Transcripts have lengthy been promoted as methods to make your podcast extra findable and accessible. Nevertheless it’s solely not too long ago that podcast transcripts have grow to be really helpful!
Though I did not plan it this manner, the timing of this episode is ideal as a result of I simply launched a new feature on Podgagement that automatically transcribes audio feedback from your audience!
This matter can also be very well timed due to the discharge of iOS 17.4, which brings podcast transcripts into Apple Podcasts! (Learn more about those implications from The Future of Podcasting.)
(As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases by means of a few of these following hyperlinks. However I like to recommend issues I really consider in, no matter earnings.)
1. Do not consider the myths about podcast transcripts
For a few years, folks have been selling transcripts for the unsuitable causes. I’ve additionally been pitched by many transcription firms pushing the unsuitable strategy.
Whereas there are parts of reality in these two frequent myths, the methods folks typically promote and perceive these two concepts are the place the data grow to be fable—of “mythinformation”?
Fantasy 1: “Transcripts are good for podcast search engine optimization”
Folks have typically mentioned that you must publish podcast transcripts in your web site to make your podcast findable by means of search-engine optimization (search engine optimization). However that is not the total reality.
Sure, transcripts are higher than nothing or a mere paragraph or checklist of subjects. However transcripts end in a whole lot of phrases and truly little or no content material, leading to very low high quality writing (most likely even worse than AI-created textual content or writing from non-natives of the language).
For instance, a two-cohost podcast transcript would possibly seem like this:
Jack: Welcome to the our podcast, the place we discuss issues that will help you do stuff! I am Jack!
Jill: And I am Jill.
Jack: Earlier than we get into this matter, how are you doing, Jill?
Jill: The climate is sunny immediately, so I am nice!
Jack: Nice!
Jill: Yeah. What about you?
Jack: I am tremendous, however I do not know what the climate is, however—
Jill: That is unhappy.
Jack: What do imply?
Jill: I imply, you are saying that you have not gone outdoors and even appeared out a window shortly.
Jack: Yeah, however it’s okay.
Jill: So anyway!
Jack: Sure! Let’s bounce into this week’s matter.
…
Notice that on this fictional instance, there are a whole lot of phrases, however you have discovered nothing from this excerpt!
That type of back-and-forth is ok in a dialog and may even generally be okay in a podcast. Nevertheless it writing, it turns into nugatory.
Evaluate that to how the identical “data” might be written in a means that is beneficial:
Really, that complete change might be edited out of the written content material as a result of there’s little to no worth in studying that!
Engines like google prioritize high-quality content material that’s readable, however except you are an expert speaker performing a refined monologue, transcripts are neither readable nor top quality. So, no, transcripts aren’t the “magic bullet” to creating your podcast carry out effectively for search engine optimization, particularly should you’re relegating transcripts to a downloadable file or an online web page separate out of your podcast episode.
Fantasy 2: “Transcripts make your podcast accessible”
It is true that individuals with listening to impairments nonetheless eat podcasts! Thus transcripts have been lauded because the accessibility resolution podcasts want!
However the issue is that almost all printed transcripts are nonetheless troublesome to learn or—worse—are buried in a hyperlink or downloadable file that would really be even much less accessible!
It is like placing up a billboard with a QR Code that drivers can scan to observe a video to be taught why they should not be distracted whereas driving!
Good accessibility would not assist solely the hearing-impaired, it could additionally assist memorability or engagement for the remainder of your viewers. For instance, a phrase or URL that could be ambiguous, similar to “to” versus “two” versus “2” versus “too.” This will get even worse should you’ve made up phrases!
Right here, correctly written present notes or an article could make the data much more memorable and actionable than a large transcription web page.
It is solely correctly formatted and correctly printed transcripts that make your podcast accessible! And extra on that in a second!
2. (Optionally available) Use transcripts with podcast-production instruments
You should use the facility of transcripts instantly after you file your episodes, even should you by no means publish these transcripts!
Whilst you may pay for somebody to transcribe your podcast for you, AI instruments have gotten actually good at making pretty correct transcripts!
Sure, AI has grow to be the ever-present instrument for all types of content-creators. I’ve joked earlier than, “Look, Daddy! Instructor says, ‘Each time a bell rings, an AI-powered app launches on AppSumo!’” However I am an enormous fan of utilizing AI in your content material you made as an alternative of for making your content material.
