No, updating a title or thumbnail does not reset your video’s performance. YouTube’s recommendations focus on how viewers respond now - things like click-through rate and watch time - not on whether you changed metadata yesterday.
YouTube’s discovery docs emphasize viewer satisfaction and long-term value as ranking inputs, not a fixed “launch window” penalty. See: and .
Why refreshes help
A clearer promise in the title and a thumbnail that matches the first 15 seconds can raise CTR without hurting retention. That combination often earns more impressions because the system sees improved outcomes for similar viewers. Edits that create a promise mismatch do the opposite, they spike clicks then crash retention.
