Content creators must determine the best strategies to attract viewers as YouTube continues to dominate social media. Fortunately, adding accurate captions to your videos is one of the simplest ways to increase traffic and interaction on your channel. They also improve viewing duration and the likelihood that people will watch your videos all the way through.

A caption is a brief description or summary of any visual. On YouTube, we most commonly associate it with the button on the bottom right side of the video player, labeled “CC.”

Captioning your content is an extra step in the editing or upload process, but it's worth the effort. Here's why!

More than 400 million individuals are deaf or hearing impaired and cannot consume video content without captions or transcripts. Equipping your video with written text helps you reach a broader audience and share your message with a larger number of people.

As mobile devices become more popular for media consumption, the number of people watching YouTube while in transit or in public will grow. We know they aren’t turning on the speakers!

Online viewers have grown accustomed to closed captions, and for good reason. In a national research study conducted with Oregon State University, it was reported that 

 as a learning aid by improving comprehension.

But do videos with captions really do better on YouTube? What’s in it for creators? According to Meta, captioned videos (ads specifically) 

increase viewing time by an average of 12%

. But even if you aren't making ads, providing captions on 

Even a 30-second YouTube Short can feel more informational than a standard video just by adding captions!

A YouTube video with captions makes it easier for users to search for information within a piece of content. They can quickly find where particular things were stated, and timestamps indicate where they may find related information in the video.

Search engine algorithms may utilize your transcriptions to locate keywords and search terms in the video, so that's another reason to caption your content. Over time, this practice can improve your SEO and make your video rank higher on YouTube.

Plus, according to one study by Discovery Digital Networks, captioned videos had a

 in views in the first two weeks after being published. The numbers say it all: Captions do get you more views on YouTube!

By adding captions to your videos, you’re also opening the door to subtitles. With the help of subtitles, you can translate your content into various languages and attract more viewers. As stated in the beginning, this is where the bigger pool of audience is, and it only makes sense to make your channel inclusive towards all.

Content creators use recorded video or audio to generate clips, reels, and montages across other platforms, which improves discoverability. And adding captions can make that much easier.

While YouTube does provide its own tool to create and add real-time captions, the result is usually riddled with errors. The same issue also exists in the case of the live captioning feature. But this issue can be resolved very easily with a few hours of manual editing.

Alternatively, you can use third-party software like 

, which takes care of the accuracy issues. You will receive the subtitles in a popular format, like .SRT, and can simply attach it to your YouTube video.

Here's how to add captions to your videos:

1. Sign in to your YouTube account and navigate to YouTube Studio.

The YouTube studio option appears when you click your profile picture

The subtitles option is on the left navigation bar of the studio

5. On the next screen, edit YouTube's automatic captions or type in captions of your own by clicking inside any line of the track panel. Click 

You can also add captions as you're uploading a video; simply go through all the steps until you get to the captions screen.

Subtitles let you translate dialogue spoken in a different language or provide an alternative text for viewers. Captions, on the other hand, are primarily used to display the spoken dialogue and other sounds in a video, including sound effects and music cues.

To add subtitles to your YouTube video, you can use the built-in subtitle editor or upload pre-made subtitle files using a service like Rev. 

Here's how to use the built-in editor on YouTube: 

After clicking your profile picture, YouTube studio option is the second menu option

Subtitles is below Comments on the left navigation bar

The add language button is near the bottom left

From there, you can create subtitles by choosing from several languages, such as Arabic, German, or French.

If you have pre-made subtitle files, you can attach them to your video as you're uploading it. Go through all the steps, then click 

 when YouTube asks if you want to add subtitles/captions.

Select upload a file to add pre-made captions

Captions vs Subtitles: What Should You Use?

Depending on your audience, you might need both. Captions are helpful for all viewers on YouTube, but subtitles are essential and useful when you have a multicultural audience. For example, if you have both English-speaking and Mandarin-speaking viewers, you might consider subtitles for those languages so all viewers can understand your content.

So, there you have it. Use this information on YouTube captions to skyrocket your views today!

Black wireframe video play icon and speech bubbles with vidIQ logo on yellow background

Did you know that adding captions might bring you more views? Read on to learn more advantages of using YouTube captions.

4 Reasons to Start Adding YouTube Captions to Your Videos

Of course, YouTube has some auto-captioning capabilities, but that feature can be very inaccurate, and can possibly hurt your video content much more than it helps. In this week’s episode of TubeTalk, I chat with Ryan P. Sweeney, Head of Partnerships at 

 about how adding your own captions and subtitles can help you as a creator. 

Click on the podcast links above to listen

What are captions and subtitles and why they matter

What’s the difference between human and machine-automated captions

Do captions really help your video’s performance

Listen to this episode which is about the 

5 Critical Mistakes Revealed From Hundreds of YouTube Channel Audits

TubeTalk has been informing video creators and marketers since 2014, and is one of the most respected and listened to podcasts in the online video industry. Don't foprget to 

 on your favorite podcast application so you never miss an episode!

You can also find the complete list of all the 

Man in plaid shirt sitting on white couch with TubeTalk logo on blue background.

Do closed captions really help your videos rank higher on YouTube? And if so, how does that even work? Find out in this episode of TubeTalk.

Closed Captions: Do They Really Help Your Videos Rank on YouTube?

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Posts tagged with “closed captions”

4 Reasons to Start Adding YouTube Captions to Your Videos

Closed Captions: Do They Really Help Your Videos Rank on YouTube?