The platform will now rely on automatically created video chapters as a source of metadata.
Earlier, YouTube’s search algorithm used metadata from manually created chapters. With the latest update, the video-sharing platform will identify significant moments in the video and use the information for automatically generated video chapters.
These chapters will then act as a source of metadata for ranking search results. But YouTube will be automatically creating video chapters for channels that have not created their own chapters. Creators can, however, choose to opt-out of auto chapters for individual videos or the YouTube channel as a whole.
While adding auto chapter metadata as a ranking signal might prove helpful, it may rely on machine learning entirely, which may not be perfect. Automatically created chapters may misinterpret the video and negatively affect its reach.
[3 minute read]
