Charting the Course to YouTube Fame: Strategic Video Release Frequency

How Often Should You Upload Videos to YouTube to Get More Views

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

How often should you upload to YouTube?

Scheduling isn’t the most glamourous part of being a YouTube creator, but it is important. Having a schedule and sticking to it is one of the best ways to grow your subscriber base , keep your existing subscribers engaged , and keep yourself from drifting away from YouTube.

1. Be Specific About Your YouTube Posting Schedule
2. Make Your Upload Schedule Public
3. Remember That Posting on YouTube Takes Time
4. Bank YouTube Videos
5. Set Realistic Goals

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Creative people don’t always like the idea of scheduling. You either feel inspired or you don’t (click here to learn how to come up with video ideas ). If that means you go a month without posting and then post 3 times in one week, what’s the harm in that?

The harm is that your channel will grow more slowly, you won’t get as many views on the videos when you post them, and if you do manage to bring in new subscribers they might forget about you by the next time you’re feeling inspired. Making great content that you really care about is essential to being successful on YouTube, but it isn’t the only important thing.

Sticking to a schedule is one of Phil’s most important tips for getting subs!

Here are 5 tips on how you can make a schedule for yourself and actually stick to it. Read to the end to find out which are the best days to post to YouTube!

People who read this also read：
5 Tips To Get More Views With YouTube Video Optimization [Free Checklist] >>

1. Be Specific About Your YouTube Posting Schedule

Don’t just say you’re going to post a new video every week, decide on a specific day and time. If your subscribers expect new posts from you Thursdays at 4 pm, they will check your channel for those new posts every Thursday at 4 pm. This will make it easier for you to keep your view count close to your subscriber count.

The other benefit of being specific about your posting time is that the more specific you are, the less wiggle room you give yourself. Setting a clear deadline with yourself makes it harder to procrastinate.

2. Make Your YouTube Upload Schedule Public

Post your schedule somewhere potential subscribers can see it like in your channel banner, intro, or video descriptions. The reason schedules work as a tool for growth is that they allow your audience to build up anticipation. It will be easier for newcomers to your channel to feel that anticipation if you start setting expectations for them on their first visit.

Committing publicly to a posting schedule means making a promise to your viewers. If you break that promise, they will be disappointed. This social pressure should help to keep you posting consistently.

3. Remember That Posting on YouTube Takes Time

When you decide what day you want to post on, make sure that it’s a day where you have a lot of time to spend on things like writing your description, promoting your video, and answering comments.

It might be helpful to set a private deadline for yourself the day before your official post to upload your video and enter all of your metadata (title, description, tags). Then you can keep the video private until it’s time to post. You might also want to check out these tips on how to export and upload faster .

4. Bank YouTube Videos

It might happen that one week you’re full of ideas and energy and making videos is a breeze. It can be tempting to abandon your schedule and post more than normal, but you should resist that urge. Don’t waste all that energy – make the videos – but instead of posting them all right away, you should save them for weeks where you aren’t feeling the same enthusiasm.

5. Set Realistic Goals

Your schedule shouldn’t leave you feeling burnt out. When you’re coming up with your schedule, think realistically about how much time you have to devote to YouTube and how much time you need to spend on a video. Give yourself enough time that you can keep to your schedule without feeling rushed.

Never make your schedule based on what other YouTubers are doing. Your lives are different.

Posting once a week is a good standard schedule, but if you like to spend a lot of time editing your videos and you work full time then maybe once a week isn’t realistic for you. Maybe you should post once every two weeks.

The Best Days and Times to Post to YouTube

The best times to post are Thursdays and Fridays between 12 and 3pm (in the time zone of the majority of your subscribers – just check analytics in your Creator Studio). These are the times when there are the most viewers available to watch your videos. Monday and Tuesday are the worst days to post.

Amy’s scheduling advice: don’t bite off more than you can chew!

So, how many times do you upload per week, or per month? How often should you upload to YouTube?

