Google now shows pages in video search results only when the video is that page’s main content
As of today, the Google search engine has completely changed how it indexes and ranks video results, with new policies. Following this update, only pages that present the video the way YouTube and Aparat (the Iranian video platform) do will be indexed and ranked in Video results.
As the attached image shows, the video is the main content and sits at the top of the page; in other words, the page exists to show the video and is built around that video.
This update is about how pages appear in Video results, so if you want to rank in the video section, your pages have to be like a YouTube page.
The Search Console reports have been updated for these changes as well, so that when a page’s video has an indexing or ranking problem you can understand it better. The warnings are:
Invalid video URL
Unsupported video format
Unknown video format
Inline data URLs cannot be used for video URLs
Video outside the viewport
Video too small
Video too tall
If your video is not the main content, the message video is not main content of the page is shown, which means the page will not appear in the Video section. So for pages that carry that warning and are not meant to appear in Video results, you can ignore it.
Google says the pages below are examples of what will not rank in Video results:
A post or blog where the video completes the text instead of being the page’s main content
A product page with a supporting video
A video category page that lists several videos
Because of this, expect Search Console to show a sharp fall in the statistics for indexed videos, reported as No video indexed. You will see the numbers drop in the Performance report for the video filter too, and in the Video indexing report and the video rich results report, which cover how the videos that used to be in the Video section of Google’s search results were indexed and ranked and are now leaving that section.
Google now shows only pages in Video results where the video is the page’s main content.
If the video is not your page’s main content, you will run into the error Video is not Main Content of the Page.
Also note that you will soon see No Video Indexed notices in Search Console.
And make no mistake: if the video is not the main content of the page, trying to rank that video in the SERP is useless, because it will not be shown.
Omid Bodagh
I am an SEO specialist who likes helping businesses get seen on Google. From WordPress to SEO, whatever an online business needs to grow, I can help with it.
