How To Create A Great Podcast Transcript in 2024 - A Complete Guide

Podcasting is one of the most popular mediums around, with podcasters reaching around 464 million users worldwide every year. It’s a competitive market, meaning podcasters need to provide their audiences with an excellent experience, and one way that you can do that is with podcast transcripts.

They’re visual aids that can streamline a listener’s experience, especially if they’re hard of hearing. They can also be helpful for podcasters, as they can be a quick way of finding out what topics have been covered in the past, without having to go through old recordings.  

Cleanvoice AI is one of the prominent tools used in producing reliable, high-quality transcripts. It enables users to create accurate podcast transcripts in just a few clicks, making it a cost-effective and time-saving solution.

Let’s learn more about the specifics of transcribing podcasts, along with how to create one yourself.

What is a podcast transcript?

A podcast transcript is a written account of every word stated in a podcast episode. You can either type it yourself, use a special tool, or hire a transcribing service to do it for you.

Similar to how captions for videos make video content accessible, transcripts do the same for audio content. Accessibility has become an important subject for many people, which is why podcast transcripts are becoming more popular. Aside from accessibility, transcripts provide many other benefits to the podcasting world.

Examples of Good Podcast Transcripts

A good podcast transcript should be able to capture every piece of key information mentioned during the podcast. At the same time, it should be accurate, readable, and accessible.

The Daily NYT

Among other transcripts, The Daily NYT acknowledges the use of speech recognition software. This helps manage the expectations about potential inaccuracies.

They include timestamps for non-speech elements, like "[MUSIC PLAYING]," to make it clear to readers when music or sound effects are present in the podcast. The speakers are also identified in the transcript before every dialogue to make it easier to follow conversations.

This American Life

The transcript of This American Life's podcast serves as a prime example of a well-crafted transcript. They make sure there are distinct breaks between sections and that the transcripts are easy to read and understand.

To make it even clearer and more enjoyable to follow along, they even use a special feature that differentiates between the host's voice and the voices of the guests.

Move Your DNA

Viewing Move Your DNA's podcast transcripts is really simple, thanks to the three fantastic features they provide.

To start with, they have a specific tab on their website solely for podcast transcripts. Everything is neatly located in one place; there’s no need to seek individual episodes.

Second, using an interactive tool, you can quickly move to any point within the episode, as each transcript is broken down into episode sections. To make it easier to follow the conversation, they effectively bolded the language of host Katy Bowman to set her apart from the guests.

Freakonomics Radio

Worldwide, Freakonomics has sold millions of copies in a number of languages. The fact that the podcast transcripts are available in a variety of languages is excellent news since it means a bigger audience can access them.

Additionally, they offer more resources beneath each episode that contain in-depth information about the topics covered as well as quotes from guests.

Why is podcast transcription important?

Improve accessibility

According to the World Health Organization, more than 5% of the global population, or over 430 million people, are estimated to be suffering from “disabling” hearing loss. If we were to include people with hearing trouble, those numbers would increase even more.

This just shows the importance of including a transcript in your podcast so that all listeners, regardless of their hearing challenges, are able to listen to it. It’s a good way to ensure you’re not alienating a large part of your audience.

Boosts your podcast’s SEO

While they are excellent at reading and indexing text, search engines are unable to listen to audio as people can. They are unable to comprehend the information contained in audio files.

However, a podcast transcript turns all of the important information and keywords from your episodes into words that search engines can easily understand.

Your website's traffic will increase if you make your podcast transcripts available with your audio files. This will make it easier to draw new listeners to your podcast.

Repurpose podcast content for new audiences

Many podcasters use the creative strategy of producing multiple bits of content from a single podcast program. For instance, they might upload YouTube video versions of their podcasts or use audio transcripts to turn episodes into blog articles.

Text blogs continue to be an important method for drawing visitors to websites.

Podcasters can save time by utilizing podcast transcripts for quotations, content ideas, and more rather than producing entirely fresh written content.

How to create a podcast transcript

Create podcast transcripts using AI tools in a few clicks

There is a widespread use of AI tools to transcribe audio recordings. It is a cost-efficient solution that can save you time and effort.

Compared to manual transcription, transcribing podcasts, and long audio recordings takes less time with AI tools. A notable example of a comprehensive AI-powered transcription tool is Cleanvoice AI.

Cleanvoice is an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that quickly generates transcripts of your podcasts and audio recordings with just a few clicks.

You won't have to worry about manually transcribing your episodes, giving you plenty of time to focus on more important aspects. You can ensure your transcriptions are accurate and error-free while saving time and effort.

Additionally, Cleanvoice can translate podcasts into over 60 other languages! It's an excellent tool for reaching a global audience with your podcast.

Using automated tools might be regarded as the quickest and most effective approach to producing a podcast transcript out of all the other methods.

Here's how to use software to automatically generate a podcast's transcript:

1. Choose a reliable automated transcription tool
2. Upload your podcast audio file
3. Finalize, format, and review the transcript.

Create podcast transcripts manually

If you want complete control over the final product or you’re on a low budget, making your own podcast transcripts can be a great alternative. It enables you to completely customize the transcripts so they suit the tone and content of your podcast.

