Subtitles — Why More Videos Are Using It and Why You Should Too

JC Bougle
4 min readNov 20, 2020

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There are a lot of different ways to optimize your video content. You can adjust the length or size of your video to your desired platform, choose an interesting topic, create an eye-catching thumbnail, and generate fascinating titles and call-to-actions among other things.

While effective, these actions can be a bit complex and require some effort to conceptualize. However, there’s one simple thing that you can do which can make a significant impact for your videos: adding subtitles.

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Adding subtitles may not seem like much at first glance, but doing this can help unlock the potential of your videos.

Here are 3 reasons why you should be using subtitles for your videos:

1. Subtitles make videos more convenient to watch

You have to remember that most people watch online videos on their mobile devices. Adding subtitles to your online videos means that your video will be easier to digest and more convenient to watch.

Some people watch videos with their smartphones in public, like when they use public transport or at work without any speakers or headphones on while they’re scrolling through their feeds.

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Using subtitles or captions will help make your audience’s experience more entertaining as they can be able to understand the context and situation of your video even if they choose to watch your videos without any sound.

Subtitles are also important to use for some video platforms that have an autoplay feature on their website. When you include subtitles to your video, you will be able to communicate the topic or message of your video even when it autoplays on mute.

2. Subtitles make videos more accessible and inclusive

Adding subtitles to your videos will also make your videos more accessible and inclusive to a wider audience. You must consider that there are over 400 million people who have hearing impairments and there are also millions of people who do not speak your native language.

Having subtitles and captions opens up your videos to a larger audience that are willing to consume your content despite their impairments or their different native language.

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People who have hearing impairments can just read the subtitles you provide and people who do not speak your language can just read your subtitles in their native language so that they can understand the message that you want to deliver.

This is a great way to expand the global reach of your company because this allows your videos to reach new audiences from all over the world.

3. Subtitles on videos boost your SEO

Adding subtitles and captions to your videos will effectively boost your SEO. Having subtitles not only boosts your SEO but also makes it easier for your audience to find your videos online.

If you use a keyword strategy for your video scripts, you can boost your search engine traffic by posting your video’s transcript. Including your video’s transcripts in your video description and on your website allows search engines to rank your video higher since these transcripts provide text.

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There is a tremendous potential for growth in using keyword strategies because a lot of online media do not use captions. This SEO boost is also important for your videos because Google currently reserves the top of its result pages for informative videos.

If you are thinking about adding subtitles to your videos, VideoBlast can help guide you throughout the whole process. We are an online creative video agency that can help you create videos that will reach your audience.

We have different video styles and examples that use subtitles in our website which you can use for your business. Let VideoBlast help you create great videos for your global audience.

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