Embedding videos on your site has tons of advantages. It lets you fully control what visitors experience and increases conversion rates. And if you can get your embedded videos to appear in Google’s organic search results, it will quickly become your most cost-effective sales channel. There’s just one big hurdle — YouTube.
YouTube is the world’s biggest video hosting platform, most of the videos in Google’s search results are from YouTube, and it’s why many people equate video SEO with optimizing videos for it. But what if I told you your site could outrank YouTube with your embedded videos? It can, and this video SEO guide will show you how step-by-step.
In the competitive sphere of video SEO, providing the right set of data to engines is critical in helping people find and connect with the videos you work so hard to create.
Let’s go behind the oft-opaque curtains of the SEO world, so more eyes can happily stumble upon your next video.
Choose an optimized video hosting platform
This may come as a surprise, but if you plan to embed videos on your site and want the videos on your pages to appear in search results, then you probably shouldn’t host them on YouTube.
As a video hosting platform, YouTube is designed to draw viewers to YouTube.
Videos set to Public on YouTube will almost always outrank embedded videos on your site, and Unlisted YouTube videos embedded on your site will never rank because they block Google from indexing them.
Similar indexing and ranking issues exist with other video hosting platforms, but not with Vimeo. That’s because Vimeo is an early adopter of a new tag called indexifembedded that makes it possible for Unlisted videos using iframe embeds on sites to rank in Google Search.
Did you know? Vimeo’s search engine optimizations for embedded videos are so effective that Google published a case study about them!
Where you upload and host your videos matters, and Vimeo provides your embeds with the best opportunity for visibility in Google Search.
Read more about video uploading and hosting
Add descriptive text to the video and page
Videos need relevant titles, descriptions, and more because — even though search algorithms grow more and more impressive by the day — video content is still difficult for search engines to comprehend.
Write a concise and focused title
An optimized video title should briefly describe the video content and include the relevant keywords a person might use when searching for the video. Here are several examples of optimized video titles.
- Instructional: “How to make a ceramic mug at home”
- Interview: “Interview with Hugo Gameiro, founder of Masto Host”
- Movie trailer: “Everything Everywhere All at Once movie trailer”
- News: “Cat rescued with drone after getting stuck on pole”
- Presentation: “SXSW 2022 keynote presented by Beck”
Create a keyword-rich description
After the title, the next most important text for search engines is the video description. A video description should be a 1-2 paragraph synopsis and include topics, people, places, and things mentioned in the video. It can also repeat words used in the title if it’s relevant for the description.
Consider adding video chapters
Video chapters allow viewers to jump to different sections of a video, and they provide more ways people can find your video in search engines. Adding chapters is also super easy if you host your videos with Vimeo.
Adding chapters can also enhance the video’s appearance in search results because Google Search may display chapters as Key Moments.
Alex Cherny, Sr. Director of Product at Vimeo said this:
“One of Vimeo’s goals is to make video as powerful as possible, and that extends to helping anyone achieve reach and exposure without having to be an engineer or SEO pro.
Unlocking the knowledge within video content is part of this focus and Key Moments makes this possible right from a customer’s search results page, enhancing the value of their videos.”
Alex Cherny, Sr. Director of Product at Vimeo
Include a video transcript
Video transcripts provide additional context for videos to search engines. They’re also important for accessibility because they’re used for closed captioning. All paid Vimeo accounts have AI-generated auto-captions for every video they upload. Transcripts can also be created by professional transcription services like Rev and added to the video using Vimeo.
When a video is embedded on a page, consider including the transcript on the page. And if you want the transcript hidden by default, consider using the Details disclosure element. It’s a search engine-friendly way to hide and show text on the page.
Make video embeds prominent
Google Search has a strong preference for single videos prominently displayed on a page and gives them the best visibility in its search results.
