# How to add video chapters (and why)

Chapters are titled timestamps starting at 0:00. On YouTube you add them as timestamped lines in the description; on your own site you add them in your player and emit them as Clip entries in the page’s VideoObject structured data so search engines can show jump-to key moments. Three to eight outcome-shaped titles beat twenty numbered sections.

- Section: Guides (https://videokr.com/guides)
- Page: https://videokr.com/guides/video-chapters
- Last updated: 2026-08-18

## The rules that apply everywhere

- Start the first chapter at `0:00`.
- Keep them in ascending order.
- Give each one enough runtime to be worth jumping to (ten seconds is not a chapter).
- Title them by outcome: "Lock the embed to your domain", not "Section 3".
- Three to eight is the useful range.

## On YouTube

Put timestamped lines in the video description, starting with `0:00`:

```text
0:00 What this does
0:38 Uploading the file
1:24 Branding the player
2:05 Reading the retention curve
```

YouTube generates the chapter bar from that when it accepts the format — at least three chapters, first at zero.

## On your own site

Two things have to happen. The player needs to show chapter markers and a menu, and the page needs to say so in machine-readable form:

```json
{
  "@type": "VideoObject",
  "hasPart": [
    { "@type": "Clip", "name": "Uploading the file", "startOffset": 38, "endOffset": 84,
      "url": "https://videokr.com/v/tour?t=38" }
  ],
  "potentialAction": {
    "@type": "SeekToAction",
    "target": "https://videokr.com/v/tour?t={seek_to_second_number}",
    "startOffset-input": "required name=seek_to_second_number"
  }
}
```

In Videokr you add chapters in the video's Chapters tab and both halves are produced for you: markers and a menu in the player, a clickable list on the public page, and `Clip` plus `SeekToAction` in the page's structured data. See [chapters and captions](/docs/chapters-and-captions).

## What chapters actually buy you

- **Viewers stay.** Someone who came for one thing can reach it instead of leaving.
- **Retention curves become readable.** A drop at a chapter boundary tells you which section to cut.
- **Eligibility for key moments** in search results — not a promise, but impossible without the data.

## When to skip them

Under ninety seconds, chapters are noise. Use them on demos, walkthroughs, webinar replays and course lessons.

## FAQ

### How many chapters should a video have?

Three to eight for most marketing and demo videos. Fewer is not worth a menu; more is a table of contents nobody uses.

### Do chapters need to start at 0:00?

Yes. Both YouTube’s chapter bar and Clip structured data expect the first chapter to start at zero.

## Related

- [Chapters and captions](https://videokr.com/docs/chapters-and-captions)
- [Video SEO: getting your video pages found](https://videokr.com/guides/video-seo)
- [The anatomy of a product demo video that gets watched](https://videokr.com/blog/anatomy-of-a-product-demo)
- [Video hosting for WordPress: the practical guide](https://videokr.com/guides/video-hosting-for-wordpress)

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