To make YouTube more pragmatic, Google is rolling out a new feature to help users find specific content in any YouTube videos through its search engine. So, now if you want to find the exact moment of a punchline or a specific content of a tutorial, you don’t need to watch the whole video clip. The new feature will require YouTube content creators to provide the necessary timestamps of their videos, describing the specific parts in the video description. According to Google, it will allow users to quickly scan to find whether a video has what they’re looking for, without having to sit and watch the whole video. “When you search for things like how-to videos that have multiple steps, or long videos like speeches or a documentary, Search will provide links to key moments within the video, based on timestamps provided by content creators. You’ll be able to easily scan to see whether a video has what you’re looking for, and find the relevant section of the content. For people who use screen readers, this change also makes video content more accessible,” Google’s product manager Prashant Baheti wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. Here is the example of a Podcast tutorial where you can see a new “In this video” timeline with “specific key moments” marked by Google even before you start watching the whole thing. Below “In this video” timeline, there’s a set of small video clips with brief video descriptions that can be tapped to immediately navigate to specific points within a video. If the creator provides the timestamp and labels information inside the video description then Key Moments will appear, but only for the English videos uploaded on YouTube. Here are numerous guidelines that you should follow while formatting labels and timestamps for your video description.
Make sure to format the timestamp in the set format – [Hour] : [Minute] : [Seconds]. Set every timestamp on the new line in your video description. Give the label of the timestamp on a similar line. Ensure that the label includes at least one or two words. Link the timestamp to the particular point in the video. Always lists the timestamp in sequential order in the description.
According to the Company, this new feature will not only make it easy to find specific key moments in YouTube videos but will also make video content more accessible for people using screen readers. So, if you want to be a part of a beta program to test this new feature with other video providers, then Google has a form for you. To enable the ‘Key Moments’ feature for your videos, here are the Google Form and Developer Docs where you can register to join the Early Adopters Program.
