Best workflows of the week – free AI transcription and content repurposing automation sample
Manual transcription of a one-hour video takes an average of 4-5 hours. Extracting SEO keywords and checking out competitors – another 2-3 hours. What if I told you it could be done in 5 minutes without touching your keyboard?
I recently stumbled upon an automation that completely changed my approach to video content repurposing. I drop an MP4 file into Google Drive, grab a coffee, come back – and in my Google Sheet I have a complete transcription with timestamps, SEO keywords, and full competitor research. No jokes, no exaggeration.
This isn't another "magic AI tool." It's a solid n8n workflow that connects several proven tools into one fully automated content marketing machine.
At the end of this article, you'll find a Google Drive link with a free JSON file – import it into n8n, connect your APIs, and you're good to go.
What is Automatic Video Transcription and Why Should You Implement It?
Automatic video transcription is the process of converting speech from recordings into text using artificial intelligence. Modern AI tools achieve 95-99% accuracy for clear audio and can recognize different speakers (known as speaker diarization).
Why does this matter for content creators?
According to research, companies that blog generate an average of 67% more leads per month than those that don't. At the same time, 94% of marketers believe that content repurposing (transforming one piece of content into different formats) significantly improves content marketing results.
The problem? Manually converting video to text is incredibly time-consuming. This workflow solves that.
How Does the Video to Blog Workflow Work in n8n? Step by Step
Step 1: Automatic Detection of New Video Files
The workflow monitors a selected folder on Google Drive and automatically responds to every newly uploaded video file. Supported formats include MP4, MOV, AVI, and other popular extensions.
Practical tip: Create a dedicated folder just for materials to be processed. This way you'll avoid situations where the system tries to transcribe random files (happens more often than you'd think).
Step 2: AI Transcription with Speaker Identification and Timestamps
The video file goes to Dumpling AI, which performs full transcription with:
- Timestamps for each sentence (useful for creating YouTube chapters)
- Speaker identification (Speaker 1, Speaker 2, etc.)
- 96-98% accuracy for clear audio
The entire process takes just a few minutes, even for longer recordings. For comparison – manual transcription of a 10-minute video takes at least 30-40 minutes of work.
Step 3: Automatic SEO Keyword Extraction via GPT-4o
The transcription automatically flows to GPT-4o with a precise prompt: "Extract exactly 5 high-quality SEO keywords that best represent the main topics of this material."
The system returns phrases ready to use in:
- Titles and H2/H3 headings
- Meta descriptions
- Tags on YouTube and other platforms
- Planning future content
Step 4: Competitor Research via Perplexity and Google Search
This is my favorite part of the entire workflow. The extracted keywords go to an AI agent that automatically:
- Searches Perplexity for current trends and discussions
- Checks Google for existing blog posts on those topics
- Returns an organized list with titles, URLs, and summaries
This way you know not only what you're talking about in your video, but also:
- What competitors have already written
- Where content gaps exist to fill
- What angles and approaches haven't been used yet
Step 5: Saving Results to Google Sheets
All data lands in one Google Sheet with a clear structure:
Your team has real-time access, you can comment, tag people, and immediately start planning your content calendar.
What Tools Do You Need to Run This Workflow?
To run this automation you'll need:
- n8n – automation platform (self-hosted or n8n cloud)
- Dumpling AI API – for video transcription and research agent
- OpenAI API – for GPT-4o (keyword extraction)
- Google Cloud OAuth – for Drive and Sheets integration
Estimated monthly costs (processing ~20 videos):
- n8n cloud: from $20/month (or free with self-hosting)
- Dumpling AI: depending on plan, ~$20-50/month
- OpenAI: ~$5-15/month at this volume
The whole thing pays for itself almost instantly when you consider how much time you save.
Who Is This Workflow For? Practical Applications
Content Creators and YouTubers
Every recording is a potential blog post, X/Twitter thread, newsletter, and material for Reels/Shorts. Instead of creating everything from scratch – you repurpose.
