SEO: Video Transcripting
I’ve been happy that we can post video to multiple video directory sites without being nailed for the duplicate content issue. You see, spiders STILL cannot parse video. Rumor had it that Google was transcribing videos, but the rumor isn’t true. They’re not transcribing videos, but…
IF you post a transcript of your video when you upload it, that will make a difference, and Google video is the only site suggesting that you do. In fact, here’s what they say:
“Users will be able to find your video more easily if you add a transcript to each video file you’ve uploaded via your Video Status page. We prefer it if the format of the transcript is time-coded and saved as a .txt file. A time-coded transcript breaks the script of the video into segments. Each segment includes the time the words in the script are being said in the video followed by the actual words of the script.” (see: http://www.google.com/video/upload/video_transcripts.html)
So, it’s not a mere transcript they’re suggesting, but one that has a timeline. At 03:17, suject said, “XYZ.”
I don’t really think that’s needed. Having a keyword rich transcript is great, and it will help spiders to understand what your video is about.
But, this is where dupe content comes back into play. If you’re going to post on multiple video sites, you should have different transcripts. I mean, they aren’t requiring a word-by-word transcript, just a description of what each section of the video refers to. So, you might be able to write a short keyword-rich summary for each section of the video and you could do that in several different ways. Right?
But… do you really need to do that?
If you’re making videos, there is already a way to make spiders “get it.” Write a killer description! If you have a transcript, add it to your YouTube description. If your video is from an article, add the article to your description (providing either is not really, really long). But be sure that when you’re describing, you’re adding the URL first, and then, write a great keyword-rich description for the video. Add the URL between each paragraph, too.
Other sites aren’t as lenient about description lengths, and the transcript strategy isn’t going to work at all. But, you should still be crafting your video descriptions in a way that will allow spiders to figure out what the video is about and ranking it for the keyword(s) you have chosen. (Personally, I only go after one keyword phrase in each article, video, blog post, etc. But it’s up to you.)
Just be sure that you’re helping spiders, and at the same time not penalizing yourself for having dupe content. Make sense?