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

How often should you upload to YouTube?

Scheduling isn’t the most glamourous part of being a YouTube creator, but it is important. Having a schedule and sticking to it is one of the best ways to grow your subscriber base , keep your existing subscribers engaged , and keep yourself from drifting away from YouTube.

1. Be Specific About Your YouTube Posting Schedule
2. Make Your Upload Schedule Public
3. Remember That Posting on YouTube Takes Time
4. Bank YouTube Videos
5. Set Realistic Goals

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Creative people don’t always like the idea of scheduling. You either feel inspired or you don’t (click here to learn how to come up with video ideas ). If that means you go a month without posting and then post 3 times in one week, what’s the harm in that?

The harm is that your channel will grow more slowly, you won’t get as many views on the videos when you post them, and if you do manage to bring in new subscribers they might forget about you by the next time you’re feeling inspired. Making great content that you really care about is essential to being successful on YouTube, but it isn’t the only important thing.

Sticking to a schedule is one of Phil’s most important tips for getting subs!

Here are 5 tips on how you can make a schedule for yourself and actually stick to it. Read to the end to find out which are the best days to post to YouTube!

People who read this also read：
5 Tips To Get More Views With YouTube Video Optimization [Free Checklist] >>

1. Be Specific About Your YouTube Posting Schedule

Don’t just say you’re going to post a new video every week, decide on a specific day and time. If your subscribers expect new posts from you Thursdays at 4 pm, they will check your channel for those new posts every Thursday at 4 pm. This will make it easier for you to keep your view count close to your subscriber count.

The other benefit of being specific about your posting time is that the more specific you are, the less wiggle room you give yourself. Setting a clear deadline with yourself makes it harder to procrastinate.

2. Make Your YouTube Upload Schedule Public

Post your schedule somewhere potential subscribers can see it like in your channel banner, intro, or video descriptions. The reason schedules work as a tool for growth is that they allow your audience to build up anticipation. It will be easier for newcomers to your channel to feel that anticipation if you start setting expectations for them on their first visit.

Committing publicly to a posting schedule means making a promise to your viewers. If you break that promise, they will be disappointed. This social pressure should help to keep you posting consistently.

3. Remember That Posting on YouTube Takes Time

When you decide what day you want to post on, make sure that it’s a day where you have a lot of time to spend on things like writing your description, promoting your video, and answering comments.

It might be helpful to set a private deadline for yourself the day before your official post to upload your video and enter all of your metadata (title, description, tags). Then you can keep the video private until it’s time to post. You might also want to check out these tips on how to export and upload faster .

4. Bank YouTube Videos

It might happen that one week you’re full of ideas and energy and making videos is a breeze. It can be tempting to abandon your schedule and post more than normal, but you should resist that urge. Don’t waste all that energy – make the videos – but instead of posting them all right away, you should save them for weeks where you aren’t feeling the same enthusiasm.

5. Set Realistic Goals

Your schedule shouldn’t leave you feeling burnt out. When you’re coming up with your schedule, think realistically about how much time you have to devote to YouTube and how much time you need to spend on a video. Give yourself enough time that you can keep to your schedule without feeling rushed.

Never make your schedule based on what other YouTubers are doing. Your lives are different.

Posting once a week is a good standard schedule, but if you like to spend a lot of time editing your videos and you work full time then maybe once a week isn’t realistic for you. Maybe you should post once every two weeks.

The Best Days and Times to Post to YouTube

The best times to post are Thursdays and Fridays between 12 and 3pm (in the time zone of the majority of your subscribers – just check analytics in your Creator Studio). These are the times when there are the most viewers available to watch your videos. Monday and Tuesday are the worst days to post.

Amy’s scheduling advice: don’t bite off more than you can chew!

So, how many times do you upload per week, or per month? How often should you upload to YouTube?

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

How often should you upload to YouTube?

