Google Tests Text Search for Segments in YouTube Clips

Google’s looking to expand its search capacity within videos, with a new test to search by keyword for sections of video clips.

As you can see in this example, Google is piloting a new test in India, which will use video captions, either uploaded or auto-generated, to help users find relevant sections within video clips.

YouTube’s been developing this new search capacity for some time, first via the addition of video chapter search back in 2021, which incorporates text detection to help identify chapters within each clip. YouTube also made video transcripts searchable in October last year, with his new update the next stage of its expansion of automated detection and determination of entities within video clips.

Which could also be an SEO consideration. The addition of more text-based search tools puts more impetus on creators to ensure the captions on their clips are accurate, which could help improve caption quality overall, while also serving as a guide tool.

And as Google looks to expand that further, and index video captions in Google Search, that could become an even bigger element in video strategy and planning.

It’s a good update, which could have a range of uses, and it’ll be interesting to see how it influences search and discovery behavior moving forward.