The best way AI-based instruments work along with your audio or video podcast is by first transcribing your content material. Then, you should utilize that AI to do spectacular and time-saving issues with the transcript, like summarizing your episode, suggesting episode titles, and even serving to you higher edit your recording.
Listed below are my present favourite transcription-based instruments to assist when your episode remains to be on this early post-production stage proper after you have file:
Every of those instruments could make enhancing your recording as straightforward as enhancing a textual content doc! Plus, they’ll even export the transcript out of your completed manufacturing that you should utilize within the following different steps.
You can even add your read-to-publish audio to some transcription-based instruments to get options for titles, chapters, present notes, social posts, key phrases, and extra! The perfect instruments for which can be:
Even should you do not use any transcription-based instruments, you may nonetheless use a transcript of your recording that will help you discover locations to edit, excerpts for sharing, and reminders of your content material. And you are able to do this with out ever publishing these transcripts (however I nonetheless advocate that you just do)!
3. Make correctly formatted podcast transcripts
With a view to be really helpful, a transcript must have extra knowledge with it. At a minimal, transcripts want timestamps for when traces and even phrases have been spoken. However transcripts also can embody the audio system’ names, formatting, and extra.
The commonest transcript codecs are VTT and SRT, however VTT—particularly WebVTT—is the superior format, however it’s not as extensively supported as SRT.
In its vanilla state, VTT and SRT will look comparable:
00:01.000 --> 00:04.000
By no means drink liquid nitrogen.
00:05.000 --> 00:09.000
It is going to perforate your abdomen.After which WebVTT can add an entire bunch of further options and formatting over this.
You may get these correctly formatted transcripts from the transcription-based enhancing instruments I shared above, or you may generate them by means of AI or third-party assist.
A very powerful factor right here is to get the transcripts in the fitting format! A giant block of textual content in a PDF or textual content doc is not going to be as helpful because the structured knowledge such as you get with SRT or VTT.
Quick access to synthetic intelligence (AI) instruments has made creating transcripts an entire lot sooner, simpler, and cheaper. The enhancing instruments I discussed all use AI to generate their transcripts, or you can use different providers, too:
(This checklist won’t be up-to-date as a result of these options are coming to extra instruments fairly continuously.)
I just like the extra trendy AI-based transcription instruments as a result of they perceive language higher and are thus capable of make transcripts that really learn effectively and are normally fairly correct. Evaluate that to transcripts from only some years in the past that transcribed what they thought they heard, even when it did not make sense.
Most certainly any instrument that requires Web entry has limits to how a lot you may transcribe or has pricing based mostly in your utilization.
So, alternatively, contemplate these two implausible apps you may set up in your pc to generate the transcripts with out the Web or utilization charges or limits. These use OpenAI’s free and open-source Whisper mannequin.
As a result of these apps run all the things in your pc, you may get a lot sooner outcomes on a extra highly effective pc. For comparability, MacWhisper Pro‘s largest language mannequin on my M1 MacBook Professional can transcribe a 30-minute podcast episode in solely a few minutes. However my maxed-out Intel iMac takes a lot longer to course of the identical audio with the identical app.
With the launch of iOS 17.4 in March 2024, you now obtain the transcript Apple mechanically generates for you thru your Podcasts Join account!
4. Edit your podcast transcripts
No matter whether or not you transcribe your podcast with AI or with an individual, the transcript will most certainly want some enhancing.
Some automated transcription instruments will well break traces at logical factors, like on punctuation or on the finish of sentences. However that is not obligatory.
The finest factor to do could be to learn your complete transcript to edit for accuracy. I feel it may even be okay to edit for readability. For instance, if the speaker mentioned, “There are 5 methods—I imply 6 methods—to do that,” you can edit the transcript to easily “There are 6 methods to do that.”
Pay shut consideration to something that would trigger you authorized hassle, too! For instance, your visitor may need mentioned, “I like two li’l puppies,” however your transcript would possibly incorrectly say, “I like to kill puppies.” YIKES!
However that is the place I discover the good trendy transcription instruments (like Whisper or Gemini Professional 1.5 and later) that use up to date large-language fashions (LLMs) can typically do a greater job as a result of they appear good at combining what they suppose they hear together with what makes grammatical and contextual sense.
However should you’re in a rush, this is the fast hack for enhancing your transcripts: double-check all correct nouns and URLs.
