January 5, 2023

When it comes to improving your website’s search engine rankings, there is one strategy that many businesses overlook: adding subtitles, or closed captioning, to their videos. Not only can subtitles improve the user experience on your website, they can also help boost your search engine optimization (SEO).

Subtitles benefit your visibility because they provide a text-based version of the spoken words in your video that search engines can index. When you include keywords and phrases throughout your subtitle text, it’ll help you rank higher on search engine results. Additionally, YouTube has its own algorithm that recognizes how long people are watching a particular video until completion and factors this into its ranking system. When people watch longer videos with subtitles, YouTube considers this engagement factor in ranking it higher on SERPs as well.

Subtitles can have a big impact on your SEO efforts, especially when it comes to increasing the visibility of your videos in search results. By adding subtitles, you are also effectively:

  • Making your video content more accessible for people who are hard of hearing or deaf.
  • Increasing the likelihood of engaging all viewers with the content, which invites them to stay on the page longer.
  • Increasing the likelihood your video will be shared more.
  • Reaching a wider audience by making your videos accessible in different countries and languages. By translating your videos into other languages, you open up new markets and increase your potential customer base – all while further optimizing your SEO efforts!

Here is a video example using subtitles

Including subtitles, or closed captioning, in your online videos is an effective way to improve both user experience and SEO ranking. Ultimately, it leads to increased engagement with your content and improved visibility on search engines – two things that any business should strive for! So, if you haven’t already done so, consider using subtitling as part of your SEO strategy today. If you’re interested in learning more, we invite you to contact Evolution Marketing today by sending an email through our secure contact page. We are based in Rochester, NY and proudly serve clients throughout the country.