Scheduling isn’t the most glamourous part of being a YouTube creator, but it is important. Having a schedule and sticking to it is one of the best ways to grow your subscriber base , keep your existing subscribers engaged , and keep yourself from drifting away from YouTube.

1. Be Specific About Your YouTube Posting Schedule
2. Make Your Upload Schedule Public
3. Remember That Posting on YouTube Takes Time
4. Bank YouTube Videos
5. Set Realistic Goals

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Creative people don’t always like the idea of scheduling. You either feel inspired or you don’t (click here to learn how to come up with video ideas ). If that means you go a month without posting and then post 3 times in one week, what’s the harm in that?

The harm is that your channel will grow more slowly, you won’t get as many views on the videos when you post them, and if you do manage to bring in new subscribers they might forget about you by the next time you’re feeling inspired. Making great content that you really care about is essential to being successful on YouTube, but it isn’t the only important thing.

Sticking to a schedule is one of Phil’s most important tips for getting subs!

Here are 5 tips on how you can make a schedule for yourself and actually stick to it. Read to the end to find out which are the best days to post to YouTube!

People who read this also read：
5 Tips To Get More Views With YouTube Video Optimization [Free Checklist] >>

1. Be Specific About Your YouTube Posting Schedule

Don’t just say you’re going to post a new video every week, decide on a specific day and time. If your subscribers expect new posts from you Thursdays at 4 pm, they will check your channel for those new posts every Thursday at 4 pm. This will make it easier for you to keep your view count close to your subscriber count.

The other benefit of being specific about your posting time is that the more specific you are, the less wiggle room you give yourself. Setting a clear deadline with yourself makes it harder to procrastinate.

2. Make Your YouTube Upload Schedule Public

Post your schedule somewhere potential subscribers can see it like in your channel banner, intro, or video descriptions. The reason schedules work as a tool for growth is that they allow your audience to build up anticipation. It will be easier for newcomers to your channel to feel that anticipation if you start setting expectations for them on their first visit.

Committing publicly to a posting schedule means making a promise to your viewers. If you break that promise, they will be disappointed. This social pressure should help to keep you posting consistently.

3. Remember That Posting on YouTube Takes Time

When you decide what day you want to post on, make sure that it’s a day where you have a lot of time to spend on things like writing your description, promoting your video, and answering comments.

It might be helpful to set a private deadline for yourself the day before your official post to upload your video and enter all of your metadata (title, description, tags). Then you can keep the video private until it’s time to post. You might also want to check out these tips on how to export and upload faster .

4. Bank YouTube Videos

It might happen that one week you’re full of ideas and energy and making videos is a breeze. It can be tempting to abandon your schedule and post more than normal, but you should resist that urge. Don’t waste all that energy – make the videos – but instead of posting them all right away, you should save them for weeks where you aren’t feeling the same enthusiasm.

5. Set Realistic Goals

Your schedule shouldn’t leave you feeling burnt out. When you’re coming up with your schedule, think realistically about how much time you have to devote to YouTube and how much time you need to spend on a video. Give yourself enough time that you can keep to your schedule without feeling rushed.

Never make your schedule based on what other YouTubers are doing. Your lives are different.

Posting once a week is a good standard schedule, but if you like to spend a lot of time editing your videos and you work full time then maybe once a week isn’t realistic for you. Maybe you should post once every two weeks.

The Best Days and Times to Post to YouTube

The best times to post are Thursdays and Fridays between 12 and 3pm (in the time zone of the majority of your subscribers – just check analytics in your Creator Studio). These are the times when there are the most viewers available to watch your videos. Monday and Tuesday are the worst days to post.

Amy’s scheduling advice: don’t bite off more than you can chew!

So, how many times do you upload per week, or per month? How often should you upload to YouTube?


Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

How often should you upload to YouTube?

Scheduling isn’t the most glamourous part of being a YouTube creator, but it is important. Having a schedule and sticking to it is one of the best ways to grow your subscriber base , keep your existing subscribers engaged , and keep yourself from drifting away from YouTube.

