How do you add VideoObject structured data?
guide // , 5 min read, by Darthwares
Adding VideoObject structured data involves marking up your video content with specific properties to help Google understand its details. Structured data is a standardized format that provides explicit information about a page and classifies its content. By using VideoObject, you can influence the information Google displays for your videos, such as the description, thumbnail URL, upload date, and duration. This markup helps Google understand your video content and influence the information it displays.
On this page // 6 sections
The short version
- VideoObject structured data helps Google understand and classify your video content.
- It influences details like description, thumbnail, upload date, and duration in Google Search results.
- You must include essential properties for your video markup to be eligible for enhanced display.
- Structured data should be placed on the page where the video can be watched and reflect visible content.
- Validate your implementation using tools like the Rich Results Test and URL Inspection tool.
What is VideoObject structured data?
Structured data is a standardized format that provides explicit information about a page and classifies its content. For example, on a recipe page, structured data can specify ingredients, cooking time, and calorie count. For video content, VideoObject structured data helps Google automatically understand details about your video.
By marking up your video with VideoObject, you can influence the information shown in video results in Google Search. This includes details such as the video's description, the URL for its thumbnail image, its upload date, and its duration. Google documents that VideoObject structured data must be added to a page where users can watch the video.
To be eligible for usage in Google Search, your video structured data must follow Google's Search Essentials, general structured data guidelines, and video indexing requirements. Google recommends using a format that is easiest to implement and maintain, with JSON-LD being a common choice. All three supported formats (JSON-LD, Microdata, RDFa) are equally fine for Google, provided the markup is valid and correctly implemented according to the feature's documentation.
What properties should you include in VideoObject structured data?
To make your video structured data eligible for enhanced display in Google Search, you must include the required VideoObject properties. If these properties are not included, Google may not be able to extract any information about the video. Google tries to automatically understand details such as the description, thumbnail URL, upload date, and duration of your video.
Schema.org defines several properties for a VideoObject that help describe the video content. The contentUrl property specifies the actual bytes of the media object, such as the video file itself. The duration property indicates the length of the video in ISO 8601 duration format. The embedUrl property provides a URL pointing to a player for the specific video.
Other important properties include uploadDate, which specifies the date and time when the media object was uploaded to the site. The description property offers a textual explanation of the video's content. Finally, the thumbnail property points to an ImageObject that serves as a thumbnail image for the video. While it is important to provide all required properties, it is more beneficial to supply fewer but complete and accurate recommended properties rather than attempting to provide every possible property with less complete, badly-formed, or inaccurate data.
What are the general guidelines for structured data?
When implementing any structured data, including VideoObject, you must follow general structured data guidelines. These guidelines ensure your markup is eligible for rich result display in Google Search. Failing to adhere to them can make your structured data ineligible.
A key guideline is that structured data should describe information that is visible to the user on the page. You should not create blank or empty pages solely to hold structured data. Similarly, do not add structured data about information that is not visible to the user, even if that information is accurate.
It is also important to prioritize quality over quantity when providing properties. Google advises that it is more important to supply fewer but complete and accurate recommended properties than to try and provide every possible recommended property with less complete, badly-formed, or inaccurate data.
How do you implement VideoObject structured data?
Implementing VideoObject structured data involves adding the markup directly to the page where the video is hosted. Google documents that this structured data must be present on a page where users can actually watch the video. This ensures that the structured data is directly associated with the content it describes.
For the format of your structured data, Google generally recommends using JSON-LD. This format is often the easiest to implement and maintain. However, Google states that all three supported formats, JSON-LD, Microdata, and RDFa, are equally acceptable, provided the markup is valid and properly implemented according to the specific feature's documentation.
How do you validate VideoObject structured data?
After adding VideoObject structured data to your pages, it is crucial to validate your implementation to ensure it is correct and eligible for rich results. The Rich Results Test is an easy and useful tool for validating your structured data. This tool can also preview how a feature might appear in Google Search.
You should use the Rich Results Test to check your code and fix any critical errors that are identified. Once you have validated the structured data on a few pages, deploy those pages. Then, use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console to test how Google sees the page and its structured data. This two-step validation process helps confirm that your markup is correctly interpreted by Google.
Common questions
What is structured data?
Structured data is a standardized format for providing explicit information about a page and classifying its content. For example, it can specify ingredients and cooking time on a recipe page, or details like description and duration for a video.
Why should I add structured data to my videos?
Adding VideoObject structured data helps Google automatically understand details about your video content. This allows you to influence information shown in video results in Google Search, such as the description, thumbnail URL, upload date, and duration, making your content eligible for enhanced display.
Where should VideoObject structured data be placed?
VideoObject structured data must be added to the specific page where users can watch the video. It should directly describe the content visible on that page.
What happens if I don't include required properties in my structured data?
If you do not include the required properties for an object, your structured data may not be eligible for appearance in Google Search with enhanced display. Google may also be unable to extract any information about the video.
Which format should I use for structured data?
Google recommends using a format that is easiest for you to implement and maintain, with JSON-LD often being the preferred choice. All three formats (JSON-LD, Microdata, RDFa) are equally acceptable to Google, provided the markup is valid and properly implemented.
Primary sources and further reading
This article was researched and written by an AI model and published automatically. It was written from sentences that were checked to appear on the pages below, but a person has not reviewed the text. If something is wrong, tell us at chibivikramathithan@darthwares.com and we will correct it.