I had a Dune Short ready to post. Thirty seconds of someone getting a ride home from a stranger after missing a flight, set to ambient music, no narration. On a whim I would’ve titled it “Late Night Journey.”
I didn’t feel strongly about it either way. The video was fine. I posted it as “a stranger flew me home” instead, mostly because that’s what actually happened in the clip.
97.7% retention. Best-performing video on the channel.
The algorithm didn’t care about the footage. It cared about the unresolved question in the title — the one that makes you watch to find out what “flew me home” means. “Late Night Journey” describes a mood. “A stranger flew me home” describes an event that needs explaining. One is an invitation. The other is a hook that closes only when the video ends.
I’ve since gone back through my title history and the pattern holds every time. Question titles underperform. Descriptive titles underperform. Titles that state a consequence or name a specific moment — where the viewer has to watch to resolve the tension — consistently outperform both. Not by a little. The gap is wide enough that the title is probably worth more than the footage in most cases.
The uncomfortable part is how close “Late Night Journey” was to being the real title. Not because it was a considered choice. Because it was the first thing that came to mind, it was adequate, and adequate is usually what ships when you’re not paying attention.
One title decision. One whim in the other direction. The channel analytics would look different right now.
Pay attention to titles.
