Google has recently implemented a significant update to its video guidelines. It will change how videos appear in search results.
So, what is the change?
Google said: “Video mode now only shows pages where video is the main content.”
This goes beyond the previous restriction on video thumbnails in search results.
Previously, Google altered search results to exclude video thumbnails if the video was not the primary content on the page.
This means that embedding a video as supplementary material won’t qualify for a video thumbnail display. Now, this requirement extends to videos shown in the video mode or the video tab within search results.
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When To Expect The Final Completion
The implementation of this change began rolling out recently and is expected to take about a week to complete. Google clarifies the definition of the video being the main part of the content.
Clicking a result in Video mode will now only direct users to a page where the video is the main content. In fact, it will position prominently above the fold, with watching that video as the primary purpose of the page.
Types Of Content That Are Not Part Of The Main Content
Examples of video content that won’t qualify as the main content include:
- Videos complementing a blog post.
- Accompanying product details.
- Featured on a video category page with multiple videos of equal prominence.
The update could affect video performance and indexing reports within Google Search Console. This update may cause new errors and fluctuations in video performance-increases or decreases-also.
As the update rolls out, Search Console video indexing reports will reflect the impact. Videos not meeting the main content criteria will be labelled as “No video indexed,.
This Includes Reasons Like:
- “Invalid video URL.
- Unsupported video format.
- Unknown video format.
- Inline data URLs cannot be used for video URLs.
- Video outside the viewport.
- The video is too small.
- Video too tall”.
What To Expect?
Webmasters should anticipate a decrease in the number of pages with indexed videos due to these changes. Basically, they will affect metrics across performance, indexing, and video-rich results reports in Google Search Console. Keeping an eye on these reports will help us understand and adapt to the evolving video content guidelines.
