Did you know that vertical shorts thumbnails appear in YouTube search your subscriptions feed
your channel home page and YouTube's home page when you view it at youtube.com using the YouTube
app adding a custom thumbnail to a shorts video will result in more clicks and Views in this video
I'll show you how to create your own vertical short thumbnail using a free online image editor
called canva link is in the description later I'll show you how to select the cracked frame for your
shorts video when you upload it to YouTube using the YouTube app I'll also show you the
tips and tricks I use to create a clickable shorts thumbnail so you can get more views on your shorts
video here's how to create a short thumbnail using canva go to canva.com to sign up for a
free account after you've logged into your free account click on create a design click on custom
size width 1080 height 1920 pixels click create a new Zone on the left you see a bunch of shorts
templates which you can customize to your liking click on the elements here you've got arrows
lines circles squares click on gradient I'm going to choose this gradient expand it
click on text you can choose from any of these suggested fonts I recommend not using more than
three words in your short thumbnail and make the text bold so it's easy to read when viewed from
the phone I'm going to select graphic design if you want to get rid of any text just click on
it click delete on the keyboard highlight again click delete change that to White so I'm going to
highlight it click Text color it's white I've got create position your text at the top of your
shorts thumbnail because if you place it at the bottom it'll be obscured by your
shorts tail now I'll find a YouTube logo so I'm going to put YouTube logo
there's YouTube logo so I'm going to click on that and move it over here and click on the create
copy and paste it so I've got create again so I'm going to click create podcast now I've just
got to add my photo click on uploads click upload files click podcast image click on the image and
drag it onto your document and expand the image
keep in mind if you want to remove the background of an image like a profile image of yourself you
can do that in a few clicks if you upgrade to canva Pro I'll place a link in the description
after you finish designing your image Click Share click download you can download it as
PNG or if you click the drop down arrow click jpeg click download and here's my
finished vertical shorts thumbnail make sure you add your vertical thumbnail to your short
when you create it so when you upload a short to YouTube you can select that frame to choose
as your shorts thumbnail here's how to choose the correct frame when you upload your short to
YouTube tap YouTube app tap the plus sign tap create a short tap add to add a short video
that you've saved to your camera roll on your phone tap done tap the check mark tap next tap
the pencil icon scroll through shorts video to find the shorts thumbnail that you created
here it is tap done now I've selected the shorts thumbnail that I created previously
caption is short how to start a YouTube podcast in 2023 select visibility
public or you can schedule it then tap upload short here is a short that I uploaded to YouTube
containing my custom vertical shorts thumbnail you can also see how the thumbnail will appear
on your channel pages recommendations on YouTube's homepage on videos listed on the subscriptions Tab
and in YouTube search results the only place you won't see any thumbnails is in the short screen
where your shorts videos play automatically as viewers swipe through it here are some tips and
tricks to Remember When creating your shorts thumbnails you can only choose a frame for
your short thumbnail when you upload it to YouTube using the YouTube app unfortunately
you can't change vertical shorts thumbnail after you've uploaded your shorts video to
YouTube we don't have any plans to release the ability to upload fully custom thumbnails
like on long form videos since the vast majority of shorts watch time comes from
the feed where thumbnails are not shown create your static thumbnail first then edit it into
a short before you upload it to YouTube even if your image only appears for a brief time on
Youtube it'll motivate viewers to click and watch your shorts video keep in mind when viewers are
scrolling your short feed on the mobile phones they won't see your shorts thumbnail because
the video starts playing automatically therefore use a strong hook in the first
seconds of your short video so people will tap on it to watch the video track the performance of
your shorts videos by clicking on the content Tab and YouTube analytics you'll be able to see how
viewers found your shorts the percentage of viewers that chose to view your shorts versus
the percentage that swiped away you can also see the top shorts that perform the best in
the last 28 days this shorts video received over 1 000 views within a few hours and got
one of 10 and ranking by views YouTube says great job more viewers chose to view and less
swiped away if you want to get even more views on your shorts videos watch the video on the
screen right now on the secret to going viral on YouTube shorts you'll learn how to quickly
identify the most engaging parts of long form videos to make into a short