How to Put Subtitles on YouTube

Make your videos accessible and improve viewer engagement by adding closed captions.

Adding subtitles, also referred to as closed captioning, is the process of adding text to the dialogue in your videos, movies, television programs and games so users will never miss a word.

Although previously primarily used for the benefit of the deaf and hard of hearing, captions now offer an array of benefits, especially in relation to YouTube Videos.

YouTube uses Google’s Speech-to-text software to create subtitles for their videos. It has its limitations and for the most part, it doesn’t work very well. In fact, it’s estimated that only 70% of these automatic subtitles are accurate.

If the voices in the video are not clear and well-articulated, then the captions will be pretty bad. Voices with strong accents can also be captioned incorrectly, resulting in some hilarious captions.

Also, YouTube subtitles are not indexed by search engines because of the various amounts of errors. When videos are not indexed, search engines will be unable to find your YouTube video and very few people will ever have the opportunity to enjoy it.

Google robots, although extremely intelligent in delivering useful and relevant content, cannot see images, hear sounds or interpret anything other than text. They rely on the written word to guide them towards the right search results.

So, by adding captions to your videos, you are helping Google to find you and present your videos above those of your competitors.

My point is, don’t rely on YouTube automatic captioning if you want to increase your number of subscribers and impress them with your high-quality videos.

• Increase viewership and user engagement: Get more people to watch more of your video and give it the thumbs up. The more minutes viewers spend watching your video, the better your chances of boosting your visibility online.
• Improve your SEO ranking: By adding subtitles to your YouTube videos you are assisting Google in finding your content and offering your videos to users searching for the type of information you have created.
• Accessibility to a wider audience: Captions enable 360 million deaf and hard of hearing people worldwide to access your video content and get value from your videos.
• Not audible, no problem: Whether your audience is on a noisy train on their way to work or pretending to study at their local library, when your video has captions they’ll enjoy watching it anywhere and at any time, compared to videos without captions.
• International reach: Content published in multiple languages will be viewed by different people all across the world, boosting your viewing traffic.

You have three options. You can either 1. Leave it to YouTube’s automatic subtitling, 2. Do it yourself, or 3. Request the services of a professional.

You can always decide to do the captioning yourself and save some money. However, this is no easy task. Here’s a general breakdown of the steps you can expect.

1. Write down all the text you’re going to use as captions, word-for-word.
2. Upload tour YouTube video.
3. Search and choose a Video Manager. You might want to start with a free trial.
4. Upload your video to the Video Manager.
5. Type in your captions. Remember to check your grammar and facts.
6. You’ll most likely have to choose the timeframes subtitles are shown, be careful not to disrupt the natural flow of information and make sure it fits with the video’s visuals.
7. Once you’re done, download the Video Manager file and add it to your YouTube video.

Repeat with every video you publish. Remember to review and correct any errors before uploading.

If you want to integrate closed captions on your YouTube or Facebook video, you need a professional captioning service and for a limited time, you can get 50% off your first YouTube video when you use 121 Captions. 

Don’t rely on YouTube automatic captioning, request your first 121 Captioned YouTube video today.