In video tracking applications, most algorithms often fail in such conditions as object occlusion, disappearance. To address this issue, an improved L1-tracker algorithm is proposed. Expanded templates (including the fixed template and the evolved template) are applied to improve the tracking accuracy and robustness.The fixed template keeps the original features of the target, and prevents the error introduced by false tracking result with the template update. The evolved template recording the latest tracking result is used to avoid massive use of trivial templates which will lead to the false recognition of occlusion. The experimental results on a number of standard data sets prove that the application of expended templates improves the ability of L1-tracker algorithm to deal with the occlusion problem.