1. Be Specific About Your YouTube Posting Schedule
2. Make Your Upload Schedule Public
3. Remember That Posting on YouTube Takes Time
4. Bank YouTube Videos
5. Set Realistic Goals

Polish Your YouTube Videos with Filmora

As one of the most widely used video editing software in YouTube video editing, Filmora provides lots of templates and effects with an intuitive interface, which saves much time. Download the free trial version and get started now.

Creative people don’t always like the idea of scheduling. You either feel inspired or you don’t (click here to learn how to come up with video ideas ). If that means you go a month without posting and then post 3 times in one week, what’s the harm in that?

The harm is that your channel will grow more slowly, you won’t get as many views on the videos when you post them, and if you do manage to bring in new subscribers they might forget about you by the next time you’re feeling inspired. Making great content that you really care about is essential to being successful on YouTube, but it isn’t the only important thing.

Sticking to a schedule is one of Phil’s most important tips for getting subs!

Here are 5 tips on how you can make a schedule for yourself and actually stick to it. Read to the end to find out which are the best days to post to YouTube!

People who read this also read：
5 Tips To Get More Views With YouTube Video Optimization [Free Checklist] >>

1. Be Specific About Your YouTube Posting Schedule

Don’t just say you’re going to post a new video every week, decide on a specific day and time. If your subscribers expect new posts from you Thursdays at 4 pm, they will check your channel for those new posts every Thursday at 4 pm. This will make it easier for you to keep your view count close to your subscriber count.

The other benefit of being specific about your posting time is that the more specific you are, the less wiggle room you give yourself. Setting a clear deadline with yourself makes it harder to procrastinate.

2. Make Your YouTube Upload Schedule Public

Post your schedule somewhere potential subscribers can see it like in your channel banner, intro, or video descriptions. The reason schedules work as a tool for growth is that they allow your audience to build up anticipation. It will be easier for newcomers to your channel to feel that anticipation if you start setting expectations for them on their first visit.

Committing publicly to a posting schedule means making a promise to your viewers. If you break that promise, they will be disappointed. This social pressure should help to keep you posting consistently.

3. Remember That Posting on YouTube Takes Time

When you decide what day you want to post on, make sure that it’s a day where you have a lot of time to spend on things like writing your description, promoting your video, and answering comments.

It might be helpful to set a private deadline for yourself the day before your official post to upload your video and enter all of your metadata (title, description, tags). Then you can keep the video private until it’s time to post. You might also want to check out these tips on how to export and upload faster .

4. Bank YouTube Videos

It might happen that one week you’re full of ideas and energy and making videos is a breeze. It can be tempting to abandon your schedule and post more than normal, but you should resist that urge. Don’t waste all that energy – make the videos – but instead of posting them all right away, you should save them for weeks where you aren’t feeling the same enthusiasm.

5. Set Realistic Goals

Your schedule shouldn’t leave you feeling burnt out. When you’re coming up with your schedule, think realistically about how much time you have to devote to YouTube and how much time you need to spend on a video. Give yourself enough time that you can keep to your schedule without feeling rushed.

Never make your schedule based on what other YouTubers are doing. Your lives are different.

Posting once a week is a good standard schedule, but if you like to spend a lot of time editing your videos and you work full time then maybe once a week isn’t realistic for you. Maybe you should post once every two weeks.

The Best Days and Times to Post to YouTube

The best times to post are Thursdays and Fridays between 12 and 3pm (in the time zone of the majority of your subscribers – just check analytics in your Creator Studio). These are the times when there are the most viewers available to watch your videos. Monday and Tuesday are the worst days to post.

Amy’s scheduling advice: don’t bite off more than you can chew!

So, how many times do you upload per week, or per month? How often should you upload to YouTube?

