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"2024 Approved From Audio to Words on YouTube A Comprehensible Free Guide"
From Audio to Words on YouTube: A Comprehensible Free Guide
How to Transcribe a YouTube Video for FREE
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.
- Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
- Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
- Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
- Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.
Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:
Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube
As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:
Step 1 Upload a Video
Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.
Step 2 Select Transcription Language
On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.
Step 3 Publish the Video
Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.
Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.
After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:
- Get to the Subtitles Window
While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.
- Get to Classic Studio
In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.
- Download Transcription File
Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.
Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching
In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:
Step 1: Play the Video
Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.
Step 2: Enable Transcription
Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.
Step 3: Manage Timestamps
Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.
Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe
Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.
Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:
- Search Engine Optimization
When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.
- Accent
If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.
- Repurposing on Blogs
If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.
YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text
Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.
That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:
- Right-click the SRT file
- Go to Rename
- Replace srt with txt and press Enter
- Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT
After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.
2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube
If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:
- Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
- Expand the Languages column of the target video
- Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
- Click Edit on Classic Studio
- On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner
- Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
- Click Upload a file
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
- Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.
- Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
- Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
- Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
- Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.
Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:
Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube
As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:
Step 1 Upload a Video
Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.
Step 2 Select Transcription Language
On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.
Step 3 Publish the Video
Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.
Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.
After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:
- Get to the Subtitles Window
While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.
- Get to Classic Studio
In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.
- Download Transcription File
Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.
Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching
In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:
Step 1: Play the Video
Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.
Step 2: Enable Transcription
Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.
Step 3: Manage Timestamps
Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.
Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe
Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.
Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:
- Search Engine Optimization
When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.
- Accent
If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.
- Repurposing on Blogs
If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.
YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text
Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.
That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:
- Right-click the SRT file
- Go to Rename
- Replace srt with txt and press Enter
- Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT
After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.
2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube
If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:
- Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
- Expand the Languages column of the target video
- Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
- Click Edit on Classic Studio
- On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner
- Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
- Click Upload a file
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
- Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.
- Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
- Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
- Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
- Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.
Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:
Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube
As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:
Step 1 Upload a Video
Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.
Step 2 Select Transcription Language
On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.
Step 3 Publish the Video
Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.
Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.
After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:
- Get to the Subtitles Window
While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.
- Get to Classic Studio
In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.
- Download Transcription File
Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.
Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching
In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:
Step 1: Play the Video
Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.
Step 2: Enable Transcription
Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.
Step 3: Manage Timestamps
Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.
Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe
Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.
Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:
- Search Engine Optimization
When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.
- Accent
If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.
- Repurposing on Blogs
If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.
YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text
Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.
That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:
- Right-click the SRT file
- Go to Rename
- Replace srt with txt and press Enter
- Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT
After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.
2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube
If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:
- Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
- Expand the Languages column of the target video
- Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
- Click Edit on Classic Studio
- On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner
- Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
- Click Upload a file
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
- Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions
If you want to transcribe your videos to make the dialogs and speeches available in text format, you can use YouTube Transcribe feature that the streaming site offers for free. In this article, I’ll share with you a couple of methods to transcribe a YouTube video for free.
- Part 1: Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
- Part 2: Transcribe YouTube Video to Text Online with Third-Party Service
- Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
- Part 4: YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
Part 1: How to Transcribe YouTube Video Automatically for Free [2 Ways]
Besides the basic video editing features on the YouTube platform, you can now quickly transcribe YouTube videos to the text as well. The good thing is, you can either use the automatic transcription feature that YouTube offers, or upload it manually while adjusting the timing as you go further.
Below are the two methods to transcribe your YouTube videos for free:
Method 1: Use the Automated Transcription Service on YouTube
As the name suggests, YouTube automatic transcription service works automatically. This means you don’t even have to click the ‘Transcribe’ button anymore to transcribe a YouTube video, and the website takes care of it on its own. All you need to do is, choose English as the language of the video when setting up subtitles. You can follow the instructions given below to do so:
Step 1 Upload a Video
Sign in to your YouTube account, click your profile picture from the top-right corner, and click YouTube Studio from the menu. Next, click CREATE from the upper-right corner, click Upload videos from the menu, and drag and drop a video from your computer to the Upload videos box that appears next.
Step 2 Select Transcription Language
On the Details page of the next box that appears, scroll down and click MORE OPTIONS, and select English in the Video language drop-down list under the Language, subtitles, and closed captions (CC) section.
Step 3 Publish the Video
Follow the on-screen instructions from this point to publish the video, and wait while YouTube automatically transcribes and adds the close captions to it.
