YouTube was founded by the three people Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim who revolutionized video sharing. The idea was to make YouTube a video-sharing platform, and Jawed was the first YouTuber. The trio went through names like Tune In, Hook Up, but they stuck with YouTube. However, Google stepped in and bought YouTube later. It was a relevant move because Google was then trying to get into video sharing and YouTube promises just that. In over a decade YouTube has become the second biggest Social media platform in the world with 2.1 billion users worldwide.
Videos have become the most consumed form of content in the world. It was predicted that in 2021, a normal person would consume 100 minutes worth of video on an average day. But the truth is the consumption is much higher. YouTube has an international audience from all around the world. This has allowed content creators to reach out to new people. But the problem lies in language. It can be a barrier. YouTube videos in English can't be understood by everyone in India. How to solve this problem? Thankfully YouTube has the caption option [cc] where you can turn on the subtitles to YouTube videos.
Why you should add captions to YouTube videos?
The questions are many. What are the benefits of doing this? Will it actually work? What is it gonna do for my channel? The truth is subtitling breaths life into your videos for anyone who can't understand your language. It can not only benefit your new audiences from other parts of the world, but it can also widen your reach. There are many benefits of adding captions and subtitles to videos, we have mentioned some below -
YouTube's audience is global. If you want to reach audiences you haven't reached before,the using subtitles is the best idea.
Language barrier is a real thing, even on the internet. A French person can't understand an English video without subtitles. To overcome the linguistic barrier you can use captions and subtitles.
It may sound unreal but captions directly effect the YouTube optimization. It means if you have added subtitles to your videos you have better chances of ranking in the search engines. Your videos will be more easily discovered.
The truth is many people love silent videos. It also means many people watch videos in mute when they are in public places. When you add subtitles you are making things easier for the viewers.
YouTube crates a transcript of your videos as soon as you upload them. It means you have to mention the keyword, or add the keyword while captioning the video.
Note: In YouTube, captions are interchangeable with subtitles. But he's is a subtle difference between them both. Captions are for viewers who can't listen to the video, like the deaf or people who have their audios turned off. But subtitles are for people who can't understand the language of the video.
Adding subtitles to videos is the smart thing to do in 2021 because everyone wants to reach people around the world. Subtitles connect everyone. Here is how you can add it
How to add subtitles to your videos
There are many ways in which one can add subtitles to a video. You can do so while uploading the video if you can also add it to an existing video on your channel
Add subtitles during the upload process
To first upload a video you need to create a YouTube account. Once you have done so, go to the account icon. Click on the icon, then you will be taken to the home of your channel. Click on + create. Once you have uploaded the video the real fun begins.
Then select the “Video elements” tab, and then click “Add” by the “Add subtitles” section.
For the second option you can just choose the auto captions and the work will be automatically done for you. But in truth, auto caption is not accurate. It can perceive the words wrongly,it can have punctuation errors. So, unless you can't type it go for the auto option.
Type manually option is the best option because who better to caption your video than you? .
Type the captions, and align it with the timeline on the screen. Once you complete typing manually, click on "Done". While typing manually is the best way to add correct captions to your video. You can always choose the easier and automatic option.
Adding subtitles to videos you are about to upload is great. But what about when you didn't know captions were so important? What about the videos which do not have subtitles? You can also add captions to a YouTube video you have already uploaded.
Adding subtitles to existing videos
Adding subtitles to your videos has never been easier. You just choose an option of auto-captions and Google’s voice detection software automatically creates subtitles and integrates it into your video. The speech recognition technology can sometimes create inaccurate captions. The Subtitles are not correct most of the time, that's a bummer! Here is how you can add captions to already existing videos in your channel -
Open your account and go to YouTube Studio page. Click on Videos, and tap on the "Uploads" option. All the existing videos will be listed under that. Select the video you want to add captions to.
After clicking on the video you will find the "More Options" tab. Under that option you have to choose"Original video language, subtitles and cc" option
Below you will find "English for YouTube ( automatic) option, with three dots on the side. Click on the three dots. Then you will find a new prompt that looks like this
If you want to do edit the text directly on YouTube Studio, select Edit on Classic Studio from the dropdown menu.
Click on edit on classic studio and you will be taken to YouTube Studio subtitles editor.
In the YouTube Studio subtitles editor page you will see auto generated captions for your video with time stamps. All you have to do is edit the caption files by manually entering new Subtitles or cc.
In the space below the "Action" drop down button, you can use edit button and edit the subtitles. You canfix spelling mistakes and add punctuation on the left side of the window. Add the subtitles in the text box,and control when it will appear according the the time stamps
Fixing the time on caption track is easy. You can fix the timing of your subtitles appearing on your video, the bars below the video can be adjusted with your mouse to either lengthen or shorten the blurbs, in order to fix the timing.
Clicking through the process can get annoying. To reduce the incessant clicking, you can use keyboard shortcuts. For going back 1 second in the video, <shift> + <left> , to seek forward <shift>+<right>, to add the subtitle <enter>. These keyboard shortcuts can make the editing process easier and faster.
You ca n see the shortcuts at the top right hand side of the screen. After you are done adding captions to the video. You can click "Publish edits". The changed subtitles will be visible in the video.
There is another way of adding subtitles to the video through Creator Studio. The Edit Button and process of adding new subtitles are the same. But there is a small change in the process.
Log in to your YouTube account, press "My Channel"
After that press "Video Manager" , this option appears in the top left of your channel and will take you to a list of your video uploads.
Another way of choosing Video manager is Creator Studio > Video Manager
Select the video you want to add captions and subtitles to. On the side of the video you will find the “Edit” dropdown arrow and select “Subtitles and CC”. This will take you to the subtitling interface.
To add new captions to YouTube videos, you have to choose "Add New Subtitles” and then select “Create new subtitles or closed captions”. This button is to the right of the video in the subtitling interface. A text area will appear next to the video for subtitle entry.
On the option below you can "Select subtitle language" . It can be the language where majority of your non- native audience is from. That's the best way to select the appropriate subtitles language for YouTube videos.
Play the video and pause when you desire to add captions. Click the blue + box on the left side of the Subtitle interface. You will find a text box where you can enter the caption file/ text or subtitles. The subtitle will appear on the transcript and in the timeline underneath the video.
Once you have adjusted the time stamps and captions. Click on "publish".
You can hold your left ear with your left hand as well as your right hand. In the same way, there are different methods to insert subtitles to YouTube Videos. You can add SRT caption file, or choose auto-sync, even add text manually. Choose whatever method works for you.
Conclusion
Subtitles work as a magic interpreter between the viewers and the creator. It can improve your search ranking by leaps and bounds. This means your video will be easier to find via searches. This has the potential to increase your viewership and benefit your overall rankings. If you want to reach a global audience then you better start using subtitles. Here is a guide to help you create your first YouTube video. It will give you all the help you need.
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