Does Changing a YouTube Title or Thumbnail Improve Old Videos?

We've replaced the old thumbnails on the cooking channel and updated the titles a bit. Yes, this helps generate new views.

clearsight1 said:

Have you ever updated the title or thumbnail of an older video and noticed a significant increase in views? How do you decide when to make changes?

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It can be helpful, I tried it using the analytics and checking the max retention and YouTube search suggestions. The algorithm can promote your content but there is a minor change by doing it.

I would first check whether the video is still getting impressions. If it is, but the CTR is consistently low, updating the thumbnail could be worth testing.

I would avoid changing the title and thumbnail simultaneously because it becomes harder to understand which change helped. It also makes sense to compare similar traffic sources, since CTR from YouTube Search can be very different from suggested videos.

A new thumbnail might improve clicks, but if viewers leave immediately, the actual video may need improvement too.