Note: Depending on the duration of the clip, the time YouTube would take to transcribe may vary.
After YouTube has transcribed the video, you can download the transcription file in your preferred format. The instructions are given below explain how you can do so:
- Get to the Subtitles Window
While on the YouTube Studio page, click Subtitles from the left pane to go to the Channel subtitles page. And then click the video you want to modify.
- Get to Classic Studio
In the video subtitle page of the target video, hover mouse on the Published Automatic status under the Subtitles column, click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) that appears, and click Edit on Classic Studio.
- Download Transcription File
Click and open the Actions drop-down list from the top-left corner of the left pane, click your preferred transcription format including .vtt, .srt and .sbv from the list, and save the file on your local hard disk.
Method 2: Get YouTube Transcription when Watching
In addition, if you are watching any other video, you can make YouTube transcribe that for you as well. You can follow the instructions given below to get the YouTube video to text transcription:
Step 1: Play the Video
Go to the video on YouTube and start playing it. Make sure NOT to get to full-screen mode as doing so would hide the option to transcribe the clip.
Step 2: Enable Transcription
Click the More icon (with three horizontal dots) from under the bottom-right corner of the video player, and click Open transcript to see the video transcription in the Transcript pane that appears in the right.
Step 3: Manage Timestamps
Click the Options icon (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the Transcript pane, and click Toggle timestamp to enable or disable the timestamps in the video transcription.
Limitations of Using YouTube Transcribe
Although YouTube’s automatic transcription is a decent feature that saves you a lot of time, since Google uses machine learning algorithms to convert the speech to text, the level of accuracy may vary depending on the accent of the speaker, and the clarity of the audio the video has. Also, even sometime you may not be satisfied with the end-results.
Alternatively, you can use Kapwing to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file with the below step-by-step instructions:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
You can follow the step-by-step instructions to transcribe a YouTube video and download the transcription file using Kapwing:
Step 1: Add YouTube Video
Copy the URL of YouTube video you want to transcribe, go to https://www.kapwing.com/subtitles , paste the URL in the Paste a URL field, wait while Kapwing fetches the content of the video, and opens the Add subtitles to Video page.
Step 2: Transcribe the Video
Click Auto-generate from the right window, and follow the on-screen instructions to transcribe YouTube video to text.
Step 3: Download the Transcription File
Click Download SRT from the left pane, and follow the instructions from there to download the transcription file in *.srt format.
Pros
- Kapwing is free to use
- The auto-transcription process is quick and less tedious
- Kapwing also allows manual transcription and uploading of an existing *.srt file
Cons
- The auto-transcribed text might lack accuracy as the task is done by the speech-to-text tools that work in the background
Part 3: Benefits of Transcribing YouTube Videos
You may need video transcriptions for several reasons, such as analyzing the summary of the entire speech in the video, extracting a single phrase or quote that was spoken in the clip, or making the video helpful even for those suffering from hearing impairment. When you transcribe a YouTube video, the transcript can be useful in many ways. Some of the most common benefits of transcribing a video include:
- Search Engine Optimization
When you add subtitles, the text can appear in Google search results when someone types a similar phrase in the search box. This helps get more views to your videos, thus giving your channel popularity, and you, monetary gains in the long run.
- Accent
If the speaker in the video is from a different region and is using an accent that you are not much comfortable with, you can turn on the subtitles and read the dialogs along with the video.
- Repurposing on Blogs
If you own a blog that you have embedded your video to, the transcription could be used to add text to it so the target audience can get a fair idea of what the video is all about. This is useful because many people prefer reading over watching.
YouTube Video Transcription FAQs
1. How to Transcribe YouTube Video to Text
Usually the transcription files have *.srt extension that are globally accepted and supported by almost all media players. However, there might be instances when you want to have the subtitles in plain text.
That said, to convert an SRT file to TXT, you can:
- Right-click the SRT file
- Go to Rename
- Replace srt with txt and press Enter
- Click OK on the confirmation box that appears next to convert SRT to TXT
After this, you can simply double-click the file, and read and modify the transcribed content as needed.
