Google To Begin Linking Searches To Key Video Moments

Google is set to unveil a new feature which could alter how many video searches take place. The search engine will now now take its users directly to key points within a YouTube video based on their query. As with so many changes, this could be good and bad for video creators.

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Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0

Here’s a new feature that’s being rolled out by Google that could change a lot of video searches. The search engine will now link users to specific key moments within a YouTube video as an answer to their search query. Google explains it this way:

“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.”

There’s some good and bad in this for YouTube creators. First of all, in order to take advantage of the new feature, a creator will have to mark up a video with timestamp tags on specific parts of the video so they can be more searchable. This is great in that it now gives the video creator more control over being discovered and more opportunity as well. The downside is that it will take more time to set up.

Time is one of the things that YouTube creators don’t have enough of, but if you’re going to take advantage of all the features available on the platform you can no longer just post and go. In some cases, it can take up to an hour of additional time to get the most out of what the video can do marketing-wise. Searchable timestamps just adds a bit more time, but can pay off big since the results are tied to Google and not just the YouTube platform.

This feature is not rolled out to everyone though. You must apply for access to the option here first. Use of timestamp tags will require the addition of Clip structured data to mark important video segments in your video.