I made a BIG mistake.
My video still got 1M views…BUT 👇
I’ve been making this mistake since 2012 (13 years of missed growth)
Wish someone told me sooner. Here’s what happened:
If you’re like me, you obsess over YouTube’s CTR metric.
Especially this page 👇
It’s one of the few things you can influence AFTER uploading.
But here’s the catch:
I was looking at the WRONG CTR 👇
YouTube shows just ONE combined CTR by default.
Even on desktop, unless you click “Advanced Mode.”
What I learned:
YouTube usually tests videos in SUGGESTED first.
Where CTR is low (1–4%).
But most views come from BROWSE (home feed).
Where CTR is higher (5-8%).
For years, I judged my titles & thumbnails by the wrong CTR source.
Here’s a real example from one video:
First 24 hours:
Suggested: 3,539 impressions at 0.5% CTR
Browse: 148 impressions at 6.1% CTR
Overall CTR: 0.9%
I almost changed everything based on that 0.9%.
But I didn’t.
After 24 hours:
Browse: 251,203 impressions at 5.9%
Suggested: 229,273 impressions at 2.0%
If I’d trusted the combined CTR, this video would not have hit 1M views.
So check this page my friend:
The lesson?
Never judge CTR without checking the traffic source.
~ Jordan Kruk
PS: I designed over 1,000 thumbnails.
Get my Free Thumbnail Pack with ready-to-use templates 👇