However, when creating your own transcript, you can run into several challenges, such as:

• Time-consuming: When you transcribe your own podcasts manually, you have to listen to hours of recordings, word-per-word. The time required to accurately transcribe large volumes of audio takes up too much time.

• Accuracy: Without noise reduction tools, you’ll have difficulty creating accurate transcripts for audio files with background noises, stutters, and multiple speakers.

• Tediousness: Listening to audio for hours and carefully interpreting and transcribing each word can take a toll on your body. This may lead to inaccuracies within the transcript.

• Language nuances: Being able to understand the nuances of all languages is nearly impossible. This could result in misinterpretations of some idioms, accents, and dialects.

Collaborate with a transcription service provider

Rev is a transcription service provider that specializes in providing accurate transcription, captioning, and translation services. They basically transcribe audio content into written text by employing professional transcribers.

The following services are commonly provided by online transcribing service providers:

• Purely Automated: The AI listens to the audio you submitted and does its best to transcribe the contents. While the quickest solution, make sure an editor still checks the transcripts to limit any inaccuracies.

• Manual Transcription: These are written down and checked by a real person. A tangible copy of your show typically requires a turnaround time of 12 to 36 hours for these projects.

• Time-saving:

Instead of doing it all by yourself, transcription service providers employ AI tools and professional transcribers to create your transcript.

• Accuracy:

Transcription service providers have in-house transcribers that are experienced in converting spoken words into text.

• Quality control:

Transcription service providers have quality control protocols in place to ensure high-quality and accurate output.

Hybrid approach

Use automated transcription software or services to get started. Upload your podcast audio to voice recognition software powered by artificial intelligence to turn the spoken information into text.

When compared to manual transcription, these software programs automatically transcribe the audio, saving you time.

You can review and manually edit the transcript after the automated transcription is finished. It strikes the ideal blend of speed and accuracy to provide a high-quality final transcript for your podcast.

Best Practices On How To Create A Great Podcast Transcript

1. Publish on your website for SEO purposes

Including transcripts for your video clips or podcasts allows search engines to index the content. This makes your website more visible to your target audience and allows you to drive more traffic.

For example, a podcast about Benjamin Dreyer, which is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, has been transcribed into written text and uploaded to their website for increased visibility and online traffic.

2. Repurpose for marketing

Repurposing your podcast transcripts allows you to create content in different formats and target a broader audience.

For example, you can use Cleanvoice to create social media snippets, subtitles, blog posts, infographics, testimonials, and more from just a single podcast transcript. This allows you to market your podcast and other content better by making it available in different platforms and formats.

3. Implement good formatting

Organize your transcript into sections or segments to make it easier to read and understand. Additionally, include labels to distinguish speakers. That way, listeners can easily follow your transcript and determine who’s saying what.

For instance, this transcript for a podcast about Benjamin Dreyer divides the transcript into segments based on the speakers and their statements.

4. Include show notes

Add show notes to your transcript to improve it by outlining the main points of your episode. These notes not only assist your content's SEO but also provide readers with a brief summary of the podcast's topic.

Take a look at the sample transcript above. It includes an overview of the main sections of the podcast accompanied by timestamps. This allows readers to get a glimpse of the podcast and jump to sections that interest them the most.

5. Highlight key points

Find the key points in your podcast and emphasize them. It could be key takeaways, cool quotes, or interesting stories. Your podcast can stand out and draw more listeners by sharing these on social media or utilizing them in your advertising.

For example, this transcript “Keep it simple: How to convey ONLY what really matters”, highlights key phrases in bold. This catches the attention of the readers while providing them with important insights without going through the whole transcript.

6. Include non-verbal cues

Include details about non-verbal cues in your transcript, like laughter, applause, or background sounds. The listening experience is enhanced and made more immersive by these descriptions, which also provide context.

In this case, the sample transcript gives their audience a comprehensive picture and an immersive experience by including non-verbal cues such as “[THEME MUSIC]” and “[MUSIC]”.

7. Always proofread

It's important to fix any grammar errors your podcast transcript might contain, such as misspelled names and terms. While it may not have a significant effect on your brand, proper grammar conveys professionalism and care, which is something your listeners will appreciate.

Furthermore, if crucial terms like brand names, celebrity names, or terms associated with a certain niche are misspelled, you may lose the opportunity to boost your website's SEO for those subjects.

Therefore, spending a little more time polishing your transcript can significantly increase audience engagement and boost your online presence.

With Cleanvoice, you can easily obtain transcripts for your audio recordings or podcasts. You may quickly and easily get your content transcription done with only a few clicks.

Your podcast can be transcribed flawlessly by Cleanvoice in whatever language you choose. You can rely on Cleanvoice to produce accurate transcriptions for your material in any language, including English, Spanish, and others.

This AI-powered tool is essential for anyone who wants to create high-quality podcast content.

Conclusion

In conclusion, podcast transcripts are a useful tool for expanding the audience and accessibility of your audio content.

You can quickly and easily create accurate transcripts with Cleanvoice AI, which will save you time and guarantee that every listener has a seamless experience.

Embrace the power of transcripts to make your podcast more inclusive and discoverable, and start using Cleanvoice AI today!