In a recent SEO Office Hours podcast, Google’s Martin Splitt addressed a question about whether converting YouTube video content into text on a webpage would be flagged as duplicate content and negatively impact web page rankings.
Although duplicate content itself isn’t a negative ranking factor, content published on a more authoritative site can outrank the same content on a less authoritative one. This concern led to the question about reproducing video content in text form.
In the search community, some refer to one piece of content overshadowing another as ‘cannibalization’ of the webpage’s ranking potential. This was the main concern of the questioner.
Martin Splitt narrated the submitted question:
"If I create a YouTube video and then take that exact text or content and place it on a web page, could Google flag that web page or site for duplicate content?"
Different Content Media Are Treated As Separate
Martin Splitt explained that video and text are considered different types of content, and therefore, publishing text extracted from a video will not be treated as duplicate content.
His exact response was:
"No, one is a video and the other one is text content, and that would be unique content!"
Publishing Extracted Text From Video
Martin praised the idea of converting video content into text, stating that some users may prefer consuming content in text form rather than watching a video. He also suggested that converting text to audio or video formats could be beneficial for those who struggle with reading text content.
He elaborated:
"It’s also not a bad idea, some users (like me) might prefer a text version and others might not be able to use a video version of the content in the first place due to bandwidth or visual constraints."
Takeaways
Repurposing content from one medium to another appears to be a good strategy. Search encompasses more than just Google; it includes platforms like YouTube and audio services like Spotify. The absence of content cannibalization between different media types makes repurposing a practical approach to extending your content reach.
Listen to the podcast at the 8:20 minute mark:
Featured Image by Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi
