Introducing Google Video Sitemaps

Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 8:35 am

This article is contributed by Marc Liron

Introducing Google Video Sitemaps

…and how online video is going to be even more important to you in 2008

2007 was the year online video really hit the big time.

Google, who also have their own video platform called "Google Video" purchased rival video hosting
website YouTube.com for a reported $1.6 billion in November 2006, as they just KNEW online video was going to be huge.

The during 2007 online video "exploded" with each week brining a new video hosting company and
millions viewing the content, much of it user generated.

Roll forward to late 2007 and Google started to "shake up" the way they have traditionally
provided search results at their iconic search engine.

Now, along with web page, you will also see relevant news items, images, related search terms and links to VIDEO.

For example:

Take a look at this search for Darth Vader:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=darth+vader

Google have named this UNIVERSAL SEARCH and during 2008 you will see them develop it even further.

So What Does This Mean To Me?

Well if you are just using Google as a search engine to find stuff, then you are going to have a richer
experience in discovering information you are looking for, as Google is now providing you with
relevant search results in multiple formats.

BUT if you are a website owner (from now on I call you a webmaster) then you are on quite a ride as
you try and get your content indexed into Google!

As a savvy webmaster you KNOW that most visitors to Google do NOT pay attention to results
beyond the FIRST page. Until "universal search", that meant your page had to rank in the first
TEN web page links provided in the search results page, but preferably in the first THREE.

Enter "universal search" and suddenly your web pages are competing against entries for many different
formats. The searcher at Google now has more choice!

As a webmaster you know it is tough getting your web pages listed (…let alone highly ranked) but at
least Google have provided an easy way to mass submit your website pages to them with their "Sitemaps" submission tool….

Google Sitemaps:

Sitemaps are becoming increasingly important for web site owners looking to get their pages listed in the
major search engines. Google, Yahoo and Microsoft all provide you, the webmaster, with a Sitemap
submission tool for indexing your web pages in their respective search engines.

It can be found in your Google Webmaster Tools account.

If you are NOT aware of site maps yet, then you should be! ..open a free Google Webmaster Tools account today.

Sitemaps are simply an XML file that lists URLs for a web site, along with additional information about
each URL such as when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site.

It is this information that allows the major search engines to more "intelligently" crawl YOUR sites' pages.

Now I started this article by talking about video and that is where, as a webmaster, you should be taking
some serious time to look at how you are going benefit from using it in 2008.

So Why The Fuss About Website Video?

( Side Note: As a digital media specialist I have been creating online video presentations for the last 5 years, and
every now and then there is a MAJOR development in the field – and Google Video Sitemaps is one of them! )

Increasingly webmasters are adding video to their websites and it has never been easier to do so with YouTube and Google Video etc. willing
to host them for you.

But in 2008 I believe we will see more webmasters adding video DIRECTLY to their own websites.

WHY? – Two quick reasons:

# 1 – Advertising

In 2008 Google are continuing to roll out advertising on the videos you host with them, and that is going to turn off
many webmasters. What online marketer REALLY wants 3rd party adverts showing up in the videos
that are meant to pre-sell their own products and services?

For more information on this topic read this excellent blog posting by Mark Glaser:

When Will Google’s ‘Big Project’ YouTube Bring in Profits?

(Please note – I am not against using YouTube for marketing purposes and in fact HIGHLY recommend you do using a great service like Traffic Geyser…)

# 2 – Universal Search

With the advent of Google's "Universal Search" the pressure is on for webmasters to adapt to new
ways in getting top rankings for their relevant search terms and keywords.

When reading Google's help files concerning "Google Video Sitemaps" two statements struck me:

"…when you submit a Video Sitemap to Google, we will make the included video URLs searchable on Google Video."

BUT then they go on to say "…in addition, your video may also appear in other Google search products."

Do you understand what this means for you as a webmaster? Videos on YOUR domain can now have a better chance to get listed in Google's index!

So Why Use Google Video Sitemaps?

In a single word:

TRAFFIC!

Many online marketers know the value of video, its just letting search engine traffic know about it that has been a problem.

Sure, you can add videos to Google Video and YouTube and try to get them found when folks go directly to
those sites to search for videos. Then with the advent of "universal search" highly rated videos
at these two sites can appear in the search results, which is great.

But what I really want Santa to bring me for Christmas is the ability to have videos that are hosted on MY
DOMAIN show up in Google Video and Google's main search index.

