What are captions?
Captions are the text version of the audio that is being spoken on
any television screen. Usually captions are displayed at the bottom of the
screen where it is lip synced with the people speaking during that particular
frame. The sync is done within milliseconds of accuracy so that the viewers can
connect to what the speaker is saying. Captions are also called as subtitles.
Types of caption:
They are two types of caption. The fist type is called closed captions which
is the most popular and commonly used among media and broadcasting companies.
The second type of captions are called as closed captions. These were popular
defacto format in the early days of cinemas, however it has been replaced by
closed captioning. The major technical
difference between the two is that Open captions can be enable or disable using
buttons on the TV remote. The benefit of this is that not all viewers would
like to see the text being displayed at the bottom. With, closed caption,
enable is disabling is not a choice as caption as always displayed. The
flexibility of disabling does not exist. This system was popularly used in
noisy and hard to hear environments such as trade shows, airports and even in
areas where silence is required such as hospitals etc.
What is Caption transcription?
The process of converting the audio into text is called as
transcription. The process is completely done by hand. Assistance of
transcription software’s such as Express Scribe is taken in order to process
the digital audio file and reduce the speech rate such that it becomes
comfortable for the transcriber to carry on with the typing process. An
important part of audio video transcription is proofreading. While proofreading, the person goes through a
preliminary transcript and checks it for spelling mistakes, sentence
structures, spacing, grammar etc. After this process is complete, the
transcript is final and ready for delivery.
Do captions help in SEO?
Captions greatly assist in SEO. Most digital marketers are unaware
of this marketing method and hence it is not commonly used. For quality video SEO, captions need to be added
to a website containing the video and preferably on the same page. Search
engine crawlers find it easier to index text. Hence, when captions are added as
a transcript, act as a good indicator of what the video content is about. So
during the keyword searches, videos with transcripts are more likely to show up
with higher search rankings.
Apart from video, audio content also benefit from captions. Media
such as podcast, seminars, conference calls and webinars can also be
transcribed and the transcripts can be made publically available to the
viewers. Researchers also go this route
and transcribe
an interview so that the resultant text can be used in videos.
What Media can be
subtitled?
·
Podcast Captions: Subtitles can
be embedded in both types of podcast i.e. audio and video podcast. However for
best SEO results, it is necessary to include captions in a text format
preferably on the same webpage containing the embedded media.
·
Courses & Tutorials: Videos
are a popular method for recording courses and training modules available
online. These videos can be transcribed
and also translated. Translations are usefully for businesses which have an
audience reach in multiple countries where English is not the primary language.
Hence, translated videos can greatly assist in reaching worldwide customers.
·
Songs: Words sung by singer can
also be transcribed and then synchronized frame by frame. Karaoke subtitles are
a great example of this. Audiences can better connect to the song and enrich
their listening experience. The main application lies in online music industry
where producers and also radio stations can optimize their digital media such
as songs, introduction music etc for better SEO.
6 benefits of captions:
- Helps in Podcast SEO.
- With translated captions, businesses can cater to customers from Non-English speaking countries.
- Better appeal factor to videos.
- Easy to understand technical jargons and words which otherwise could have been missed.
- Captions can be compiled into a word doc and then archived.
- Makes it easy to search text.
- Useful in Co-citation and referencing purpose.
Summary: Captions can greatly assist in SEO. However, most marketers don’t know how to
make use of captions and subtitles and incorporate it into their digital
marketing strategy.
Reference: Visit Alltranscript.com's Smashword profile page.