Using schema.org markup for videos

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Videos are one of the most common types of results on Google and we want to make sure that your
videos get indexed. Today, we’re also launching video support for schema.org.
Schema.org is a joint effort between
Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Yandex and is now the recommended way to describe videos on the web.
The markup is very simple and can be easily added to most websites.

Adding schema.org video markup
is just like adding any other schema.org data. Simply define an itemscope, an
itemtype="https://schema.org/VideoObject", and make sure to set the name,
description, and thumbnailUrl properties. You’ll also need either the
embedURL—the location of the video player—or the
contentURL—the location of the video file. A typical video player with markup
might look like this:

Using schema.org markup will not affect any
Video Sitemaps o
mRSS feeds
you’re already using. In fact, we still recommend that you also use a Video Sitemap because it
alerts us of any new or updated videos faster and provides advanced functionality such as country
and platform restrictions.

Since this means that there are now a number of ways to tell Google about your videos, choosing
the right format can seem difficult. In order to make the video indexing process as easy as
possible, we’ve put together a series of videos and articles about video indexing in our new
Webmasters EDU microsite.

For more information, you can go through the
Webmasters EDU video articles,
read the full
schema.org VideoObject specification,
or ask questions in the
Webmaster Help Forum.
We look forward to seeing more of your video content in Google Search.

Posted by
Henry Zhang,
Product Manager