I tried copying perfect YouTube advice and it quietly hurt my videos
For a while, I kept trying to follow all the “best practices” you see everywhere clean thumbnails, optimized titles, consistent format, all of it.
On paper, everything looked right.
But when I compared my videos to others in my niche, something felt off. They were not bad, just… forgettable. Nothing really stood out or made someone stop scrolling.
I think the mistake was trying to make everything “correct” instead of making it noticeable. Recently I started breaking a few of those rules on purpose stronger contrast in thumbnails, simpler titles, focusing more on one clear idea per video and it actually feels more intentional now.
Still early, so I cannot say results yet, but the process already feels less forced.
Has anyone else experienced this where following too much advice actually made things worse?