2. How to Edit and Upload Edited Transcript to YouTube
If you made any modifications to the transcript that was automatically generated by YouTube or any other third-party transcription tool, you can follow the steps given below to upload the new file to the YouTube video:
- Go to YouTube Studio and then to the Channel subtitles page as explained earlier
- Expand the Languages column of the target video
- Click the Options icon that appears under the Subtitles column when you hover mouse on to it
- Click Edit on Classic Studio
- On the next page, click Edit from the top-right corner
- Click to open the Actions drop-down list from the upper-left corner
- Click Upload a file
- Follow the on-screen instructions from there to upload the modified transcription file
- Click Save Changes from the top-right corner of the page when done
Conclusion
If you are looking for a quick and easy way of adding subtitles to your videos, letting YouTube transcribe for you could be a good approach. However, because these auto-generated transcriptions are created by machine learning algorithms, their accuracy cannot be counted on. Therefore, the best way to get the job done accurately is, let YouTube auto-transcribe your video, download the transcription file, make the necessary changes to it, and then upload the file back to the video.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Chart a Course to Higher Views with Top Optimization Tactics
5 Tips to Get More Views with YouTube Optimization [Free Checklist]
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a
In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.
How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?
- Keep Your Audience’s Attention
- Do Keyword Research
- Engage Your Audience
- Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length
1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:
Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.
Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.
Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.
- Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
- Access to Analytics
- Select the video you want to review
- Click into engagement
- See where a dip in watch time
What is Good Audience Retention?
If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.
If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.
In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.
There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.
If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.
How to Improve Audience Retention
Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:
- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)
- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)
- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)
- Edit out the unimportant stuff
- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.
If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.
Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.
2. Do Keyword Research:
Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.
Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?
- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.
- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.
- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.
Why Keywords Matter
keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.
Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.
That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.
Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:
- Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
- Access Analytics
- Select Reach
- Click into Traffic Source
- Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search
If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.
1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.
2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.
3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.
Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.
Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.
Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.
4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.
3. Engage Your Audience:
It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.
While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.
Here is an example of how it would work:
- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it
- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.
- Boom! Domino effect!
- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.
Get engagements with a call to action:
- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.
- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.
- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.
It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:
YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.
Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.
Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.
If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.
However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.
If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.
End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .
Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.
Key Takeaways:
- Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
- Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
- Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
- Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
- Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.
Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking
Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.
For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.
However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.
- Subscribers know the moment your video is published
- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)
- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers
Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .
Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.
How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>
10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>
If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a
In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.
How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?
- Keep Your Audience’s Attention
- Do Keyword Research
- Engage Your Audience
- Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length
1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:
Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.
Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.
Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.
- Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
- Access to Analytics
- Select the video you want to review
- Click into engagement
- See where a dip in watch time
What is Good Audience Retention?
If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.
If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.
In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.
There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.
If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.
How to Improve Audience Retention
Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:
- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)
- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)
- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)
- Edit out the unimportant stuff
- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.
If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.
Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.
2. Do Keyword Research:
Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.
Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?
- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.
- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.
- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.
Why Keywords Matter
keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.
Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.
That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.
Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:
- Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
- Access Analytics
- Select Reach
- Click into Traffic Source
- Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search
If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.
1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.
2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.
3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.
Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.
Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.
Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.
4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.
3. Engage Your Audience:
It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.
While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.
Here is an example of how it would work:
- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it
- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.
- Boom! Domino effect!
- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.
Get engagements with a call to action:
- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.
- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.
- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.
It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:
YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.
Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.
Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.
If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.
However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.
If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.
End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .
Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.
Key Takeaways:
- Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
- Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
- Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
- Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
- Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.
Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking
Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.
For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.
However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.
- Subscribers know the moment your video is published
- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)
- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers
Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .
Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.
How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>
10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>
If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a
In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.
How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?
- Keep Your Audience’s Attention
- Do Keyword Research
- Engage Your Audience
- Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length
1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:
Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.
Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.
Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.
- Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
- Access to Analytics
- Select the video you want to review
- Click into engagement
- See where a dip in watch time
What is Good Audience Retention?
If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.
If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.
In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.
There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.
If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.
How to Improve Audience Retention
Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:
- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)
- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)
- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)
- Edit out the unimportant stuff
- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.
If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.
Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.
2. Do Keyword Research:
Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.
Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?
- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.
- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.
- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.
Why Keywords Matter
keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.
Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.
That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.
Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:
- Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
- Access Analytics
- Select Reach
- Click into Traffic Source
- Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search
If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.
1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.
2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.
3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.
Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.
Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.
Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.
4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.
3. Engage Your Audience:
It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.
While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.
Here is an example of how it would work:
- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it
- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.
- Boom! Domino effect!
- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.
Get engagements with a call to action:
- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.
- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.
- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.
It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:
YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.
Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.
Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.
If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.
However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.
If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.
End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .
Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.
Key Takeaways:
- Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
- Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
- Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
- Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
- Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.
Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking
Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.
For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.
However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.
- Subscribers know the moment your video is published
- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)
- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers
Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .
Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.