For instance, one transcription instrument I attempted would at all times transcribe “Podcasting 2.0” as “podcasting 2 level oh.” And even MacWhisper Pro generally transcribes “theaudacitytopodcast.com” as one thing like “the odacity2podcast.com.” For this stuff, I’ve made a listing of the frequent errors so it is easy for me to run a find-and-replace operation on them. MacWhisper really has that in-built! And a few transcription instruments allow you to enter phrases which can be vital to get proper. For instance, I would enter “Podgagement” since that is a made up trademark and the AI fashions won’t perceive it, but.
However I’ve additionally been stunned, particularly by Whisper, how typically it not solely will get the spelling proper however even the capitalization!
5. Put the podcast transcripts in the fitting locations
Now that you’ve an correct transcript in a great format (SRT or VTT), we have had a regular place to place that in podcasting for a few years now, and even Apple Podcasts is now on board!
You solely have to add the transcript someplace on-line (if it isn’t already publicly hosted for you) and hyperlink to it in your Podcasting 2.0 <podcast:transcript> tag in your RSS feed, which your podcast-publishing/internet hosting instrument would possibly do for you.
This makes the transcript seen to a rising checklist of Podcasting 2.0 apps, and now even Apple Podcasts helps the Podcasting 2.0 transcript!
Even when Apple Podcasts generates the transcript for you, the app will use your transcript should you present it by means of the transcript characteristic in your RSS feed. That is so a lot better than how Spotify, Google, and Amazon at present do it!
Placing your SRT or VTT transcript in the fitting place additionally exposes it for different apps and providers to make use of. As this turns into extra standard, extra podcast apps will use these transcripts to be taught what your episodes are about and assist expose your podcast in additional related searches. For instance, even should you keyword-stuff your title, creator, and outline tags with one thing like “actual property investing,” should you’re not actually speaking about actual property investing in your episodes, your podcast most likely will not rank effectively for that time period. What makes this podcast search engine optimization completely different from the search engine optimization fable I shared above is that this Podcasting 2.0 technique exposes your transcript in a particular construction that make it straightforward for functions to learn and course of. You aren’t getting that once you dump the entire transcript in your web site (or in a obtain).
However should you actually need to publish a transcript in a readable format, you may convert your SRT or VTT transcript into formatted textual content and supply that by means of your web site. Simply do not anticipate a lot to return from it!
6. (Optionally available) Use your podcast transcripts for promotion
I am not a fan of creating new content material with AI (additionally referred to as “generative AI”). I feel the outcomes are low cost, unoriginal, and in a authorized grey space as a result of most generative AI fashions have been skilled with copyrighted content material and with out the content-owner’s permission.
Placing apart these potential authorized and moral implications, I do love synthetic intelligence as a distinct “AI”: assistive intelligence. So as an alternative of making new content material for you, the AI analyzes the content material you created and helps you describe it, enhance it, repurpose it, and extra.
And this all begins with a transcript of your podcast!
My favourite AI instrument proper now’s Magai as a result of it consists of a number of fashions (not simply ChatGPT) and now you can simply add your complete podcast transcript to then work with inside Magai. For instance, you can ask it to put in writing a promotion for the episode within the first-person tone of your visitor so you may ship that to her or him to extra relevantly share their look in your podcast.
Castmagic, Capsho, and Buzzsprout‘s Cohost AI even have options like this in-built. For instance, Castmagic (which I take advantage of, too) mechanically acknowledges separate audio system within the audio and also can mechanically generate an entire bunch of various content material from my content material. This consists of social posts, titles, X-Twitter threads, partaking questions, outlines, and extra.
So even when a instrument cannot transcribe your content material for you, but (as is the case with Magai), you may nonetheless give it your transcript to research and use for a lot of extra functions!
All of it begins with the transcript of your content material. (Or in my case, since I write such thorough articles for my podcast episodes, I continuously give Magai my printed webpage URL as an alternative of importing a transcript.)
(And in case you are questioning, everything of this text and podcast episode have been created solely by me. And though some folks would possibly name my intelligence “synthetic,” I did not use any AI for this episode!)
You can even use a instrument like Descript, Headliner, or Opus Clip to seek out good excerpts out of your episode to share as clips, like I am doing for this very episode! This, too, begins along with your transcripts, and you will most likely get even higher outcomes should you can edit or present a extra correct transcript.
Try Podgagement, now with automatic transcripts for voicemails from your audience!
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Disclosure
This submit might include hyperlinks to services or products with which I’ve an affiliate relationship. I’ll obtain compensation out of your actions by means of such hyperlinks. Nevertheless, I do not let that corrupt my perspective and I do not advocate solely associates.
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