Subtitles in a VSEO strategy
The importance of subtitles in a VSEO strategy
In 2014, videos accounted for 64% of the global Internet traffic. By 2019, this number could reach 80 to 90%!
As we can see, the importance of online video is increasing year by year. Audio and video content takes more and more space on Internet.
In order to improve the accessibility of this content to disabled people, numerous transcription and subtitles tools have been created.
But subtitles are also a good marketing asset as they can increase your content visibility. Unfortunately, this marketing view is too often neglected by audiovisual professionals.
What is VSEO ?
The VSEO (Video Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of improving the visibility of a video content on search engines.
The 5 main steps to follow for a good VSEO strategy are:
1. Define the keywords:
Essential in a SEO strategy, keywords are also very important if you want to optimize your videos indexation. It is highly recommended to fill the “keywords” field proposed by the online platform where is hosted the content.
2. Add metadata:
Adding a description and metadata will improve your content rich-snippet (the text that appears under search results).
Pay attention to your description and write sentences with some of your keywords.
3. Write a good title:
Such as the object for an email, the video title is the front door to your content : you have to arouse interest and persuade viewers to click.
Be careful: a title of more than 60 characters may be shortened by the search engine.
4. Choose the right thumbnail:
Associated to the title, the thumbnail is also a way to access your content.
Your objective is to have your viewers to click on it: it should represent a key moment of your video.
Tip: keep in mind that the thumbnail may be displayed in different sizes. If you decide to add text on it, be sure it is visible in any size.
5. Add subtitles:
Then, effective but too often forgotten by marketers, adding subtitles or a transcription enables to increase your videos rank on search engines.
The importance of subtitles in a Video SEO strategy is proven
For some years now, marketing researches have shown that adding subtitles or a transcription has a positive impact on videos organic ranking.
Your video contains different expressions likely to be typed on Internet by your audience. Thanks to subtitles, you include these expressions to your SEO strategy, and you can be ranked on long-tail keywords that could not be included in the description.
You also have the possibility to add a transcription in the description section. It also exists interactive methods that enable the transcription to appear in the course of the video.
To generate a transcription or subtitles, you can use an automatic tool such as the application Authôt, which will generate a. SRT or. WEBVTT file.
Then, you will be able to add it in a few clicks to your video on the online video platform of your choice, such as the general audience platform YouTube or the professional platform Libcast.
In addition to increase your audience, you will be ranked on the top results of the most famous search engines.
Article written by Angélique Aizpitarte, Content Marketing Manager FR/EN at Libcast.
You can find her regularly on Libcast blog.
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