Question 1

How does the attention heatmap work?

Accepted Answer

A visual saliency model approximates eye-tracking patterns. It scores color contrast, edge density, faces, and text placement to estimate where viewers look first — typically within 200ms of seeing the thumbnail.

Question 2

Do you use real YouTube CTR data?

Accepted Answer

No. ThumbnailRank scores visual factors that correlate with strong thumbnails — readability, composition, attention focus, color impact. It does not predict CTR or access private YouTube analytics.

Question 3

What thumbnail size should I upload?

Accepted Answer

1280 by 720 pixels at a 16:9 aspect ratio is YouTube's recommended size. ThumbnailRank accepts anything from 640px wide and flags spec issues.

Question 4

Does my image get uploaded to a server?

Accepted Answer

No. The analyzer runs entirely in the browser using the Canvas API. Your thumbnail never touches the ThumbnailRank servers. Free-tier history is stored only in localStorage on the device.

Question 5

Can I analyze competitors' thumbnails?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Save any YouTube thumbnail as an image and upload it to ThumbnailRank. Competitor benchmarking is available on every plan including Free.

Question 6

Does it work for TikTok and Instagram?

Accepted Answer

The rubric is calibrated for YouTube thumbnails — 16:9 aspect, mobile-feed sizing, and YouTube UI contrast. Most checks still apply on other platforms but niche-specific scoring will be off.