What is video SEO?

Video SEO applies the same search-ranking principles, crawling, indexing, relevance, to a format Google treats differently from text or images. A video is not an isolated file: to appear in search results, it needs to live on its own watch page, with a stable URL, and be accompanied by information Google can read without playing the entire file.

That information reaches Google mainly through two channels: the VideoObject structured-data markup from Schema.org, which describes title, description, thumbnail, duration and publish date, and the HTML of the page itself, where Google can find the video through the video, embed, iframe or object elements.

This is different from ranking a video within YouTube, which uses its own retention and engagement signals. Here we're talking about the video appearing in Google Search results, whether inside or outside that platform.

It differs from general SEO in that Google first evaluates whether the watch page deserves to appear as a normal search result, and only then considers whether the video itself can be shown as a rich result, with a thumbnail, duration and a direct link to a specific moment in the video. No video appears in results if the page hosting it doesn't rank first.

For those already doing classic SEO, the good news is that the underlying principles don't contradict each other: a fast, well-structured page with relevant text remains the requirement for video SEO too, not a substitute for it.

For Google to crawl and index a video, Search Central's documentation sets out several technical requirements. First, the video file or its streaming URL, an M3U8 file for example, cannot be blocked by the noindex rule or by robots.txt: Google needs to be able to access the actual video bytes, not just the page wrapping it. Second, the host of the watch page and the server streaming the video must have enough server resources to support crawling, because a slow or overloaded server can prevent the video from being indexed correctly. Third, fragment identifiers, the part of the URL after the hash, should not be used to load the video, because Google Search generally doesn't support them. Google technically distinguishes between crawling the watch page itself and separately fetching the video file, which means both pieces, page and file, need to be independently accessible. The watch page's load time also matters: a video that takes several seconds to start worsens the user experience and, indirectly, the chances of the surrounding page ranking well.

On top of that technical base comes the VideoObject markup, which must include unique information in the thumbnailUrl, name and description properties for each video: repeating the same thumbnail or generic description across every video in a catalogue reduces the odds of appearing in rich results. The thumbnail must meet a minimum size of 60x30 pixels, though Google recommends larger sizes, and be in a supported format (JPEG, PNG, WebP or AVIF), at an accessible, stable URL.

When several pages embed the same video, Google tries to identify the canonical watch page to avoid showing duplicates in results, another reason not to repeat the same thumbnail or description across different embeds of the same content.

When a video sits behind a paywall, there is a specific markup for paywalled content; without it, Google may treat the page as hidden or misleading content. With all these elements in place, Google can show the video with a thumbnail, duration and, in some cases, links to key moments within playback.

Video results occupy their own space on the results page, separate from the list of blue links: they appear with a thumbnail, duration and, at times, grouped into a dedicated carousel. That space follows indexing rules different from text, which means a page ranking well in traditional SEO doesn't automatically get presence in video results if the video itself doesn't meet its own technical requirements.

zds.es's catalogue currently has no article dedicated to this layer, even though any page with audiovisual content, tutorials, product demos, interviews, competes for that additional space in the search engine. Ignoring VideoObject markup or hosting the video without its own watch page doesn't stop the video from being seen, but it does reduce its odds of appearing as a rich result, with the resulting loss of visibility against competitors that do implement it.

A business with a video library, such as tutorials, webinars or demos, that doesn't apply this markup doesn't lose the video itself, but it forgoes the additional discovery surface Google specifically reserves for video results, a space where competition is usually lower than in the general list of links.

Google also uses the Videos filter within Search Console performance to specifically measure how these results behave, a signal separate from the rest of organic traffic that only makes sense to review if indexed video content exists.

Editorial teams that produce video alongside text content should take a look at their own video library: recordings often already exist that just need their own watch page and the right markup to generate extra visibility. Video-intent searches, such as how-tos or comparisons, also frequently compete with YouTube results, so a well-marked-up watch page of your own is one of the few ways to stay visible outside that platform.

• Host each video on its own watch page, with a stable URL and relevant textual context around it.
• Add VideoObject structured data with unique, non-generic name, description and thumbnailUrl values for each video.
• Use a thumbnail of at least 60x30 pixels, in JPEG, PNG, WebP or AVIF, hosted at an accessible URL.
• Don't block the video file's URL or its streaming with noindex or robots.txt.
• Avoid loading the video via fragment identifiers in the URL; Google Search doesn't support them reliably.
• If the video sits behind a paywall, add the corresponding paywalled-content markup.

• Embedding the video without a dedicated watch page, for example only inside a pop-up.
• Repeating the same thumbnail or generic description across every video in the catalogue.
• Hosting the video on a server without enough capacity for crawling, which can prevent indexing.
• Accidentally blocking the videos folder in robots.txt, a common mistake after a CDN change.
• Hiding paywalled content without the corresponding markup, which Google may interpret as misleading content.