YouTube is expanding its A/B testing tools, and titles are finally part of the mix.
After quietly rolling out title testing to a small group of creators earlier this year, YouTube has now made the feature available to all creators with access to Advanced Features inside YouTube Studio.
The update builds on YouTube’s existing thumbnail testing tool, giving creators a more data-driven way to optimize how their videos show up in feeds.
Creators can now upload up to three different titles, or a mix of titles and thumbnails, on eligible videos. YouTube will then test each variation evenly across viewers for up to two weeks, measuring which one earns the highest watch time, YouTube’s most important signal.
The winning combination is automatically applied once testing ends.
If results are inconclusive, YouTube defaults to the first uploaded title and thumbnail. Creators can ignore the results entirely and choose manually if they prefer.
The tool is currently desktop-only, and supports:
- Public long-form videos
- Archived livestreams saved as videos
- Podcast episodes
You cannot run title or thumbnail tests on videos marked Made for Kids or containing mature content.
This is another step in YouTube’s broader push toward creator analytics and experimentation. Titles and thumbnails remain two of the most influential factors in click-through and retention, and now creators can finally validate their hunches instead of guessing.
With thumbnails, titles, and watch-time-based scoring all in the same A/B workflow, YouTube Studio is starting to look a lot more like a proper testing lab.