Video search guide
Video SEO: how Google finds and shows your videos.
How video for SEO works: watch pages, thumbnails, structured data and key moments, and the steps to make a video eligible in search.
Short answer
What is video SEO?
Video SEO is the work of helping Google find, understand and show your videos in Search. You put each video on a crawlable watch page, give it a valid thumbnail, add VideoObject structured data and check the result in Search Console.
In brief
Five things to know first.
The watch page comes first
Google indexes a video on its watch page. Google says the page must perform well in Search before its video is considered.
Google must be able to find the video
Google can find videos in a video, embed, iframe or object element. A valid thumbnail is also required.
Structured data influences appearance
Google says describing your video with structured data helps influence how videos appear on Google.
Videos show in several places
Google says videos can appear in the main results, Video mode, Google Images and Google Discover.
Check it in Search Console
Validate markup with the Rich Results Test, then monitor errors and indexing in Search Console.
Definition
Video search engine optimisation, explained
Video search engine optimisation means making your videos easy for search engines to find, index and show. The page that holds the video matters as much as the video.
An SEO marketing video can appear in the main results page, Video mode, Google Images and Google Discover. All of them start with the watch page.
Main search results
A video can appear alongside regular results for a query.
Video mode
A search mode that lists videos.
Google Images
Videos can also surface in image results.
Google Discover
Videos can appear in the Discover feed too.
Why it matters
Why it matters for your business.
Videos need to be indexed on their watch page before they can appear anywhere. For a business, that makes the watch page the first thing to get right.
More places to be found
Videos can appear in several different places on Google.
Indexing comes first
Videos need to be indexed on the corresponding watch page.
Markup shapes the result
Describing your video with structured data helps influence how it appears.
How it works
How Google finds your videos
Google can find videos referenced by a video, embed, iframe or object element. Videos are found in those elements on a page, so embed the video on a page that can be crawled.
A video must also have a valid thumbnail image. Google can process many video file types, including MP4, AVI and MKV among others.
| Requirement | What Google says |
|---|---|
| Embedding | Videos are found in video, embed, iframe or object elements |
| Thumbnail | A video must have a valid thumbnail image |
| File types | MP4, MKV, MOV, WebM, AVI and others are processed |
| Visibility | The video can't be hidden behind other elements |
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Watch pages
Why the watch page matters
A watch page is the page where a video is embedded and can be watched. Google indexes a video on that page, not on its own.
Google says the indexed watch page must perform well in Search before its video can be considered for indexing. Do not rely on a click, swipe or typing to load the video.
| Helps indexing | Gets in the way | |
|---|---|---|
| Loading | Video embedded directly in the page | Video loads only after a user action |
| Visibility | Video is visible on the page | Video is hidden behind other elements |
| Thumbnail | One unique, stable thumbnail URL | Thumbnail URLs that keep changing |
| Page quality | Watch page performs well in Search | Thin page the video is buried on |
Structured data
Video structured data, explained
Video structured data tells Google what a video is. Google says describing your video with structured data helps influence how it appears. The markup uses the VideoObject type.
You must include the required VideoObject properties to be eligible in Google Search. One required property is thumbnailUrl. Google must also be able to fetch your video content files.
Required properties
Include the required VideoObject properties, or the markup is not eligible for Google Search.
thumbnailUrl
A URL pointing to the video's unique thumbnail image file.
Fetchable files
Google must be able to fetch your video content files.
How to add it
Use a CMS plugin or JavaScript, or write the markup by hand.
Key moments
Key moments and video previews
Key moments let people jump to the part of a video they want. You tell Google about the important points of your video with Clip or SeekToAction structured data.
For previews, Google lets you set a maximum preview length with the max-video-preview robots meta tag.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Clip | Marks the important points inside a video |
| SeekToAction | Another way to enable key moments |
| max-video-preview | Sets the maximum length of a video preview |
| regionsAllowed | Limits which regions get the video result |
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Steps
How to optimize video for SEO
To optimize your video for SEO, work through this order. SEO video optimisation starts with the page, then the markup.
Embed on a crawlable watch page
Put the video on its own page that search engines can index. Use an HTML video, embed, iframe or object element.Add one stable thumbnail
Give each video a valid thumbnail, using a single unique and stable URL.Describe it with VideoObject
Add VideoObject structured data with the required properties, including thumbnailUrl.Mark key moments
Use Clip or SeekToAction to point to the important parts of the video.Test and fix
Validate the markup with the Rich Results Test and fix any critical errors before you publish.Monitor in Search Console
Track indexing and structured data errors, and inspect a live URL to see how Google views it.
Measure and avoid
Measure it and avoid mistakes
Search Console is the tool Google names for monitoring how your pages perform. After deploying markup, watch it, and check for rises in invalid structured data items after big changes.
| Mistake | Fix | |
|---|---|---|
| No thumbnail | Video has no valid thumbnail | Add a valid thumbnail URL |
| Hidden video | Video sits behind other elements | Keep it visible on the page |
| Click to load | Video needs a user action to load | Embed it so it loads directly |
| Skipped testing | Markup is never validated | Run the Rich Results Test first |
FAQ
Common questions, answered plainly.
How do you do video SEO for a website?
Start with a crawlable watch page and an embedded video, then add a valid thumbnail and VideoObject structured data. Add Clip or SeekToAction for key moments, validate with the Rich Results Test and monitor errors in Search Console.
Does video improve SEO?
Video does not improve SEO by itself. Google can show videos in several places, but each video must be indexed on its watch page first. A video helps visibility only when that page is crawlable, performs well in Search and describes the video clearly.
What file types can Google process for video?
Google can process many video file types, including MP4, MKV, MOV, WebM, AVI and MPEG, among others. The file type matters less than whether the video is embedded on a crawlable page with a valid thumbnail.
What is a watch page?
A watch page is the page where a video is embedded and can be watched. Google indexes a video on that page, and says the page must perform well in Search before its video can be considered for indexing.
How do you get video key moments in Google?
Key moments come from telling Google the important points of your video. Use Clip or SeekToAction structured data to mark them. Validate the markup with the Rich Results Test and monitor it in Search Console after publishing.
How do you remove a video from Google results?
To remove a video from search results, return a 404 status for the watch page that embeds the removed or expired video. You can also limit regions by setting regionsAllowed in the structured data.
How do I know if my videos are indexed?
Use Search Console to monitor how your pages perform in Google Search, track indexing and structured data errors, and inspect a live URL to see how Google views it. After big changes, watch for rises in invalid structured data items.
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