How to Create Chapters in YouTube

Updated on:

May 4, 2026

By:

Use this interactive demo to learn how to add timestamped chapters to your YouTube videos.

Quick summary

Adding chapters to a YouTube video lets viewers jump to specific sections, improving watch time and viewer experience. You can create chapters manually by adding timestamps to the video description in YouTube Studio.

Steps

Go to studio.youtube.com and click Content in the left sidebar, then click the title of the video you want to add chapters to.
Scroll down in the video details and enable Allow automatic chapters and key moments.
In the Description field, add a list of timestamps and chapter titles using the format: 00:00 Introduction, 00:05 Accessing the Onboarding Dashboard, 00:12 Assigning User Roles.
Make sure the first entry starts at 0:00 and that each timestamp includes a chapter title.
Click the X icon in the top-right corner to Save and close and apply the changes.

📌 Why this matters

YouTube chapters help creators improve video navigation by letting viewers skip directly to relevant sections, which boosts engagement and reduces drop-off rates. Adding timestamped chapters to your video description is a simple but powerful way to make long-form content more accessible and discoverable. Chapters also appear in Google search results as video key moments, increasing the chances your content surfaces for specific queries. This makes YouTube chapter creation an essential SEO and viewer retention strategy for any content creator or brand.

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