Using Video Transcripts To Boost Your SEO
So now you have a website video but is it enough?
You’ve paid good money to present your business in the best light possible by using video to tell your story.
However, you must take another step to get the full value for your video outlay, and it won’t cost a cent.
While search engines like Google rate videos highly, giving you a higher page ranking, you still have to do more to get the most of your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).
SEO likes video with transcript
While videos are considered content, search engines aren’t clever enough (at the moment) to understand and index the visual and audio component our your video.
Hence the need for a transcript of your video which you need to place on the same page.
MIT studies show that transcripts increase engagement and along with captions increase the completion rate of video from 40% to 80%.
Remember, engagement and user experience are particularly important because Google rewards videos and pages that have longer viewing times.
Along with the SEO benefits there are of course those people who simply prefer to read content rather than watch a video.
It may be someone who is hearing impaired or an office worker who has to have the sound turned off on their computer.
There’s also the situation for people for who English is their second language, a transcript may be preferable for them
I’ve also found, after watching a video, I want to clarify a point. Instead of watching the video from the start and searching for the right spot, I just scan through the transcript, knowing it will have the information I require.
If you have gone to the trouble and expense of a website video take the time to complete the job and you’ll reap the benefits.
As I wrote in an earlier blog, What does Google have in common with..., video is only going to become more important online as Youtube moves towards being the biggest online search engine
The bottom line – Website video is vital – a transcript of the video is the icing on the cake.