If you want to add timestamps or video chapters to your new or old videos and looking for some methods, then you’re in the right place. Here I will show you how to timestamp YouTube so that they show up on the YouTube video progress bar. This YouTube timestamp really helps users to navigate the part that they find interesting, find video chapters that they are looking for, or watch the video part that was left out during their previous watch. And for a creator, this feature helps you to rank videos in Google or YouTube search ranking, which I have explained thoroughly in the latter part of this article.
How to timestamp YouTube video –
Wait. before moving to the actual query, first; let me explain a little bit about what is a timestamp on YouTube? If you’re new to this feature then it is essential to know a brief about this YouTube feature.
Let’s say you have made a traveling video about your visit to North East India, and you decided to show all the different places you visit in one video which makes the video a longer one. If the video is too long then the viewer will feel difficult to watch the whole video in one go.
So, what can you do so that the audience who left the video in the middle of the video shall continue with the left part or see only the important places that you have mentioned in your traveling video that the audience is looking for? And the answer is YouTube timestamp. By applying this feature you can divide your video into various segments and name each segment after the name of the place.
I will show you how to add timestamps on YouTube by giving an example from my YouTube channel.
Before adding timestamps on a YouTube video, you need to meet the basic requirements of a video to be qualified to add timestamps, such as –
YouTube timestamp format –
- Your each timestamp duration should be at least 10 seconds.
- At least 3-time stamps you have to give to be qualified as a timestamp YouTube video.
- 1st stamp should always start with 00:00/00:00:00 formats. (Minutes:seconds/Hours:minutes:seconds)
- Only in the YouTube video description and YouTube comment section you can add a timestamp.
I will show you the exact process of how to add a YouTube stamp for both desktop and mobile –
For the desktop version –
Step 1- Go to your ‘YouTube Studio’.
Step 2 – Click ‘Upload Videos’ and select the file that you want to add timestamps.
From here onwards you can mention YouTube video chapters either in the description box or in the comment section box.
How to timestamp YouTube description –
You can put the timestamps at the beginning of the description or in the last past, there will be no problem at all.
Step 3- In the details page’s description box add your timestamp as shown in the below image.
Step 4 – After doing these, when you published this video, your YouTube timestamp will be added to your YouTube video just like the below image. You can see your video timestamps in 3 places, one on the YouTube video progress bar, one in the description box itself, and the third one can be seen below of description box as ‘Chapters’.
How to timestamp YouTube comments –
As a creator, if you don’t want to add your video timestamp in the description box then you can add your timestamps in the comment section also. To add your timestamps in the comment section please follow the below steps –
You can timestamp YouTube comments for both old and new just like the case of the description box.
Step 1 – To add timestamps in the comment section select your video as shown in the picture. Go to your dashboard and select the ‘Content’ tab.
Step 2 – Select the video that you want to add timestamp and click the ‘View on YouTube’ tab as shown in the below picture.
Step 3 – Automatically your video will be open in a new tab. Then go to the comment section and here you need to add your timestamp.
Step 4 – After writing the timestamp into the comment, click comment. Your YouTube timestamp will automatically add in the comment section.
How to create a timestamp in the comment section as an audience? Let’s assume you are watching a video tutorial about ‘Adobe Photoshop. But in the middle of the video you didn’t understand one of the topics then how can you ask the YouTuber about this confusion part. One effective method is by putting a timestamp on the comment section to ask the YouTuber.
Simply go to the comment section of the YouTube video and comment as in this format – Example (02:30 how to add layer).
For the mobile version –
To add YouTube timestamp on both the description and the comment box via mobile, the process and YouTube timestamp format are the same for the mobile version also as like as the desktop version that I have mentioned above.
Pros and cons of YouTube timestamp –
Adding YouTube timestamps to YouTube can be both advantages and disadvantages for the YouTube creator. But as an audience, you have full of advantages. There are various places where YouTube timestamps can be seen just as I have stated above like one is on the description page, one on the comment page, and one in the YouTube progress bar. Another place where you can find these video chapters is on the Google page as shown in the below pictures.
Between the posts –
Featured snippet –
As a YouTuber by adding YouTube timestamps, you can optimize your video to rank well in the Google or YouTube search, You can add more keywords in the timestamps by keyword research with different YouTube SEO free tools which will help you to rank your videos.
Also, you can keep the audience stuck with your video by navigating them to what they are looking for by adding the timestamps if your video is too long to watch. But your watch time will decrease to some extent by adding these timestamps as the audience only watch the video part that they are looking for.
How to share timestamp YouTube –
Let’s assume you want to share a long YouTube video with your close friend with a specific timestamp. Then what will you do? Below I have mentioned two methods step by step for this process –
First Method –
Step 1- First click the ‘share’ option of the YouTube video link that you want to share.
Step 2- A popup will come out, and you will see the ‘Start’ option as shown in the below image. First, you need to check it and then mentioned the time that you want to share with your friend. Then click the ‘Copy’ button and share it with your friend.
Second Method –
First copy the URL of the video and write this format (?t=_ _h_ _m_ _s) and share it with your friend.
Conclusion –
I hope, now you have an idea about how to add timestamps to the YouTube videos. If you have any suggestions about how to timestamp YouTube please feel free to comment down below.
