How to Add Timestamps to YouTube Video to Increase Views

How to Add Timestamps YouTube Video?

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

YouTube has more than 2 billion logged-in monthly users as of now. Every year, this number keeps increasing more and more since now this platform is available in 80 different languages. Be it marketers or corporate creators, everybody is moving towards the platform to present their content to the audience. Thanks to the prominence of this platform amongst the users, it can attract an enormous amount of traffic from all over the globe.

Video marketers, in these times, are trying to make use of this popularity for promoting their brands and products. YouTube Timestamp is also one such tool of this platform that helps you gain recognition and attention from your viewers.

In this article, we will be helping you learn about what Timestamp is, how to add Timestamps to your YouTube videos, and much more.

• Part 1: YouTube Timestamp Introduction
• Part 2: Adding Timestamps to YouTube Video on Desktop
• Part 3: Adding Timestamps to YouTube Videos on Mobile
• part 4: Benefits of Adding Timestamps to YouTube Videos
• Part 5: Tips for Adding Timestamps to YouTube Videos

Part 1: What is a YouTube Timestamp?

A YouTube Timestamp is one of the ‘key moments’ features of Google. It is the best method to link your user to a specific moment of your video. It is very often noticed that people keep skipping the content, as they cannot find what they have been looking for.

In such cases, you can prefer adding the YouTube video Timestamps to improve the retention of the viewers for a longer time. What is more interesting about it is that you can also provide a reference in minutes and seconds of the video.

Part 2: How to Add Timestamps to YouTube Video on Desktop?

A very few YouTube videos at present have Timestamps in them. It usually is due to the reason that majority of people are not aware of it. Or, in some other cases, they are still wondering, ‘how to add Timestamps to YouTube video.’

In detail, let us tell you how you can add these timestamps to your videos on Desktop.

1. Log in to your YouTube and move to the ‘Description’ section on the video.
2. For linking a specific part to timestamp, begin by typing the time in the format minutes:seconds.

1. Then add your keyword to the specific video segment and click on ‘Save.’
2. Reload the published video and then check the ‘Description’ section once again and update it accordingly.

That is it, and you are done with adding Timestamps to a YouTube video!

Note: you need to add 0:00 at the beginning of the timestamps so that they can show up. And you may need to add 3 or more timestamps, and each should last 10 seconds or longer.

Part 3: How to Add Timestamps to YouTube Videos on Mobile?

So, when it is about adding the timestamps on mobile, things are a bit different for sure! However, we have done a thorough research and managed to get a step-by-step tutorial to add these timestamps to YouTube videos on the mobile app.

1. Log in to the YouTube Studio app on your mobile.
2. Click on the ‘Menu’ icon, which is present in the upper left corner of the screen.
3. Select the video and press on the video where you want to add timestamps.
4. Click on the pencil icon, which is present on the topmost right corner of the screen and then add timestamps in the description!

Format - The time is indicated by t=, which is followed by the number of seconds you want the video to start playing from. t= 2m46s is an example of a Timestamp. If the URL of the video contains a question mark (?) at the end, then, in that case, use the ampersand (&) before the time stamp. Example - &t=2m46ss!

Note - Make sure the initial timestamp is “0:00 Start” to activate the YouTube Chapters function. To use YouTube Chapters, you need to add at least three chapters to a video, with each chapter lasting at least ten seconds.

Part 4: Why Should You Add Timestamps to YouTube Videos?

A few reasons why YouTube Timestamps are a must for you to try are mentioned below. Make sure that you go through them!

• Increased SEO Opportunities

The use of YouTube Timestamps can be regarded as a very useful SEO video hack. The ranking of YouTube videos is completely based on the watch time and retention of the audience. Hence, when a user clicks on the Timestamp, YouTube will log this as two views. The initial click counts as the first view. Next will be the second view, which is the Timestamped moment of the video. This 2-on-1 benefit helps in increasing the video ranking.

Now, it is time for all the YouTube creators to switch to this feature for higher rankings. This will take off in 2021, particularly amongst the mobile phone users, since now even Google supports Timestamp hyperlinks. Timestamps will become increasingly important for YouTubers in the coming year.

• User Experience Enhanced

Jumbling for a specific part of a video can be annoying for the user, and they might end up closing it. Anyone would not certainly want to watch the entire 15 minutes of video for nugget-sized information. Hence, using Timestamps is indeed a benefit for you. With this feature, you can now overcome this issue and get a huge victory of an increase in the count of viewers.

• Perk for the Mobile Users

Google has started rewarding the Timestamps for the YouTube videos. It appears to be paying attention to the Timestamps on the videos and then linking to each chapter or header in the YouTube description.