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Quick Tips: Adding Captions in YouTube Videos

How To Add Captions to YouTube Videos

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

By captioning your YouTube videos you help to make them accessible to more potential viewers. Subtitles are useful to viewers who have hearing impairments, whose first language is different from yours, or who are unable to watch your video with sound. Closed captioning can also be useful for you as a YouTuber because it helps with your SEO, or search engine optimization. Practicing better SEO can get your videos ranked higher in search results. Google and YouTube both index subtitles and transcripts much like they do your video’s description, unless you use automated captions.

This article will first explain how you can turn on subtitles for the videos you watch and then walk you through adding captions to your own videos.

How To Turn On Captions on YouTube

In order for you to be able to view subtitles for a YouTube video the uploader of the video will need to have added them, unless you change your account settings to display automatic captions.

To toggle subtitles on and off click on the Closed Captioning icon in the bottom right of your video player.

If the creator of the video has not added captions then you can enable automatic captions by going into your Account Settings and selecting Playback. Check the box next to Always Show Captions, and then check Show Automatic Captions by Speech Recognition. These captions may be flawed, but you will still be able to see the more accurate user submitted captions on videos that have them. The Always Show Captions feature may be useful not only to the hearing impaired, but to users who do not speak the same language as the video producer.

If you want to change the language of the subtitles click on the settings icon (the one that looks like a gear) next to the closed captioning icon and choose your language next to Subtitles/CC . If the language you want is not there select Auto-Translate and then pick a language. Google Translate will be used to generate subtitles in your chosen language.

Adding YouTube Captions in 4 Steps

1. Go to Video Manager in your Creator Studio and then look at your videos. Decide which one you want to add captions to.

2. Click on the drop-down menu next to the video you want to add captions to and choose Subtitles and CC.

3. Select Add New Subtitles or CC.

4. Choose whether to create your captions, upload a file that has them, transcribe your video, use automatic captioning, or use captioning software.

Create Subtitles or Closed Captions will allow you to create your subtitles on YouTube.

Upload A File allows you to upload a pre-made subtitle file from your computer. Supported file types include SubRip (.srt) and SubViewer (.sbv). You cannot use a word or PDF document for your subtitles.

Transcribe and Set Timings is where you can type a transcript of your video and set timings to sync it to your video. This differs from Create Subtitles or Closed Captions in that your transcript is all typed in to one text field.

Use Automatic Captioning will automatically use speech recognition technology to create captions. You can edit these auto-generated captions later if there are mistakes.

Use Captioning Software or Services is what you choose if you want to use a program or service to create the subtitles for your video.

The easiest way to add subtitles to your videos is to use Automatic Captioning. However, Automatic Captioning is imperfect and may result in your viewers getting a sloppy, skewed, interpretation of your video. Automatic captions are also not indexed by YouTube and Google the way subtitles you create or upload are. This means that they will not have any value to your SEO strategy. If you do not input your own captions or transcript you are missing out on an opportunity for better search engine rankings. Automatic Captions are great if you do not have time to input subtitles and need a temporary solution, though.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

By captioning your YouTube videos you help to make them accessible to more potential viewers. Subtitles are useful to viewers who have hearing impairments, whose first language is different from yours, or who are unable to watch your video with sound. Closed captioning can also be useful for you as a YouTuber because it helps with your SEO, or search engine optimization. Practicing better SEO can get your videos ranked higher in search results. Google and YouTube both index subtitles and transcripts much like they do your video’s description, unless you use automated captions.

This article will first explain how you can turn on subtitles for the videos you watch and then walk you through adding captions to your own videos.

How To Turn On Captions on YouTube

In order for you to be able to view subtitles for a YouTube video the uploader of the video will need to have added them, unless you change your account settings to display automatic captions.

To toggle subtitles on and off click on the Closed Captioning icon in the bottom right of your video player.

If the creator of the video has not added captions then you can enable automatic captions by going into your Account Settings and selecting Playback. Check the box next to Always Show Captions, and then check Show Automatic Captions by Speech Recognition. These captions may be flawed, but you will still be able to see the more accurate user submitted captions on videos that have them. The Always Show Captions feature may be useful not only to the hearing impaired, but to users who do not speak the same language as the video producer.

