# Video SEO

Category: [On-Page & Content](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/on-page-content/) › [Headings, images & media](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/category/on-page-content/headings-images-media/)

**Video SEO** covers the steps that help videos get found, indexed and displayed in search engines: in regular Google Search, in Google Videos and on platforms such as YouTube. This entry focuses on videos on your own website. Optimizing for YouTube follows its own rules.

## What does Google need for videos?

Google's documentation says a video must be embedded in a page with `<video>`, `<embed>`, `<iframe>` or `<object>`. The page where the video plays must be indexed. Google recommends a dedicated watch page for each video. The thumbnail needs to be at least 60 x 30 pixels, reachable at a stable URL and not blocked by robots.txt. Googlebot must also be able to fetch the video file itself.

## Structured data and sitemaps

The `VideoObject` type describes a video. Required properties are `name`, `thumbnailUrl` and `uploadDate`. Recommended ones include `description`, `contentUrl` (the video file), `embedUrl` (the player) and `duration`. Google asks for unique `name` and `description` text for each video. Google also names video sitemaps and the Open Graph protocol as ways to provide video metadata. Key Moments can be enabled with `Clip` or `SeekToAction` markup. The Search Console video indexing report shows which videos were found and why others are missing.

## Example

```html
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "VideoObject",
  "name": "Canonical tag explained in 3 minutes",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://www.example.com/thumbs/canonical.jpg",
  "uploadDate": "2026-03-12T08:00:00+01:00",
  "description": "How a canonical tag works.",
  "contentUrl": "https://www.example.com/videos/canonical.mp4",
  "duration": "PT3M12S"
}
</script>
```

## Common mistakes

- Linking to YouTube without embedding the video on a page of your own.
- Thumbnail blocked by robots.txt, or a thumbnail URL that keeps changing.
- Several videos with identical `name` and `description`.
- A video on a page with no other content that is barely indexed itself.

## FAQ

**Do I need a video sitemap?** It is one way to give Google video metadata. `VideoObject` markup on the page can carry much of the same information.

**Does video SEO apply to YouTube?** According to reports, YouTube ranks videos with its own signals. See YouTube SEO.

## Related terms

- [Video sitemap](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/video-sitemap/index.md)
- [Video schema](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/video-schema/index.md)
- [YouTube SEO](https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/youtube-seo/index.md)

## Sources

- [Video SEO best practices – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/video)
- [Video (VideoObject) structured data – Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/video)
- [What is video SEO? – Semrush (Zweitquelle)](https://www.semrush.com/blog/video-seo/)

---

Last updated: October 7, 2026
URL: https://seo-geo-glossary.com/en/glossary/video-seo/