Over the past couple of years, you might have noticed video transcripts popping up more and more on the internet.
This is an important step for accessibility and also makes it much easier to watch videos on-the-go, but it also has another added benefit. Video transcripts are fantastic for SEO. In fact, if you produce video content and aren’t creating their associated transcripts, you’ve got a serious missed SEO quick win on your hands.
Not to worry, we’ve broken down all about why video transcripts are such useful SEO tools and how you can produce them quickly and efficiently below, so keep reading.
Why video transcripts are necessary for SEO
We all know how important SEO is for companies of all shapes and sizes. After all, the more visible your website is, the more chances people will have to see it and ultimately convert into loyal customers.
Most of the time, people think about SEO in relation to written content like SEO-friendly blog articles. It might come as a surprise that videos even play a role in the SEO world.
Generally speaking, SEO works because Google and other search engines crawl the text-based web looking for different keywords. This presents an obvious issue for videos, which don’t feature a lot of written content. Simply relying on your video’s title, description, and tags isn’t enough to really make an impact on your SEO rankings.
When you produce video transcripts, you’re basically giving Google more material to work with. They’ll be able to crawl through everything you’ve covered in your video, giving you a much better chance of ranking for a variety of keywords.
This is especially important because of the notable rise of video content on the web. In fact, some sources are predicting that as much as 82% of internet traffic will be dedicated to video viewing this year.
5 SEO benefits of transcribing videos
Video transcripts present all kinds of SEO benefits, but here are the five major ones that you should be getting excited about.
Obtain higher SERP rankings
First and foremost, one of the major SEO benefits you’ll get when you produce video transcriptions is higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).
As mentioned above, video content without any captions or transcription is at a disadvantage when it comes to search rankings. This is because they don’t have much written content for Google to crawl through for keywords, so they aren’t likely to rank very high.
Video transcriptions don’t just help with search rankings because they present Google with keywords, however.
Google’s artificial intelligence is getting smarter and smarter, so it’s not only looking for a keyword or two to rank. It’s also looking for relevance. Google’s mission is to find the content that users will find most useful. One of the best ways to show that is by demonstrating why the information you’re sharing is important, and transcriptions are a highly effective way to do that for videos.
Basically, if you’re tracking your Google rankings and want to see a boost in your videos’ results, producing video transcriptions is one of the easiest and best ways to do it.
Boost website traffic
Building directly off our previous point, a boost in your SERP rankings will also result in increased traffic to your website. This is obviously great news because more web traffic gives you more opportunities for lead generation, conversion, and ultimately sales.
A small increase in your SERP rankings can make a huge difference in your web traffic, by the way. Most importantly, your content should be ranking on the first page of the SERPs because it gets an impressive 88.7% of all clicks.
Think about it. You probably rarely, if ever, get beyond the first page of Google when you’re looking something up. And if you do, you certainly never pass page two.
However, you haven’t necessarily ‘made it’ if you rank on the first page of Google. Where you rank on the first page of Google can also make a big difference in your traffic.
Consider the discrepancies between the top four search results of “customer data platform” in terms of click-through rate according to Smart Insights:
- #1: 39.6%
- #2: 18.4%
- #3: 10.1%
- #4: 7.6%
The number one search result more than doubles the second and the rest trickle off from there. Clearly, even moving up just one spot in the search results can make a huge impact on the traffic your site receives.
Repurpose transcripts for other kinds of content
When you create video transcripts for SEO purposes, you’re actually doing yourself a favor for a whole range of other types of content. Once you’ve got your written transcript in hand, it’ll save you a lot of time if you want to repurpose the same content into different formats in the future.
Some common ways that people repurpose video transcript content include:
- Visuals like infographics, reports, and presentations
- Written content like blogs and articles
- Educational resources like eBooks, manuals, white papers, tutorials, and checklists
- Other media like podcasts
- Interactive tools like quizzes
Increase watch time
With video transcripts, you’ll boost average watch time, reduce bounce rates, and increase accessibility all at once.
There are lots of people who can’t listen to audio content, whether they have hearing loss or another disability. Many people also might find themselves in situations where they can’t listen to audio content in that specific moment. They might be in a loud location or in the company of other people, for example.
Whatever the case may be, a lot more people will watch your video for longer if they have the option to read what you’re saying instead of listening to it.
This isn’t only good in general, but it’s also good for your SEO rankings. One of the most important ranking factors used by video content giant YouTube is watch time. That means they prioritize video content that keeps its viewers engaged and watching for as long as possible.
Create link building opportunities
Video transcription can actually provide great opportunities for link building, which is surely music to all SEO professionals’ ears.
First of all, video transcripts allow you to place your own internal links within the written text. You should have ample opportunity to link to different parts of your own website with an entire video transcription at your disposal.
This is an especially effective tactic if you publish your video as part of a blog post or article and include the transcript within it.
Publishing your video alongside its transcript can be a great strategy for external link building. Link building partners often favor linking to content that includes different kinds of media (images, videos, written content, etc.).
How to produce video transcriptions quickly
As you can see, video transcriptions offer tons of SEO benefits… but they sure can be a pain to produce. There are a few different approaches you can use to get yours created quickly, just check them out below.
Use an audio to text transcription tool
By far, the easiest way to produce video transcriptions quickly and professionally is by using an audio to text transcription tool like Happy Scribe.
They’ve got two different video transcription options:
- Automatic transcription software that starts at 0,20 EUR per minute, assures 85% accuracy, and can be turned around in as little as 5 minutes.
- 100% human-made transcriptions that start at 1,70 EUR per minute, assure 99% accuracy and can be turned around in 24 hours.
Whatever option you choose, Happy Scribe’s advanced audio to text transcription technology is impressive. Their built-in editor also makes it a breeze to fine tune and perfect your transcription.
There's also several other options for free transcription software you can check out.
Edit automated transcriptions
If you’re not up to paying for a transcription software, a more DIY option is editing the automated transcriptions you can obtain from platforms like YouTube. Depending on the audio quality and the speaker’s voice, this can take a fair amount of time and effort. But hey, it’s free!
Outsource your transcriptions
If you need a high volume of video transcription and would rather work with an individual on an ongoing basis, another option is outsourcing. There are tons of freelancers out there who would be open to taking on this kind of work and platforms like Fiverr and Upwork are great places to look for them at affordable rates.
Start getting those videos transcribed
Overall, no one should underestimate the impact video transcriptions can have on SEO. It might take a bit of time and effort to get them done, but the rewards you can reap will make it more than worth it.
Remember, video transcriptions have the power to boost SERP rankings, increase website traffic, make content repurposing easier, lengthen video watch times, and create link building opportunities. What are you waiting for?
