A typing search bar that hooks viewers in the first second
YouTube Shorts live or die in the opening second, and a typing search bar is one of the cleanest ways to win that second. It tells the viewer exactly what your video is about, suggests something to search for, and looks polished without any voice-over. This page covers sizing, placement and export for the Shorts format.
Make your typing overlay and export it transparent and looping — straight from the browser.
Open the Animated Search Bar →Shorts play at 1080×1920, a tall 9:16 canvas. A search bar between 700 and 900 px wide sits comfortably across the upper portion of that frame, leaving room for the title and the channel UI. Export at 2× or 3× scale so the bar stays sharp when placed at full size — exporting at 1× and stretching it would soften the text. The generated file already loops, so it covers however long you keep it on the timeline.
Keep the bar in the top third, well above the bottom area where YouTube overlays the title, the like and comment buttons, and the channel handle. Anything near the bottom 15% risks being covered by the interface. The top third is also where the eye lands first, so a hook placed there is read before the viewer decides to swipe.
A typing hook is most effective when it's brief. Let the bar type your phrase once or twice over the opening seconds, then either keep it static or let it fade as the content takes over. A short query — a topic, a product, a question — reads faster than a full sentence. If you're publishing the same Short to TikTok and Reels too, the same transparent overlay works on all three without changes.
Shorts are 1080×1920. A bar around 700 to 900 px wide reads well across the top of that frame. Export at 2× or 3× scale so it stays sharp when placed full-size.
Used briefly at the start, a typing hook tends to help retention by telling viewers what to expect. Keep it short and let it loop only over the opening seconds.
YouTube's built-in editor is limited, so most creators add the overlay in CapCut, Premiere or DaVinci before uploading the finished Short.