Use this guide to rank videos in search results and drive organic traffic to your website. You’ll learn how to use video SEO to set your video content up for success with search engines.
By the end of this guide, you’ll have the tools to optimize your videos for search.
Adding Keywords to Video Metadata
Metadata communicates the attributes associated with a video to search engines.
Once a video is uploaded to SproutVideo, add metadata to the video title and description, then choose relevant tags to convey the video’s topic to search engines.
Tags are also used for organization within your SproutVideo account and on SproutVideo-hosted Video Websites. Therefore, avoid keyword stuffing while choosing the most appropriate keywords.
Click on the video’s title to change it. Then click the checkmark to save your changes.
Locate Video Description. Click Edit Description. You can type standard text or use limited HTML for formatting (bold, italic, lists, and links). Make your changes and click the green checkmark to save.
Locate Video Tags. Add relevant tags by clicking the plus sign. Select from previously created tags or add new.
You have two methods for indexing videos with search engines on SproutVideo.
Index Embedded Media Only: Videos can be indexed automatically if you embed videos on a third-party website. This approach aligns with Google’s latest guidance.
Your website is not well-structured: Google needs to be able to crawl your website and understand its structure for proper video indexing.
Your website doesn’t have a sitemap: A sitemap is still necessary for indexing content, but you don’t need a separate video sitemap if your website has one.
Your videos are embedded on pages that aren’t linked to other pages: Since Google is using your website sitemap, all content must be connected.
The method used for embedded video player discovery may only be supported by Google at this time; therefore, we recommend using both methods redundantly to cover all search engines.
Method One: Index Embedded Videos Only (Latest Guidance)
Index a large number of videos at once, and only when embedded (through iframe and other HTML tags), using Embedded Media Discovery, which utilizes Google’s “indexifembedded” tag.
This approach allows video content hosted through SproutVideo to remain unindexed until embedded on a third-party website.
Once the video is embedded, Google will index the video the next time it crawls the page, which is how search engines discover and rank content appropriately.
How to Turn on Embedded Media Discovery (SEO) for Videos
To ensure all of your embedded videos can be indexed, enable Embedded Video Discovery account-wide. You can also enable Embedded Media Discovery on a per-video basis.
Account-Wide Embedded Media Discovery
Within your SproutVideo Account Settings,
Select ‘Media Settings.’
Locate ‘Embedded Media Discovery (SEO)’ and toggle it on.
Click ‘Save Video Settings’ at the bottom of the page.
Per-Video Embedded Media Discovery
This step is only necessary if Embedded Media Discovery is not enabled account-wide.
Navigate to ‘Videos,’ and select a video to open its Video Details page.
Click Search Engine Discovery
Toggle on “Allow search discovery of embedded video player”
Optional: Toggle on “Block search indexing of hosted landing page” if you want to ensure only the embedded video can be indexed or if your video is not already private, password protected, or login protected.
As mentioned, videos can also be added to your video sitemap. To do this, select the option to “Add Canonical (Embedded) URL to Include in Sitemap” and add the page URL where the video is embedded.
How to Override Account-Wide Embedded Media Discovery For A Single Video
When Embedded Media Discovery is turned on account-wide, you can disable it on a per-video basis. For this reason, per-video settings override account-wide settings.
To override account-wide Embedded Media Discovery on a per-video basis,
Navigate to ‘Videos,’ and select a video to open its Video Details page.
Click ‘Search Engine Discovery’
Toggle off “Allow search discovery of embedded video player”
The canonical (embedded) URL allows you to add a video to your video sitemap. This URL points to where the video is located, which tells search engines how to find your video content.
To add a canonical (embedded) URL to your video,
Navigate to Videos. Select a video to open its Video Details page
Select Additional Video Settings
Click Set Embedded URL (SEO)
Paste the URL of the page where your video is embedded
