Optimizing your videos for search engines is more important than ever with the amount of video content on the web. One way to do this is through video transcripts and closed captioning. These additions give search engines context they cannot get from audio alone. They also provide opportunities for content repurposing.
Keywords
A vital part of any internet business is video marketing. The proper keyword selection is crucial for SEO and can raise the position of your movies in search results. Because transcripts give search engines text content to index and use in searches, adding transcripts to your videos can also help SEO.
Transcripts are an excellent tool for SEO because they offer a unique way to add keywords to your online content. Using a transcription service, you can ensure that your audio is accurately converted to text and edit the transcript to include keywords. Using the right keywords will help your videos appear in search results and drive traffic to your website.
Unlike audio files, which can be difficult for search engines to crawl and index, a video transcript generator allows search engine robots to crawl and interpret your videos easily. This allows for faster processing, and it helps to boost your search engine rankings.
Besides SEO, video transcripts also provide accessibility for people with hearing loss or who prefer to watch videos without sound. In addition, video transcripts can be repurposed for blog posts and social media snippets, expanding your audience and reach. Many transcription services offer both free and paid options. Evaluate your needs and frequency of use to determine whether a complimentary service or subscription plan will suit your business best.
Metadata
A transcript is a text version of the spoken content from your video. The words are organized in a format known as structured data, which search engines read to understand the context of your content and place it higher in the search results.
The more structured data your website has, the more optimized it will be for search engines. A transcript helps Google understand the video content and provides a list of keywords for the page. When searching, viewers can click on any of the keywords in the transcript to jump to that point in the video. This provides a more user-friendly experience and allows you to reach a larger audience.
Adding closed captions or transcriptions to your videos makes them more accessible for the millions of people registered as d/Deaf and hard of hearing and for those who prefer to watch video content on their phone or with the sound turned off. Adding video transcripts also gives search engines the context they need to rank your content higher in their results, and it can even land you a featured snippet spot.
While video transcriptions are often a secondary consideration for marketers, they must be considered part of an overall content marketing strategy. Whether your content is written, visual, or audio, adding transcripts, captions, and downloadable JPEG files to your videos can help you get the most out of every video production.
Captions
With videos increasing in popularity, businesses and content creators must ensure that as many people see their video content as possible. This can be achieved through captions and transcripts, as both can help with SEO for your video content.
Captions are a great way to promote your content to people who have difficulty with hearing, and it can also be helpful for those who may prefer to watch video content without sound. Research has shown that including captions on your video content increases the average viewing time by 12%. Your website and social media pages will receive more traffic, and search engines will rank your video higher.
Video transcripts allow for the inclusion of keywords and textual information that search engines can index. They also enable you to add video descriptions and metadata, which are excellent areas for adding keywords that can improve your videos’ SEO.
Providing video transcripts and closed captions on your videos can also give you an advantage over competitors who don’t have them. This is because Google can’t “watch” or listen to a video, so it relies on text-based information like transcripts and captions to determine whether your video content is relevant to search queries.
Thumbnails
Video content has become a staple for most marketing strategies. People are drawn to videos and tend to engage with them longer and remember them better than other types of content. This raises the possibility that other websites will share and link to them, improving the video’s search engine ranks. However, marketers should remember a few things when using video content.
Transcripts can help improve SEO for your video content by providing additional textual information to search engines. This allows them to understand the videos better and rank them accordingly. In addition, transcripts provide an excellent opportunity to add relevant keywords to increase the video’s search engine visibility.
You may also make your videos accessible to hard-of-hearing or deaf viewers by including transcriptions. They also allow viewers to skip to the parts of your video most relevant to their interests.
Work with a growth marketing agency to create a clear thumbnail image that communicates the video’s content to ensure your video transcripts are optimized for SEO. This will ensure that your thumbnails are visible to searchers and that they can quickly read the text to decide whether or not to click on them. It will also ensure that your thumbnails are aligned with the video’s title, description, and tags.