Part 5: Should I Add Timestamps to All YouTube Videos?

Almost every video put up on the internet is designed so as to get optimized as per the SEO trends. Google has mentioned it clearly that “how-to videos which have multiple steps, should have Timestamps .” However, the truth is that every video which is long and has multiple pointers or steps in it should have the YouTube Timestamps in it.

From product reviews to the help tutorials, can reap benefits from this feature of YouTube. This is something you should think about before you start adding chapters to your video.

Conclusion

One of the most effective methods to boost visibility about your brand or product is to create entertaining content online. Using Timestamps in your videos, you may enhance the ranking of your video, enhance the viewer experience, and develop long-term partnerships with a larger audience. You can certainly try experimenting with YouTube at any point in your video and see what happens.

Comment below with your opinions on the results of this new feature and how you feel it impacts your business.

Click here


Richard Bennett

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

Follow @Richard Bennett

Exploring Streaming Options: Vimeo vs YouTube’s Popularity

Vimeo vs YouTube vs Dailymotion: Which Video Platform is Right for You?

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If you are an upcoming entrepreneur who is looking forward to an effective video marketing strategy then you have to come to a decision regarding the portal you want to use for your marketing. As you should know by now YouTube , Dailymotion and Vimeo are the 3 major players in the field of video marketing. In this article, we are going to give you a comparative analysis of all these video sharing platforms so that you can select the one most suited to your needs.

• Part 1: Detailed Comparison of Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion
• Part 2: Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Compare Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion in 4 Aspects

1. Content

Before deciding which video platform to choose, you need to find out about the content in which each of them specializes.

Youtube: If your content is more related to entertainment then YouTube is the platform to go for.

Vimeo: Vimeo is a closed community specializing in videos by artists from various genres and is considered to be a more creative platform than YouTube.

Dailymotion: Dailymotion has a fair share of both but it resembles the YouTube trend.

2. Audience Size and Membership

Youtube: YouTube’s audience is large, with over 1 billion users that watch hundreds of millions of hours of content – each day! Vimeo has a much smaller for their audience, its 170 million viewers, about 42 million are in the United States.

Vimeo: Vimeo comes with 4 membership options – the Basic which is available for free and the paid Plus, ($59.95/ year) Pro ($199.00 a year), and Business membership ($599.00 a year). The storage level and support for each membership option vary. The free membership is limited to just 500 MB/week. YouTube and Dailymotion on the other hand are totally free, and Youtube gives unlimited hosting. However YouTube Red is a $9.99 subscription service that will allow you to watch ad-free videos and download them for watching offline.

_Read this Vimeo introduction >>> _

Dailymotion: DailyMotion is the world’s second-largest video-sharing website behind YouTube, statistics claimed by both companies show that YouTube has a significant advantage over DailyMotion in terms of unique site visits, totaling one billion visits per month compared with DailyMotion’s 112 million visits per month.

_Know more about Dailymotion >>> _

3. Limitation of Videos

Youtube: One of the best parts about this platform is that it doesn’t come with any upload limit.

Dailymotion: Regular users can upload 60 minutes videos of 2 GB limit and the quality of upload is limited to 1280 720p.

Vimeo: With a Basic plan, you can upload 500MB/week, with a Plus plan you can upload 5GB/week and with Pro plan you will be able to upload unlimited videos with a per-file limit of 25 GB.

4. User Experience

To begin with, both Vimeo and YouTube had a very similar kind of user interface. This has gradually evolved over the years and these days the user interface of Vimeo is more attractive than YouTube. Vimeo would give the user fewer adverts, offer easy navigation and of course, allow them to watch the videos on a large video player. Though these days YouTube is also offering a ‘theatre mode’ for the full-screen view along with a skip adoption, yet the quality of its user experience is still isn’t at par with Vimeo. YouTube is still trying its best to satisfy its one billion/month users but still, Vimeo is the winner when it comes to unparalleled user experience.

Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Before uploading your video on any one of these above-mentioned platforms the first thing you have to do is get your videos edited. The Wondershare Filmora is a comprehensive video editor that is ideal for use by beginners. With this software, you will be able to nicely edit a video even if you have no prior knowledge about video editing. This easy to use video editing software is loaded with lots of useful features which can be effectively used by the casual and novice editors. This software is packed with all you need to create good quality videos for your audience on YouTube, Vimeo, or DailyMotion. All you need to do is import the video clips and choose a piece of pre-programmed music and theme for your video. The software would then analyze your video clips and automatically create a video for you.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison