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Where your website videos can appear on Google
A video on your website can appear in several places on Google. Google's documentation names four, the main results page, Video mode, Google Images and Discover. So a product video can bring in visits beyond YouTube.
Google warns that structured data doesn't guarantee a video result. First, the page hosting the video has to be indexed and performing well in search before the video is even considered. Even then, an indexed page doesn't mean the video is indexed too.
Every important video needs its own watch page
Google only indexes videos that sit on a watch page, a page whose main purpose is to show one video. Its examples include a video landing page and an event clip page. Each watch page needs a title and description unique to that video.
A blog post reviewing an embedded video, or a product page with a 360 video, doesn't count as a watch page. You can still use the same video on the product page and on its own watch page. The product page can then appear as a text result, or in Google Images with a video badge. Here's how that could look for businesses around Girona.
- A machinery maker in the Girona area can build a page for the video that shows how its machine works.
- A property developer can give each development's video walkthrough its own page.
- A hotel on the Costa Brava can give its facilities video a dedicated page and link to it from the rest of the site.
If the video is already on YouTube, do I need to do anything on my website?
Yes, if you want your own page to appear too. Google recommends adding video structured data to your page, and you can list the page in a video sitemap. If the video is only a small part of the page, the page can show as a text result, but not as a video.
YouTube, Vimeo or your own server
You can host on YouTube or Vimeo and embed the video on your site. Google says it may then index the video both on your page and on the platform's page, and both can appear if they meet the requirements. For your own page, it still recommends adding structured data and, if you like, listing it in a video sitemap.
Some features, like video previews and key moments, need Google to be able to fetch the video file itself. If you host the file on your server or a CDN, keep it at a stable URL. If you use a platform, Google suggests checking with them that they let Google fetch the file.
Got product or property videos that never show up on Google? Leave your details and we'll tell you where we'd start.
Get in touchMake sure the video loads without a click
Google finds videos placed with the usual HTML elements, such as video, embed, iframe or object. Nobody should have to click, swipe or type for the video to load. If you inject the video with JavaScript, use the URL Inspection tool in Search Console to check that it appears in the rendered HTML.
A common mistake is showing a screenshot of the player that has to be clicked before the real video loads. Search Console flags this as being unable to determine the video's position and size. The fix is to load the player at its real size and position as soon as the page opens.
Will the video on my homepage show up on Google as a video?
Usually not. Google indexes videos that are the main content of a page. A homepage with a background video, or a video among lots of other content, doesn't meet that condition. If the video matters to your business, give it its own page with a unique title and description, and link to it from the homepage.
Thumbnail and video structured data
Without a valid thumbnail, a video can't appear in video features. Google tries to generate one if it can fetch the file, but you can choose your own with the poster attribute, a video sitemap or structured data. Use the same thumbnail URL everywhere. VideoObject structured data has three required properties, the name, the thumbnail URL and the upload date.
- Thumbnail in JPEG, PNG, WebP, AVIF, GIF, BMP or SVG, at least 60 by 30 pixels, and larger is better.
- One unique, stable thumbnail URL per video, not blocked by robots.txt and not behind a login.
- No transparency. At least 80 percent of the pixels need an alpha value above 250.
- Duration plus the file URL (contentUrl) or player URL (embedUrl), which Google recommends adding.
Key moments and video previews
Key moments let people jump to a specific part of the video straight from Google, like chapters in a book. Google tries to detect them on its own, but gives priority to the ones you mark. On YouTube you add them as timestamps in the description. On your own site you use Clip or SeekToAction structured data.
In a three-minute video about an industrial product, marking segments like setup, operation and maintenance helps people who only need one part. For a site in Catalan, use Clip, which works in every language Google Search supports, because SeekToAction doesn't support Catalan. Google picks the moving preview itself, and to be eligible it needs to be able to fetch the video file.
How long does Google take to index a new video?
Google doesn't give a timeframe. At first the Search Console report may show that the video is still being processed, and Google suggests checking back in a few days. A video sitemap helps Google discover new videos. And if the thumbnail URL changes too often, Google may not manage to index the video.
How to check in Search Console whether a video is indexed
The Video indexing report in Search Console shows how many pages have an indexed video and why others don't. Because it only counts indexed pages, a high number of pages with no video indexed points to a problem with the videos themselves. The URL Inspection tool lets you check a single page and see whether Google found the video on it. These are some of the reasons the report lists.
- Video isn't on a watch page.
- Cannot determine video position and size.
- No thumbnail URL provided, or the thumbnail has an unsupported format or an invalid size.
- Thumbnail blocked by robots.txt, or the thumbnail is transparent.
- Video not found on host service.