How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>
10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>
If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett
Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions
We all want our videos to get a lot of views, and in turn, lead to more subscribers. In order to do so, we have to prepare it for success. If you are hoping to optimize a video after it has already been published to YouTube, then you aren’t going to get the best result, because much of optimization is done before the video is even shot.a
In this article, we will give youa checklist , which you should have with you at the very beginning of creating a YouTube video: the ideation stage. As you go through your process, check off each task. By doing so, you can ensure that you have given the video the best chance to rank high and be discovered.
How to Optimize Your Video to Rank Higher on YouTube?
- Keep Your Audience’s Attention
- Do Keyword Research
- Engage Your Audience
- Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length
1. Keep Your Audience’s Attention:
Even though your view count is going up, it doesn’t mean your audience is watching your video. And if they are not, then YouTube is going to consider your video less valuable and therefore, lowering its rank.
Audience Retention is an important metric to keep an eye on after every video you’ve published.
Before you start your next project, take a look back at the Audience Retention of your previous videos.
- Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
- Access to Analytics
- Select the video you want to review
- Click into engagement
- See where a dip in watch time
What is Good Audience Retention?
If you want to see how your Audience Retention is performing, the Average Percentage Viewed will give you a broad perspective. The higher the percentage, the more people are watching your entire video.
If you get above 60% Average Percentage Viewed, you should feel very proud. In our modern world with our short attention span, that is considered good retention.
In the example above, we see that on average, a viewer will only see 44% of the video. For the video below, we see that it only has 30% of the video viewed. Overall, the first video is performing better.
There is also a dip that happens at the beginning in the second example, which indicates that viewers are skipping forward and about 20% then deciding it’s not worth continuing. It’s good data to help you improve your introduction and the hook.
If there is important information that you are presenting at a given point and in the Audience Retention you see that only a small percentage of your viewers actually see it, then for the next video, you might want to position the details in a different point in the video.
How to Improve Audience Retention
Here are a few ways you can retain your audience’s attention if you noticed a drop in viewership:
- Film a hook (introduce your video to let the audience know what to expect)
- Add b-roll (having supplemental footage to cut to makes your video more interesting to watch)
- Have a co-host (Having someone on screen gives the video more dynamic interactions)
- Edit out the unimportant stuff
- Write a conclusion (having a conclusion prepared will allow you to transition from the content of the video to the call to action without the audience even knowing) See this example by PolyMatter below and notice how seamless their ending is.
If you have a video that is doing a good job retaining the audience, then replicate it. If there isn’t, keep experimenting with new structures. Improving audience retention is not simply important for your ranking, but it will affirm that you are building quality videos.
Knowing how to structure your video will allow you to be strategic as you build out your content.
2. Do Keyword Research:
Many viewers find YouTube videos via search, and if you aren’t using the appropriate keywords, then YouTube won’t be able to identify your content and display it for your viewers.
Where Do Keywords Appear on YouTube?
- Title: Have keywords at the beginning of the title and limit them up to approximately 60 characters so it appears in full in search.
- Tags: Include 10-15 tags from general keywords to more specific.
- Descriptions: Put important information and keywords at the beginning of the description so both searcher and the search engine understands what the video is about.
Why Keywords Matter
keyword arrangement is an integral part of YouTube optimization because the robots behind YouTube don’t associate the value of the actual video content with what the viewer is actually seeking. You should pay attention to the relevance of keywords.
Even when you add closed captions, it doesn’t mean the best keywords are present to the Youtube search engine when we speak.
That is why it is important to know your audience and what words and phrases they are going to use to search for your video.
Here is how you can see what keywords were used to find your video:
- Enter YouTube Studio in your channel
- Access Analytics
- Select Reach
- Click into Traffic Source
- Click Traffic Source: YouTube Search
If you want to find some new keywords for your upcoming video, you will need to do some research.
1. Enter Keywords You Want to Rank for In YouTube Search: This allows you to see what the most popular phrases are in the YouTube search engine.
2. Study the Competitors: See which videos are ranking high for your search term. Use a tool called VidIQ to see the keywords that the top videos are performing.
3. Search for Related Keywords and Evaluate Relevancy: A tool called Ubersuggest can help you find related keywords and allow you to identify the search volume, cost per click (aka CPC is used for determining the budget for paid search), and the competitiveness of the word or phrase.
Search volume: The number of searches with that particular keyword. The higher the number the more popular it is. You should aim to use keywords with a high search volume.
Keyword competition score: This score is usually indicated by a number and it represents how difficult it is for a keyword to rank due to other pages already ranking for that word or phrase. You want to find a keyword with a low competition score.
