Whilst YouTube’s auto-caption feature is great, it isn’t 100% accurate. But don’t worry, you can edit them yourself!
It’s important to have accurate captions, as they make your content more accessible to a broader audience, improve your SEO, and add a professional touch to your videos.
What are closed captions?
Closed captions are a transcription of the audio content of a video. They’re different from open captions, which are always visible on the video screen. Closed captions, on the other hand, can be turned on and off by the viewer.
Why use closed captions on YouTube?
Closed captions are crucial for making your content more accessible. They allow viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing to enjoy your content. Also, captions can improve your video’s SEO by making it easier for search engines to crawl your content.
Captions also increase engagement, as viewers can follow along with the content even when they can’t hear it.
Finally, captions add a professional touch to your videos, making them more polished and refined.
How to edit YouTube auto captions
Editing your YouTube auto-captions is a straightforward process. Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Go to your YouTube Studio dashboard
Log in to your YouTube account and go to your YouTube Studio dashboard. This is where you can access all of your videos and make changes to them.
Click on Content, then select the video you want to edit. Click on the video’s thumbnail to bring up the video’s details.
Step 2: Go to the “Subtitles” tab
In the video details on the left hand side, click on the “Subtitles” tab. This will bring up a list of all the available subtitle tracks for your video.
Step 3: Choose the subtitle track you want to edit
Select the “Duplicate and Edit” option beside the “English (Automatic)” subtitle track . That’ll open up the caption editor so you can make changes.
Step 4: Make your edits
Use the text editor to make your edits. You can add, delete, or change words and phrases as needed. Make sure to add capitalisation at the start of words and full stops too, YoiTube misses them out a lot! You can adjust the timing of the captions by shifting the caption ‘blocks’ in the timeline at the bottom of the screen.
Step 5: Publish your changes
If everything looks good, click on the “Publish” button to publish your changes. Your updated captions will now be available to viewers.
Editing automated captions on YouTube is a simple process that can make a big difference in the accessibility, SEO, and engagement of your videos.
With just a few easy steps, you can edit your captions to ensure they are accurate and professional. Following the steps outlined in this blog post, you can make your content accessible to a broader audience and improve its overall quality. So the next time you upload a video to YouTube, don’t forget to edit your captions!
