Should your website add transcripts to videos, or are captions sufficient?
To optimize accessibility, both captions and transcripts are necessary. They serve different purposes: Captions accommodate people with hearing disabilities and people who browse without sound, while transcripts are useful for people with vision disabilities.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the consensus standards for digital accessibility, require captions for pre-recorded videos. WCAG’s rules for transcripts are slightly murkier: Websites must provide an equivalent alternative for synchronized media (such as videos). That’s not necessarily a transcript — an audio description track provides an effective alternative for users with vision disabilities.
But while transcripts aren’t always required for digital compliance, they’re always a good idea. Here’s why.
If you’re investing in video, you want your content to reach as many people as possible. Transcripts can act as an alternative for your video, but they’re also useful as a reference.
Many users will read your transcript after watching the video, while others may decide to skip the multimedia entirely. An accurate transcript provides a better experience for:
Internet users appreciate options. When your website provides users with different ways to interact with your content, your audience can grow quickly.
Related: Do I Need to Write Podcast Transcripts for Accessibility?
Transcripts are an excellent tool for search engine optimization (SEO) because they provide text content that search engines can index. Without a transcript, search engine spiders may not be able to identify the content of the video, which prevents your website from establishing relevance for important search terms.
In 2011, National Public Radio (NPR) began providing transcripts for radio show This American Life and tracked engagement. About 7% of all unique visitors viewed at least one transcript, and over 6% of unique visitors who came from search traffic landed on a transcript page.
More people could access the content — and find the content through search.
Related: Why Your SEO Strategy Should Include Web Accessibility
Whether you build a library of transcripts, you’re also building a library of useful, searchable text. That may help you create other types of content as your website grows:
If you’re struggling to think of ideas for your next marketing project, your video transcripts can provide inspiration. You’ll have statistics, calls-to-action, and other essential information at your disposal, which can save you a lot of time.
Related: Why Accessibility Must Be Part of Your Marketing Plan
Transcripts should serve as an alternative to your media. Typically, they’ll include descriptions of visual elements, which you’ll need to add manually.
However, if you’ve already written captions, that’s not too difficult — and if you think about transcripts when drafting your scripts, you might not need to do any additional work before publishing your video.
Related: Gen Z More Likely to Use Captions When Viewing Video Content
Ultimately, transcripts are a simple, obvious way to add content to your website. They’re important for accessibility, but like many of the best practices of inclusive design, transcripts are useful for everyone (including marketers).
Some quick tips for writing your transcripts:
If you’re ready to add accessible multimedia to your website, we’re ready to help. Send us a message to connect with an accessibility expert.