…I would like my domain to get the credit, the credit I do not get when I simply embed a bit of video code into a page from Google Video.

Well Happy Christmas!

Google have just given me the tool to do this

I stopped using YouTube a long time ago for hosting my own training/sales/pre-sales videos and now use the popular Amazon S3 storage network instead.

(In fact I am so impressed with it my business partner and I created a software
application for using Amazon S3 in our online businesses: Data Bucket Pro and we recently added support for Camtasia videos.)

Now with Google Video Sitemaps I can now submit descriptive information – such as a video’s title, description, duration, etc. – that makes
it easier for users to find my videos. And when a search result includes my video through Google, the link will be to my URL for full playback.

My video URLs searchable on Google Video (and possibly Google Search) FANTASTIC…

Now this is still in BETA, so Google can't predict or guarantee when or if your videos will be added to their index, but they do claim that:
"as we refine our product, we expect both coverage and indexing speed to improve."

So What Videos Can You Include?

Google can crawl the following video file types:

.mpg .mpeg .mp4 .mov .wmv .asf .avi .ra .ram .rm .flv

Please note: All files must be accessible via HTTP. (NO streaming protocols are supported at this time, so NO live content via MMS and other media servers.)

How Can I Create a Google Video Sitemap?

The Google Video Sitemap uses the standard sitemap protocol, with additional video-specific tags.

In its simplest form, a Video Sitemap can include a single tag to let Google know there is a video playable at a specific landing page URL.

Optional fields allow you to specify other attributes of the video available on that page. The less information you provide in the Video Sitemap,
the more Google will have to do to try to discover and extract that information.

Google may use text available on your video's page rather than the text you supply in the video sitemap, if this differs.

So it is in YOUR BEST INTEREST to add as much information as possible to both the page and the video sitemap!

So What Does A Google Video Sitemap Look Like?

On this page I have some videos: http://www.updatexp.com/free-videos.html
(where they are served from a sub-domain media.updatexp.com)

If I want to create a Google Video Sitemap and include them the resulting XML
file might look something like this (I have only included 2 videos in this example, but
you'll get the point):

You can download this file from here: http://media.updatexp.com/videofeed.xml

You can download a .gif image of this code here: http://media.updatexp.com/video-sitemap-image.gif

Please note: this is just a "sample" file showing a 2 videos listed in formats .swf and .wmv

Tips When Creating Your Google Video Sitemap:

#A Video Sitemap should contain only URLs that refer to video content. Video content includes
web pages which embed video, URLs to players for video, or the URLs of raw video content hosted
on your site. If Google cannot discover video content at the URLs you provide, those records will be ignored by Googlebot.

#Each video is uniquely identified by its content URL (the location of the actual video file) or,
if a content URL is not present, a player URL (a URL pointing to a player for the video).

# Each Sitemap file that you provide must have no more than 50,000 video items and
must be no larger than 10MB when compressed. An individual video file or thumbnail can be no larger than 30MB.

#If you have more than 50,000 videos, you can submit multiple Sitemaps and a Sitemap index file.

#The URLs included in the Sitemap must have and associated robots.txt file set appropriately for UserAgent "Googlebot".

#If including a thumbnail I recommend a 80 x 60 JPEG image.

How Do I Submit My Video Sitemap To Google?

The process is just the same for submitting any site map file to the Google Index – use your Webmaster Tools account and navigate to the
relevant website and click the "Sitemaps" link. You will now see that Google has added Video Sitemap as an option.

Still not got a Google Webmaster Tools account yet? Then open one here:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/tour/tour1.html

After submitting your Video Sitemap you may have to wait a couple of hours for it too be confirmed.
When it is you will be able to see if there are any errors with your XML file.

You then just have to sit back and wait for the information to be submitted to the index(s).

In Closing:

This is a BETA service so expect some problems, that said this is an exciting development and so far it all seems to
be working OK for me.

#Want to know more about how my tests are going ???

#Want some FREE software to create YOUR own Google Video Sitemaps ???

Then make sure you are subscribed to my personal Blog RSS feed – as I
will be updating it with more information on Google Video Sitemaps and associated software!

http://www.marclironblog.com/feed/

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Marc Liron is a UK based Microsoft MVP and full time Digital Media Evangelist. He is also the creator of the
popular utility SHERLOCK – The Codec Detective. Marc’s main website is at http://www.marcliron.com where you can access his articles and software.

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