Video Structured Data Issues in Google Search Console

Understanding Video Structured Data Issues in Google Search Console: A Guide for Beginners

Google Search Console (GSC) is an essential tool for digital marketers and website owners looking to improve their site’s visibility on Google search results. One critical aspect of this optimization process is structured data, specifically for videos. In this beginner’s guide, we will explain what video structured data issues are, how they can be detected in GSC, and how to resolve these issues to improve your website’s performance on search engines.

What is Structured Data? Structured data is a standardized format for providing information about a page and classifying its content. This information helps search engines understand the page’s content and display it in a user-friendly way on search results pages. In the case of videos, structured data helps search engines understand the video content and display rich snippets, such as video thumbnails and duration, in search results.

What is Video Structured Data? Video structured data is a specific type of structured data that provides information about a video’s content, such as its title, description, duration, and thumbnail URL. This data is embedded in your webpage’s HTML using a markup language such as JSON-LD, Microdata, or RDFa. Properly implemented video structured data makes your video content more accessible and appealing to users on search results pages.

Detecting Video Structured Data Issues in Google Search Console: To detect video structured data issues, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Google Search Console account.
2. Navigate to the “Performance” report on the left-hand menu.
3. Click on “Search Appearance” and look for the “Video” section.
4. If there are any issues with your video structured data, they will be listed here.

Common Video Structured Data Issues and How to Resolve Them:

1. Missing required fields: This issue occurs when mandatory fields, such as the video title, description, or thumbnail URL, are missing from your structured data. To resolve this issue, review your video markup and ensure that all required fields are included.
2. Invalid data format: If your structured data uses an incorrect format, it can lead to errors. For instance, the duration field should be in ISO 8601 format (e.g., “PT1M30S” for 1 minute and 30 seconds). To fix this issue, review your markup and correct any data formatting errors.
3. Inaccurate data: If the information provided in your structured data is inaccurate or misleading, it can cause issues. To resolve this, ensure that your video structured data accurately reflects your video content.
4. Duplicate structured data: This issue occurs when the same video is marked up with structured data multiple times on the same page. To fix this, remove the duplicate markup and keep only one instance of the video structured data.

Understanding and resolving video structured data issues detected in Google Search Console is crucial for improving your website’s search performance. By implementing accurate and well-formatted video structured data, you increase the likelihood of your video content being displayed with rich snippets in search results, which can lead to increased click-through rates and overall visibility.

Also published on Medium.