At RS Digital, we’re excited to share the latest update from Google: the expansion of the video indexing report in Search Console. This enhancement aims to provide webmasters with more specific feedback on why a video may not appear prominently in search results, empowering them to optimize video content for maximum visibility.
Previously, when encountering issues with video content, Search Console displayed a vague error message stating “Google could not determine the prominent video on the page.” However, Google has now broken down this general message into three specific reasons: video outside the viewport, video too small, and video too tall. This change offers clear, actionable advice for webmasters to address these issues effectively.
For example, if a video is positioned outside the viewport, it’s recommended to reposition it within the render able area of the page to ensure visibility when the page loads. Similarly, if the video doesn’t meet Google’s specific size criteria, adjustments should be made to optimize its dimensions.
The impact of these changes in the video indexing report can be significant for websites that receive traffic to pages with video content. By providing more precise feedback, Google enables website owners to make necessary adjustments that can improve the visibility and indexing of their video content in Google Search. This, in turn, has the potential to increase traffic to their websites.
As video content continues to play a crucial role in search engine result pages (SERPs), appearing in video carousels and video-rich snippets, it’s essential to ensure that Google is indexing videos correctly. While the updated video indexing report offers more specific reasons for indexing issues, it’s important to follow best practices to enhance video visibility.
From the information provided and Google’s general guidelines, we can infer several best practices for video indexing. These include positioning videos within the viewport, ensuring appropriate video sizes for web design, utilizing video sitemaps and structured data, making video content files accessible to Googlebot, providing clear and accurate metadata, and prioritizing video quality and user engagement. By adhering to these practices, you can improve the visibility of your videos in Google Search, resulting in enhanced user engagement and increased website traffic.
It’s worth noting that the implementation of these changes in the video indexing report may take some time. Historical data could take up to three months to be fully updated, so you may still see the “Google could not determine the prominent video on the page” error message in the report during this transition period. However, this does not impact your pages.
In summary, the enhanced video indexing report in Search Console provides webmasters with more specific guidance on video indexing issues. Leveraging this information and implementing the necessary changes can significantly improve the visibility of your video content and drive more traffic to your website. At RS Digital, we’re here to help you navigate these updates and optimize your video strategy for maximum impact.