Pro tip: The best combination is high search volume and low competition score. But if you can’t get that perfect mix, go for the low competitive score, as it will give you a better chance to rank, even if it isn’t searched as often.
4. Come Up With Content Related to Those Keywords: To come up with topic ideas around a keyword, you can use a tool called Answer the Public , which gives you all the most popular questions searched online.
3. Engage Your Audience:
It’s been highly discussed on forums all over the Internet, and there appears to be a strong correlation between YouTube video ranking and the number of likes, dislikes, and comments the video received.
While YouTube itself might not be using the number of likes and comments to determine where your video rank, having high engagement allows your video to be discovered through other means.
Here is an example of how it would work:
- A YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers views your video and likes it
- Then your video might be visible to a fraction of those 100,000 subscribers.
- Boom! Domino effect!
- More people will see your video and like it, increasing your network of viewers and your watch time, which is one of the main factors that YouTube takes into consideration.
Get engagements with a call to action:
- Don’t be afraid to ask for an engagement at the beginning of the video to avoid fall off on retention.
- Encourage them to leave a comment or start a discussion by asking a question at the end of your video.
- Monitor comments and responds to them so you can build a relationship with your audience over time.
It’s all about creating a community and that is what YouTube encourages.
4. Upload YouTube Video in Proper Length:
YouTube puts a lot of weight on watch time, and in addition to that, it puts more weight on session watch time.
Session watch time is counted when people watch your video and then continue to watch others, it doesn’t have to be your own. The more time people spend watching YouTube videos, as a result of your content, the more likely YouTube will increase your ranking.
Since YouTube puts importance on time spent watching videos, the length of your video will play a key role.
If you have 5 videos and all of them are a minute long, a 100% watch through will only get you 5 minutes total.
However, if you have 1 video that is 20 minutes, and an average viewer only watches half of it, then you have an average watch time of over 10 minutes. That’s more than double what your five short videos can do. This longer video is worth more. However, if that 20-minute video is really boring and people drop off in the first minute, then it’s not any better than 1 of the 5 short videos.
If your format allows, go for a longer video instead of a shorter one. But the most important thing is that you can keep people watching your videos: so use end screen and playlist links to keep them engaged.
End screen: Pick related videos for your audience, so they know exactly what they should watch next. You can even create a background template for your end screens .
Playlist: If you have multiple videos that fit a specific topic, add them to a playlist so the viewer can enjoy them all in one viewing.
Key Takeaways:
- Use Audience Retention to better understand how to structure your video for the best results.
- Perform Keyword Research to find the keywords that your competitors are using and your audience is searching for.
- Increasing Subscribers gets your video in front of more people the moment it is published.
- Encourage Comments and respond to establish a relationship with your viewers.
- Ensure that Viewers Continue Watching videos on YouTube after they finish watching yours.
Other Things That Affects Your YouTube Ranking
Except for the above-mentioned factors, there are also other issues that affect the ranking of your YouTube video. YouTube has stated that the number of subscribers doesn’t play a key role in your video ranking.
For example, if a YouTuber has a million subscribers and then overnight they lose 100 thousand, a video they had ranking number 1 will still be ranked number 1.
However, the number of subscribers has a lot of indirect effects on your channel.
- Subscribers know the moment your video is published
- Subscribers will watch your video in the first week (YouTube will rank your video higher if they see a lift in the first week of publishing)
- YouTube put a higher value on subscribers than views and social shares, because it’s harder to fake subscribers
Growing subscribers take time and effort, and even though it shouldn’t be your main focus, there are tactics you can do to gain more subscribers .
Don’t miss a chance to optimize your YouTube video, download, and print out this checklist for your next video project. For more information on SEO(Search Engine Optimization) on YouTube, you can also read the following article.
How to Fast Rank Video Higher with Video SEO >>
10 Best YouTube Keyword Tools to Use with Bonus Tips>>
If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Wondershare Filmora. It provides special effects, stock photo & video, sound library, etc., which will definitely enhance your productivity and helps to make money by making videos much accessible.
Richard Bennett
Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.
Follow @Richard Bennett
- Title: "2024 Approved From Audio to Words on YouTube A Comprehensible Free Guide"
- Author: Thomas
- Created at : 2024-05-31 12:40:22
- Updated at : 2024-06-01 12:40:22
- Link: https://youtube-help.techidaily.com/2024-approved-from-audio-to-words-on-youtube-a-comprehensible-free-guide/
- License: This work is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
