Video is Not the Main Content: Why are your videos not getting indexed?

If you are paying close attention to your Google Search Console, you may have noticed your videos all got de-indexed in mid-December. Google did NOT mention this in any update nor was this very talked about in the SEO Chatter communities. 

So what happened with videos and why are they not getting indexed anymore?

As Google gets smarter and thinks more and more like a real user, it will evaluate all your content in chunks attributing an importance degree to each of them. 

Are you looking for a quick fix? Jump here to our practical suggestion to get your videos indexed. 

What happens with videos is actually very simple: 

If your video is just part of a page but does not represent the most significant and useful content part of it, then it is just duplicate content or simply not important enough to get indexed, according to Google. 

But let's break this into pieces, shall we? 

Adding video to your content pages may cause a duplication

Let’s say you have a page about selling a service where you, very professionally, explain to your users what this service is, the pain points and the benefits. You use all the correct markup and SEO semantics. 

Finally, to add some context and provide engagement, you add images, icons and an extraordinary video where you explain this service clearly and briefly. 

This looks like the recipe for success, right? 

Yes! You nailed your page in what concerns user experience and useful content. Your users can read and understand your product and, should they want to, they can also watch your video and get a personalized and clear insight. 

Then why doesn’t Google index your video?

Google has decided that video URLs will only get indexed when the video is the MAIN content of your page. Meaning, the user actually clicks on your page to watch your video. Much like when you click on a YouTube video result on the SERP: you click it to see the video, not to read the description under. 

If you place your video on a content page, Google will consider that the user lands on your page to read the content and not to view the video. They may or may not opt to play it. Hence, the video is NOT the main content of your landing page. 

So should you keep adding videos to your content pages if they show as duplicate content?

I won’t say “it depends”. Instead, I will say this: in my opinion, YES! 

Of course, you would like your videos to be featured on the SERP, and we will go to that in a moment, but for now, let’s look at it from a different perspective. 

Your main focus when getting a user on your page is to get them engaged and interested enough to: 

1. Care about your content enough to remember your service and BRAND; 
2. Keep exploring your website and trust your company;
3. Purchase whatever it is you are selling.

Videos are a great tool to enhance the trust and understanding of your BRAND and Products or Services

 A video is a powerful tool to get the users to trust you and understand your services better. 

Explaining how your company works, displaying features of your services or even case studies is a great way to provide an excellent user experience, get remembered and increase your revenue therefore. 

And with this being said… 

Can I still get my videos indexed and how? 

You can get your videos indexed through different ways. But one thing is common to all of them: see it here. 

I took some time to investigate this matter and talk to some experts on the subject. So here are my conclusions: 

1. Get your video a dedicated landing page: You can link your video to its own landing page where it will be the main star and stand with just enough text to give it context. 
2. Create a gallery with your videos: Having your own gallery can be like a blog section where users can go over all your videos and see what your company has to offer. 
3. Let them live on video platforms: this one is tricky, I know. Why would you want YouTube to show up instead of your own website? This solution may not fit every company but certainly can still be enough for many. If you opt for this solution, make sure to put enough effort into your video description and add enough links and CTAs to try to get the user to your website after they visit the video platform. 

And now that we have cleared this out, let’s see some important measures you can take when placing videos on your website or any other video platform. 

Get your videos indexed with: adding the word “video” on the URL AND the page title

This may be a trick or cheat but some experiments have shown this method successfull. Inspite of doing all the right markup, having dedicated pages and following all the rules, it seems that one last thing is actually the most important one: 

• The word VIDEO should be part of the URL of the page 
• The word VIDEO should be included in the title of the page

Video Markup, Schema & Transcripts 

I was told years ago that when embedding YouTube videos, you don’t have to do anything else since Google will get all the markup it needs from there. 

But this was before.

With the increasing importance of schema markup and structured data, you will want to ensure your video has everything it needs to get indexed: 

• Make sure to add the extra code from schema.org
• Add the transcripts and proper description on the video

Pay attention to the video platform you are using: while some include automatic transcripts, others do not have this option. 

And if I am being honest, even for the ones that offer this possibility, I strongly suggest adding manual transcripts. Different accents and similar words may be wrongly interpreted and you want to ensure the transcription is as accurate as possible. 

Should you still invest in videos after this? 

1000x YES!! Video is a great way to get trust from your users and get your word out. And you don’t have to do everything at once. 

Maybe start with having your videos just for user experience and later on, you can think about how to make them the solo star. 

Remember that video is becoming a more powerful source of content every day and you may regret missing the train just because Google Search Console (GSC) said your videos didn’t get indexed today. 

Author: Mariana Franco