Podcasters
Episode transcriptions are SEO gold. Google indexes text, not audio. With automatic transcription, your podcast starts generating organic traffic.
Marketers and Agencies
Competitor research with every video material? Automatically? That's hours of analyst and content strategist work saved.
Training and Education Companies
Webinars, online courses, lecture recordings – everything can be transformed into written materials for people who prefer reading.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How do I automatically transcribe video to text?
The fastest method is using AI transcription tools like Dumpling AI, OpenAI's Whisper, or Notta. In this workflow, we use Dumpling AI integrated with n8n, which allows full automation – from file upload to finished transcription with timestamps.
Is n8n free?
n8n offers a free self-hosted version (you install it on your own server) and a paid cloud version starting at $20/month. For most individual users, the free option is fully sufficient.
How do I turn a YouTube video into a blog post?
You can use this workflow with a modification – instead of uploading to Google Drive, add a node that downloads the video from YouTube via URL. The rest of the process (transcription, keywords, research) works identically.
What video formats does Dumpling AI support?
Dumpling AI supports popular formats like MP4, MOV, AVI, WEBM. The recommended format is MP4 with H.264 codec for best compatibility.
Does AI transcription work for languages other than English?
Yes – both Dumpling AI and Whisper (OpenAI's model) support multiple languages with ~95% accuracy for clear audio. I've personally tested it and the results are very good.
How much does automatic video transcription cost?
The cost depends on the tool. OpenAI's Whisper is ~$0.006 per minute of audio. Dumpling AI offers packages starting at ~$20/month. This workflow processing 20 videos monthly costs approximately $40-80/month total.
Can I use this workflow with Make.com or Zapier instead of n8n?
Yes, but it requires reconfiguration. n8n is open-source and offers the most flexibility. Make.com and Zapier have similar capabilities, but become more expensive at higher volumes.
How long does it take to process one video?
A 10-minute video is processed in about 2-3 minutes. Longer materials (e.g., hour-long webinar) take about 10-15 minutes. Everything happens in the background, without your involvement.
What Should You Know Before Implementation?
Pros from my testing:
- Dumpling AI transcription quality is really solid
- Competitor research literally saves hours of work
- Google Sheets integration = team has immediate access
- Workflow is customizable – you can add your own nodes
What to watch out for:
- Very large files (over 500 MB) may cause timeouts – compress before uploading
- APIs have limits – calculate costs for mass processing
- The keyword extraction prompt is worth fine-tuning for your industry
Download the Free Workflow – Google Drive Link
As promised at the beginning – here's the download link:
👉 DOWNLOAD N8N WORKFLOW FROM GOOGLE DRIVE
In the package you'll find:
workflow.jsonfile for import into n8n- Documentation describing each node
- API configuration instructions
Import takes 30 seconds: Settings → Import Workflow → select file. Then connect your API keys and you're done.
Summary: Video-to-Blog Automation in 2025
Video transcription and repurposing automation isn't a gimmick – it's real time and money savings. In an era where Google and social media algorithms favor active creators, tools like this workflow allow small teams to compete with big players.
One webinar can become the foundation for:
- A full blog post (SEO traffic)
- An X/Twitter thread (engagement)
- A newsletter episode (nurturing)
- A series of Reels/Shorts (social reach)
And it all starts with dropping one file into a folder.
This workflow is part of the "Best Workflows of the Week" series. If you liked this format – let me know in the comments. Have your own automations you want to show off? Share the link – I'd love to test and write about them.
See you at the next workflow! 🚀
Tags: automatic video transcription, n8n workflow automation, video to blog AI, how to convert video to text, AI transcription tool, content repurposing 2025, content marketing automation, free n8n workflow, GPT-4o SEO keywords, Dumpling AI transcription, repurpose video content, YouTube to blog post, video content strategy