listed below are not a guarantee, but a good guide as to how the various video hosting sites choose your thumbnail(s). A Tip to consider is adjusting the length of your video slightly to get just the right thumbnail displayed on the various sites. To get a guaranteed position, click here. |
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YouTube VSEO Thumbnail Test (35 sec video) The VSEO Thumbnail test to the right was using a 35 second video (which YouTube calls 36 seconds). Since YouTube gives you 3 choices the middle one is pre-chosen for you, but you have the option to choose either of the other two. We uploaded this same video 3 times using various file formats without changing the video length and the resulting thumbnails were very close in time to each other. Thumbnail 1 - 01.26 (ranged from 01.24 to 01.26) Thumbnail 2 - 11.27 (ranged from 11.25 to 11.27) Thumbnail 3 - 31.09 (ranged from 31.08 to 31.10) We understand that YouTube will vary their algorithm for choosing the thumbnails from time to time, but this is what we came up with on May-3-09. |
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YouTube VSEO Thumbnail Test (30 sec video) The VSEO Thumbnail test to the right was using a 30 second video (which YouTube calls 31 seconds). Since YouTube gives you 3 choices the middle one is pre-selected for you, but you still have the option to choose either of the other two. We uploaded this same video multiple times using various file formats without changing the video length and the resulting thumbnails were very close in time to each other. Thumbnail 1 - 01.06 (ranged from 01.05 to 01.07) Thumbnail 2 - 13.15 (ranged from 13.14 to 13.15) Thumbnail 3 - 20.21 (ranged from 20.20 to 20.22)* We understand that YouTube will vary their algorithm for choosing the thumbnails from time to time, but this is what we came up with on May-5-09. *[5-14-09... this 3rd position may not be as accurate as the others] Thumbnails do NOT appear to be based upon any percentage of length of a video (something that you can calculate by taking the length of a video and dividing by a certain number to get the thumbnail spots). That is the way it used to work prior to December 3, 2008. |
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Yahoo! VSEO Thumbnail Test (35 sec video) This VSEO Thumbnail test was performed on the Yahoo! Video site. It was also 35 seconds in length. Yahoo chooses the thumbnail for you, and only offers that one choice. Thumbnail - 06.08 (ranged from 06.07 to 06.09) |
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Take a look at what we have learned since we performed these tests at the following page: Video Thumbnail Trick If this information is helpful to you then we are glad we could help. If it only serves to complicate matters, then please let us know if we can be of service to you and your online marketing needs. Video SEO (Video Search Engine Optimization) is our sole focus. We can help you use video to drive traffic to your site. Contact us for a customized VSEO plan for your website... Make claim to your online video marketing space before it is too late...if you don't, your competition will. |