Are you looking for ways to enhance your video content, obtain more views and engage better with your audience? This is a path every video content creator will probably walk sooner or later!
The search for the secret ingredients to optimise your video
Although the strategic and technical part of video editing is important – remember that the most important thing in creating exciting video content is to follow your passion in what you do – and usually that will shine through!
With that being said, you do need to know a thing or two about how to edit your video to increase the chances of its success, and in this article, we will look into the specific and often overseen feature – video subtitles!
Subtitling a video is more than just an avenue to make it accessible for the hearing impaired – recent studies suggest that by adding subtitles, viewers retain more information while also paying closer attention and having better recall of videos.
With the help of modern software, some tailored to video editors’ individual needs – others offering an all-inclusive video-editing platform, you can keep up with your audience’s expectations while staying one step ahead by taking advantage of opportunities such as auto-subtitling – that free up time for more creative projects.
A silent digital world
Although video viewership is on a rapid rise, video audio is being decreased or even muted like never before, actually on most videos – especially the ones we watch in public. But really everywhere, because people don’t like to disturb those around, and want to stay discreet. This is creating potential problems in communicating key messages and ideas effectively. Subtitles offer a seamless solution by uniting visual and audible content so viewers can still access information even when audio levels are low!
Hearing the audio properly is not an option for everyone. Hearing difficulties, such as deafness or decreased hearing, affect a significant portion of the global population. In fact, 466 million people worldwide are hard of hearing and this number is expected to grow by 2050 to reach 700 million. Additionally, it is estimated that 2.5 billion individuals have some degree of hearing loss – an alarming statistic indicating how essential video subtitles are for ensuring equal access and engagement from all viewers.
Where Languages are the Only limit
With the world becoming increasingly global, now is the perfect time to stretch your reach across borders. Growing yourself a larger audience and consumer market will open up numerous opportunities – all you need are a few clicks on the internet!
Unfortunately, this move comes with the challenge of language barriers between different countries. To bridge those verbal gaps would ultimately require investments in professional translation services, but with AI translation we now got a more simple way to get around this. It might not be sufficient for longer-form material translations, but for shorter-form material such as subtitles for social media videos, it is more than enough to create comprehensible content that can travel around various cultures.
AI Software to Help Automate Subtitling and Translation?
Artificial intelligence has made it possible to transform speech into text automatically = transcription, and then swiftly create subtitles out of it. This can be done in multiple languages. AI software can accurately transcribe clear audio from videos within minutes, depending on the length of the video. The auto-generated subtitles can furthermore be translated into multiple languages, and this will allow people from different countries to understand and appreciate video content from all over the world.
This means, that subtitling and translating videos is no longer such a time-consuming hassle! However, it doesn’t mean that the editing process is completely removed. Professional video editors will know that subtitles are often reduced – by several words – to ensure they are easy on the eyes. Not least due to the fact, that we tend to read slower than we speak. Also, we still need the opportunity to customise the font style, size, position, and color – all small details realising your unique brand identity and message.
Although translation software isn’t as accurate as transcription, and cannot line up to the level of professional translators’ work in regard to all kinds of translation material, AI technology has been pivotal in advancing software-performed translation, as it takes language-specific factors such as grammar and sentence composition into consideration. With its capacity to build an understanding of phrases beyond the surface level offered by less advanced word-by-word translation, this form of AI produces translations that are far more accurate – aiding us with a better comprehension across languages!
You Need Subtitles to Improve Video SEO
Did you know that subtitles can help your video content shine in the eyes of search engine robots? It’s true! When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), having relevant keywords is essential for ranking high on inquiries. As visual and audible elements cannot be detected and understood by robotic algorithms, adding a subtitle file containing those all-important words does the trick – making sure videos get ranked competitively with related searches.
Closed Captions
Although subtitles can create video SEO, it is not just any kind of subtitles that will do so. They have to be closed caption subtitles – the kind you upload as a subtitle file (SRT / VTT) together with your video on your video distribution platform. Using closed captions also gives you the opportunity to upload several subtitle files – some translated into different languages, so you can make sure everyone has access – no matter what language they speak!
You can create closed caption subtitles by uploading your video to a subtitling software, letting the software auto-generate subtitles in the original language, translating them if this is your mission, and simply downloading the subtitles separately as SRT / VTT files to upload with your video.
Hardcoded subtitles are not visible to search engine robots. This type of subtitles – which is burned onto the video itself – may be useful in certain circumstances due to its permanency, as it’s always present once exported, but it doesn’t add any SEO value to your video. Creating them involves a similar process of creating closed captions, only differing in the way you save the subtitles, as you have to export the entire video with the subtitles hardcoded onto it.
Repurpose Your Subtitles
Taking advantage of video SEO is a great way to get your content seen, and one tried-and-true method for increasing visibility is adding the transcript as part of your description. Download your subtitles as a text file, and you got your recycled transcript. Not only can this improve your keyword profile so robots easily understand your content, but it also serves invaluable benefits such as aiding viewers’ comprehension and memory of your videos – perfect for studying!
Maximizing exposure starts with ensuring that your video content and keywords are perfectly in sync. Make sure to include the right keyword phrases within titles, tags, and subtitles – this will ensure viewers find the answers they need while helping you avoid higher bouncing rates.
AI-enabled subtitles are an innovative tool that can help make your video content stand out, regardless of its intended purpose. From marketing and education to entertainment, adding subtitles helps boost viewer engagement, and improve overall performance.
