Video Sitemap: Helping Google Index Your Videos
A video sitemap tells Google about your videos: where they live, what they show, and how long they run.
Video Sitemap is a sitemap that lists your videos with metadata.
What It Is
A video sitemap is an XML sitemap that lists the videos on your site and describes them for Google.
It includes the video URL, thumbnail, title, description, and duration.
Why Use It
- It helps Google find videos embedded or loaded with JavaScript.
- It provides metadata Google needs to serve videos in results.
- It improves chances of rich video results.
What to Include
- The page URL and the video content URL.
- Thumbnail, title, and description.
- Duration and publication date.
- Live and family-friendly flags when relevant.
Best Practices
- Use the recommended video schema markup on the page too.
- Only list public, indexable videos.
- Keep thumbnails accessible and descriptive.
- Submit the sitemap in Search Console.
Before: a site embeds videos that never appear in video results.
After: a video sitemap supplies titles, durations, and thumbnails.
The result: Google indexes the videos and they surface in search.
The lesson: if Google cannot see it, it cannot show it.
Quick Tip
Pair the video sitemap with VideoObject schema markup on the page for the strongest signal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Video Sitemap, in Short
Give Google what it needs to show your videos.
Describe every video and it becomes findable.