Screenshot of YouTube and Google closed caption video transcripts

Video is content. Keyword rich content.

Did you know that Google search can now search for videos by keyword. And we’re not just talking about the video title or tags attached to the video, but the actual content of the video, the narration or voice over or transcript.

YouTube and therefore Google, have now created a tool so that you can submit your video’s transcript, and make it easier for your video content to rank in Google’s organic search results. So as to improve their search results for video content, Google has also started creating their own transcript of your videos.

As you can see in the screen shot – there is a CC “closed caption” button that brings the transcript over-layed on the video like sub titles.

Next to the flag button, there is a transcript button that allows you to view the full transcript of the video by timeframe. You can see this in the image below.

Google will give you instructions on how to upload a video transcript but as I mentioned above, they are starting to create transcripts for videos that have clear words.

So its a win, win situation. Your video gets a transcript and shows up better in Google’s search results – meaning your content ranks better AND Google is able to provide yet another excellent user experience.

The choice is yours, watch the video as it is, or watch a video with sub-titles, or watch a video with the transcript.

I just love how much the digital world is evolving.