Main page vs. supplementary content
When Google discovers a video, it analyzes its relationship to the page and determines if the video is the main content or supplementary content. If a video is embedded on a page within a lot of text, like an article, Google usually determines that the video is supplementary, significantly reducing the chance it will appear in its search results.
However, if Google determines the video is the main content, there’s a high probability Google will index it and display it in its results.
How to make videos prominent
For a video to be considered the main content of a page, it must appear above the fold in the browser window (the area before you scroll) and fill up at least a third of the page width.
The ideal page will be a video playback page containing only the video, title, description, and transcript (if one exists) as its main content.
Videos intentionally embedded in articles as supplementary content can still be treated as the main content of a page if they are also embedded on a separate video playback page.
And in some cases, Google will link to the article instead of the playback page when it displays the video in its search results.
Include VideoObject Schema structured data
The content on web pages is unstructured, making it difficult for search engines to understand the content fully. To solve this problem, Google created a vocabulary called Schema that enables sites to communicate the structure and meaning of page content to search engine bots.
When Schema is added to web pages, it’s invisible to people viewing the page, but search engine crawlers, such as Googlebot, can see it. Google uses structured data to improve and enhance how different page content is displayed in its search results. Videos can benefit from using Schema by using the VideoObject type.
How to add Schema to videos
Schema structured data is complex, and if one thing is incorrect, Google Search will ignore it completely. Schema can be coded by an experienced web developer or built with a tool, but the most foolproof way to add it to videos is to automate it with software.
Use Vimeo embeds
Vimeo is one of the few video hosting platforms that automatically generates and inserts VideoObject Schema with its embeds. When you add Vimeo’s video embed code to a web page, the Schema is dynamically included, and Google’s crawler can read and analyze it.
Adding Schema in a CMS
If Vimeo’s embed code is pasted into a Custom HTML block in WordPress, Vimeo will automatically insert the Schema when the page is loaded in a browser. Alternatively, plugins, such as Yoast Video SEO and Schema Markup Plugin, will automatically generate video Schema for any videos added using WordPress’ Video block.
Make your videos discoverable
Do you ever publish great content or upload an awesome video only for it to get buried or worse, not noticed at all? SEO for videos follow a similar rulebook as written content. For SEO to really work well with videos, search engines must first find the pages that have your videos embedded.
Here are two of the best methods for discovery:
Method 1: Use an RSS feed or XML sitemap
RSS feeds and XML sitemaps are files that list the pages of your site, and adding an RSS feed or XML sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools will notify them when a new page is added. Most content management systems like WordPress create RSS feeds out of the box. And if you prefer to use an XML sitemap, plugins like Yoast SEO will generate them automatically.
Additionally, if you only want to share details about embedded videos, a video XML sitemap or mRSS video feed can be used.
Method 2: Share on social media
Google Search monitors major social networks closely, and sharing links in posts helps Google discover those pages. Even better, when those posts experience high engagement, they can be a strong signal for Google to give it better visibility in its search results and on Google Discover.
P.S.) Don’t forget to check that your content on social has a compelling thumbnail image. These can go a long way at grabbing someone’s attention span on social media.
Putting it all together
Now you know — getting your embedded videos to appear in search results isn’t impossible. It just requires effort beyond simply uploading your video.
To recap, all it takes to increase visibility to videos on your site is:
- Choose the right video hosting platform for your needs
- Add descriptive text so algorithms know what your video is all about — your title, description, and chapters all matter!
- Make your video embeds prominent, aka place a hero video above the fold and make sure it takes up significant width on the page
- Include Schema (don’t worry, there are tons of plug-ins and free generators available online for free!)
- Use an RSS feed or social sharing to make your videos more discoverable
These five simple ingredients create a proven, winning recipe for organic traffic and make it easier for both search engines and potential customers to find your videos.
Pssst…Did you know that you can embed Vimeo’s ad-free, HDR, 4k video player pretty much anywhere? Learn more about Vimeo’s video player.
