Video SEO

Video SEO is the process of optimising videos and the pages they sit on so they can be discovered, indexed and shown in search results. It covers technical set-up, such as structured data and sitemaps, as well as titles, descriptions, thumbnails and transcripts that help search engines understand the video.

Written by Paul Hoda, SEO consultant since 2005. Last updated 8 November 2026.

How search engines handle video

Videos appear in several places: the main results with a thumbnail, the Videos tab, video carousels, Google Discover and YouTube itself. To show a video, Google needs to find the page, detect the video on it, fetch a thumbnail and, ideally, access the video file.

Google has said it shows video features mainly for watch pages: pages where the video is the main content, rather than one element among many. A video added to the bottom of a long article may not be indexed as a video at all.

Where you host the video also matters. You can upload it to your own server, use a video hosting service with an embeddable player, or embed a YouTube video. Each option can work, as long as the page clearly presents the video and Google can access a thumbnail and the video itself.

Why video SEO matters

Video results take up visual space in the results and can win clicks for how-to, product and review searches. Videos hosted on your own site can also bring visitors to your pages rather than to a third-party platform. For many brands, a mix of YouTube and on-site video works best.

How to optimise video for search

  1. Create a dedicated watch page for each important video, with the player near the top.
  2. Write a clear title and description that use the words people search for.
  3. Add video schema with the name, description, thumbnail URL and upload date.
  4. Submit a video sitemap or add video details to your existing sitemap.
  5. Use a good thumbnail that is crawlable and not blocked by robots.txt.
  6. Add a transcript or summary so the content is available as text.
  7. Mark key moments with timestamps or Clip markup so Google can link to specific sections.

Checking video indexing

Google Search Console has a Video pages report that lists pages where a video was found and explains why some videos were not indexed. Common reasons include “video is not the main content of the page” and “no thumbnail provided”. The URL Inspection tool can also show whether Google detected a video on a specific page.

Common mistakes

  • Loading the player only after user interaction, so crawlers never see it.
  • Placing the same video on dozens of pages and expecting each to rank.
  • Blocking the video file or thumbnail with robots.txt.
  • Leaving the default title and description from the upload tool.
  • Relying on YouTube SEO alone when the goal is traffic to your own site.

Further reading: Google’s video SEO best practices.

Key Takeaways

  • Video SEO helps videos appear in main results, the Videos tab, carousels and Discover.
  • Google prioritises pages where the video is the main content.
  • Video schema and video sitemaps help Google find and understand videos.
  • Transcripts and key moments make video content easier to understand and link to.
  • Search Console’s Video pages report shows why videos are or are not indexed.

Related Terms

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