If you want to change the language of the subtitles click on the settings icon (the one that looks like a gear) next to the closed captioning icon and choose your language next to Subtitles/CC . If the language you want is not there select Auto-Translate and then pick a language. Google Translate will be used to generate subtitles in your chosen language.

Adding YouTube Captions in 4 Steps

1. Go to Video Manager in your Creator Studio and then look at your videos. Decide which one you want to add captions to.

2. Click on the drop-down menu next to the video you want to add captions to and choose Subtitles and CC.

3. Select Add New Subtitles or CC.

4. Choose whether to create your captions, upload a file that has them, transcribe your video, use automatic captioning, or use captioning software.

Create Subtitles or Closed Captions will allow you to create your subtitles on YouTube.

Upload A File allows you to upload a pre-made subtitle file from your computer. Supported file types include SubRip (.srt) and SubViewer (.sbv). You cannot use a word or PDF document for your subtitles.

Transcribe and Set Timings is where you can type a transcript of your video and set timings to sync it to your video. This differs from Create Subtitles or Closed Captions in that your transcript is all typed in to one text field.

Use Automatic Captioning will automatically use speech recognition technology to create captions. You can edit these auto-generated captions later if there are mistakes.

Use Captioning Software or Services is what you choose if you want to use a program or service to create the subtitles for your video.

The easiest way to add subtitles to your videos is to use Automatic Captioning. However, Automatic Captioning is imperfect and may result in your viewers getting a sloppy, skewed, interpretation of your video. Automatic captions are also not indexed by YouTube and Google the way subtitles you create or upload are. This means that they will not have any value to your SEO strategy. If you do not input your own captions or transcript you are missing out on an opportunity for better search engine rankings. Automatic Captions are great if you do not have time to input subtitles and need a temporary solution, though.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

By captioning your YouTube videos you help to make them accessible to more potential viewers. Subtitles are useful to viewers who have hearing impairments, whose first language is different from yours, or who are unable to watch your video with sound. Closed captioning can also be useful for you as a YouTuber because it helps with your SEO, or search engine optimization. Practicing better SEO can get your videos ranked higher in search results. Google and YouTube both index subtitles and transcripts much like they do your video’s description, unless you use automated captions.

This article will first explain how you can turn on subtitles for the videos you watch and then walk you through adding captions to your own videos.

How To Turn On Captions on YouTube

In order for you to be able to view subtitles for a YouTube video the uploader of the video will need to have added them, unless you change your account settings to display automatic captions.

To toggle subtitles on and off click on the Closed Captioning icon in the bottom right of your video player.

If the creator of the video has not added captions then you can enable automatic captions by going into your Account Settings and selecting Playback. Check the box next to Always Show Captions, and then check Show Automatic Captions by Speech Recognition. These captions may be flawed, but you will still be able to see the more accurate user submitted captions on videos that have them. The Always Show Captions feature may be useful not only to the hearing impaired, but to users who do not speak the same language as the video producer.

If you want to change the language of the subtitles click on the settings icon (the one that looks like a gear) next to the closed captioning icon and choose your language next to Subtitles/CC . If the language you want is not there select Auto-Translate and then pick a language. Google Translate will be used to generate subtitles in your chosen language.

Adding YouTube Captions in 4 Steps

1. Go to Video Manager in your Creator Studio and then look at your videos. Decide which one you want to add captions to.

2. Click on the drop-down menu next to the video you want to add captions to and choose Subtitles and CC.

3. Select Add New Subtitles or CC.

4. Choose whether to create your captions, upload a file that has them, transcribe your video, use automatic captioning, or use captioning software.

Create Subtitles or Closed Captions will allow you to create your subtitles on YouTube.

