Video Sitemap, Video Location
-
I'm a link builder, so some of this stuff on-page stuff is out of my comfort zone.
I've got a client who I'm doing a video sitemap for, as well as Schema integration.
One of the requirements on the video sitemap is video location. They're hosting all of their videos privately at Vimeo, and embedding them on their website. Is there a URL that Vimeo has for engines, because the primary URL on Vimeo is blocked because of their permissions (private).
Any suggestions on a work-around on this?
Again, I'm a link builder and out of my comfort zone, so I apologize for the dumb question
-
Hey Tommy,
So for Vimeo videos, you actually don't need to include the a video:content_locelement in the sitemap</video:content_loc>, but rather reference a player location for the content with the video:player_locmark-up.</video:player_loc>
Google don't actually need you to include both elements, as explained here: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=80472
Vimeo's Flash or HTML5 iFrame player won't simply playback the uploaded content, but delivers a compressed version at a variable bitrate - so the original file is actually not the one you want the sitemap to reference. Moreover, Google cannot get through the Vimeo's cloud storage system and browse the original files anyway.
The player location can be picked out of the embed code you have used for the video - and should look something like:
http://player.vimeo.com/video/01013541
You will also probably want Google to be able to embed the video and auto-play it, so the player_loc markup should look like:
<video:player_loc allow_embed="yes" autoplay="ap=1">http://player.vimeo.com/video/01013541</video:player_loc>
You can test you have the right URL, because you should be able to open the player URL when not logged into vimeo and still view the content (it will take up a whole browser window)
Also, for best chances of getting a blended result with your Vimeo vids - ensure (as you have done) that the video is marked as private and not available to view within the vimeo community pages. If you have a vimeo pro account (which you should do if it's commercial content) you will want to disable the community pass. You should also make sure that you have allowed the video to be embedded anywhere (or at least your domain and google.com), but removed the "embed" button from the player in the player settings- as the code created here will only help to build links to your Vimeo account, rather than your actual domain.
For general reference - The video file url will be somewhere on vimeos CDN, and will look something like http://s3.amazonaws.com/videos.vimeo.com/846/293/84629656.mov You can find it by logging into Vimeo, going to the video page and pulling the first part of the URL from the "download this video" link.
I hope that's useful! let me know if you have any other problems/questions.
Cheers,
Phil
-
OK, I see. So basically they are only using Vimeo to host the video. Not sure if I know what to do in that case.
But we you still have a couple of different options.
-
Host and embed the video directly on the site. (There are tons of flash video scripts out there)
-
Host the video with another provider like http://wistia.com or http://www.brightcove.com/en/ (They allow many more options for embedding and sitemaps.)
-
-
Hi Brent.
The problem is that the client has the video listed as private (not to be viewed on Vimeo), so the video returns a "you don't have permission to view this page".
Any thoughts?
Tommy
-
Here is a great example:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/video-sitemap-guide-for-vimeo-and-youtube
-
The Raw video file location will be the Vimeo location.
-
I think I used the wrong terminology in the post. There are a few items needed for a video sitemap, from my understanding.
- Title
- Description
- Play page URL
- Thumbnail URL
- Raw video file location and/or the player URL (SWF) <-- this is what I'm having trouble finding
Does that make sense? Sorry for my idiocy.
-
There are going to be a couple of different fields for you to fill out. You use the actual link to the video on Vimeo, but also in the sitemap tell which page the video resides on.
<loc>http://site.com/example_landing_page.html</loc>
video:content_lochttp://site.com/example_video1.wmv</video:content_loc>
<video:description>The Example Video</video:description>
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Already ranking high for blog, should I produce video?
I run a website with affiliate links (reviews) and successful YouTube channel. Most of the time we lost the YouTube video review and text review at the same time. I’ve created a couple posts that rank high without a video. But now they are proving to be successful, I’m wondering if it makes sense to now produce a video. If so, do I use the exact keyword? Or a variation? Only about 10% of our YouTube views come from Google Search. Most of our blog traffic is organic.
Image & Video Optimization | | dandoadvisors0 -
YouTube Filtering Business Videos as Inappropriate Making them Unavailable When Safety Mode Enabled
My client is a public banking software company and recently many of their videos are unavailable to those browsers with "Safety Mode" turned on. What elements within these innocuous videos could be triggering the safety filter? Is there anything we can do about it? I've already reviewed titles/descriptions and reviewed the transcripts for words like 'sex" but I can't find anything that could be inappropriate. Is there any way around this? Is there a process for having this status changed? Thank you
Image & Video Optimization | | RosemaryB0 -
Video Sitemap for product pages
Hi all- i have a video that talks about a particular type of product and have it set up on every page in that category. I am in the process of updating our video sitemap and want to know if I should list all the occurrences in the sitemap or just one? I had asked a similar question earlier about placement, but here I am specifically interested in the sitemap. Thanks! Ken
Image & Video Optimization | | CandymanKen0 -
NAP No mail delivered to physical location
Hello, First question here on moz. I live in a small town, and some of my clients do as well. Some mail is delivered to physical locations, however most mail is delivered to PO Boxes. I have tried with some success to get the mail workers to flag Google and others post cards. Otherwise I am not able to verify ownership. Any ideas or help on how to verify businesses that don't get mail at their location would be great. Dave
Image & Video Optimization | | David-Denning0 -
Multiple Locations for Tire Shop Should I Name them Differently?
We just started SEO for a shop that has 3 locations. Oddly 2 are on one road and the other is not. Should we name them differently in Google? Bobs #1 Bobs#2 Bobs #3 Wondering if there is an SEO benefit to that? Also should I set up directory listings for each location? There is not ONE main location they are all equal.
Image & Video Optimization | | greenhornet770 -
Google + with multiple locations
Hi guys, So I want to make a google + page for my business, which basically lets people find and compare multiple airport shuttle, limo and transfer companies to find the one that is available and best suits their budget.
Image & Video Optimization | | cashchampion
Being that these shuttle services are throughout the country, when I create the google + page I need to choose multiple locations.
Anyone know how to go about this, or the best way to do it? Thanks so much Regards,
Marc0 -
Video hosting - SEO
Hi, We host all of our videos on You Tube and use embedded links to display on our site. When people search keywords related to our videos they are linking back to You Tube through SERPs. Is there a way link SERPs to websites instead of You Tube? Any advice would be appreciated. Sean
Image & Video Optimization | | DonaldRussell0 -
Getting indexed into Google video search
I have a website that has videos hosted from youtube.com embedded onto it. I created and uploaded the videos to youtube and want them on my website. My question is which would be a better option, hosting the video on my website or embed them from youtube? I currently have them embedded onto youtube but when I do a Google video search I cannot find my company's website anywhere. My videos are shown on the results but they are linked to youtube and not my website. Is there a way to get the search results to show listing of the videos posted on my website?
Image & Video Optimization | | Shawn1240