Google ranks YouTube videos highly in organic search results. For some queries, Google displays multiple YouTube videos at the top of the results, sometimes with a rich snippet thumbnail.
But there’s another way to make videos even more visible in search results: “key moments.”
When clicked, key moments scroll to display sections of a video. For example, Google’s top-ranked video for “how to learn knitting” includes these key moments:
- “How to tie a slip knot: 1:00 p.m.”
- “How to throw: 3:24”
- “How to knit: 6:32”
- “Knit the second row: 1:55 p.m.”
Google sometimes automatically generates key moments. But the best way to ensure inclusion is to create clickable timestamps that tell Google (and YouTube Search) about the components of a video.
Here are the timestamps for the knitting video above.
Creators can insert timestamps manually, but it takes time. New generative AI tools can do this in seconds.
Here are four of these tools. All require voiceover (for a transcription) as they analyze text to assign chapters in the video.
Instant Chapters
Instant Chapters automatically generates timestamps using AI. Provide the YouTube video URL and select the number of chapters you want to generate.
The tool comes with a 7-day unlimited free trial. A credit card is required. After that, it costs $9 per month for unlimited videos.
Zubtitle
Zubtitle generates subtitles for any uploaded video and, via the built-in wizard, a title, summary, social media posts and a “timeline”, i.e. timestamps.
The Bootstrapper (watermarked) version of Zubtitle is free forever. Premium plans start at $19 per month for 10 videos, 20 minutes total.
Decipher
Decipher is an AI-based tool for audio and video files. Upload a file and it will generate a transcript with a summary, extract notable quotes, create social media posts, generate subtitles (for key moments), and suggest a title. (For subtitles, click “Chapters” in the left panel.)
A limited version of Decipher is free. Paid versions start at $29 per month for 240 minutes of audio or video.
Taja
Taja optimizes YouTube videos for Google and YouTube search. Enter the URL of a YouTube video and Taja will generate a description with clickable chapters, tags and a title.
Taja offers a 7-day free trial, credit card required. Paid plans start at $17.50 per month for four videos.