Transcripts in Buzzsprout

Transcripts can bring a lot of value to your podcast--  they help with SEO, make your episodes more accessible to all listeners, and give your audience an easy way to see and share your content. We have a few options for including them in your episodes! 

If you are on one of our current paid plans in Buzzsprout, we'll automatically generate a transcript for your new episodes. You'll see them on the right-hand side of the page when you click into each episode. From here, you can edit the generated transcript or add a custom transcript of your own! If you're not seeing that option, it is likely because you're not on one of our current paid plans.  You can move to one of these plans by going to Settings > Subscription > Plan in your account.

Note: There isn't an option to delete the transcript. If you need a transcript deleted, email the Buzzsprout Podcaster Success Team at support@buzzsprout.com, and we can help! 

Cohost AI is a tool built into your Buzzsprout account that will easily generate a transcript (and other episode details) for your episode. To use this on your episodes, just go to Episodes > Cohost AI and enable the feature. Learn more about what Cohost AI has to offer here: Buzzsprout's Cohost AI

If you're using another service to create your transcripts, then you can upload one manually. To add a transcript to your episode, start by clicking on the title of the episode from the main Episodes page. From there, locate the Add a Transcript button on the right sidebar. Now, you will need to decide if you are going to copy and paste the transcript into Buzzsprout or if you are going to upload a transcript from a transcription service.

To add your own transcription manually, select the option to Copy and Paste. Then paste your transcript into the area provided. You can use the toolbar to format your transcript to your liking. This formatting will show on your Buzzsprout public website.

Apple supports files in SRT or VTT format. So, if you upload an SRT file to your episode in Buzzsprout, then that will be included in Apple!

Note: As of now, this is only available for English, Spanish, French, and German podcasts.

There are several transcription services out there that you can use to generate a transcript for your episode. You are welcome to use any tool you would like and upload the transcript to Buzzsprout.

We have a separate help article that walks you through Otter.ai's Transcript File Import. If you need to make updates to your Otter.ai transcript after importing, you'll make those updates through Otter. You can then export the file again and upload the new file to Buzzsprout.

Is there a fee to transcribe an episode?
If you are on one of our current paid plans, we will generate transcripts for you at no additional cost! 

If you use Cohost AI, you will be paying a flat monthly fee to get the complete Cohost AI Summary on every episode. We will include that charge at the end of your cycle, in your monthly invoice.

The transcript feature is not available on the free plan.

What are the benefits of transcribing podcast episodes?

There are many reasons to include transcripts of your podcast episode. One is increased discoverability by search engines. Without a transcription of your audio file, the only ways people will discover your podcast is by word of mouth, advertising, or by searching a podcast directory. Episode transcription makes every word you speak in your podcast digestible by search engines.

This means if your podcast is typically about Real Estate, but in one episode you did a segment on your new Ford F-150, people searching Google for “Ford F-150” may land on your podcast webpage. Maybe they’ll have a listen, like what they hear, and you’ll have a new listener.

Transcription also makes your podcast more accessible. People with hearing disabilities can now more easily enjoy your content, and people who don’t understand your native language can use a text translator.

There are other benefits as well, like not having to manually type out detailed show notes, being able to copy and paste your transcription into your own website, creating a searchable archive of everything you’ve ever discussed on your podcast, etc. 

When you create a transcript for an episode, Buzzsprout will display it on your public Buzzsprout website directly under your episode description. You can edit the transcript at any time from the link on your episode detail page. Once saved, you can go back into your Buzzsprout account and click on the "Update Transcript" link.

Pro Tip: To include your episode on your personal website, just copy and paste it onto a page, and then you can link to that page from your episode description!

If you have any questions, please email our team at support@buzzsprout.com, and we'd love to help!