Upload A File allows you to upload a pre-made subtitle file from your computer. Supported file types include SubRip (.srt) and SubViewer (.sbv). You cannot use a word or PDF document for your subtitles.

Transcribe and Set Timings is where you can type a transcript of your video and set timings to sync it to your video. This differs from Create Subtitles or Closed Captions in that your transcript is all typed in to one text field.

Use Automatic Captioning will automatically use speech recognition technology to create captions. You can edit these auto-generated captions later if there are mistakes.

Use Captioning Software or Services is what you choose if you want to use a program or service to create the subtitles for your video.

The easiest way to add subtitles to your videos is to use Automatic Captioning. However, Automatic Captioning is imperfect and may result in your viewers getting a sloppy, skewed, interpretation of your video. Automatic captions are also not indexed by YouTube and Google the way subtitles you create or upload are. This means that they will not have any value to your SEO strategy. If you do not input your own captions or transcript you are missing out on an opportunity for better search engine rankings. Automatic Captions are great if you do not have time to input subtitles and need a temporary solution, though.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

By captioning your YouTube videos you help to make them accessible to more potential viewers. Subtitles are useful to viewers who have hearing impairments, whose first language is different from yours, or who are unable to watch your video with sound. Closed captioning can also be useful for you as a YouTuber because it helps with your SEO, or search engine optimization. Practicing better SEO can get your videos ranked higher in search results. Google and YouTube both index subtitles and transcripts much like they do your video’s description, unless you use automated captions.

This article will first explain how you can turn on subtitles for the videos you watch and then walk you through adding captions to your own videos.

How To Turn On Captions on YouTube

In order for you to be able to view subtitles for a YouTube video the uploader of the video will need to have added them, unless you change your account settings to display automatic captions.

To toggle subtitles on and off click on the Closed Captioning icon in the bottom right of your video player.

If the creator of the video has not added captions then you can enable automatic captions by going into your Account Settings and selecting Playback. Check the box next to Always Show Captions, and then check Show Automatic Captions by Speech Recognition. These captions may be flawed, but you will still be able to see the more accurate user submitted captions on videos that have them. The Always Show Captions feature may be useful not only to the hearing impaired, but to users who do not speak the same language as the video producer.

If you want to change the language of the subtitles click on the settings icon (the one that looks like a gear) next to the closed captioning icon and choose your language next to Subtitles/CC . If the language you want is not there select Auto-Translate and then pick a language. Google Translate will be used to generate subtitles in your chosen language.

Adding YouTube Captions in 4 Steps

1. Go to Video Manager in your Creator Studio and then look at your videos. Decide which one you want to add captions to.

2. Click on the drop-down menu next to the video you want to add captions to and choose Subtitles and CC.

3. Select Add New Subtitles or CC.

4. Choose whether to create your captions, upload a file that has them, transcribe your video, use automatic captioning, or use captioning software.

Create Subtitles or Closed Captions will allow you to create your subtitles on YouTube.

Upload A File allows you to upload a pre-made subtitle file from your computer. Supported file types include SubRip (.srt) and SubViewer (.sbv). You cannot use a word or PDF document for your subtitles.

Transcribe and Set Timings is where you can type a transcript of your video and set timings to sync it to your video. This differs from Create Subtitles or Closed Captions in that your transcript is all typed in to one text field.

Use Automatic Captioning will automatically use speech recognition technology to create captions. You can edit these auto-generated captions later if there are mistakes.

Use Captioning Software or Services is what you choose if you want to use a program or service to create the subtitles for your video.

The easiest way to add subtitles to your videos is to use Automatic Captioning. However, Automatic Captioning is imperfect and may result in your viewers getting a sloppy, skewed, interpretation of your video. Automatic captions are also not indexed by YouTube and Google the way subtitles you create or upload are. This means that they will not have any value to your SEO strategy. If you do not input your own captions or transcript you are missing out on an opportunity for better search engine rankings. Automatic Captions are great if you do not have time to input subtitles and need a temporary solution, though.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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